[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3247 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3247
To improve programs and activities relating to women's entrepreneurship
and economic empowerment that are carried out by the United States
Agency for International Development, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 19, 2018
Mr. Boozman (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Rubio)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To improve programs and activities relating to women's entrepreneurship
and economic empowerment that are carried out by the United States
Agency for International Development, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Women's Entrepreneurship and
Economic Empowerment Act of 2018''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Because women make up the majority of the world's poor
and gender inequalities prevail in incomes, wages, access to
finance, ownership of assets, and control over the allocation
of resources, women's entrepreneurship and economic empowerment
is important to achieve inclusive economic growth at all levels
of society. Research shows that when women exert greater
influence over household finances, economic outcomes for
families improve, and childhood survival rates, food security,
and educational attainment increase. Women also tend to place a
greater emphasis on household savings which improves families'
financial resiliency.
(2) A 2016 report by the McKinsey Global Institute
estimated that achieving global gender parity in economic
activity could add as much as $28,000,000,000,000 to annual
global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.
(3) Lack of access to financial services that address
gender-specific constraints impedes women's economic inclusion.
More than 1,000,000,000 women around the world are currently
left out of the formal financial system, which in turn causes
many women to rely on informal means of saving and borrowing
that are riskier and less reliable. Among other consequences,
this hampers the success of women entrepreneurs, including
those seeking to run or grow small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs). The International Finance Corporation has estimated
that 70 percent of women-owned SMEs in the formal sector are
unserved or underserved in terms of access to credit, amounting
to a $285,000,000,000 credit gap.
(4) Women's economic empowerment is inextricably linked to
a myriad of other women's human rights that are essential to
their ability to thrive as economic actors across the
lifecycle. This includes living lives free of violence and
exploitation, achieving the highest possible standard of health
and well-being, enjoying full legal and human rights such as
access to registration, identification, and citizenship
documents, benefitting from formal and informal education, and
equal protection of and access to land and property rights,
access to fundamental labor rights, policies to address
disproportionate care burdens, and business and management
skills and leadership opportunities.
(5) Discriminatory legal and regulatory systems and banking
practices are hurdles to women's access to capital and assets,
including land, machinery, production facilities, technology,
and human resources. Often, these barriers are connected to a
woman's marital status, which can determine whether she is able
to inherit land or own property in her name. These constraints
contribute to women frequently running smaller businesses, with
fewer employees and lower asset values.
(6) Savings groups primarily comprised of women are
recognized as a vital entry point, especially for poor and very
poor women, to formal financial services and there is a high
demand for such groups to protect and grow their savings with
formal financial institutions. Evidence shows that, once linked
to a bank, the average savings per member increases between 40
to 100 percent and the average profit per member doubles. Key
to these outcomes is investing in financial literacy, business
leadership training, and mentorship.
(7) United States support for microenterprise and
microfinance development programs, which seek to reduce poverty
in low-income countries by giving small loans to small-scale
entrepreneurs without collateral, have been a useful mechanism
to help families weather economic shocks, but many microcredit
borrowers largely remain in poverty. The vast majority of
microcredit borrowers are women who would like to move up the
economic ladder but are held back by binding constraints that
create a ``missing middle''--large numbers of microenterprises,
a handful of large firms or conglomerates, and very few SMEs in
between, which are critical to driving economic growth in
developing countries.
(8) According to the World Bank, SMEs create four out of 5
new positions in emerging markets but about half of formal SMEs
don't have access to formal credit. The financing gap is even
larger when micro and informal enterprises are taken into
account. Overall, approximately 70 percent of all micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets lack
access to credit.
SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO IMPROVE GENDER POLICIES OF THE UNITED STATES AGENCY
FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
(a) Development Cooperation Policy.--It shall be the development
cooperation policy of the United States--
(1) to reduce gender disparities in access to, control
over, and benefit from economic, social, political, and
cultural resources, wealth, opportunities, and services;
(2) to strive to eliminate gender-based violence and
mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and communities
through efforts to develop standards and capacity to reduce
gender-based violence in the workplace and other places where
women conduct work;
(3) to support activities that secure private property
rights and land tenure for women in developing countries,
including legal frameworks to give women equal rights to own,
register, use, profit from, and inherit land and property,
legal literacy to exercise these rights, and capacity of law
enforcement and community leaders to enforce such rights; and
(4) to increase the capability of women and girls to
realize their rights, determine their life outcomes, assume
leadership roles, and influence decisionmaking in households,
communities, and societies.
(b) Actions.--In order to advance the policy described in
subsection (a), the Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development shall ensure that--
(1) strategies, projects, and activities of the Agency are
shaped by a gender analysis and, when applicable, use standard
indicators to provide one measure of success of such
strategies, projects, and activities; and
(2) gender equality and female empowerment is integrated
throughout the Agency's Program Cycle and related processes for
purposes of strategic planning, project design and
implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
(c) Gender Analysis Defined.--In this section, the term ``gender
analysis''--
(1) means a socioeconomic analysis of available or gathered
quantitative and qualitative information to identify,
understand, and explain gaps between men and women which
typically involves examining--
(A) differences in the status of women and men and
their differential access to and control over assets,
resources, opportunities, and services;
(B) the influence of gender roles, structural
barriers, and norms on the division of time between
paid employment, unpaid work (including subsistence
production and care for family members), and volunteer
activities;
(C) the influence of gender roles, structural
barriers, and norms on leadership roles and
decisionmaking; constraints, opportunities, and entry
points for narrowing gender gaps and empowering women;
and
(D) potential differential impacts of development
policies and programs on men and women, including
unintended or negative consequences; and
(2) includes conclusions and recommendations to enable
development policies and programs to narrow gender gaps and
improve the lives of women and girls.
SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED
ENTERPRISES.
(a) Findings and Policy.--Section 251 of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) by striking ``microenterprise'' and inserting
``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
(B) by striking ``and in the development'' and
inserting ``, in the development''; and
(C) by inserting ``, and in the economic
empowerment of the poor, especially women'' before the
period at the end;
(2) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by striking ``microenterprise'' and inserting
``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises''; and
(B) by inserting ``, particularly enterprises
owned, managed, and controlled by women'' before the
period at the end;
(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ``microenterprises'' and
inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
(4) in paragraph (4), by striking ``microenterprise'' and
inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise'';
(5) in paragraph (5)--
(A) by striking ``should continue'' and inserting
``should continue and be expanded''; and
(B) by striking ``microenterprise and microfinance
development assistance'' and inserting ``development
assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprises''; and
(6) in paragraph (6)--
(A) by striking ``have been successful'' and
inserting ``have had some success'';
(B) by striking ``microenterprise programs'' and
inserting ``development assistance for micro, small,
and medium-sized enterprises''; and
(C) by striking ``, such as countries in Latin
America''.
