Mari Elka Pangestu’s Post

Women entrepreneurs are an essential part of inclusive economic recovery. Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) plays a unique role to help design and support innovative approaches with public and private sector actors and crowd in funding. Digital transformation is a key part of the new financing round, which will help women leverage technologies to realize their full potential. As we support countries dealing with multiple crises, reforms to accelerate gender equality must be front and center.

On a recent visit to the United Nations , I was inspired to see more women in leadership positions across the UN, and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with many of them. Let me take this moment on International Women’s Day (IWD) to reflect on a few lessons that I have learned throughout my career on women and leadership, which I hope will inspire women everywhere to be part of and lead the changes we need to make happen.  To young women aspiring to be in leadership positions, I would say always push yourself beyond your comfort zone.  Have the confidence to take on a challenging task and show that you can deliver, even if you’ve never done it before. But remember that it’s not about your personal ability to deliver or getting credit. It’s about your ability to work with others, to collaborate and bring others along, which in turn helps you to build a network and support for your ideas. I’m a great believer in networks. You can proactively join many networks and be open to offer help or advice, and it will surprise you how and when these networks prove to be beneficial. Especially when you're young, try to find good mentors who will look out for you and help you.  I also benefitted from mentoring and I was lucky to have found really amazing mentors, both men and women. Good mentors can help open doors, tell you whether you are doing something right or wrong and give you good and unbiased advice. Having self-confidence and the ability to articulate your stance are important skills to develop.  Read the rest of my blog here: https://lnkd.in/eDi8T86i #IWD22 #BreakTheBias #AccelerateEquality #internationalwomensday2022 #internationalwomensday #leadership #career #network #mentoring

Trade sometimes gets a bad rap as it conjures up images of goods crisscrossing the planet via land, sea, or air, contributing to transport emissions. But new evidence on the intersection between trade and climate change shows that trade is playing an important role in creating more inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies. I explain how in my new blog for the World Economic Forum: https://lnkd.in/e-iHwxBn #trade #climatechange #sustainabledevelopment #sustainability #ecofriendly #transport #sustainable

To maximize benefits for people, planet and economies, government support for agriculture needs to simultaneously enhance productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Join me at an event organized by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and The World Bank on February 2: https://lnkd.in/eazNsKz8

The World Bank and World Trade Organization released a joint policy note on “The Role of Trade in Developing Countries’ Road to Recovery". Here are some key points from what I said at the launch: Emerging from the economic crisis, we have an opportunity to reshape the global economy to provide greener, more resilient, and inclusive development. Trade can be a powerful tool for achieving this, with the right policies. First, trade can support a green economy and facilitate the low-carbon transition. The transition to low carbon offers great opportunities and new sources of competitiveness for developing countries. For instance, trade in Environmental Goods is already over $1 trillion. Second, trade builds resilience. Deep integration in GVCs can help maintain trade relationships during a crisis – driven by the need to preserve costly investments in network relationships and corporate responsibility. Finally, while global trade plays a key role in reducing poverty, gains need to be distributed more evenly. Trade with domestic policies that accompany the role of open markets will be essential for ensuring a green, resilient and inclusive economic recovery. You can read the report here: http://wrld.bg/IByM50HBzsf Watch the replay of the launch here: http://wrld.bg/I21N50HBzxK

Today, we celebrate #EducationDay. We need to take back development progress for the sake of young people everywhere.

By investing now to build a green, resilient and inclusive economy, countries can turn the challenges of COVID-19 and climate change into opportunities for a more prosperous and stable future. The decade following the 2009 global financial crisis was characterised by growing structural weaknesses in developing countries, which have been further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, worsening poverty and inequality. These weaknesses include slowing investment, productivity, employment, and poverty reduction; rising debt; and accelerating destruction of natural capital. The pandemic has already pushed over 100 million more people into extreme poverty and worsened inequality. The effects of climate change are expected to push an estimated additional 130 million people into extreme poverty by 2030. COVID-19 and climate change have starkly exposed the interdependence between people, the planet, and the economy. All economic activities depend upon ecosystem services, so depleting the natural assets that create these services, eventually worsens economic performance. A business-as-usual recovery package that neglects these interlinkages would not adequately address the complex challenges that confront the world nor its structural weaknesses and would likely result in a lost decade of development. Targeting socioeconomic, climate change and biodiversity challenges in isolation is likely to be less effective than a coordinated response to their interacting effects. A continuation of current growth patterns would not address structural economic weaknesses and would erode natural capital and increase risks that affect long run growth. As the depletion of forests, oceans, and other natural assets worsen, the cost of inaction is becoming more expensive than the cost of climate action and it is the poor and vulnerable who are most disadvantaged by it. The solution is to adopt a Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development (GRID) approach that pursues poverty reduction and shared prosperity with a long-term sustainability lens.  Samir Saran and I expound on how in our article for the World Economic Forum's #DavosAgenda series. Click on the link below to read on.

I was pleased to open the kick-off event of the The World Bank's year-long Gender Equality and Development +10: #AccelerateEquality initiative - critical for #COVID19 recovery and beyond. We looked back on lessons learned in 10years since the #WDR2012 on gender equality. Sharing some of the highlights---   1. Maternal mortality has decreased by around 10% 2. Three-quarters of all girls enroll in secondary school, w/c represents a 5% increase. 3. There are more women in parliaments across the globe. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated large, persistent barriers to gender equality. It's also intensifying violence against women and girls. The urgency of the crisis demands bold solutions, and it also presents an opportunity to build back better.   I encourage everyone to contribute to the discussion & learn along with us on how to Accelerate Equality. How can we work more effectively towards the empowerment of women, men, boys, and girls and leverage their vast potential in a changing world?