Leadership & Diversity Program: Capstone Presentations 2024
In September, the CoE participated in the capstone presentations of Women’s World Banking’s 2024 Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators, where inspiring regulators, policymakers and supervisors from financial institutions across the globe presented policy projects advancing women’s leadership and financial inclusion. This international exchange had the participation of institutions from countries such as Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda.
During the online sessions, participants shared diverse strategies and actions being implemented to support women’s leadership, women’s entrepreneurship, the use of the gender-disaggregated data and financial and digital literacy for women. These heartfelt exchanges highlighted the dedication and creativity of these individuals who work hard to turn their ideas into reality. This insightful exchange not only highlighted key outcomes, common challenges and lessons learned, they also served as an inspiration for others to build upon these achievements.
Some of the critical insights and lessons learned that the participants shared are:
- Creating awareness of regulators on the specific gaps of women’s access, usage and quality of financial services is essential to advancing women’s financial inclusion.
- Updated gender-disaggregated data is necessary for developing effective, data-driven policies and designing customized financial products- National Bank of Cambodia
- Cultural factors resulting in less training and preparation of women to take on senior roles hinder their representation in high level positions.
- A balanced regulatory approach, infused with a gender perspective, can play a pivotal role in removing supply-side obstacles, thus catalyzing inclusive economic growth by specifically addressing the structural hurdles that hinder women’s economic participation and progress– Reserve Bank of India
- Aligning financial inclusion initiatives with the Bank’s core priorities and strengthening partnerships will further enhance the reach and impact of advocacy efforts. - Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
These valuable insights and outcomes demonstrate the importance of supporting policy initiatives that contribute to closing the gender gap in inclusive finance through innovative gender-responsive reforms within financial institutions.
The Centre of Excellence on Gender-smart Solutions together with Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), sponsored the participation of senior officials and high-potential women leaders in the Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators 2024. The program is taught by Women’s World Banking and Faculty from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and implemented together with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs & the Visa Foundation.
The CoE will sponsor 2 pairs of senior officials and high-potential women leaders for the 2025 Leadership and Diversoty Program for Regulators.
The 2025 Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators will start in April 2025.