Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2011
-- IFC, member of the World Bank group, is promoting gender equality and together with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a reception to recognize the efforts that IFC clients and partners in Europe, Balkans, Turkey, and Central Asia undertake to promote broader participation of women in economy. The reception was co-hosted by Snezana Stoiljkovic, IFC Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Andrei Denisov, First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
“We all share joint view on the role of women in the modern world and I consider this event as a unique opportunity to exchange experience in implementing gender programs that we and our partners undertake." -- Said Snezana Stoiljkovic, IFC Director for Eastern Europe and central Asia in her opening remarks. "We are grateful to Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their support and partnership in this and many other valuable initiatives”, she added.
“Role of women in Russian economy and society is significant and constantly growing”. – Andrei Denisov, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia said. “We are happy to co-host this regional celebration and we believe it will further promote gender equality in IFC countries of operation”.
Dorothy Berry, IFC Vice President and a key note speaker, said: “Many countries in this region have been affected by the crisis. As the world looks for ways to restart and reset the global economy, the solution lies right in front of us. Promoting women in business is not only about empowering business women, generating more jobs, and promoting overall economic growth. Women’s economic participation is about arriving at better solutions to global development challenges”.
IFC is constantly implementing gender equality practices in its own operations. In 2008, gender indicators were embedded in IFC’s development outcome tracking system.
In 2010, IFC launched a Practitioners Guide which provides a methodology for gender mainstreaming in key regulatory reforms affecting women entrepreneurs, including those in Doing Business. As part of the ongoing review of the IFC Sustainability Policy and the Performance Standards, gender is being addressed by requirements that protect the work force, and impacts to communities.
In 2008, CIDA conducted a Gender Equality Institutional Assessment (GEIA) of IFC, and IFC received 3 out of 4 star rating, which is the highest score received among all the IFIs.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
