Barriers must be dismantled, in order to economically empower women. An important foundation of our work is thus the Gender Action Plan of the World Bank Group. Germany agreed to champion the implementation of the Gender Action Plan. The aim of the plan is to increase the economic participation of women and thus achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of promoting gender equality and empowering women. The focus of the plan is on improving women’s access to labour, financial, and product markets and to land.

In addition to dismantling local barriers, for example, so that women can more easily access credit, we support national and international economic policy reforms, so that women entrepreneurs can develop the same economic potential as men. Women must also be enabled to make equal use of global market opportunities in international trade and financial relationships.

Our areas of activity are:

• Integration of a gender perspective into macroeconomic policies and guidelines
• Developing the capacity of government and civil-society actors to undertake gender-based planning and implementation of economic policies
• Supporting gender-based data collection and analysis in order to strengthen the economic position of women
• Supporting women’s business associations
• Promoting the extension of microcredit and the training of disadvantaged families.