Regional Programme for the Promotion of Women's Entrepreneurship - Phase II

The general goal of the second phase of the "Regional Programme for the Promotion of Women's Entrepreneurship in Central America and the Dominican Republic (PREFEM II)" is to contribute to the establishment of a regional environment that is favorable to the equitable participation of women within the economic fabric of the Central American Integration System (SICA) region, all under an institutional environment that fosters their economic autonomy. This objective will be achieved, among other things, on the condition that "the women entrepreneurs covered by the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSME) business development ecosystem increase their activities and their level of economic autonomy, thanks to the public and private business development services offered to them by the interlinked regional ecosystem.

The strategy to achieve the specific objective defines three results:

• integrate principles of equality and women's economic rights into the instruments of regional MSME regulations. To this end, a process will be developed for the participation of women entrepreneurs in the SICA region in order to collectively build an approach for women's entrepreneurship and the principle of equality in such a way as to integrate it into the SICA EMPRENDE agenda and the regional policy of MSMEs;
• improve women entrepreneurs' access to a range of services that reduce inequalities during the Business Development Cycle (BDC). This result will go hand in hand with the scope of business services and the implementation of a women's entrepreneurship focal area. It will improve women's access to business services in terms of quality and quantity, by strengthening staff capacity to provide financial and non-financial services while taking into account gender, environmental and climate change criteria;
• consolidate the institutional, organisational and individual capacities of the Regional Center for the Promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CENPROMYPE) for the positioning of women entrepreneurship in the SICA region. With such an outcome, it is expected that during the implementation of PREFEM II, CENPROMYPE staff will gain new capacities through the implementation of a training program on gender, environment and climate change approaches in relation to MSMEs. Another consolidation process is the installation and implementation of the Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) that will strengthen the practice of Results-Based Management and finally, the strengthening of the digital transformation.

PREFEM II is a four-year programme with a budget of USD 4,000,000 and a target population of 1,250 women entrepreneurs at various stages in their BDC, as direct beneficiaries, such as at least 50 business development service providers, 50 women managers, 250 advisors and mentors in business development services. Indirect beneficiaries are the 2,500 (new) people employed in women-led enterprises.