The African Development Bank (AfDB) was granted $61.8 million for its program “Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa” (AFAWA). The program will offer innovative and tailored financial instruments including a women-focused first loss risk-sharing facility, specialized capacity-building training, and targeted initiatives to dramatically transform the business- enabling environment for women entrepreneurs. Of 21 economies targeted, AFAWA will mainly service IDA and fragile or conflict-affect countries where women are underserved in accessing financing, markets, knowledge, and mentoring programs. These countries include Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
