-- The Report, A Roadmap for Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment, Identifies Key Interventions for Increasing Women's Productivity and Earnings Worldwide
IRVING, Texas and WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Nations Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation announced today a new evidence-based report that identifies proven, promising and high-potential interventions to promote women's economic advancement around the world. The report, A Roadmap for Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment, provides funders, NGOs and governments a framework for selecting and implementing programs that successfully increase women's productivity and earnings in particular economic and country contexts.
Research has demonstrated that when women are economically empowered, communities and nations benefit. Yet, until now, there remained a crucial knowledge gap regarding the most effective interventions that directly advance women's economic opportunities. To address this gap, the UN Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation joined forces in 2012 to produce A Roadmap for Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment.
"We know that expanding economic opportunities for women is the right and smart thing to do. The big question is how," said Mayra Buvinic, UN Foundation Senior Fellow and lead author of the report. "This report and roadmap draw on the best available evidence to guide funding and action toward economic empowerment programs that have demonstrated results and can be scaled for impact."
The report, the first of its kind to gather this breadth of existing research, summarizes the findings of 18 research studies with a focus on programs across four categories: entrepreneurship, farming, wage employment and young women's employment. On the basis of these studies, the project compiled a database of 136 published empirical evaluations of programs and policies. The research studies and the report systematically analyzed the effectiveness of interventions in terms of increasing women's productivity and earnings, taking into account the economic and social contexts. They also looked at the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of programs to provide a new, reliable framework for how best to empower women.
"There is widespread agreement that expanding economic opportunities for women is integral to broader global development and economic progress," said Suzanne McCarron, President, ExxonMobil Foundation. "We are hopeful this report will be an important resource for the community of funders, practitioners and policymakers as they look to shape or strengthen the impact of their programs."
Key lessons from the report include:
This report is a joint initiative, building on the shared interests and expertise of the UN Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation, both of which have long prioritized the economic empowerment of women as a means of promoting economic and social development.
For more than a decade, the UN Foundation has helped the United Nations address the rights and needs of women and girls. The UN Foundation works with the UN, civil society, governments and the private sector to promote gender equality, advance reproductive and maternal health, empower adolescent girls, and eliminate gender-based violence.
The grant awarded to the UN Foundation for this research is part of more than $60 million invested by ExxonMobil and the ExxonMobil Foundation in the past eight years to support the economic advancement of women.
The report and a searchable database of empirical program and policy evaluations are available at www.womeneconroadmap.org.