GENDER BONDS

The document serves as a technical resource for designing and issuing gender bonds in Africa, aligning with International Capital Market Association (ICMA) standards. It details the issuance process for both use-of-proceeds (UoP) and performance-based bonds, emphasizing the need for gender-disaggregated data, internal working groups, and external reviews. The guide highlights the growth of the gender bond market in Africa, citing recent issuances in Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania, and provides case studies and frameworks to help issuers direct capital toward women-owned MSMEs, housing, and leadership diversity.

• Gender bonds are a mechanism to channel financing into projects that reduce gender inequalities and promote women's empowerment, and they can be structured as either use-of-proceeds (UoP) bonds or performance-based bonds.
• While gender bonds are emerging globally, African markets have historically seen the lowest issuance rates, though recent activity includes first-time issuances in Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania.
• Financing women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (WMSMEs) is the most common project category for UoP gender bonds, with at least 85% of non-MDB gender bonds focusing on this area.
• Issuers are advised to establish a Gender Bond Working Group (GBG) and ensure the availability of robust gender-disaggregated data to identify eligible borrowers and prepare for monitoring.
• External reviews, most commonly Second-Party Opinions (SPOs), are critical for vetting the credibility of a bond framework's alignment with sustainable objectives.
• Performance-based gender bonds use key performance indicators (KPIs) and sustainability performance targets (SPTs), such as increasing women's representation in leadership, to trigger financial consequences like coupon step-ups or step-downs.
• Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) support the market by acting as anchor investors, providing technical assistance, and offering credit guarantees.
• There is a growing trend of combining gender and climate objectives in sustainability bonds, focusing on women as leaders of climate solutions in areas like agriculture and clean water.

APA

FSD Africa (n.d.). GENDER BONDS. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Gender-Bonds-Report-2.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. GENDER BONDS. n.d. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Gender-Bonds-Report-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=GENDER BONDS |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Gender-Bonds-Report-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafricandgender, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{GENDER BONDS}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Gender-Bonds-Report-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }