Presentation on 'Promoting Gender Equality in the SEMED region' made at the meeting 'Women in Public Life in the Middle East and North Africa' on 5 March 2015 in Madrid

1. Promoting Gender Equality in the SEMED
region
Elena Ferreras Carreras
Senior Gender Adviser

2. 27 March, 2015 2

3. 3
Legal Health Services Education Labour Policy Labour Practices
Employment /
firm ownership
Access to Finance
Central Europe and Baltic States
Croatia Negligible Small Negligible Medium Large Medium Small
Estonia Negligible Small Negligible Small Large Medium Medium
Hungary Negligible Small Negligible Negligible Large Medium Large
Latvia Small Medium Negligible Small Large Medium Small
Lithuania Negligible Small Negligible Small Medium Medium Medium
Poland Small Small Negligible Small Large Medium Medium
Slovak Republic Negligible Small Negligible Small Large Large Medium
Slovenia Negligible Small Negligible Small Large Medium Medium
South-eastern Europe
Albania Negligible Medium Small Small Large Large Large
Bosnia and Herzegovina Negligible Medium Negligible Medium Large Large Large
Bulgaria Negligible Small Negligible Small Large Medium Medium
Macedonia, FYR Small Medium Small Small Large Medium Medium
Montenegro Small Medium Negligible Medium Large Medium Medium
Romania
Negligible Medium Negligible Small Large Medium Medium
Serbia Small Medium Negligible Medium Large Large Small
Turkey Small Small Medium Small Large Large Large
Eastern Europe and Caucasus
Armenia Medium Medium Negligible Small Large Large Small
Azerbaijan Negligible Medium Small Medium Large Medium Large
Belarus Small Small Small Medium Large Small Medium
Georgia Small Large Negligible Small Large Medium Small
Moldova Small Medium Negligible Small Large Negligible Medium
Ukraine Negligible Medium Negligible Small Large Medium Large
Russian Federation Small Medium Negligible Medium Large Medium Medium
Central Asia
Kazakhstan Small Large Negligible Medium Large Large Medium
Kyrgyz Republic Medium Large Negligible Medium Large Medium Small
Mongolia Small Large Negligible Medium Large Negligible Small
Tajikistan Medium Large Medium Small Large Medium Large
Turkmenistan Large Large Small Medium Large Large Large
Uzbekistan Medium Medium Medium Medium Large Large Large
Southern and east
Mediterranean
Egypt Medium Large Medium Medium Large Large Large
Jordan Medium Large Negligible Medium Large Large Large
Morocco Medium Large Medium Medium Large Large Large
Tunisia Small Medium Small Small Large Large Large
Benchmark Countries
France Negligible Small Negligible Small Medium Medium Medium
Germany Negligible Small Negligible Negligible Medium Medium Medium
Italy Negligible Small Negligible Small Medium Medium Large

4. Strategic Gender Initiative (SGI):
Vision and Focus:
“The Bank recognises that gender equality is a fundamental
aspect of a modern, well-functioning market in as much as it
contributes to the efficient use of all resources.
The development of a Strategic Gender Initiative (SGI) builds
on the proposition that promoting equality of opportunity for
women contributes to the purpose of the Bank. “

5. Three key delivery channels
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Three key channels :
 Access to Finance
 Access to Services
 Access to Employment
The channels broadly reflect the Bank’s main sectors of
operations
+ Studies: e.g Enhancing Women’s Economic
Empowerment in EBRD’s Operations through Voice,
Agency and Participation; gender, employment and
transport in Egypt; best practices for banking products;
legal framework KR and Morocco.

6. Channel 1: Access to finance. Women in
Business Programmes in Egypt (baseline level)
What do women say about
access to finance?
• “It is not about being male or
female, it is about collateral”
• “It is about the bank
understanding my business and
my needs”
What do surveys say about
women’s access to finance?
• It is not that women are turned
down by banks…it is that they
just don’t bother to apply
6

7. How EBRD supports this WIB programme:
The EBRD contributes
• Funds to cover guarantees;
• Funds to cover banks fees;
• Funds to support process of internal
capacity building (including training,
communication) and product development
The partner FI contributes
• A percentage internal capacity building and
product development

8. Channel 2: Access to services. Promoting safe
transport, the example of Egypt
• 81.8% of women respondents
interviewed in Cairo were frequently
harassed in public transportation (UN
2013).
• Less than a third of women in the Middle
East and North Africa region are active
participants in the labour force (24% in
Egypt)
• Sexual harassment in public transport have significantly increased
since 2011. 93.4% of the female victims identified through the above
study did not request help from the security forces at the time of
harassment:
Photo: UNWOMEN. 2013

9. Case study: Nile River Buses project
(Egypt)
• The river bus service is a multi-modal
system of public transport in Cairo.
• 14 floating piers on the Nile River, 10
lines, 2 million passengers per year. .
EBRD gender action:
The Bank is supporting modernisation of the Cairo Transport of Authority (CTA) in
incorporating the needs of women, men, youth, elderly and people living with disabilities in
the design, delivery and management of the Nile river bus services to make the service
safer, more demand-driven and customer-oriented as well as women and family-
friendly.
Study done on different uses of different transport types, patterns, itineraries of men and
women. On going project.

10. Content of transport projects (may vary
from project)
• Sound and extensive transport
audit/assessments to take into
account needs of ALL users
(mobility)
• Address affordability issues
• Increased female employment in
transport sector companies
• Address security issues (CCTV)
• Better labour conditions for all and
especially for female employees in
the transport companies
• Dialogue and synergies with other
stakeholders working on the issue
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11. Channel 2 : Access to services. Gender-responsive
stakeholder engagement in Morocco water supply
The Office National de l’Électricité et de l’Eau Potable (“ONEE”) secured a loan to
improve operational efficiency and drinking water supply to rural areas (3 medium-
sized cities and 260 rural communities with approx. 480,000 beneficiaries).
EBRD gender action:
The objective of the 3 years Stakeholder Participation Programme (SPP)
is to increase women’s participation in
Water User in Commites (WUCs) at the
Community level.
Emphasis on participation and agency:
The project is expected to contribute to enhanced agency and voice of women who
are the main users of water at the household level, but remain silent and excluded
from decision-making over resource allocation and management..

12. Channel 3: access to employment and equal
opportunities. The example of Juhayna
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Juhayna is an Egyptian company established in 1983. It has a leading
position in production, packaging and distribution of dairy, yogurt and juice
products in Africa and the Middle East .
In 2013 Juhayna secured a loan from EBRD to (i) increase production
capacity and product portfolio, and (ii) expand distribution capacity.
Gender action:
The objective of the EBRD Equal Opportunities Initiative was to
assess, create awareness and promote change. The results were
the creation of a permanent committee (the GEOC), the recruitment
of an expert, and a road map for the review of policies and
procedures. The project was considered a success. And we will
continue monitor progress.

13. Contact
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Elena Ferreras Carreras
Senior Gender Adviser
Environment and Sustainability
Department- gender team
ferrerae@ebrd.com
www.ebrd.com/gender
Gender@ebrd.com
EBRD, One Exchange Square
London, EC2A 2JN
United Kingdom
www.ebrd.com