The 2X Challenge serves as one instrument in the DFI toolkit to direct capital towards women’s development. The 2X Challenge calls the G7 and other DFIs to collectively commit and mobilize $15 billion that provide women in developing country markets with improved access to leadership opportunities, quality employment, finance, enterprise support and products and services that enhance economic participation and access.

DFIs can use the 2X Challenge to direct capital towards women, pre- or post-investment by:

• Encouraging investees to collect data on women employees and consumers

• Measuring the development impact of investing with and in women, over time

• Making a business case for investing with and in women

Fulfilling one of the five criteria makes an investment 2X eligible.

From ICRW. The sector-specific Gender Materiality Maps outline where gender integration is most “material” for businesses, by sector.

Identifying where and how gender may be material in a sector helps companies understand and assess gender-related risks and opportunities that are reasonably likely to impact their financial condition or operating performance.

The Gender Materiality Maps drew inspiration from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Materiality Map, an interactive tool for corporate and investor use that identifies and compares disclosure topics and their financial materiality across different industries.

Equileap is an independent, specialized data provider with a broad scope of gender metrics. It enables investors to make better investment decisions with data on equality in the workplace. Equileap is assessing over 3,500 companies globally on 19 criteria including gender balance, the gender pay gap, paid parental leave and anti-sexual harassment policies. Equileap data is used for ESG integration, portfolio analysis, stewardship and managing reputational risks.

Several indices have also been designed with Solactive and Morningstar, to track companies leading in gender equality. These indices are used both as benchmarks and underlyings of financial products.

From the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). IRIS+ is the generally accepted system for measuring, managing, and optimizing impact. All investors and companies create positive and negative effects on society and the environment. Impact investors seek to maximize the positive and minimize the negative by using the IRIS+ system to integrate social and environmental factors into investment decisions alongside risk and return.

Credible, comparable impact data are needed to inform impact investment decisions and drive greater impact results. IRIS+ solves for this by increasing data clarity and comparability, and it provides streamlined, practical, how-to guidance that impact investors need, all in one easy-to-navigate system. It is a free, publicly available resource that is managed by the GIIN – the global champion of impact investing.

From the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). The Navigating Impact Project is where the GIIN, together with experts in different investment themes, identify best practices, research, and recommended metrics for each investment theme. This will make sure they are relevant, practical, and set the standard for best practice. Once these resources have gone through the IRIS+ rigorous standards development process, they are uploaded into IRIS+ and made available to a wider audience.

Through the content provided, investors, enterprises, and other stakeholders in the impact investing ecosystem can explore Impact Themes such as Energy Access, Gender, Education, Sustainable Forestry, Sustainable Water Management, and others. Each of these Impact Themes includes a series of Strategic Goals that show common impact intentions that investors and enterprises may have within that space For example, under the Impact Theme on Smallholder Agriculture, Strategic Goals include “Improved Access to Training and Information,” “Improved Farm Profitability,” and “Improved Food Security,” among others.

Each Strategic Goal includes a research-based overview of the problem and how investments can work toward solutions, an evidence map, a starter kit of metrics that are shown to indicate progress toward that strategic goal, and curated resources that can help practitioners measure and manage their impact most effectively.

From the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Gender equality and equity are matters of fundamental human rights and social justice - and prerequisite for fully realizing environmental goals. This Resource Center supports the goals and delivery of numerous projects focused on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout natural resource management activities. Housing knowledge platforms and information hubs for specific gender and environment partnerships led by IUCN, this site is possible thanks to the generous support of USAID, SIDA and other partners.

From UNDP. UNDP presents updated versions of 12 training modules and issue briefs on gender dimensions of climate change covering a range of themes and sectors. These resources include a general overview and discussions on adaptation and disaster risk reduction, agriculture and food security, sustainable energy, climate finance, and REDD+ under the new development and climate change frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. These knowledge products are designed to build capacity in member countries with respect to gender and climate change within the context of sustainable development.

From SJF Ventures. SJF Ventures has curated a list of actionable steps and resources to consider in working towards improving Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) practices.

From Harvard Business Review. In an era where companies are paying more and more attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), inclusion remains the most difficult metric to track. From new research, Gartner developed the Gartner Inclusion Index to measure what true inclusion looks like across an organization. The authors outline how to use the Gartner Inclusion Index to measure employee perceptions of inclusion, what effective action looks like from leaders, and common pitfalls to avoid.

From the Thompson Reuters Foundation. ESG investing is plagued by many challenges and misperceptions about why social issues – such as a company’s labour practices or community relations – matter and how or whether they can be integrated into investment analysis.

For all investors, it is important to proactively address these questions because, as the The Thomson Reuters Foundation’s ESG Working Group highlights, social issues can create key risks; they are salient and will be increasingly relevant. Debunking myths around the availability of data on “S” issues and their importance can also help identify more resilient and profitable investment opportunities.

