Administrator Samantha Power began the UN General Assembly High Level Week with a conversation with the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart to discuss the climate crisis and the important role that women and girls play as leaders in addressing climate change. Administrator Power announced new private sector contributions to the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF), which was launched by USAID with the support of Amazon at COP27. The Visa Foundation and Reckitt will each contribute $3 million. With this new funding, CGEF will be able to double its reach in empowering women and girls who are designing and leading a range of climate solutions, from launching women-led renewable energy companies to scaling climate smart enterprises benefitting women farmers.
Administrator Power then met with Kenyan President William Ruto to discuss continued cooperation on food security, open governance and other development priorities.
At a USAID-hosted side event, Administrator Samantha Power joined Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, the Norwegian Minister of International Development, to launch a new multi-donor fund designed to unlock hundreds of millions in financing for small-and medium-sized agricultural businesses (agri-SMEs) in Africa. Working with Congress, the United States through USAID will provide an initial commitment of $35 million, alongside a matching contribution from Norway. The United States and Norway aim to reach a total of $200 million through additional donor contributions, which will catalyze hundreds of millions more in commercial financing for agri-SMEs by reducing the risk of investing. The fund has the potential to support 500 agri-SMEs and 1.5 million smallholder farmers in Africa, ultimately benefiting nearly 7.5 million people.
