Women's World Banking

I am really thrilled to be hosting this especially timely episode, as today is the launch day of an important piece of research.

Women's World Banking and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security partnered on a deep dive into the challenges of and critical need for women's economic participation in peace building.

We drew on evidence and lessons from four very different conflict affec- affected and post-conflict regions.

The result is our new white paper, entitled The Missing Economic Dimension of Peace, and the insights are fascinating.

She's joining me in today's conversation.

Throughout her career, Ambassador Verveer has champions wom- championed women's political, economic, and social advancement, and helped shape the global women, peace, and security agenda.

Ambassador Verveer is a longtime friend of Women's World Banking and has supported many of the leaders in our global network for decades.

Melanne, welcome to the Making Finance Work for Women podcast.

Reese Merrick commented, the real world crypto in action.

You got Ripple's partner with Women's World Banking and Pool Advisors to launch an ROUSD-powered parametric insurance pilot in Uganda.

The initiative will protect 3,000 smallholder farmers, mostly women, against agricultural and health shocks, automated instant payouts via mobile money, a massive step forward for financial inclusion in blockchain.

This is like real world utility for...

Great to see you, too.

And we have the benefit of being joined virtually by Tom Jones, who is an EDP and COO of Women's World Banking.

He's also a board member at Global Citizen, Girls Who Code, and the LSEG Foundation.

Welcome, Tom.

I think more and more fulfilling and able to really use the skills that I use every day that I don't think about in a different capacity for a board and for a nonprofit board that they may not either have the dollars or the ability to

always be thinking about.

So then after 16 plus years at Women's World Banking, what has leadership taught you about creating impact that lasts beyond any one person or any one leader?

I mean, there's a couple of things that have really influenced me over time.

Welcome to the Making Finance Work for Women podcast.

My name is Sonia Kelly, and I lead Women's World Banking's Proprietary Research Division.

Join me as I speak with changemakers around the globe to deconstruct the social and economic exclusion women face.

We'll discover new evidence together and drive action to accelerate women's economic empowerment.

If you are not seeing the economic angle here, you are not paying attention.

Now, closing the women's health gap could add at least $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.

And that matters to us at Women's World Banking because health shapes whether women can work, whether they can save, borrow, invest, lead businesses, and absorb shocks.

Like if a woman cannot prevent illness or get timely care or prevent her household from a health emergency becoming a financial crisis, then there's a lot of other things that are at risk too, including financial life.