InfoPoint Conference: How to make the business environment work for women’s economic empowerment (WEE)?

Lessons learnt from the ICR Facility’s support to WEE in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

Event Summary

Women’s economic empowerment is not just a moral imperative—it is a driver of economic growth and sustainability. Over the past five years, the ICR Facility has supported more than 60 interventions across African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, working to create a more gender-sensitive business environment. As a result:

30 policies have been adapted to promote women’s economic opportunities.
700 partners from the public and private sectors have strengthened their capacity to influence and implement gender-inclusive reforms.
Targeted technical assistance, training, and knowledge-sharing have provided the tools to make the business environment more inclusive for women.

This InfoPoint Conference provided an opportunity to reflect on key lessons and best practices from these interventions.

Key Topics Discussed

Findings and recommendations from the ICReport on Women’s Economic Empowerment
Strategies for mainstreaming gender in chambers of commerce and business membership organizations (BMOs)
A deep dive into case studies, including Nigeria’s approach to improving access to finance for women-owned businesses

Speakers

Marco Parolin, Policy Officer, DG INTPA, overseeing the implementation of this programme
Irene Danquah, Technical Advisor, ICR Facility
Daberuje Onesi-Lawani, Director, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN)
Frank Okafor, Green and Digital Economy Section, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS
Anthony Brand, SME Expert, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS)

Event Materials

Missed the event or want to revisit the discussions? Access the key resources below:

Download the Presentation Slides

Watch the Event Recording

Upcoming events

By supporting business climate and investment environment reforms, the ICR Facility aims to help generate more decent jobs and contribute to improving livelihoods in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Training on Business Environment Reforms to Support Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women's Economic Empowerment

Training on Busines Environment Reforms to Support Women’s Economic Empowerment What? The course develops awareness and provides tools to advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) through Business Environment Reform (BER) in African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Participants learn to apply a gender-sensitive and gender-transformative lens when they work on their own reforms, taking into account […]

How to develop a gender approach in Development Finance Institutions

Access to Finance

What? In these free, self-paced training modules you will learn how to develop a gender finance approach in the development finance institution. It is an interactive way to learn more about institutional gender mainstreaming, actions and measures to be taken in the organisation to ensure gender inclusion. The training contains videos, texts, interactive exercises and […]

Training on Business Environment Reforms Tools

Business Regulation and Policy

In these self-paced modules in “Business Environment Reform Tools”, representatives from public and private stakeholders in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries will learn how to use practical and straight-forward tools to improve the business environment in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. You will earn a PDF certificate once you pass all the tasks of the four modules. […]

You may also be interested in these ICReports

Enhancing Access to Finance for Women-Owned Enterprises

Women’s economic empowerment is key to ensuring that women not only enjoy equal rights and liberties but also, that they are able to contribute to a nation’s socio- economic progress.Beyond the subject of social justice, women’s economic empowerment is also recognised as a critical driver of sustainable economic growth When women are economically empowered, […]

Gender Inclusive Access to Finance Checklist

This gender inclusive access to finance checklist has been designed to guide the development and implementation of gender-sensitive access to finance programmes for Women-owned Enterprises. It is divided into the following key areas: Design, Promotion, Delivery, and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E). Each section contains specific questions that can be answered with “Yes” or “No,” allowing […]

An Event for Change: Gaps and Solutions to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment

During the 05 and 06 June 2024, the ICR4WEE Conference welcomed over 140 participants, inclusive of attendees from 36 ACP countries, in Kigali, Rwanda. This ICReport provides a comprehensive overview of the Conference, and reflects upon the critical topics examined throughout the two days of interactive panel discussion and debate, including: Gender-sensitive industrial policies The […]

Evidence-based studies in selected OACPS countries (Upcoming)

Overview The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) comprises a group of countries with very different economic profiles, ranging from fast growing economies to a significant number of least developed countries. Even those regions or countries that in the past years had experienced sustainable economic growth, are met with challenges regarding increasing poverty […]

You may also be interested in these ICR Stories

Gender Champions in DFIs: Insights for Impact from Jamaica and Namibia

Gender champions are agents of change in development finance institutions (DFIs). They drive efforts to embed gender equality in the DNA of their organisations and promote inclusive lending practices to narrow funding gaps for women entrepreneurs. The ICR Facility, which advises DFIs in African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries on gender mainstreaming, has invited gender champions […]

Boosting the financial success of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria

With approximately 223 million people, Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and has the largest economy, with its entrepreneurs and their enterprises the engine of the economy. They account for roughly 96% of all businesses (most of which are micro, small and medium enterprises, also known as MSMEs) and 33% are owned by […]

Building a crowdfunding model to support businesses in the DRC: a blueprint

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Africa’s second largest country with a population of 109m, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play a pivotal role in the economy. They comprise up to 90% of all businesses, account for 70% of jobs and drive innovation through creative solutions to local challenges. Yet as in most […]

How is the ICR Facility supporting women’s voices in Public-Private Dialogue (PPD)? And why is it still needed?

The ICR Facility is supporting its partners to increase women’s participation in public-private dialogues. Our new ICReport How to make the Business Environment work for Women’s Economic Empowerment builds on an earlier publication Promoting Women’s Organisations into Public-Private Dialogues in order to Foster Women’s Economic Empowerment in ACP Countries and demonstrates how the recommendations made can […]

You may also be interested in these event recordings

Trends and Best Practice in Mainstreaming Gender in Chambers of Commerce and Business Membership Organisations in ACP Countries

The ICR Facility aims to provide capacity building to Chambers of Commerce and more broadly Business Membership Organisations in member states of the OACPS so that they can identify good practices in promoting and encouraging women economic empowerment, and support these organisations by providing tools and guidance to apply this knowledge. The identification of good practices […]

Business Environment Reforms through Public- Private Dialogue – Lessons learnt from the ICR Facility’s Interventions

The ICR Facility supports governments, public agencies and private sector representative bodies in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries to improve their business environment on the basis of Public-Private Dialogue (PPD). PPD is an effective tool to enhance collaboration between public and private actors. It is a continuous and semi-structured process that brings together various […]

ICR4WEE Conference

The Investment Climate Reform (ICR) Facility has organised the ICR4WEE Conference on 5-6 June 2024. The event focused on creating better legal, institutional, and regulatory conditions for businesses to grow and operate, as well as to improve women’s participation in policy-making processes. Building on its successful activities and the dynamic networks it has established across African, Caribbean […]

Webinar: Trends in Care Economy Policies in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

The Care Economy — including childcare, eldercare and domestic work — is vital to society, yet it remains invisible, undervalued, and unevenly distributed. The disproportionate share of care and domestic work that falls on women and girls, especially when it is unpaid, is a key barrier to their participation in the workforce and negatively impacts […]

Contact us