Pacific RISE has partnered with the Criterion Institute to create better investments in the Pacific and improve outcomes for women. In the Pacific Islands, women make significant contributions to communities and economies. There is a growing recognition among governments and in the private sector that investing in women and girls has a powerful effect on productivity, efficiency and economic growth.
To make good investments, the important role women in the Pacific play in businesses, and the supply chain must be better understood. Traditional financial analysis tools used in the Pacific typically miss opportunities for investment in this area. Businesses in the Pacific are often family-run initiatives, so understanding the role of women is essential for good investment.
Pacific RISE is using an investment thesis to engage with investors and broaden the sense of possibilities about what types of opportunities exist in the Pacific. The focus is on particular trends and ideas for the future which will entice investors into thinking differently about the Pacific.
Pacific RISE investment partners
Pacific RISE will train and advise investors, intermediaries and other stakeholders on applying a gender lens to identify, support and invest in Pacific social enterprises. A gender lens will be used in scoping, selecting intermediaries, due diligence, enterprise support and measuring gender. Pacific RISE will use Criterion Institute’s global expertise in gender lens investing to link it into wider global opportunities to attract investors and other support from others committed to using finance as a tool to achieve gender equality.
Having adopted gender lens investment practices in investment analysis for over eight years, the Criterion Institute has developed a toolkit which easily takes an investment through gender and financial analysis. The toolkit identifies how to use Gender Lens Investing to view women’s equality as an opportunity not a barrier to good investment.
Each future has been informed with a gender lens, drawing on knowledge of gender patterns in the Pacific context and culture. Investors can engage with the investment thesis by emailing info@pacificrise.org.