Tag Archives: Women

Women, Business and the Law 2026

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You are receiving this email because you signed up for our World Bank Live Updates. We want to let you know that we have a new event coming up.  

February 24, 2026 <a href=”https://t.newsletterext.worldbank.org/r/?id=h2b2ee0f5,eee3225,ef2b99c&e=cDE9PGIgc3R5bGU9J2NvbG9yOg&s=zGT66GYPFF33l5dYVLcOjlfn37s7L0niNs2YVRGL9uE#004370;font-size:16px;’>Women, Business and the Law 2026—Benchmarking Laws for Jobs and Inclusive GrowthWomen, Business and the Law 2026—Benchmarking Laws for Jobs and Inclusive Growth Location: Online
Advancing women’s economic participation is a key driver of growth and job creation. Estimates suggest that removing barriers to women’s economic participation could raise global output by 15–20 percent. Yet progress remains uneven, with many countries facing persistent gaps in legislation, implementing policies and institutions, and legal enforcement.

Join us online or in person in the Preston Auditorium at the World Bank Group Headquarters in Washington, DC, for the global launch of Women, Business and the Law 2026,a flagship World Bank Group report that examines the legal and policy factors shaping women’s access to economic opportunities. Drawing on data from 190 economies, the report benchmarks progress across 10 dimensions of women’s economic life, including pay, assets, entrepreneurship, childcare, and workplace protections.
  This event will explore where gaps remain, which reforms have proven effective, and how legal and policy choices can support more inclusive and competitive economies. Policymakers, researchers, business leaders, and development practitioners will discuss the evidence behind women’s economic rights and their implications for growth and jobs.

Welcome and Opening
– Sumi Somaskanda, Chief Anchor, BBC News
– Indermit Gill, Chief Economist and Senior VP of Development Economics, WBG
– Paschal Donohoe, Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer, WBG

Key Messages of Women, Business and the Law 2026

– Tea Trumbic, Manager, Women, Business and the Law, WBG Voice of an Entrepreneur
– Lina Maria Useche Jaramillo

Panel — Legal reforms and actions needed to accelerate inclusive growth
– Gargee Ghosh, President of Global Policy and Advocacy, Gates Foundation
– Norman Loayza, Director, Policy Indicators Group, WBG
– H.E. Wafa Bani Mustafa, Minister of Social Development, Jordan
– Moderated by: Sumi Somaskanda Closing Remarks
 
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Is Artificial Intelligence the future of farming? Exploring opportunities and challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Across Sub-Saharan Africa, a quiet revolution is underway. Smallholder farmers are increasingly leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), once a futuristic concept, to transform agriculture. AI now plays a crucial role in addressing the region’s most pressing challenges: food insecurity, environmental degradation, and economic inequality. 

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Empowering Women Tech Entrepreneurs in Georgia Unleashes Innovation

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Women in Georgia’s technology sector face the same market challenges as men in launching startups but must also contend with preconceived notions of “acceptable” women’s work, and these biases can impact access to funding, mentorship, and networking.
  • The World Bank has helped the country address this gap by providing training and mentorship opportunities to thousands of entrepreneurs, over half of them women.
  • GENIE Program graduates—like Nato Toronjadze, founder and CEO of Bizon, and Ana Robakidze, founder and CEO of Theneo—despite the challenges, have turned their innovative ideas into successful ventures that are creating jobs and boosting growth.
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World Bank Group Sanctions System: Promoting good governance and tackling corruption

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Accountability is a basic principle of good governance. But in a rapidly evolving world, howanti-corruption-day-1140x500_1140x500 can public institutions ensure their checks and balances remain strong and responsive to change?  

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USAID Launches New Window of $50 Million for EDGE Fund to Boost Innovation through Private Sector Partnerships

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Press Release

USAID announced a new $50 million round of funding for the USAID’s EDGE Fund. The EDGE Fund enables USAID Missions worldwide to leverage private sector expertise, networks and supply chains to drive sustainable and scalable solutions to global challenges.  

Recognizing that the needs faced by communities around the globe are simply too large for governments and donors to tackle alone, USAID engages a wide range of partners in its work, most notably the private sector. The EDGE Fund supports the most catalytic types of private sector partnerships in which there is significant alignment between the commercial interests of our private sector partners, the development objectives of the Agency, and development needs of local populations, ensuring continued private sector investment into targeted communities well into the future.

Through prior rounds of EDGE funding, USAID is investing $100 million and is leveraging over $280 million from the private sector to implement solutions that could unlock upwards of $2 billion in mobilized investments for sustainable development. Through collaborations with over 80 private sector partners, the EDGE Fund is advancing market-led solutions that address conflict, displacement, and food insecurity; accelerate inclusive economic growth; tackle the climate crisis; and combat political repression and corruption.   

This new $50 million third round of funding, brings total USAID investment through the EDGE Fund to $150 million.

Prospective partners can submit Expressions of Interest on the EDGE Fund page.

 

 
 
 

 

Côte d’Ivoire’s Debt-for-Development Swap, Enabled by the World Bank Group, Will Free up Funds for Education

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ABIDJAN, December 5, 2024 – With support from the World Bank Group, Côte d’Ivoire will complete a debt-for-development swap, a transaction designed to improve the country’s debt profile and generate significant fiscal savings. The money saved by replacing expensive debt with cheaper financing will be used to improve education across the country. This will be the first debt-for-development swap of its kind supported by the World Bank Group.

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South Asia’s Development Journey: How IDA is Transforming Lives

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For over six decades, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) has2024-sar-ida-1140x500_1140x500 been a lifeline for low-income countries, providing them with affordable development funding when few other options exist. IDA has helped improve millions of lives and supported development results that have moved countries forward.

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