Proyecto VIVE: Boosting the Economy with Gender Perspective in Merida, Yucatan

Twenty-three women entrepreneurs presented homemade foodstuffs and tailored clothes at Merida, Yucatan. This product showcase marks the completion of their training under the program “Women discovering their potential ”implemented by The Trust for the Americas through the VIVE project and CREA Community of social entrepreneurs AC.

During the awards ceremony, Maria Alejandra Barrios, Communications Officer of the VIVE Project, reiterated the commitment of The Trust for the Americas to boost the economy of women in Mexico. Also, she recalled that “VIVE” started in 2016 with the support of Walmart Foundation, and as of 2020, more than 60,000 people including 52,000 women have been benefited, which 52 thousand are women.

With this training, women “currently have the tools to encourage businesses and strengthen their economic empowerment. This will benefit not only them but also their families and communities,” Maria Barrios stated.  

Antonio Gonzalez Blanco, General Director of Yucatecan Entrepreneurship Institute, highlighted the partnership with CREA and VIVE project as an active force motivating the development of women in the state. Likewise, Gonzalez Blanco recalled that the IYEM (Yucatecan Entrepreneur Institute) offers more services which the graduates may use, such as trademark registration and design of nutritional information charts, among others.

Let’s talk investment with gender perspective

Pro Mujer, the implementing partner of the VIVE project, organized the first edition of Gender Lens Investing Forum Latin America (GLI Forum Latam), in which The Trust for the America was a media partner.

The event gathered around 100 people (majority women) to analyze the challenges, good practices and generate solutions to boost investment with a gender perspective, also known as the gender lens.

Klaudia Gonzalez, the National Coordinator of project VIVE, moderated the roundtable “How gender violence affects company investments,” and concluded it is necessary to develop mechanisms to measure violence in companies and encourage training about prevention of violence against women among employers, directors, and funders.

"Investment decision-makers in these companies must be trained and conscious about the situation that women face in the labor force. In this way, there will be a cumulative effect on the solutions." Klaudia Gonzalez explained.

Maria Fernanda Sierra, The Trust for the Americas Project Manager of VIVE, participated in the roundtable "Landscape of investment with a gender perspective: where are the gaps and what can we do to close them?", and "talked about the importance of breaking down the steps investors perceive to find barriers and solutions in every phase. Also, about the value of addressing gender in a diverse way beyond women" explained.

Furthermore, she said that “one of the best ways of finding solutions is to analyze if our companies or organizations having gender perspective or not, from there we can generate progress.

Another relevant topic during the GLI Forum Latam was sexual and reproductive health with entrepreneur and gender perspective, for this roundtable Ursula Sanchez, Consultant of Economic Opportunities of VIVE, participated.

Ursula shared the thought that “we need to be capable of measure the intangible benefits that investment with gender perspective may bring in terms of sexual and reproductive rights. It is necessary to create an investment fund network with a gender perspective in Mexico and provide technical assistance to investors to avoid unconscious biases”.

GLI Forum Latam was held in the framework of the Latin American Impact Investment Forum (FLII Spanish acronym) in its tenth edition.

About The Trust for the Americas:

The Trust for the Americas is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS). It was established in 1997 to promote public and private sector participation in social and economic development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our initiatives, implemented through local partner organizations, seek to improve access to economic opportunities as well as to foster innovation in vulnerable communities in the hemisphere. To this end, The Trust also promotes social inclusion and good governance. The Trust has offices in Washington, D.C., Colombia, and Canada.

More information: www.trustfortheamericas.org 

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