USAID, Pro Mujer, and Acrux Partners Launch Open-Source Platform to Advance Gender Mainstreaming

The Gender Platform provides users with resources to develop corporate policies, design financial and non-financial products, and invest with a gender lens. Pro Mujer and Acrux Partners are pioneers in innovative programming to foster gender equality in Latin America.

New York, NY – On november 9, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Pro Mujer, and Acrux Partners launched The Gender Platform, an open-source knowledge hub for the financial and corporate sectors to advance gender equality and inclusion in the ecosystem through gender mainstreaming strategies. The Platform is an online resource to generate gender equity knowledge for the financial community and provide a global platform to learn from companies’ experiences and expertise.

The overarching mission behind the Gender Platform is to work alongside forward-thinking institutions to increase Latin American women’s access to resources and economic empowerment. This digital resource will support mainstream investors in creating innovative, tailor-made solutions to boost women’s access to capital, leadership positions, and equity in the workplace. The Platform will aim to enable the development and adoption of gender lens investment strategies and help the financial and corporate sectors foster improved economic and social outcomes for all.

“Gender-diverse companies are shown to provide women with growth opportunities and generate profits 21 percent higher than less diverse companies. For this reason, Pro Mujer promotes gender mainstreaming across all sectors. We seek to institutionalize powerful approaches to bridge the gender gap and foster better business performances and return on investments. Given our long track record spearheading gender lends investment in Latin America, we [Pro Mujer] want to provide mainstream knowledge and best practices on this approach,” said Carmen Correa, CEO of Pro Mujer.

The Platform includes a diverse array of tools, resources, strategies, case studies, and ideas to help investors make women-centered, evidence-based decisions in their investment strategies and internal procedures. For instance, the Gender Map provides up to date data from gender-focused projects around Latin America, and the self-assessment guides users to see where their companies can generate a more significant gender equality impact.

“Women in Latin America keep facing many barriers to access funding to grow their businesses, yet investing in these companies represents a USD 93 billion opportunity for the region. For that reason, we are glad to provide a “go-to” interactive library of resources for a growing number of investors and stakeholders. With these tools, they will be able to share learnings and expand their range of services in gender equality and gender lens investment in Latin America and globally. In this way, we will expand the important work spearheaded by USAID under this project,” said Noelia Pacharotti, Senior Analist of Acrux Partners.

To access and start using the platform, click here https://thegenderplatform.promujer.org/

About Pro Mujer:

Pro Mujer is a social enterprise that, for over 30 years, has provided women in Latin America with services and tools to help them reach their full potential, improve their living conditions, and become agents of change in their communities.

The organization operates through a holistic and comprehensive model that seeks to help women in Latin America access health services, finance, and training opportunities.

Through a deep understanding of the most pressing needs of women in Latin America, Pro Mujer designs innovative programs that seek to respond to problems such as gender violence and the digital gender gap. In the region, Pro Mujer is a pioneer in promoting and raising awareness about gender-lens investment as an effective mechanism to close gaps and boost the productivity of companies

Pro Mujer’s work is closely aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and offers tangible results in eight SDGs: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, and 16.

More information at www.promujer.org

About Acrux Partners:

Acrux Partners is a leading impact investment firm in Latin America that provides advice to diverse market players on the development of their impact investment strategies, solutions and vehicles, and works to build the impact investment market in the region through the development of information and market intelligence and the building of networks and alliances.

The organization has a multi-disciplinary team of professionals who combine expertise in development, finance, sociology, and programme management, and share and drive their purpose, knowledge and track record in providing strategic advice to key market players.

Over the last seven years, Acrux Partners has advised governments, international development institutions, investment funds, foundations, and companies seeking to incorporate the analysis of environmental, social and corporate governance factors into their processes and policies, to develop the vehicles and tools to implement these types of investments, and to measure and report their impact using the most relevant international methodologies and standards.

More information at www.acruxpartners.com

About USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub

USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub works to improve the lives of people around the world by addressing the distinct and intersectional needs of women and girls, men and boys, in all their diversity. The Agency seeks to address the systems and practices that hinder optimal outcomes, and identify and address restrictive gender norms and inequalities to foster sustainable results.