Investing in Women Phase 2 (2019-23) Mid-Term Review Pathway 2 Report

Highlights

Investing in Women (IW) consists of three pathways, with each pathway contributing to improvements in the enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment (WEE) by supporting the removal of barriers to women’s full economic participation. This report presents findings and recommendations from the Phase 2 Mid-Term Review of Pathway 2 (P2) focused on Impact investment for women’s small and medium enterprises (WSMEs).

Under P2, IW has partnered directly with impact investors to strengthen access to finance for WSMEs in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, and to build a business case for a more inclusive investing environment globally. P2 provides its investing partners with capital and tailored support through its “Capital+” model, which not only increases investment into WSMEs but also embeds gender lens investment practices across a partner’s organisational and investment processes. In parallel, P2 has partnered with some of the most influential and well-networked partners in the gender lens investing (GLI) space who play a market-building role in creating awareness, building capability and advocating for the deployment of capital with a gender lens.

While the program is not yet complete, all early indicators suggest that Pathway 2 is expected to successfully achieve its end-of-program outcomes and, in the process, create a strong evidence base for gender lens investing overall. The report findings suggest that through P2, IW has created a strong foundation that provides Australia and DFAT with the experience and credibility to take WEE to the next level in South East Asia, while continuing to successfully build the case for gender lens investing.