Press Release from 2015-03-06 / Group
International Women's Day 2015: Gender equality key to successful development cooperation
- Women play an important role in fighting poverty
- KfW: almost 50 per cent of new projects contribute to advancing equal rights
Gender equality is a key prerequisite for sustainable success in development cooperation – a fact that KfW Development Bank highlighted on International Women's Day on Sunday (8 March). In developing countries women play a decisive role in combating poverty. Almost half of the 357 new commitments that KfW made in 2014 on behalf of the German Federal Government have a positive impact on gender equality. Thus, approximately 25% of the new commitments in 2014 – about EUR 1.8 billion – make an explicit contribution to promoting and strengthening equal rights for men and women.
Over the past few years enormous progress has been made in gender equality, for instance in education and employment. Nonetheless, women and girls still face discrimination and are underprivileged in many regions of the world. They often suffer more acutely from poverty than men, receive insufficient healthcare and are less educated and enjoy fewer rights than men. The gap between opportunities for men and women hinders development.
This is why KfW Development Bank also fosters gender equality through its projects. Every project is carefully analysed with respect to the potential it offers for contributing to equal opportunities. A core topic here is strengthening women's participation in financial matters. Women who earn their own money or look after the household income frequently spend it to boost the well-being of their entire family, such as on school education.
KfW, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), therefore supports measures such as lending to female micro and small entrepreneurs. One such project involves contributing USD 6 million to a fund of the "Women’s World Banking" network, which invests in microfinance institutes across the globe that provide funding to small businesses managed by women. They design financial products that are tailored to the unique needs of women.
Furthermore, KfW uses BMZ funds to support employment opportunities for poor women in Bangladesh in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank. When rural markets are built, special areas are reserved for female shop owners to sell their goods. Women who are employed not only generate income, they can also make their voices heard in the realm of politics.
In a project in West African Togo, the political participation of women and girls is also high on the agenda. They are encouraged to take part in planning decisions of their district administration via text messages or telephone and thereby participate in shaping local development.
In 2011, the KfW Group launched its own gender-balance programme to foster a culture of gender-sensitive leadership and cooperation within the bank. The programme aims at enforcing equal opportunities and raising the number of women in management positions. The goal is for every third management position to be occupied by a woman by mid-2015. The target of the gender balance concept is set out in the KfW’s sustainability guidelines. In 2013, the KfW’s gender-balance programme received the German HR award “Personalwirtschaftspreis”.
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