World Environment Center Secures Additional $2.5 Million to Build Capacity of Women-Owned Businesses for Sustainable Economic Growth
August 22, 2024 – The World Environment Center (WEC) has received an additional $2.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of State to expand its work building the capacity of women entrepreneurs throughout Central America on green projects. By leading two initiatives focused on economic development and climate change mitigation, WEC and its partners will work to address gender-specific barriers to sustainable growth.
The additional $2.5 million will supplement the current $3.5 million of the Empower Innovation Challenge (EIC) project and will allow WEC to support the economic development of sustainable projects by focusing on women entrepreneurs through the Climate Innovation Challenge (CIC), which will provide grants to micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) led by women and underserved populations in Central America. These grants will help to address local climate change impacts through mitigation and adaptation strategies, while building essential business and financial skills for women entrepreneurs.
“We are grateful for this additional funding to further implement our efforts in Central America,” said Ernesto Samayoa, Latin America Operations Director, WEC. “We look forward to the opportunity to continue supporting green and blue economies by funding innovative solutions and building capacity for women entrepreneurs.”
This initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of State (DoS) through the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) 2021 Global Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Fund and implemented by the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Policy Planning Coordination Office (WHA/PPC). Facilitated through collaboration with Núcleo de Biotecnología de Curauma (NBC), Baastel and La RED Innovación e Impacto, the EIC will feature three cohorts of funded organizations, with the final cohort to be announced in 2025. Details on the CIC are forthcoming.
About WEC:
The World Environment Center advances sustainable development through corporate business practices. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in Europe and Latin America, WEC advances corporate sustainability leadership through its global executive roundtable on key challenges and opportunities, builds capacity of small enterprises in emerging markets, and honors industry excellence through its annual Gold Medal Award. WEC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization. For more information, please visit www.wec.org.
