The Board of Directors of African Development Bank Group (AFDB) has approved a new Gender Equality Trust Fund aimed at pushing forward gender equality and women’s empowerment across the continent.
GETF which is funded by donors will support the delivery and scale up of the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Programme and promote gender transformative lending and non lending operations.
AFAWA aims to bridge the $42 billion financing gap facing women in Africa.
AfDB will be spearheading a major push to unlock women’s entrepreneurial capacity and economic participation for maximum development impact.
The Board also approved a Risk- Sharing Mechanism to de-risk women empowered businesses, enhance their profile with banks and support them to grow and thrive as entrepreneurs.
Akinwunmi Adesina, the African Development Bank president said, “It is a great day for us as a Bank. It is a great day for the continent and the women of Africa as this facility provides innovative challenges for African women business owners.”
Vanessa Moungar, the bank director has described the approval as “the largest Effort ever to bridge the gap in access to finance for women in Africa’s history.”
He added that the Fund’s resources and the Risk-sharing Mechanism would prioritize women’s economic empowerment and high impact women’s initiative.
Apart from the G7 donors and the Netherlands, other countries are showing strong interest in contributing to the initiative, including Rwanda and Sweden.
