The Latin American Development Bank (CAF) and UN Women have signed an agreement to combat poverty in Latin America through helping women start businesses, obtain access to micro-credit and improve their financial literacy.
17 June 2012: The Latin American Development Bank (CAF) and the UN entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, UN Women, have signed a cooperation agreement to combat poverty in Latin America through initiatives that reduce levels of inequality between men and women.
The agreement was signed between CAF Executive President Enrique Garcia and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, in a 17 June 2012 ceremony held at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Under the agreement, the two entities will work together on programs that help women establish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), get access to micro-credit and improve their financial literacy. Bachelet underscored that the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has indicated that poverty among women in the region is 1.15 times that of men, and that “the feminization of poverty” has led to a worsening in their living standards and infringement on their rights. [CAF Press Release]