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MIGA’s goal is to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth and more.

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Explore global projects that support economic growth, reduce poverty and improves people’s lives.

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Learn about the progress MIGA is making in its mission to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives.

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World Bank building

MIGA’s goal is to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth and more.

Our Impact Dropdown Description

Hands husking peas into a basket full of peas

Learn about the progress MIGA is making in its mission to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives.

Our Products Dropdown Description

Young woman bending down to tending to her outside chores

Explore different types of political risk insurance guarantees provided to investors and lenders.

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Explore global projects that support economic growth, reduce poverty and improves people’s lives.

Gender
OUR IMPACT

Gender

Overview
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Globally, women have not seen their participation in the labor force improve since 1990. And when they do get a seat at the table they aren’t paid equally. We cannot defeat poverty with half the world’s population on the sideline.

Remarks at the 2023 Annual Meetings Plenary

Ajay Banga

President, World Bank Group

Gender equality is a pressing priority. Global crises—climate change, fragility, and pandemics—disproportionately impact women, girls, sexual and gender minorities, and marginalized groups. Moreover, gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of the most common human rights violations worldwide.

Addressing gender gaps and GBV requires sustained and broad-based commitment, supported by knowledge sharing, evidence-based solutions, and targeted finance and de-risking instruments.

The private sector has a leading role to play with its ability to mobilize capital, create jobs, and deliver economic opportunities.

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The exclusion of half of a country’s population from full economic activity remains a barrier to growth and higher living standards in too many countries, and MIGA continues to earmark funds in projects it supports for women, a long-underfinanced group.

Read more in the MIGA Annual Report

Hiroshi Matano

Executive Vice President, MIGA

Expanding Opportunities for Women

MIGA’s commitment to advancing gender equality is anchored in a strong private sector business case.

Private Sector Value

Private Sector Value

Narrowing gaps between women and men can pay big dividends at the country, community, and corporate levels.

Historically, women have been underrepresented in most industry roles, from board-level leadership positions to skilled employees to owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). By embracing the business case for engaging with women more intentionally, companies unlock opportunities, develop new markets, and increase profits and innovation.

Narrowing gaps between women and men can also reduce income inequality and improve the variety of goods a country produces and exports, boosting economic growth and private sector business opportunities.

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MIGA is helping to drive gender equality through its strong partnership with financial intermediaries: lending institutions can play an outsized role in ensuring that money flows into small, medium and microenterprises led by women or employing women.

Read more in the MIGA Sustainability Report

Junaid Ahmad

Vice President, Operations, MIGA

MIGA is aligned with the World Bank Group’s approach to accelerating gender equality for a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future.

MIGA's vision is to integrate gender across its operations and support clients in implementing strategic gender actions. Our client engagement focuses on advancing equal access to quality employment, supporting entrepreneurship and economic participation, as well as expanding care, digital inclusion, and ending gender-based violence (GBV).

Gender-based violence (GBV) risk considerations are integrated into MIGA’s environmental and social risk management processes through the application of tools to identify, assess, and monitor GBV risks across the project cycle. MIGA clients are expected to implement measures to prevent GBV and be ready to respond to reports of GBV in workplaces and communities to enable a safe and inclusive environment. 

Our Impact

MIGA’s strong focus on delivering development impact requires strategic action to narrow gender gaps across five stakeholder groups where women are often underrepresented or underserved: leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, consumers, and community members.

Since 2021, MIGA has mobilized over $1.4 billion in client lending commitments to women and women-owned businesses. Moreover, adequately measuring and monitoring progress is a crucial continuous effort to assess MIGA's contributions to advancing gender equality against its objectives.

MIGA clients committed to take actions that accelerate gender equality

  • Colombia
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Chile
  • Bosnia
  • Gaza
  • Peru
  • Guinea
  • Liberia
  • Cote
  • Argentina
  • Kosovo
  • Kosovo
  • Kosovo
  • Nigeria
  • Uganda
  • Rwanda
  • DRC
  • Cambodia
  • Morocco
  • Brazil
  • Turkiye
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  • Colombia

    Banco de Comercio Exterior de Colombia S.A. (Bancóldex)

    Colombia

    FINCAP | FY23

  • Panama

    Banco Nacional de Panamá

    Panama

    FINCAP | FY25

  • Paraguay

    Agencia Financiera de Desarollo

    Paraguay

    FINCAP | FY22

  • Chile

    Santander Chile

    Chile

    FINCAP | FY21

  • Bosnia

    Raiffeisen Bank d.d. Bosna i Hercegovina (RBBH)

    Bosnia

    FINCAP | FY23

  • Gaza

    Nakheel

    West Bank / Gaza

    MAS | FY23

  • Peru

    Fondo Mivivienda S.A.(FMV)

    Peru

    FINCAP | FY23

  • Guinea

    Orange Guinée SA & Orange Finances Mobiles Guinée SA

    Guinea

    INFRA | FY24

  • Liberia

    Orange Cote d’Ivoire Participations

    Liberia

    INFRA | FY24

  • Liberia

    Kasada Hospitality Fund

    Côte D'Ivoire

    MAS | FY24

  • Argentina

    Banco Santander Rio S.A.

