A Celebration of Innovative Partnerships for Sustainable Development: The Women’s Livelihood BondTM Series Named 2019 P4G State-of-the-Art Partnership of the Year

About

WASHINGTON – 23 SEPTEMBER— P4G, the Partnering for Green Growth and Global Goals 2030 Initiative, selected The Women’s Livelihood Bond Series, a partnership-driven project addressing SDG 2: Zero Hunger, as the 2019 P4G State-of-the-Art Partnership of the Year. The winner was announced at the P4G Awards Luncheon, hosted by SAP, on the sidelines of the UN Climate Action Summit today. The Women’s Livelihood Bond Series, led by Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), represents the top partnership from nearly one hundred applicants and five finalists selected to represent each of P4G’s focal Sustainable Development Goal areas: food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and the circular economy.

The First Lady of the Republic of Colombia María Juliana Ruiz Sandoval presented the award to Natasha Garcha, Associate Director, Innovative Finance at IIX who accepted on behalf of The Women’s Livelihood BondTM Series. The Awards event included a global audience of high-level government leaders, CEOs, investors and civil society leaders.

The Women’s Livelihood Bond Series are innovative financial instruments “bringing Wall Street to back streets” by mobilizing large-scale private investments to drive women’s economic empowerment across multiple SDGs, including women in agriculture. Already, the partnership has raised US$8M in private capital to empower 385,000 underserved women across Southeast Asia to transition from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods. Other organizations supporting The Women’s Livelihood Bond Series include DBS Bank, ANZ, Shearman and Sterling, Hogan Lovells, Latham and Watkins, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, The Japan Research Institute, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), UN Women, The Clinton Global Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation.

P4G Global Director Ian de Cruz commented, “Congratulations to The Women’s Livelihood Bond Series for its recognition as the P4G State-of-the-Art Partnership of the Year. This partnership represents an innovative approach to financing programs that improve the lives of millions of women worldwide.. It is a model to inspire similar partnerships.”

P4G’s global judges selected The Women’s Livelihood Bond Series this partnership based on the combination of innovation, impact, scale and implementation ability. The judges were: Stephanie Mehta, Editor in Chief of Fast Company; Carole Kariuki, Chief Executive Office of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance; Frank Rijsberman, Director General of the Global Green Growth Institute; and Karin Finkelston, Vice President of Partnerships, Communication and Outreach at International Finance Corporation (IFC).  P4G also presented Awards of Excellence to the following partnerships representing P4G’s other focal sectors:

• SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) Award: The Latin American Water Funds Partnership – Contributing to water security across Latin America and the Caribbean through the creation of collective-action organizations that develop unified and long-term views of water security, with already USD 200,000 million leveraged.
• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) Award: TRANSFORM -- Providing clean and affordable energy to low-income households and unlocking opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Myanmar.
• SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) Award: SiMPlify – Developing urban mobility solutions and best practices to improve city management and planning towards increased sustainability.
• SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) Award: 2020 Circular Fashion Commitment – Bringing together 90 companies, equivalent to 12.5% of the global fashion market, through signed commitments to focus on four key areas of circular fashion: design, collection, reuse and recycling.

About P4G

P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – is funding 20 public-private partnerships with projects in developing countries. P4G is a collaborative partnership among 12 partner countries: Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Vietnam. P4G is funded by the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands and hosted at World Resources Institute. Other partner organizations include, C40 Cites, Global Green Growth Institute, International Finance Corporation, World Economic Forum and the United Nations Global Compact.