Together, the Group produced a white paper: “Amplifying the “S” in the ESG: Investor Myth Buster”, to help further the momentum for both improving an understanding of the “S” issues and a wider adoption of social criteria in investment strategies.

From Just Capital. In this unprecedented moment, workers, customers, communities, and investors are calling on corporate America to drive change, but it continues to be challenging to assess how companies are taking concrete action to advance racial equity in America today.

JUST Capital has launched this Corporate Racial Equity Tracker to fill that gap and incentivize companies to take meaningful steps to advance racial equity. The first iteration offers an in-depth accounting of the state of disclosure by the 100 largest U.S. employers, through 22 data points across six specific dimensions of racial equity.

From Morgan Stanley. This guide from Morgan Stanley seeks to provide an actionable framework for investors to understand the risks and financial impact associated with perpetuating racial inequality, and to identify ways to allocate capital toward opportunities to promote racial justice. No single investor will be able to right these deeply embedded cultural imbalances alone. It will take a far-reaching effort by a range of investors—including individuals, families and institutions. Furthermore, a comprehensive approach to counter racism and bias will require wide-ranging and coordinated action across public and private sectors, including corporations, governments and nonprofits.

From ILPA. The ILPA Diversity in Action initiative brings together limited partners and general partners who share a commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the private equity industry. The goal of the initiative is to motivate market participants to engage in the journey towards becoming more diverse and inclusive and to build momentum around the adoption of specific actions that advance DEI over time.

From the British Venture Capital Association. Investors and professionals from the venture investment community have released best practice guidelines to help increase investment in under-represented founders and drive diversity and returns across the investment sector. The ‘’Guidance and best practice examples for VCs, private equity and institutional investors’’ document was written by leading investors and professionals including Atomico, Pollen Street Capital, Ada Ventures, Adelpha, Astia, KPMG, Diversity VC and Diversio.

The guidelines have been published by the British Venture Capital Association as a resource offering practical advice and best practice suggestions for all investors, regardless of what stage or sector they invest in, with a focus on four key areas:

1. Talent acquisition, retention and development.

2. Internal education, culture and policy.

3. Outreach, access to dealflow, and unconscious investment bias.

4. Influence, external guidance and portfolio management.

From Morgan Stanley. Gender diversity, as a financial consideration for investors, is accelerating. This is driven by a growing body of research that shows increased diversity and a more inclusive workforce can be attributes of strong performance, as well as by a desire from asset managers to use their financial resources as a tool to drive social change and greater gender equality. Regardless of the original motivation for considering gender diversity, this primer seeks to clarify the range of approaches and opportunities available for investors to successfully integrate gender diversity criteria into an investment portfolio.

From the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA). The ILPA Diversity in Action initiative brings together limited partners and general partners who share a commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the private equity industry. The goal of the initiative is to motivate market participants to engage in the journey towards becoming more diverse and inclusive and to build momentum around the adoption of specific actions that advance DEI over time.

GPs and LPs who join the Diversity in Action initiative commit to specific actions that advance diversity and inclusion, both within their organization and the industry more broadly. Diversity in Action signatories currently undertake four essential DEI actions and at least two additional actions (from an optional set of nine). The Diversity in Action framework includes a broad range of possible actions that span talent management, investment management and industry engagement.

From the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative (DAMI). This guide is designed for institutional investors (trustees and staff), primarily of public, corporate, faith, and labor union pension funds, as well as foundation and university endowments, who are interested in exploring the possibilities of investing institutional assets with diverse-owned asset management firms.

From ForcetheIssue.org. The Force the Issue project launched September 9, 2019 and is a joint effort between Grab Your Wallet Alliance, LedBetter Gender Equality Index, and the Adasina Community. Our goal is to get companies to end the harmful practice of requiring arbitration for sexual harassment claims. The project’s launch was accompanied by a statement of support from a broad array of institutional investor groups including the AFL-CIO, Trillium Asset Management, the president of Los Angeles City Employee Retirement System (LACERS), Walden Asset Management, Natural Investments, and Nia Impact Capital. The signers of the statement represent $54 billion of investor assets. The statement is also officially endorsed by Sharan Burrow as General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

From Stardust Equity. Stardust Equity believes that the best performing investment firms will be those that are approaching gender equality as they would any other business priority. In an effort to fully use the levers investors have at their disposal, Stardust Equity compiled the Gender Smart Due Diligence Questionnaire: a diligence tool assessing firms’ commitments to gender analysis and toward gender equality.

From G-SEARCh: Investors often ask for information on how to kickstart their GLI journey. Many useful resources are available to do this. However, this brief addresses a gap in information on the tools and approaches used to design and implement gender-smart technical assistance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve their social and financial performance. G-SEARCh also shares reflections from their collective experience to date.