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In many countries, social norms and laws restrict women’s ability to control property, so female entrepreneurs are often unable to obtain the real estate needed to satisfy traditional collateral requirements for loans. Asset-based lending (ABL) allows businesses to use their company’s moveable assets — such as equipment, vehicles, livestock, and inventory — as pledged collateral. Recently, INVEST and USAID have been exploring the intersection of ABL and women’s access to finance in Colombia.

Indonesian women’s roles in agriculture tend to be less visible and are frequently overlooked by agricultural input companies, government extension workers and even development programs. Unsurprisingly, gender considerations are largely absent from agricultural marketing activities and direct sales agent (DSA) models. To understand and address this gap, PRISMA conducted research on 10 agricultural sector partners and their respective DSA programs.

In January 2020, the Feed the Future Ghana Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement II (ADVANCE II) Project conducted a gender assessment in these culturally distinct regions to explore how women performed as members of village savings and loan associations (VSLAs).

Attention to inclusivity of youth and women in market systems development (MSD) is gaining traction around the world as part of work to strengthen inclusive agriculture-led growth, food security, poverty reduction, and improved employment. In recent years, at least 15 agriculture-related MSD activities valued at a combined half a billion U.S. dollars have targeted women and, increasingly, youth.

To strengthen economic prosperity in the Kingdom of Jordan, bolster female employment. 

In August, we’ll focus on women and youth in agriculture. Throughout the month, we’ll explore gender and youth-specific constraints and opportunities in agriculture and supporting inclusive market systems.

Whilst there is increasing recognition of unpaid care work and its impact on women’s economic empowerment (WEE), there remains little practical guidance on how to foster its reduction and redistribution among society.

In our recent webinar discussing the findings from the Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE) landscape analysis and case studies on women and youth inclusion in agricultural market systems, we were joined by RisiAlbania and ELAN RDC, two of the activities featured in the case studies. 

Individuals now have the opportunity to join the SEEP Network.

The White House–led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative brings new energy and a comprehensive approach to our mission at USAID.

Examining gender-specific COVID-19 impacts and integrating women’s empowerment interventions in agriculture remains essential to COVID-19 survival and recovery.

With support from USAID, the MRR Innovation Lab, The BOMA Project, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) collaborated on a resilence-focused project in Samburu that helps women to build up and keep their assets in spite of natural and manmade shocks. 

To strengthen economic prosperity in the Kingdom of Jordan, bolster female employment.

The Heifer International program in Nepal provided women with goats and training to facilitate sustainable escapes from poverty.

How is COVID-19 and Senegal’s response to the pandemic affecting the fishing industry as a whole?

Through the 2X Women’s Initiative, DFC invests in businesses and funds owned by women, led by women, or providing a product or service that intentionally empowers women, such as clean water and quality healthcare.

While women are making progress in attracting venture capital and angel funding, they still are vastly underrepresented in the funding league tables.

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth recently collaborated with Mercy Corp's virtual mentoring program, MicroMentor, to deliver an Arabic platform in Jordan and the MENA region.

How women, gender equality, and social norms are critical to recovering from the COVID-19 crisis.

How do agricultural households make decisions about the uptake of new practices or inputs alongside savings, credit, and insurance products? MEDA INNOVATE shares learnings on the potential of non-traditional finance to enable agricultural innovation adoption among smallholder farmers.

Sylvia Natukunda is feeling the effects of COVID-19. As the founder of Farm Reap, a Kampala, Uganda-based company that produces five flavors of yogurt, she is putting together a game plan on how to keep her business profitable.

This blog post summarizes the Cracking the Nut conference held in October 2019 and presents the downloadable conference report.

Blended finance has demonstrated the ability to mobilize additional financing for gender-focused projects and companies that advantage women and narrow the gender gap, with a quarter of all blended transactions demonstrating alignment with SDG 5 (Gender Equality) to date.

Access to finance is a major pain point in market systems development, but how can we go beyond traditional financing methods to better reach agricultural businesses?

Sunday, March 8, 2020, is International Women’s Day. Here are some previous blog posts from Marketlinks that detail the advancement of gender equality worldwide.