(b) Authorization; Implementation; Targeted Assistance.--Section
252 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
striking ``credit, savings, and other services to
microfinance and microenterprise clients'' and
inserting ``credit, including the use of innovative
credit scoring models, savings, financial technology,
financial literacy, insurance, property rights, and
other services to micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprise clients'';
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``microfinance
and microenterprise clients'' and inserting ``micro,
small, and medium-sized enterprise clients,
particularly clients owned, managed, and controlled by
women'';
(C) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``microenterprises'' and
inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprises''; and
(ii) by inserting ``to acquire United
States goods and services,'' after ``United
States markets,'';
(D) in paragraph (3)--
(i) by striking ``microfinance and
microenterprise institutions'' and inserting
``financial intermediaries'';
(ii) by striking ``microfinance and
microenterprise clients'' and inserting
``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
and
(iii) by striking ``and'' at the end;
(E) in paragraph (4)--
(i) by striking ``microfinance and
microenterprise clients and institutions'' and
inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprises, financial intermediaries, and
capital markets''; and
(ii) by striking ``the poor and very
poor.'' and inserting ``the poor and very poor,
especially women;''; and
(F) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) assistance for the purpose of promoting the economic
empowerment of women, including through increased access to
financial resources and improving property rights, inheritance
rights, and other legal protections; and
``(6) assistance for the purpose of scaling up evidence-
based graduation approaches, which include targeting the very
poor and households in ultra-poverty, consumption support,
promotion of savings, skills training, and asset transfers.'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be established
within the Agency an office to support the Agency's efforts to
broaden and deepen local financial markets, expand access to
appropriate financial products and services, and support the
development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The
Office shall be headed by a Director who shall possess
technical expertise and ability to offer leadership in the
field of financial sector development.'';
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as
follows:
``(B) Use of central funding mechanisms.--In order
to ensure that assistance under this title is
distributed effectively and efficiently, the office
shall provide coordination and support for field-
implemented programs, including through targeted core
support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises
and local financial markets.''; and
(ii) in subparagraph (C), in the matter
preceding clause (i)--
(I) by inserting ``, particularly
by protecting the use and funding of
local organizations in countries in
which the Agency invests,'' after ``and
sustainability''; and
(II) by inserting ``, especially
women'' after ``the poor and very
poor''; and
(C) by striking paragraph (3); and
(3) in subsection (c), by striking ``subsection (a), 50
percent of all microenterprise resources'' and all that follows
and inserting the following: ``subsection (a)--
``(1) 50 percent of all micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprise resources shall be targeted to activities that reach
the very poor; and
``(2) 50 percent of all small and medium-sized enterprise
resources shall be targeted to activities that reach
enterprises owned, managed, and controlled by women.''.
(c) Monitoring System.--Section 253(b) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211b(b)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, including goals on a
gender disaggregated basis, such as improvements in employment,
access to financial services, enterprise development, earnings
and control over income, and property and land rights,'' after
``performance goals'';
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``include performance
indicators to be used in measuring or assessing the
achievement'' and inserting ``incorporate Agency planning and
reporting processes and indicators to measure or assess the
achievement''; and
(3) by striking paragraph (4).
(d) Poverty Measurement Methods.--Section 254 of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211c) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 254. POVERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS.
``The Administrator of the Agency, in consultation with financial
intermediaries and other appropriate organizations, should have in
place at least one method for implementing partners to use to assess
poverty levels of their current incoming or prospective clients.''.
(e) Additional Authorities.--Section 255 of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211d) is amended--
(1) by striking ``assistance for microenterprise
development assistance'' and inserting ``development assistance
for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises''; and
(2) by striking ``and, to the extent applicable'' and all
that follows and inserting a period.
(f) Microenterprise Development Credits.--Section 256 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2212) is amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``microenterprise
development credits'' and inserting ``development credits for
micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
(2) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``micro- and
small enterprises'' and inserting ``micro, small, and
medium-sized enterprises''; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking
``microenterprises'' and inserting ``micro, small, and
medium-sized enterprises'';
(3) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
striking ``microenterprise households lacking full
access to credit'' and inserting ``micro, small, and
medium-sized enterprises and households lacking full
access to credit and other financial services''; and
(B) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking
``microfinance institutions'' each place such term
appears and inserting ``financial intermediaries'';
(4) in subsection (c), in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by striking ``microfinance institutions'' and inserting
``financial intermediaries''; and
(5) in subsections (c) and (d), by striking
``microenterprise households'' each place such term appears and
inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and
households''.
(g) United States Microfinance Loan Facility.--Section 257 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2213) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``United States-
supported microfinance institutions'' and inserting ``United
States-supported financial intermediaries''; and
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``United States-
supported microfinance institutions'' each place such
term appears and inserting ``United States-supported
financial intermediaries''; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``microfinance
institutions'' and inserting ``financial
intermediaries''.
