GIF confirms latest commitment to advancing women’s economic empowerment .

Gender equality is both an investment theme and a strategic goal for GIF. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by prevailing issues in the developing world, such as climate change, global health crises, food insecurity, and forced migration.

GIF has been investing in gender transformative innovations since 2018, with support from Global Affairs Canada, FCDO and SIDA. We have supported innovations that work towards greater economic participation for women, prevention of violence against women and girls, and greater control over assets and decision making. The results show that gender transformative innovations can and do scale. 

In July 2024, GIF joined the 2X Challenge. The 2X Challenge is a multilateral coalition of public and private sector investors who have pledged to invest US$20 billion in women’s economic empowerment over the next three years.

This commitment builds on our goal to maximise gender equality impact across our portfolio. We do this by analysing the gender dynamics and opportunities of all our innovations, through the application of our Gender Marker to all new deals as part of our investment process.

GIF’s 2024 follow-on equity investment in S4S is our first contribution to the 2X Challenge, qualifying on supply chain and product categories. S4S, which is enhancing female agency by employing rural women in India to operate their innovative solar powered dryers to preserve the produce of smallholder farmers, is one of the first companies to be 2X certified.

GIF was one of the first organisations to join the challenge when it was opened up to private investors. The 2X Challenge 2024-2027 marks the first time that private investors are part of the initiative representing an extraordinary opportunity to combine resources and mobilise more gender-smart capital for women, unlocking their potential and driving economic growth. We are excited about the opportunities this presents to maximise gender impact across both GIF’s and other participating investors’ portfolios.