e-MFP Launches Gender Lens Investing Resource Portal

e-MFP is pleased to announce the launch of the Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Resource Portal, a new open-access platform designed to help practitioners navigate the rapidly growing but often fragmented landscape of gender finance resources, tools, frameworks and guidance. 

Developed via the e-MFP Gender Lens Investing Action Group (GLI AG), the portal brings together an initial body of about 170 curated resources, with ongoing expansion and maintenance set to continue immediately after launch. 

The platform is in essence a practical, searchable public database, designed for use by organisations and individuals working across inclusive finance, impact investing, development finance and women’s economic empowerment. It also provides a focused response to navigating gender lens investing, and the challenges its rapid growth has introduced.  

Over the last decade, new frameworks, toolkits, standards, case studies, investment criteria, research papers and operational guidance have emerged from a wide range of actors including investors, financial service providers, development finance institutions, technical assistance providers, networks and researchers. But while the quantity of material has increased substantially, practitioners often still face a practical problem: finding the right resources, for the right audience, at the right stage of implementation. 

This new portal provides a solution:

Rather than functioning as a static library or document dump, the portal has been structured around usability and practical navigation. Resources can be searched and filtered in multiple ways such as stakeholder pathway, thematic collection and keyword search. Users can browse materials relevant to specific audiences including financial service providers (FSPs), investors and funders, researchers, technical assistance providers, and ecosystem or infrastructure organisations. 

For greater usability and accessibility, each resource has also been annotated with a short description to help users quickly understand what the document contains, who it is relevant for, and why it may be useful. 

The portal aims to support a broad range of users and use-cases:

An investor seeking gender-smart due diligence frameworks, an FSP exploring women-centred product design, a technical assistance provider developing training materials, or a researcher looking for recent sector analysis should all be able to identify relevant resources more efficiently.

In line with e-MFP’s broader mission of supporting knowledge exchange, peer learning and practical collaboration across the financial inclusion sector, the portal can be accessed freely without registration or login requirements. 

In order to remain dynamic and reflect the changing and developing face of the industry, resources will continue to be curated, updated and expanded. Users can already contribute directly through an integrated submission form, allowing organisations and practitioners to propose new resources, suggest amendments, or update their organisation’s profile and materials.  

The portal forms part of the rebooted GLI Action Group, relaunched by e-MFP in 2025 with a renewed focus on practical sector infrastructure, peer exchange and knowledge dissemination. The investment in this portal reflects the strategic priority of the GLI AG (and stated needs of its members) to recognise that while awareness of gender lens investing has increased significantly, many organisations – particularly smaller institutions and practitioners in emerging markets – still struggle to identify actionable tools, examples and implementation guidance that fit their operational context. 

The e-MFP Gender Lens Investing Resource Portal is now live and publicly accessible. 

The initiative was led by Sam Mendelson, head of the GLI Action Group, with invaluable support from Fernando Naranjo. Design and development of the portal depended on the crucial support of QLands, as well as consultant Jenny Morgan.

We hope you have the opportunity to explore this new portal! We welcome all ideas or feedback, which you can share with Sam Mendelson (smendelson@e-mfp.eu).