United Nations Women Honours African Development Bank Group President Adesina As HeForShe Champion

The United Nations Women organisation has named the African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina a HeForShe Champion for his work promoting gender equality in Africa.

At a ceremony held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday 24 September, UN Women’s HeForShe Alliance celebrated Dr. Adesina as one of four new champions – global leaders recognized for their dedication to transforming institutions and setting new benchmarks for equality, ensuring that women and girls have equal opportunity in social, economic, and political spheres.

“Africa can only reach its full development potential by exponentially increasing opportunities for women. Advancing gender and empowering women are central to the African Development Bank Group’s work across the continent,” Adesina said.

“I sincerely thank UN Women and HeForShe for this recognition. Becoming a HeForShe Champion reflects my personal, as well as the Bank’s, unwavering commitment to promoting gender equality and to delivering increased access to finance for Africa’s women entrepreneurs. I am resolute in my conviction that when Africa’s women win – Africa wins,” he added.

UN Women describes HeForShe as a global movement that has engaged more than two million men and individuals in championing gender equality. The other three newly announced   HeForShe Champions are Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Hugh Evans, CEO and Co-Founder of Global Citizen; and Michelle Terry, CEO of Movember.

“When men and women alike stand together for gender equality, we move towards a just and equal world for all,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.

The HeForShe Alliance invites people to identify means of supporting women and girls in every aspect of life, as well as to take steps towards tackling the gender pay gap, ending violence against women, and improving access to essential public services amongst other issues.

HeForShe cited Adesina and the African Development Bank Group for committing to mainstreaming gender considerations across all its investment projects and operations. This includes incorporating gender-responsive indicators into project monitoring and the creation of Gender Marker System that enables Bank staff to track progress towards mainstreaming gender equality in its programs and projects.

“By embedding gender criteria in its processes, the Bank has the potential to lead the financial sector in promoting gender equality, setting a new standard for development finance institutions globally,” HeForShe said in a statement.

The Bank’s latest Gender Strategy, approved under Adesina’s leadership, has guided staff to embrace gender equality as smart economics. A video shown during the HeForShe event noted that the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative – created by the Bank Group President – has to date secured $1.8 billion in financing for lending to Africa’s women entrepreneurs. Already  $1 billion of that financing has been disbursed through 172 financial institutions in 43 African countries, to more than 18,000 women-led small and medium business.

Internally, the Bank has also committed to advancing its Economic Dividend for Gender Equality (EDGE) certification. Last year, the Bank achieved level one certification with EDGE: the certification program is designed to assist companies to create an optimal workplace for men and women by independently verifying measurements of a company’s compensation scale, representation, inclusiveness of career development opportunities, training and other indicators.

The HeForShe Champion honor comes as the African Development Bank Group celebrates 25 years of gender mainstreaming in its operations, and as HeForShe celebrates its 10th anniversary.