WASHINGTON — A year in, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative is getting mixed reviews from development and gender experts — the whole-of-government effort to narrow the economic gender gap is broadly praised, but some of the details leave room for improvement.
There is widespread, bipartisan support for the program in general, as evidenced by bills making their way through both chambers of Congress in a push to codify the initiative.
W-GDP launched in February 2019 with the goal of reaching 50 million women by 2025 through three pillars of work: improving access to vocational training and helping women secure jobs; supporting women entrepreneurs through access to capital and networks; and removing legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers to women’s economic participation.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
