March 8, 2002

IDB PRESIDENT SALUTES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY Women in Development policy promotes women’s contribution to growth of Latin America

FORTALEZA, Brazil -Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias today saluted International Women’s Day in a statement delivered from Fortaleza, site of the IDB’s Annual meeting.

“Women are the central protagonists of growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. We find them active in the home, in the community, in political leadership, in schools, in production and in commerce,” Iglesias said. “Sixty percent of the food production in the region is a result of the work of women, and in many countries they account for up to 80 percent of the microenterprises. Nevertheless, there are still barriers that impede the development of their full potential.”

“Upon the dismantling of gender barriers, the IDB helps women take their just place as protagonists in the advance of countries,” he added. “I am proud of the continued increase in the number of projects financed by the Bank that assure women’s participation and promote women’s leadership. One can not think about economic and social transformation without understanding the central role that women play,” Iglesias said.

In 1987 the Bank established its Women in Development policy to support member countries in the process of integrating women into regional growth through IDB lending and technical cooperation programs.

To systematically support these activities and identify new initiatives that benefit women, the IDB in 1994 established its Women’s Unit. Since then, IDB experts have collaborated with governments and civil society and identified opportunities for women in all areas of Bank activity, especially in the social sectors, agriculture and rural development, housing and urban development, public management and democratic governance, income and productivity support and social investment funds.

The Bank promotes the themes of women’s leadership and participation, job training in nontraditional areas, early child care and development, and activities to reduce domestic violence, among others. It also recognizes the importance of integrating women in all stages of IDB projects to achieve a greater social impact and fulfill the goals of reducing poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 1998 the IDB approved two loans to specifically develop women’s initiatives: one loan supported economic participation by women in Colombia and the other helped finance a federal women’s program in Argentina.

The IDB confirmed its leadership in promoting women in development by including the gender perspective in 30 projects in its loan portfolio as a result of joint action by the Bank’s project teams, governments and experts from the countries.

Three of these initiatives, considered to be of a high technical level, received a prize for the best designed projects with a gender perspective. These were a program to attend to at-risk children and adolescents (Argentina); a program for integral service to children less than six years old (Bolivia); and a federal women’s program (Argentina).

Among the characteristics of the IDB policies in this sector are a detailed analysis of the socio-economic role of women, identification of barriers to the participation of women in a given project and the inclusion of steps to eliminate or reduce these barriers, description of how women will actively participate in the project’s implementation, and inclusion of instruments to evaluate and monitor these issues.

A program to promote women’s leadership in Central America was launched at the end of 2000 to support women in important positions and to prepare women with leadership potential in civic and public affairs at the national, regional and community levels.

More than 100 political leaders of the Americas met subsequently in Washington, D.C., to seek creative solutions to the most pressing economic and social problems in a dialogue sponsored by the IDB, the Inter-American Dialogue, the International Center for Research on Women and the Women’s Leadership Conference of the Americas.

“On this important International Women’s Day, we reiterate the desire of the IDB and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to work for full development and participation of women, which is the base of integral development of the entire region,” Iglesias said.