CABEI Promotes the Empowerment of Nicaraguan Women

Managua, December 12^th, 2023.- The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) reaffirms its support for the different projects and programs currently being developed with a gender focus and for the benefit of women, highlighting the active participation and empowerment of more than 100,000 Nicaraguan women who benefit directly and indirectly from the initiatives it implements in the country.

These include 25 projects aimed at the infrastructure, energy, clean water and sanitation, housing, agriculture and climate change sectors, among others, that benefit the female population, such as the Sustainable Development of Rural Family Livelihoods Project (NICAVIDA), which has benefited a total of 22,952 women in 37 municipalities in the country with the productive transformation of their families, promoting the link between the diversification of their agricultural and non-agricultural sources of income, environmental protection and family nutrition.

It is worth noting that in NICAVIDA's project management component, 59% of the participants are women, and in the component aimed at family, territorial and competitive business investments, women's participation reaches 64%.  The importance of this project and the broad participation of women enabled NICAVIDA to receive the IFAD 2021 Gender Award, granted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to recognize the achievements of the projects with the best performance in meeting the strategic objectives on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment.

Likewise, a total of 7,609 women heads of household were able to acquire, build or improve their homes thanks to the CABEI-financed Social Housing Construction and Improvement Program, which ended its execution in 2022 with an overcompliance rate of 122.5%, benefiting 13,509 families.

In addition, in a second stage, the new Social Housing Program in Nicaragua, which began in the second half of 2022, is expected to benefit at least 46,550 women from 11,660 low or moderate-income families.

Another important contribution made by CABEI is perceived thanks to the Financial Sector Support Facility for financing MSMEs, through which, since 2020 to date, 1,252 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) belonging to women have benefited. The support received by these MSMEs consists of financing, technical assistance, seed capital or donations to address the effects of the pandemic, which has allowed, among other things, the maintenance of up to 8,362 women's jobs.

These and other economic, social and environmental impact projects implemented by CABEI in Nicaragua have provided employment opportunities for approximately 32,120 women in different areas of the country. As part of its 2020-2024 Institutional Strategy, the Bank highlights gender equity as one of its cross-cutting themes throughout its operation, favoring equal opportunities and promoting equal participation in the region's economic and social development.