In February, a strategic gender policy workshop was held at Development Bank Ghana, with the management team under the guidance of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Technical Assistance. The team spearheaded the brainstorming and discussion sessions on Gender Finance and the role of DBG in the Ghanaian financial sector.

Highlight of the discussion was the insight into how Ghana had the highest rate of businesses owned by women worldwide (46.4%) and yet faced major challenges in accessing loans to grow their businesses.

Development Finance Institutions place a premium on gender equality in their development mandate to empower women; while driving the Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls). As a result, lending to WSMEs through Partner Financial Institutions, is well placed to play a key role for higher financial inclusion in the market.

The workshop took stock of Ghana’s Gender Country Profile, reflected on Banks and MFI’s constraints in responding to Women-led enterprises, and brainstormed on what DBG can do. This resulted in DBG’s most likely key elements of a future Gender policy, from vision to implementation steps and impact evaluation.