On October 24, 2024, the United States Agency for International Development Women’s Economic Empowerment Community of Practice (USAID WEE CoP) convened for its culminating event “Celebrating Progress for Women’s Economic Empowerment: Five Years of the USAID WEE CoP.”  Banyan Global was honored to have 125 attendees from 54 countries come together to celebrate the USAID WEE CoP’s learnings and collective achievements. Speakers and panelists for the event included:

• Diana Prieto, Director of the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub (GenDev) at USAID, opened by emphasizing USAID’s longstanding commitments to advancing women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and highlighting how the vibrant USAID WEE CoP community fostered deep dialogue and collaboration between over 2,200 members from more than 780 organizations around the world.
• Lauren Murphy, Senior Gender Advisor for Private Sector Engagement and Climate Finance at GenDev, moderated a panel discussion with three USAID WEE CoP members to discuss what prompted them to join the USAID WEE CoP, what resources and tools they found most valuable, and how they applied learning to their work.
• Dr. Thais Bessa, Director for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion at Tetra Tech, utilized the USAID WEE CoP landscaping study on social norms to inform transformative approaches in the Integrated Land and Resource Governance program. In Malawi, through layering interventions like household-level dialogues, edutainment, organized diffusion, and engaging men, women were named in 68 percent of land certificates compared to 38 percent in a previous pilot. 
• Alfredo Gutierrez, Program Manager for the Community Economic Development (CED) Program at Peace Corps Peru, highlighted the journey to becoming Peace Corps’ first post to address WEE in CED programs and discussed how the exchange of knowledge and access to global experiences through the USAID WEE CoP allowed Peace Corps Peru to refine its approach in areas like financial inclusion and digital literacy. He also spoke about women’s vulnerability to extreme climate events, a highly relevant issue in Peru, and how USAID WEE CoP events provided insights and best practices into this theme. Engagement with the USAID WEE CoP directly influenced training materials, volunteer initiatives, connections to technical experts, and the motivation to apply for funding opportunities, helping Peace Corps Peru to better serve women across Peruvian communities.
• Monica Raina, Senior International Development Consultant to The World Bank, discussed her background in setting up communities of practice and credited the USAID WEE CoP for shaping key initiatives within the Business, Enterprise and Employment Support for Women in South Asia (BEES) Network specifically on the undervalued economic contribution of unpaid care work and strategies for redistributing care responsibilities. Monica described the USAID WEE CoP as a “trusted aid” that provided reliable research and guidance.

Here are three key takeaways from the discussion:

1.  Cross-sector, cross-regional collaboration and learning enables the development of inclusive, localized, and impactful solutions for WEE. USAID WEE CoP members utilized the technical content within their own programs, companies, and networks, fostering a broad dissemination of WEE knowledge and practice across various development projects. Members also gained confidence in managing WEE activities and leveraged engagement to strengthen WEE-related professional connections and networks, deepening impact potential on programming.
2. Evidence-driven strategies and approaches for advancing WEE on a wide range of technical topics enhances the implementation of gender-transformative interventions. USAID WEE CoP curated resources—such as webinars, newsletters, and studies—provided relevant and timely insights, helped members adapt global best practices to regional and country contexts, and supported individual professional growth.
3. Direct investment into WEE by governments and the private sector is necessary to close global gender gaps and advance WEE priorities critical for the next five years. WEE topics such as shifting harmful gender and social norms; women’s labor force participation; the gender digital divide, including digital literacy; women in green and blue economies; the care economy; gender-based violence across sectors and beyond health; financial inclusion and education; and gender at the intersection of climate change resilience are critical areas for practitioner engagement. USAID will continue supporting WEE integration in its various sector-specific communities of practice across the Agency and with public and private sector partners.

Below you will find the event slides and recording.

SLIDES

For additional resources mentioned during the event, visit:

• Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 (law)
• U.S. Strategy on Global Women’s Economic Security (strategy)
• Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Fund (fund)
• USAID 2023 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy (policy)
• USAID 2022 Private Sector Engagement Policy (policy)
• USAID Communities of Practice (list) on GenderLinks (website)
• Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) Community of Practice (group)
• Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative (initiative)
• Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment: Social Norms Landscaping Study (report)
• Gender Norms and Land: Identifying and Shifting Harmful Norms to Strengthen Women’s Land Rights (report)
• Business, Enterprise and Employment Support for Women in South Asia (BEES) Network (civil society platform)
• Beyond Inclusion: User Protection for Women in the Digital Economy (webinar)
• Gender and Climate in Global Supply Chains: Private Sector Innovations in Practice (webinar)
• Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment Through Early Childhood Care Programming (webinar)