(h) Contents of Report.--Section 258(b) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214(b)) is amended to read as follows:
``(b) Contents.--To the extent practicable, the report submitted
under subsection (a) should contain the following:
``(1) Information about assistance provided under section
252, including--
``(A) the amount of each grant or other form of
assistance;
``(B) the name and type of each intermediary and
implementing partner organization receiving assistance;
``(C) the name of each country receiving
assistance; and
``(D) the methodology used to ensure compliance
with the targeted assistance requirements under
subsection (c) of such section.
``(2) The percentage of assistance provided under section
252, disaggregated by income level, including for the very
poor, and by gender.
``(3) The estimated number of individuals that received
assistance under section 252, disaggregated by income level,
including for the very poor, by gender, and by type of
assistance, including loans, training, and business development
services.
``(4) The results of the monitoring system required under
section 253.
``(5) Information about any method in place to assess
poverty levels under section 254.''.
(i) Definitions.--Section 259 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2214a) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``Committee on
International Relations of the House of Representatives'' and
inserting ``Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives'';
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ``microenterprises'' and
inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
(3) in paragraph (6)--
(A) in subparagraph (E), by striking
``microenterprise institution'' and inserting ``micro,
small, or medium-sized enterprise institution''; and
(B) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``microfinance
institution'' and inserting ``financial intermediary'';
(4) by striking paragraphs (7) and (8) and inserting the
following:
``(7) Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise
institution.--The term `micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprise institution' means an entity that provides services,
including finance, training, or business development services,
for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in foreign
countries.
``(8) Financial intermediary.--The term `financial
intermediary' means the entity that acts as the intermediary
between parties in a financial transaction, such as a bank,
credit union, investment fund, a village savings and loan
group, or an institution that provides financial services to a
micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise.'';
(5) by striking paragraph (9);
(6) by redesignating paragraphs (10) through (14) as
paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively;
(7) in paragraph (9), as redesignated, by striking ``of
microenterprise development'';
(8) by amending paragraph (10), as redesignated, to read as
follows:
``(10) Practitioner institution.--The term `practitioner
institution' means a not-for-profit entity, a financial
intermediary, an information and communications technology firm
with a mobile money platform, a village and savings loan group,
or any other entity that provides financial or business
development services authorized under section 252 that benefits
micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise clients.'';
(9) in paragraph (12), as redesignated--
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``United
states-supported microfinance institution'' and
inserting ``United states-supported financial
intermediary''; and
(B) by striking ``United States-supported
microfinance institution'' and inserting ``United
States-supported financial intermediary''; and
(10) in paragraph (13), as redesignated, by amending
subparagraph (B) to read as follows:
``(B) living below the international poverty line
(as defined by the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development and the International
Development Association (collectively referred to as
the `World Bank')).''.
(j) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--Title VI of chapter 2 of
part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211 et seq.)
is amended in the title heading by striking ``MICROENTERPRISE
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE'' and inserting ``DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR
MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES''.
SEC. 5. REPORT AND BRIEFING BY UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States Agency
for International Development shall provide a briefing and submit a
report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of
the Senate on the implementation of this Act and the amendments made by
this Act, including actions to improve the gender policies of the
United States Agency for International Development pursuant to section
3.
(b) Public Availability.--The report required under subsection (a)
shall be posted and made available on a text-based, searchable, and
publicly available internet website.
SEC. 6. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.
(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of
the Senate on development assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprises administered by the United States Agency for International
Development.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection
(a) shall include an assessment of the following:
(1) What is known about the impact of such development
assistance on the economies of developing countries.
(2) The extent to which such development assistance is
targeting women and the very poor, including what is known
about how such development assistance benefits women.
(3) The extent to which the United States Agency for
International Development has developed a methodology to ensure
compliance with the targeted assistance requirement under
section 252(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as
amended by section 4, and the quality of such methodology.
(4) The monitoring system required under section 253(b) of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended by section 4,
including the quality of such monitoring system.
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