Paper
The Economic Empowerment of Women through Microfinance
Analyzing microfinance as a strategy for economic empowerment of women
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This report describes the objectives, events and conclusions drawn at a workshop on the economic empowerment of women through microfinance, held at Bamako, Mali. The workshop was help by Africa-Canada Parliamentary Strengthening Program Gender Equality Network (WWGG).
The workshop was designed to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of microfinance as a strategy for economic empowerment of women, and for parliamentarians to define their role in that approach. It was attended by 40 participants primarily from West African countries, and included presentations and project visits to represent two microfinance schemes.
The report concludes with the following observations:
- Contributions of participants from different countries provided relevant information on the situation in the region;
- Participants drew up an action plan specifying follow-up activities, some of which have the potential to further strengthen relations among members of parliament;
- Workshop highlighted the need for gender budget analysis for analyzing the effectiveness of microfinance.
