Empowering Women in Financial Leadership: Celebrating Graduates of Women’s World Banking's Leadership & Diversity Program at the 2023 AFI Global Poli
Women's World Banking
Women's World Banking aims to empower low-income women around the world through financial inclusion.
In September, between 12th and 15th, our Leadership & Diversity Team attended the 2023 Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum in Manila, Philippines. We met with our 2023 Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators (LDR) participants and LDR Alumni from past years of the program. Director of Leadership & Diversity, Sarah Kleiner Buitoni, CPCC also joined the conversation in the plenary on the last day to share Women’s World Banking’s position on the impact of climate change on women.?
Day 1 – 2023 Capstone Presentations???
We saw capstone presentations on proposed policy initiatives from seven teams in our 2023 LDR cohort, followed by a graduation ceremony. The following teams presented their capstones in person to an audience of their peers:??
Senior Official: Abiodun Okunola??
High-Potential Woman Leader: Nasiru Halimat Zulu-Gambari?
Senior Official: Gabriela Valeria Robalino?
Senior Official: Valence Kimenyi?
High-Potential Woman Leader: Laura Rwagasana?
High-Potential Woman Leader: Jacqueline Napo Dabou?
Senior Official: Gulnora Salomzoda?
High-Potential Woman Leader: Nigina Qurbanalieva?
Senior Official: Susan Nonhlanhla Mordaunt?
High-Potential Women Leader: Hlobsile Barbara Ndzimandze?
Senior Official: Emelia Awuviri?
High-Potential Women Leader: Lillian Bebaako-Mensah?
Mr. Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman, Director of SME & Specialist Programmes Department Deputy from Bangladesh Bank and Deputy Governor Jesimen T. Chipika form Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, joined us to congratulate our graduates and present their certificates.?
Common Themes & Solutions?
Although LDR participants came from across the globe, the capstone presentations revealed several common themes:???
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Solutions to these shared challenges included:???
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Day 2 – Re-connecting with LDR Alumni?
We convened LDR alumni from 2020-2023 at the GPF in Manila along with colleagues from their institutions and delivered a development session on ‘finding purpose’.??
An integral part of the Leadership & Diversity Program for Regulators is the focus on the leadership development and soft skills surrounding policy implementation. Individuals and teams driving gender inclusive policy must have the skills to bring stakeholders on board, effectively manage the project, mitigate risks and manage change. They must find their connection to the work and align it to their personal values. This drives a passion and energy for their work that can overcome barriers and prompt creative thinking, allowing leaders to draw from their deeper well of wisdom that sits at the heart of who they are.??
Participants commented that they found the session:?
"Insightful and revealing… the simple soul-searching questions yielded unexpected but illuminating responses."?
Another participant commented that they felt "re-energised to impact the world in line with our purpose in life."????
Day 5 – Joining the conversation?
On the last day of the forum, Women’s World Banking were invited to join the conversation on how to support, incentivize and drive the sustainability of MSMEs and the role of regulators in this process. Key questions explored include the need for bringing MSMEs on board to adopt greener practices, the regulatory interventions that can be applied to encourage the transition and future interventions that could be designed for regulators to progress greening and resilience building amongst MSMEs.?
Director of Leadership & Diversity for Women’s World Banking, Sarah Buitoni, joined Ariff Ali, Governor of Reserve Bank of Fiji, Bayarsaikhan Dembereldash, Chairman of Financial Regulatory Commission Mongolia, and Eric Roberto M. Luchangco, Senior Vice President, Chief Finance Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer for the Bank of the Philippine Islands, to explore the significance of women’s financial equality as a necessary condition for achieving the world’s collective climate goals.?
Sarah shared Women’s World Banking’s position.??
“We believe that low-income women are on the frontlines of being impacted by climate change and need to be resourced to address it. They have the solutions and mindset so their voices need to be raised and elevated.?
We have seen clear positive correlation between staff and client gender diversity figures and Return on Equity, and clear positive correlation between Women Loan Officers and outreach to women customers."
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"Companies that empower women as customers, and put women in leadership positions are an important part of the climate solution.?
It is imperative that stakeholders recognize that women’s financial equality is a necessary condition for achieving the world’s collective climate goals.”?
It was an inspiring and thought-provoking week; from hearing all the strategic plans from this year’s Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators (LDR) cohort and the impact they expect to have, to re-connecting with our past LDR alumni and hearing about their purpose and passion, and joining the conversation to remind the hundreds of regulators and policymakers in attendance of the importance of considering women when developing initiatives to achieve climate goals. We were grateful to witness the commitment, passion and enthusiasm for women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. Thank you to the Alliance for Financial Inclusion for hosting us, we look forward to next year’s event and continuing the conversation.?
We are accepting applications for our 2024 Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators.???