    Argentina

    FINCAP | FY22 & FY23

  • Kosovo

    ProCredit Holding

    Albania, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine

    FINCAP | FY23

  • Kosovo

    ProCredit Holding

    Albania, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine

    FINCAP | FY23

  • Kosovo

    ProCredit Holding

    Albania, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine

    FINCAP | FY23

  • Nigeria

    Konexa Solar Power

    Nigeria

    EEI | FY24

  • Nigeria

    Engie-Equatorial Limited

    Uganda

    EEI | FY24

  • Rwanda

    Kasada Hospitality Fund LP

    Rwanda

    MAS | FY24

  • DRC

    Nuru Solar-Hybrid Mini Grids

    DRC

    EEI | FY24

  • Cambodia

    Advanced Bank of Asia Ltd

    Cambodia

    FINCAP | FY22

  • Morocco

    OCP SA - UM6P

    Morocco

    MAS | FY25

  • Brazil

    Banco do Brasil

    Brazil

    FINCAP | FY25

  • Turkiye

    Türk Eximbank

    Türkiye

    FINCAP | FY25

Gender flagged projects as of September 2024

Note project sectors: EEI = Energy and Extractive Industries, FINCAP = Finance and Capital Markets, INFRA = Infrastructure, MAS = Manufacturing, Agribusiness, Services. FY = fiscal year, July-June.

Sector teams at MIGA leverage lessons learned and knowledge acquired to narrow gender gaps and screen for gender-based violence risks. MIGA also continues to build capacity for its staff on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Our Strategy

MIGA co-developed the World Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024-2030 with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank. The Gender Strategy aims to accelerate gender equality and outlines the support that the World Bank Group (WBG), including MIGA, will provide to clients for a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future, in alignment with the WBG evolution roadmap.

Objective

World Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024-2030 - Strategic Objectives

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The business case for gender equality is overwhelming: correcting gender imbalances can lead to significant economic and business gains in developing countries. 

Ethiopis Tafara

Vice President and Chief Risk, Legal and Sustainability Officer and Partnerships

Read more in the MIGA Sustainability Report

MIGA leverages its unique role in development finance as a provider of political risk insurance and credit enhancement solutions to encourage clients to integrate gender in their work. MIGA's approach comprises two strategic pillars: client engagement and corporate, with partnerships used as a tool for furthering MIGA’s gender work and expanding the knowledge base on gender-related issues.

Client Engagement active

Client Engagement

MIGA’s client engagement on gender focuses on

1.Risks related to gender-based violence (GBV), and
2.Identifying opportunities to narrow gender gaps.

MIGA screens each proposed project on risks related to GBV in workplaces (sexual harassment) and in project communities (sexual exploitation and abuse).
MIGA also works with its clients to gender flag projects.

Corporate active

Corporate

At the corporate level, MIGA works to increase gender parity and equality as part of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Staff are encouraged to participate in training courses, workshops, and small-group discussions on DEI, offering a platform for learning and transparent and open discussion.

The Gender Flag is a tool for strengthening the emphasis on narrowing gender gaps in MIGA-supported projects. The results-oriented Gender Flag relies on gender analysis to inform client actions and results indicators. The use of the Flag and associated corporate targets, training, and support mechanisms has boosted awareness and capacity to engage MIGA clients on gender equality.

To earn a Gender Flag, a project must take intentional actions to narrow identified gender gaps. The implementation and impact of these actions, outlined in a Gender Action Plan (GAP), is measured as part of the project results framework. Read more in the World Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024–2030.

Partnerships with external organizations serve an essential role in furthering MIGA’s gender work and expanding the knowledge base on gender-related issues.

MIGA is a founding member of 2X Global—a membership and field-building organization for gender-smart investors, capital providers, and intermediaries working in public and private markets. MIGA is a strategic partner of the Financial Alliance for Women (FAW) — a leading members’ network of financial services companies dedicated to championing the female economy, with the ambition of unlocking the full value of the female economy.

MIGA also closely collaborates with IFC and the World Bank, benefiting from their expertise and leveraging lessons learned and best practices.

Gender Focus in Our Projects

MIGA at work on Gender

Brazil

Brazil

Scaling knowledge and economic inclusion through innovative pilot programs

Ukraine

Ukraine

Implementing a Gender Training Program in a Bank Subsidiary in Ukraine

Video

Freeing up Capital For Small Businesses

Colombia

Colombia

Building Gender Finance Capacity at Bancóldex and in Colombian Financial Institutions 

Video

Innovation through Female Entrepreneurship

Paraguay

Paraguay

Developing a Sustainable Gender Program at a Second-Floor Bank

Peru

Peru

Improving Women’s Access to Mortgages

Rwanda

Rwanda

Supporting Women in Leadership in the Hospitality Sector

Video

Silverlands Boosting Poultry Farming in Tanzania: Eva’s Story

Video

The Shift to a Green and Caring Economy

Nigeria

Nigeria

Energizing Equality: Job Creation in Nigeria's Power Sector

Guinea

Guinea

Bridging the Digital Divide: Empowering Women through Digital Inclusion

Gender Leadership Award

Each year, MIGA hosts the Gender Leadership Award (formerly the Gender CEO Award) to recognize a leader who has a proven track record of furthering women’s advancement and gender equality while contributing to the World Bank Group’s twin goals of reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. 

Past Award Recipients

2023
Claudia María González Arteaga, Chief Financial Officer at Bancóldex (Banco de Desarrollo Empresarial de Colombia). 

2022
Lucy Heintz, Partner and Head of Energy Infrastructure at Actis

2021
Audra Low, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director at Clifford Capital

2020
Aïssata S. Béavogui, Director General at Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC)

2019 
Lara de Mesa, Head of Responsible Banking at Banco Santander Group

2018 
Julie Monaco, the Global Head of the Public Sector at Citigroup

Video
Video

MIGA presented its Gender CEO Award to honor senior managers who have a proven track record of seeking to further the causes of women’s advancement and gender equality.

Read More

2017 
Helen Tarnoy, MD at Aldwych Intl

Video
Video

MIGA hosted its 2nd Gender CEO Award on International Women's Day to recognize the accomplishments of Helen Tarnoy, who has a record of seeking to create opportunities for women and promoting gender equality.

Read More

2016 
Nourah Mehyar, CEO of Nafith Logistics

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