Framework for financing the prevention of gender-based violence

This framework for financing the prevention of gender-based violence offers a shared way of understanding how financial systems themselves shape the conditions in which gender‑based violence persists. It translates established GBV prevention logic into a form that is legible and usable by financial decision‑makers, while remaining grounded in the realities of GBV work. 

Advanced practices in gender lens investing: Sahel Capital

If we are to advance gender equality and social justice through finance, it is not enough to increase representation or move more capital. We must also address the underlying ways in which power, privilege, and bias operate in financial systems.

A West and East Africa gender-based violence due diligence tool

The West and East Africa Gender-Based Violence Due Diligence Tool is designed to equip investors with a structured way to identify, assess, and mitigate the material risks gender-based violence (GBV) poses to their investments, particularly within the sociopolitical contexts of West and East Africa.

Advanced practices in gender lens investing: Inua Capital

Over the past few years, Criterion Institute has formalized a system of Advanced Practice to make these shifts visible and replicable. Built on four guiding interconnected principles – Will to Act, Integrity, Accountability, and Inclusion – this system provides a coherent framework for identifying current investment practices, analyzing power dynamics, and proposing shifts that can become new standards for asset owners and managers.

Investing in Africa’s future: A roadmap to dignified and fulfilling job creation

Criterion Institute’s investment thesis reimagines finance as a tool for systems change in Africa by aligning capital with power redistribution, gender analysis, and context-specific strategies to create dignified, inclusive economic growth.

Financial Barriers for Women Entrepreneurs: A Global Perspective

Advancing Research and Investment Standards for Gender Equity (ARISE) Consortium announced an exciting funding opportunity for research on closing the gender gap in financing for entrepreneurs. Nearly 400 entrepreneurs across the globe submitted research proposals and over 30 organizations were shortlisted for in-depth interviews on their work. 

Reimagining gender lens investing futures: Possibilities and perspectives from the field

Reimagining gender lens investing futures is both a reflection on the field today and a hopeful vision for where it could go, grounded in the real work of field builders across geographies and sectors. These practitioners continue to defend gender’s continued relevance to finance in the face of resistance. They are also expanding its role, reimagining its potential as a tool for change, and building the infrastructure needed to sustain that change over the next decade.

Advisory Board Welcome

This Welcome Video is for New Advisory Board Members Only

Advisory Boards at Criterion: Roles and Responsibilities