Assessing Gender Lens Investing in Blended Finance
Convergence
September 1, 2020
Over the past few years, gender equality has become increasingly incorporated in the investment strategies of impact investors and institutional investors, with its benefits recognized from both a development and business perspective. Convergence has consistently tracked the alignment of blended finance transactions with SDG 5 (Gender Equality), witnessing a number of blended finance initiatives aiming to mainstream a gender lens, including the 2X Challenge, the Equality Fund, and Women’s World Banking. Nonetheless, unlocking more capital to improve the development outcomes for women and girls remains a challenge.
This year, Convergence analyzed how gender has been incorporated in the blended finance market, based on its database of over 530 blended finance transactions, the majority of which have launched since 2010. Convergence found that while blended finance has demonstrated the ability to mobilize additional financing for gender-focused projects, publicly available information indicates that participants in blended finance transactions have not taken deliberate, consolidated action to incorporate a gender lens.
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