Gender Program Highlights

dfcu Hosts the 6th Annual Global Banking Alliance for Women Summit
dfcu hosted the 6th Annual Global Banking Alliance for Women Summit in Kampala-Uganda on November 18 to 20, 2007. Held for the first time in Africa, the Summit presented an opportunity for participants to share experiences and best practices in the delivery of financial services to women. Attendees got to hear about research and innovations that are tackling the issues of collateral and helping to create wealth for women entrepreneurs.

The Global Banking Alliance for Women, the secretariat of which is housed in IFC, is a consortium of financial institutions that have successfully leveraged the women's market for profit. GBA members collaborate on identifying and sharing global best practices in the delivery of financial services to women.

For more information: Global Banking Alliance website | Press Release



SmartLessons Gender Competition Announces Winner
IFC's gender team congratulates the winners of its first ever gender competition — Carmen Niethammer and Hela Gharbi — for their excellent paper on conducting surveys on women's entrepreneurship.

Download the paper | About the competition

Thank you to all the participants for sharing their lessons learned on gender and private sector development.



Two New World Bank Group Studies Celebrate Tanzania's Success in Promoting Gender Equality, Recommend Further Changes
The studies, commissioned by Tanzania's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing, commend the government for its progress in addressing gender inequalities in policy and legislation and recognizing the economic contributions of its women. The studies also suggest that Tanzania could gain up to one percentage point of growth by removing obstacles to women's entrepreneurship.

Gender and Economic Growth Assessment in Tanzania (PDF, 1.04mb) underscores the importance of addressing both legislative issues and cultural norms. Voices of Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania (PDF, 986kb) is a complementary advocacy tool, based on a series of interviews with women business owners across the country. Recommendations include strengthening women's access to land, putting in place lines of credit for on-lending to women entrepreneurs, and facilitating women's access to international markets.



New Report on Arab Women Finds that Access to Capital and Business Skills are Key Challenges
Reducing the time it takes to register a business and increasing access to capital topped list of  major challenges facing women entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a new report, entitled: "Women Entrepreneurs: Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges." The report is the result of a cooperative effort between the IFC and the Tunisian-based Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research. Press Release (PDF, 56kb) | Full Report (PDF, 1.85mb)



IFC Gender Team Launches New Report on Access to Finance for Women in South Africa
The new IFC study on access to finance for women entrepreneurs in South Africa reveals that black women are the most entrepreneurial segment of the population, yet the least likely to be banked.
(Report links updated, April 2007)

Executive Summary (PDF, 548kb)
Sections 1-2 (PDF, 1.45mb)
Sections 3-4 (PDF, 1.24mb)
Sections 5-6 (PDF, 889kb)
Sections 7-8 (PDF, 645kb)



Realizing the Potential of Women Entrepreneurs: The Global Banking Alliance for Women
The underserved women's market in access to finance is becoming a bigger focus of banking executives around the world. While the spotlight is currently on the role microfinance has played in lifting poor women out of poverty, women’s access to SME financing is also gaining increasing attention. Read more... (PDF, 13kb)