As the world grapples with the pandemic, the new State of Economic Inclusion
report points to paths out of poverty for the poorest and most vulnerable.
The World Bank estimates that the economic fallout from the pandemic may add as many as 150 million extreme poor by 2021. Women, children, displaced populations, and people with disabilities have been particularly hard hit.
Woman worker in leather goods factory in Bogota, Colombia
Today, women have just three-quarters of the legal rights of men. In 1970, it was less 
than half. The Women, Business and the Law 2020 report presented results from our recent effort to document how laws have changed since 1970. This exceptional dataset has already facilitated ground-breaking research that shows that a country’s performance on the Women, Business and the Law index is associated with more women in the labor force, a smaller wage gap between men and women, and greater investments in health and education. We hope that sharing the data and reform descriptions on our website will lead to more evidence that will inspire policymakers to change their laws so that more women can contribute to economic growth and development.
Deadline: 16-Mar-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
WBGs Advisory Project aims to design and deliver startup/acceleration program for 
competitively selected women-owned SMEs in high-tech sector in three regions. It will consist of a mix of individual and group mentoring, coaching and technical advisory aimed to improve business skills, investment readiness, and soft skills (negotiation, confidence, pitching, and so on) of beneficiaries as well as access to larger business networks and funding. The program will also include a series of networking events, aimed at expanding women-owned SMEs linkages to financial institutions and new business networks. Particular focus will be placed on creating links between women-owned SMEs and (1) financial institutions to address accessing to finance constraints; and (2) large firms/corporates to facilitate women integration in supply chains and access to business networks. The expected impact is the improved performance of women entrepreneurs in terms of revenue, funding obtained, jobs created.
Deadline: 24-Jun-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
The Investment Climate (IC) in Agribusiness project is a pillar of the IFC-World Bank 
Action Plan to promote the agribusiness sector in Guinea. The World Bank Group recently assessed the main constraints and opportunities for the development of the agribusiness sector in Guinea.
The IC in Agribusiness project aims to improve the business climate for agribusiness through the implementation of targeted reforms aimed at unlocking investments high potential value chains and improving investments retention and generation. To implement these reforms, a dialogue mechanism to mobilize government and business community’s commitment is needed.
The IFC seeks to hire the services of a Consultant to support the identification and implementation of priority reforms for the agribusiness sector in Guinea. The Consultant will help drive the reforms on the Guinea agribusiness sector and will work closely with the designated teams within to implement these reforms.
Deadline: 18-Jun-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
Determine viable Business Models for the establishment of a photovoltaic energy 
generation project at the Central de Abastos in Mexico City. This project will include the installation of solar panels and internal interconnection, as well as connection to the public network in common areas (existing ceilings and current roofless parking areas) with the objective of generating clean energy.
Women, Business and the Law measures global progress toward gender equality in the 
law. Topic notes and related research provide further analysis of the data. To gain new insight into how women’s employment and entrepreneurship choices are affected by legal gender discrimination, this study examines ten years of Women, Business and the Law data through an index structured around economic decisions women make as they go through different stages of their working lives.
