More than 300 women from Guatemala and El Salvador have accessed free training through the hybrid Emprende Pro Mujer program, Pro Mujer’s entrepreneurial training platform that has impacted more than 42,000 women in Latin America.
As part of our efforts to reach women with lower levels of digital literacy, we launched the hybrid version of the Emprende Pro Mujer platform in Central America following two successful years of operation in Southeast Mexico.
The hybrid model uses an intersectional perspective to understand the particular needs of different women, incorporating in-person sessions facilitated by local women to complement the available digital resources and improve the experience and outcomes for underserved women.
Thanks to these adjustments, the hybrid program has successfully impacted more than 2,600 women in the region and will continue to expand to reach more women with limited digital skills and resources.
Training sessions have been held in 10 departments of Guatemala and El Salvador, reaching 377 women entrepreneurs.
Pro Mujer has worked with women in Central America since 2022, a region that faces serious challenges in terms of gender equality. In Guatemala, 52% of MSMEs led by women have struggled to access financing due to gender, and only 20% of small businesses are led by women (IDB, 2021).
El Salvador has the third largest professional gender gap in Latin America and the Caribbean (World Bank, 2019). Additionally, only 35% of women participate in the labor market versus 50% of men (World Bank, 2022).
The hybrid training offered by the Emprende Pro Mujer platform provides women in Central America with practical and scalable knowledge to strengthen their financial, entrepreneurial, and digital skills.
The platform’s initial success reflects the hard work of our global partners, including Target, UPS, and Google.org, as well as local partners SOSEP, RED MUJERES, and CREAMOS.
This initiative is part of our commitments as a member of the Partnership For Central America, an initiative launched by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021.
