From United Nations - Just as women and men have unequal access to rights, resources and opportunities, they relate to and interact with the natural environment in different ways, face differing vulnerabilities and impacts, and have unique adaptive capacity related to climate change, disasters and use of natural resources. The nexus between gender and environment has been of interest for decades, with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development providing renewed impetus to the discussion. The Agenda calls for a better and sustainable future for all, making it implicit development cannot progress without addressing inequality, discrimination and exclusion affecting women and men in all spheres, including in relation to the environment. However, the links between gender and environment are not well understood and gaps in data availability impede progress assessment. Regional level follow-up and review form an integral part of the overall accountability framework for the 2030 Agenda.

This paper provides an overview of recent initiatives to measure the gender-environment nexus, identifies priorities and takes stock of related data and capacity gaps in the Asia-Pacific region. The paper puts forward a proposal for a Gender-Environment Indicator Set in Asia and the Pacific, which includes indicators from the global Sustainable Development Goals framework and beyond, capturing issues of particular relevance for the gender-environment nexus in the region.

From Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) / Frontier Incubators - The Gender Lens Incubation and Acceleration Toolkit (GLIA Toolkit) is an instructional guide for incubators, accelerators, and other entrepreneurial support organizations operating in Southeast Asian countries with the aim of improving the various issues surrounding working women in Southeast Asia. The GLIA Toolkit was developed with the aim of building a gender smart entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southeast Asia by incorporating a gender perspective into the activities of entrepreneurs and surrounding stakeholders.

From Asian Development Bank - The paper highlights the need and demand for mitigation measures that tap women’s potential to contribute to emissions reductions and sustainable development.

From Asian Development Bank - This publication confirms the shared commitment of ADB and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) to mainstreaming gender equality in climate change and showcases how this priority is being integrated into the design of ADB’s CIF projects.

From Frontier Brokers and Australian Aid - “The report shares insights and process learning from design and early implementation of the Frontier Brokers’ projects. Key takeaways are included for funders, brokers, and others in the investment community who are interested in pursuing gender lens investing, and the report also includes recommendations for DFAT and other donors to pursue in promoting gender lens investing.”

From Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) and the Angel Investment Network Indonesia (ANGIN). The Emergence of Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia is the first research of its kind focusing on Angel Investment Networks (AINs) in Southeast Asia, with a specific focus on Gender Lens Investing practices.

As first report of a three part series, A Good Practice Guide to Effective Angel Investing focuses on the development and current landscape of Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia and provides an overview of the functions, taxonomy, and challenges facing Angel Networks in the region. Based on interviews with expert practitioners, this report also provides advice for managers and members of Angel Investment Networks to explore mechanisms to achieve financial sustainability, implement operational improvements, and pursue collaborations with other ecosystem players including entrepreneurs, government, intermediaries, and other investors.

The second report, A Spotlight on Gender Lens Investing (GLI), examines how GLI is being applied by Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia and provides insights into the opportunities and challenges for hybrid GLI-Angel Investments.

From ESCAP. This report describes the state of the unpaid care economy in ASEAN countries. By examining the socioeconomic, political, legislative and institutional conditions in each country of ASEAN, this report highlights examples of promising policy measures undertaken either prior to the COVID-19 pandemic or as emergency measures after its onset to address women’s unpaid care and domestic work. The report proposes recommendations to introduce a care-sensitive dimension into national and regional gender policies towards building back better and more equal.

Australians Investing In Women (AIIW)’s recent research report from Equity Economics makes a compelling case for the critical need to invest with a focus on women – not only because of the disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but because of the critical role women can play in driving our economic and social recovery.

AIIW commissioned this research to provide funders with analysis and distillation of existing research into the impacts of recent disasters on women. The purpose is to highlight key issues, and identify funding hotspots, where private and corporate giving can be targeted to help accelerate Australia’s economic and social recovery through a focus on women’s economic security, safety and wellbeing. From Australians Investing In Women.

From Bamboo Capital Partners. The International Trade Center, CARE Enterprises and Bamboo Capital Partners have joined forces in their mission to help achieve gender equality with the CARE-SheTrades Fund. The Fund was launched in June 2018 by Bamboo and CARE to drive progress towards gender justice in South and Southeast Asia. The ITC, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, has now joined the Fund. The ITC will leverage its extensive SheTrades network connecting export-ready women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses to markets around the world, to identify pipeline companies for investments.

The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has now completed an extensive research, engagement and outreach process to determine the potential of a menstrual health market (the market) across the Pacific Island countries.

In September 2018 the Criterion Institute, supported by DFAT and Pacific Readiness for Investment in Social Enterprise (Pacific RISE), facilitated a four-day workshop in Melbourne, Australia. The workshop brought together a diverse range of social and business actors focused on improving menstrual health management (MHM) in the Asia-Pacific region to understand and overcome inefficiencies and obstacles in the menstrual health market across the region. The workshop focused on understanding the challenges faced by local social enterprises and identifying opportunities to improve market performance, and how appropriate types of capital could increase local access to menstrual health products. Attention was also paid to the role public and private actors play in facilitating universal access to menstrual products and addressing systemic socio-cultural, educational and environmental barriers to menstrual health across the region.

The workshop brought together 43 participants from 13 countries: Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Vanuatu.

This report presents lessons learned from menstrual health actors working in the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on the local context of island-based nations. The first of its kind, it should be read as a unique case-study that captures the specific menstrual health challenges faced by countries with dispersed populations across large geographic locations with limited income and commercial access. It explores how innovative investment can be a means of facilitating a new market opportunity, enabling improved access to necessary healthcare products, and support venture creation for women-led businesses.

From Value for Women. This How-To Guide makes an important contribution to our industry work by providing practical tools and resources for an investing community that urgently needs to address its diversity and inclusion deficits. Globally, awareness of gender lens investing continues to gain momentum, but we must convert this awareness to action and movement of capital, especially during this period of COVID-19 response and recovery. Thus, how fund managers invest is just as important as what they invest in. This perspective not only demands a technical approach (gender analysis, tools, and frameworks), but also broader organizational re-alignment (gender mainstreaming). This internal process is an essential part of creating external change and outcomes that advance gender equality.

By UNICEF, GenderSmart and Volta. The analysis presented in this report by UNICEF, GenderSmart and VOLTA lays out six core investment themes and examples of investable opportunities and calls on commercial organizations and investors, with an eye on social and economic impact, to adopt bold investment approaches across these themes. This includes patient investment capital through blended and other innovative financing structures as well as concrete due diligence and impact measurements.

Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Catalyst and Large and Sagana partner to map the landscape of gender lens investment vehicles in both public and private markets, across East and Southeast Asia.

From the Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre. Research by the Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre (Australia) puts a figure on the additional worth a company can generate by getting more women into key decision-making roles, by finding a strong and convincing causal relationship between company performance and women holding an increasing share of leadership positions within ASX listed organisations.

By Professor Marian Baird and Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill. Analysis from a rapid but extensive literature review around the impacts of COVID-19 and previous pandemics and recessions on women’s economic position. This includes analysis on actual and potential impacts in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam, and risks and opportunities looking ahead.

This report was completed by Professor Marian Baird and Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill from the University of Sydney, and funded by Investing in Women.