Amelia Lopez Huix

🟰Gender equality is a key driver of performance. Yet few social bonds are directly promoting gender equality. Social Bonds as well as Sustainability- linked Bonds are great instruments for companies to define and communicate their commitment to the market. 🏦Given trends observed over the past few months where the pandemic has expanded the gender gap, in a gender-regressive scenario in which no action is taken to counter the negative effects, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimates that global GDP growth could be $1 trillion lower in 2030 than it would be if women’s unemployment simply tracked that of men in each sector. Conversely, taking action now to advance gender equality could be valuable, adding $13 trillion to global GDP in 2030 compared with the gender regressive scenario. 💹Using Sustainable Debt for Gender Equality might be one of the most important instruments to accelerate progress and advance gender equality to meet tangible targets. 📊👩‍💻What is considered a Gender Bond? An issuer may consider a Social Bond that is exclusively dedicated to gender equality (a gender bond) if: •the issuer aims to raise its profile as a leader in advancing gender equality; and, •the issuer’s pipeline or forecast includes gender projects that are exclusively focused on gender equality; and, •the aggregate financial needs of the gender projects in the issuer’s pipeline are expected to equate to the size of bond that the issuer wishes to issue. 🌎The main message for the sustainable finance sector is to become aware of the social and economic risks at stake when not advancing gender equality in business strategy and operations at all levels. 🤝With less than a decade remaining to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, financing solutions that drive gender equality must be accelerated.

MCI Partners supports countries conducting diagnostic studies of the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for gender lens investments. The reviews are published as advisory reports containing concrete policy advice specific to each country. MCI Partners provides technical assistance activities to support countries in implementing the Reviews’ recommendations and improving the prospects for gender parity, decent work, and sustainable development at the country level.

Gender Equality has never been more meaningful to how markets, sectors, and companies perform. As leaders face critical decisions about growing businesses, cutting costs, defining future investment allocations, and leaving or entering markets, gender matters and the business environment are wild cards that can make or break a strategy. We offer three tiers of consulting engagements to fit your needs. You will have a strategic framework with specific action items to achieve your targeted goals at the end of any engagement. Strategy Workshops: Partner with us to develop your Gender Equality strategy with our most streamlined approach. Best for companies that already have significant data, and need the expertise to guide review of their data to create an effective strategy. Condensed Strategy Engagement: An efficient data collection and analysis approach that shapes your targeted strategy. Best for a company that wants to understand the foundational need-to-know Gender Equality issues facing their organization. Strategy Deep Dive: Our most in-depth and hands-on analysis. Best for a company that wants to understand all facets of the Gender Equality issues facing their organization.

MCI Partners facilitates the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges, and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, assisting member states on their Voluntary National Reviews, also seeking to strengthen policies and institutions of governments and to mobilize multi-stakeholder support and partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The ILO Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) is a powerful tool for introducing and managing institutional change. A PGA is a transformative process that yields knowledge, techniques and tools to develop skills, and changes in attitudes and behaviours. The PGA is carried out by a facilitation team which engages in data compilation (at a distance), direct observation and dialogue with people in the organization (working at the headquarters of the institution audited for 1–2 weeks). Following group participation and collective discussion, a report is produced that describes the organisation’s capacity to promote gender equality and diversity, indicating its strengths and weaknesses.