POLICY BRIEF Build Sustainable Financing and Partnerships for Girls and Women Facts, Solutions, Cases, and Calls to Action Building sustainable financing and partnerships for girls and women is linked to OVERVIEW the achievement of the Donor and national investments targeting gender equality and girls’ and women’s health, rights, and Sustainable Development wellbeing remain insufficient to achieve the ambitious targets set for gender equality in the Sustainable Goals (SDGs) and targets, Development Goals (SDGs).1 More work and commitments are needed to improve the lives of girls and including: women, thus enabling communities and nations to unlock their full potential. Under the sustainable development agenda, development actors from across the spectrum have an opportunity to abandon SDG 1: End poverty in all its traditionally siloed approaches and work together to positively impact girls’ and women’s lives through forms everywhere financial investment and strengthened multi-sectoral partnerships that deliver on an integrated agenda. This policy brief identifies interventions that can propel sustainable progress. • 1.a Ensure significant mobilization of resources SECTION 1: FRAMING THE ISSUE from a variety of sources, Despite the needs and challenges that girls and women face in accessing healthcare, education, including through enhanced resources, and equal opportunities in the workforce and political arena, investments to empower, development cooperation, engage, and open access for girls and women remain insufficient. While it is encouraging to see an in order to provide adequate increase in the number of commitments and partnerships devoted to gender equality and to girls’ and and predictable means for women’s health, rights, and wellbeing, the commitments by and partnerships between governments, developing countries, in donor agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector have not been particular least developed sufficient to close the gender-equality gap and provide key opportunities to spur development across countries, to implement communities and countries. programmes and policies While investments targeting girls and women have been increasing, they often miss the mark. In to end poverty in all 2016–2017, members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) its dimensions Development Assistance Committee (DAC) provided an average of $44.8 billion per year, or 38% of their bilateral allocable aid, to gender equality and women’s equality efforts, which was an increase • 1.b Create sound policy 2 from previous years. Yet, funding for dedicated programs that target gender equality and women’s frameworks at the national, empowerment as a principal objective remains low at 4%.3 Furthermore, the financing gap to achieve regional, and international the SDGs in developing countries is between US$2.5 trillion and $3 trillion per year.4 Targeted focus in funding is essential to meeting SDG 5’s objective of giving women equal access to economic resources, levels, based on pro-poor control over land and property, and recognition of unpaid work.5 Further, long-term commitments from and gender-sensitive organizations and countries alike are required to ensure funding is sustained and predictable. development strategies, to support accelerated Governments also need to step up support by expanding financing across areas influencing the health, investment in poverty rights, and wellbeing of girls and women and ensuring a fair share of the GDP is spent on issues like universal health coverage and access to sexual and reproductive health services.6 More than half eradication actions of the global population, or 55 percent, lacks social protection coverage,7 and as extreme poverty disproportionately affects women, this absence of a safety net hits them hardest.8 An estimated 800 SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives million people spend more than 10% of their household budget on healthcare, and each year nearly and promote well-being for all 100 million are impoverished by the cost of out-of-pocket health expenses.9 By 2030, there will be a $176 billion gap between the financing needed to provide populations with quality, affordable • 3.8 Achieve universal health healthcare and the funding that will actually be available in the 54 poorest countries.10 This has coverage, including financial significant consequences for the sexual and reproductive health of girls and women. For example, risk protection, access to approximately 214 million women of reproductive age in the developing world would like to avoid quality essential health- pregnancy, but are not using modern contraception.11 Providing girls and women in developing regions care services, and access with necessary sexual and reproductive healthcare and maternal and newborn healthcare would cost to safe, effective, quality, $8.56 per person per year, on average, and would result in the prevention of 67 million unintended and affordable essential 12 pregnancies, 36 million abortions, 224,000 maternal deaths, and 2.2 million newborn deaths. medicines and vaccines The confluence of poverty, environmental vulnerability, and fragility continues to affect significant for all numbers of poor people. By 2030, it is predicted that 46% of the global poor will live in settings of fragility, conflict, and violence.13 In 2018, 135 million people across 42 countries required humanitarian • 3.d Strengthen the capacity aid amounting to $25 billion, but funding for that aid fell short by more than a third.14 The United of all countries, in particular Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that nearly 168 million developing countries, for people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2020, which will require $28.8 billion in early warning, risk reduction, 15 funding. International humanitarian assistance remains a critical resource to meet the needs of and management of national people affected by crises, especially as the impacts of climate change, infectious diseases, and and global health risks violent conflicts continue to worsen. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this technical paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of all partnering organizations. The private sector is increasingly engaged in advancing gender equality and recognizes both its ability to address the unique challenges that girls and women face and the business benefits of investing in women’s rights and health. More than 2,700 companies globally have signed on to the statement of support introduced by the CEO of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, declaring a commitment to making progress for women across the workplace, marketplace, and community.16, 17 The United Nations Foundation, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, and Merck for Mothers, launched the Private Sector Action for Women’s Health and Empowerment, which has secured 11 commitments from companies with large supply chains to invest more in the health and welfare of their female workers.18 A growing body of evidence demonstrates how the private sector can benefit from investing in women as leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, customers, and community partners, and in marketing that SDG 5: Achieve gender breaks gender norms and stereotypes.19 The private sector can also play an important role in equality and empower all investing in and leveraging science and technology to better reach and serve girls and women, women and girls as well as providing assistance during humanitarian crises.20 Despite these commitments and private-sector initiatives, more needs to be done. Women continue • 5.4 Recognize and value to face significant obstacles to gaining quality employment and leadership roles within the private unpaid care and domestic sector. In 2018, informal employment played a major role in women’s exposure to inadequate working work through the provision of conditions in more than 90% of sub-Saharan African countries, 89% of South Asian countries, and 75% public services, infrastructure, of Latin American countries.21 Pay gaps persist across many industries, and women continue to face and social protection policies difficulty accessing products and services that could improve their health and wellbeing and that of and the promotion of shared their families.22 The private sector has a wide-ranging role to play in advancing women—who represent responsibility within the their employees, producers, suppliers, partners, and community members—and much to gain from household and the family doing so. The momentum has never been stronger, and businesses have an opportunity to be creative as nationally appropriate in their approaches to partnerships and collaborations to extend the impact of their efforts. Partnerships among different sectors are key to tackling the complex and multifaceted nature of • 5.5 Ensure women’s full gender inequality. Such partnerships can drive progress forward, cutting across different sectors and effective participation and bringing people with diverse skills, experiences, and resources together to addresses common and equal opportunities for 23 challenges. For example, a coordinated approach across different sectors is required to pursue leadership at all levels of women’s economic empowerment. To achieve progress, governments need to reform policies that decision-making in political, limit women’s access to labor