A Roadmap for Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment

This research project is a first step in addressing a crucial knowledge gap about which interventions work for expanding women’s economic opportunities. It sought to produce an evidence-based Roadmap for Action that defines program and policy options that are feasible for different women and in different, typical country scenarios that are likely to influence the success of interventions. By examining "for whom" and "where," the Roadmap takes into account how economic and social contexts potentially affect the success of interventions.

The Roadmap for Action was crafted primarily to guide actions and investments by the private sector and potential public-private sector partnerships. The Roadmap favors actions that directly and in the short-term seek to empower women economically, and measures empowerment as increases in women’s productivity and earnings. Lessons derived from the project and presented in the Roadmap are grouped into four main categories:

1. Entrepreneurship;
2. Farming;
3. Wage Employment;
4. Young Women’s Employment.