Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, and Vanda Pignato, First Lady of El Salvador, to attend as guest speakers
Renewing the IDB’s commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director for UN Women Michelle Bachelet, and Minister of Social Inclusion and First Lady of El Salvador Vanda Pignato will participate in an event in IDB headquarters in Washington, DC on April 7, highlighting gender issues for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The event marks the launch of the IDB´s new Operational Policy on Gender Equality in Development and Gender Action Plan 2011-2012.
These IDB initiatives call for vigorous efforts to mainstream gender in projects and analytical work, as well as for direct investment in projects that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. They also introduce gender safeguards to help identify potential adverse impacts and risks of exclusion based on gender.
The launch reaffirms the IDB commitment to support gender equality and the empowerment of women in Latin America and the Caribbean in a comprehensive way. The IDB is the largest multilateral lender in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing more than $10 billion a year in financing for projects that seek to combat poverty and inequality and promote sustainable growth.
Moreno will inaugurate the event, followed by a keynote speech by Bachelet, who will speak on UN Women’s perspectives on the main challenges for gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean and the role of international financial institutions, such as the IDB.
Guest speaker Pignato present the Ciudad Mujer (Women City) project, which is being executed by the Ministry of Social Inclusion to improve the lives of women by offering essential services, such as reproductive health; treatment and prevention of gender-based violence; economic self-sufficiency; promotion of rights; and childcare in 12 strategically located centers across the country. The first Ciudad Mujer Center, located in Lourdes-Colon, was just inaugurated on March 28 and was recently visited by Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States. The IDB will provide $20 million to help finance the construction of six centers in early 2012.
On the second session of the event IDB senior management will present and discuss initiatives and projects to foster gender equality and the empowerment of women throughout Bank-financed projects in the region.
The event is open to the public, but reservations are required as the space is limited. Interpretation services in English and Spanish will be provided. The webcast of the event will be available in Spanish.
For more information and to register for the event, please click "Renewing the IDB's commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment".
For press registration, contact Hiroko Miyakawa at hirokom@iadb.org, 1-202-623-2652 or Gador Manzano at gadorm@iadb.org, 1-202-623-1612.