[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3247 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.3247

                     One Hundred Fifteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
           the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen


                                 An Act


 
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.
        (2) 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 family financial resiliency.
        (3) 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 by 2025.
        (4) Lack of access to financial services that address gender-
    specific constraints impedes women's economic inclusion. Roughly 
    1,000,000,000 women around the world are currently left out of the 
    formal financial system, which causes many women to rely on 
    informal means of saving and borrowing that are riskier and less 
    reliable.
        (5) Among other consequences, this lack of access hampers the 
    success of women entrepreneurs, including women who are seeking to 
    run or grow small and medium-sized enterprises. The International 
    Finance Corporation has estimated that 70 percent of women-owned 
    small and medium-sized enterprises in the formal sector are 
    unserved or underserved in terms of access to financial services, 
    resulting in a financing gap of $300,000,000,000 for women-owned 
    small businesses.
        (6) 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, 
    including--
            (A) living lives free of violence and exploitation;
            (B) achieving the highest possible standard of health and 
        well-being;
            (C) enjoying full legal and human rights, such as access to 
        registration, identification, and citizenship documents;
            (D) benefitting from formal and informal education;
            (E) equal protection of and access to land and property 
        rights;
            (F) access to fundamental labor rights;
            (G) policies to address disproportionate care burdens; and
            (H) business and management skills and leadership 
        opportunities.
        (7) Discriminatory legal and regulatory systems and banking 
    practices are obstacles to women's access to capital and assets, 
    including land, machinery, production facilities, technology, and 
    human resources. These barriers are often 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.
        (8) Savings groups primarily comprised of women are recognized 
    as a vital entry point, especially for poor and very poor women, to 
    formal financial services. There is a high demand for such groups 
    to protect and grow the savings of women with formal financial 
    institutions.
        (9) Evidence shows that, once a saving group is linked to a 
    bank, the average savings per member increases between 40 to 100 
    percent and the average profit per member doubles. Investing in 
    financial literacy, business leadership training, and mentorship 
    are key elements to these outcomes.
        (10) 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.
        (11) 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 small and medium-sized enterprises in between, which are 
    critical to driving economic growth in developing countries.
        (12) According to the World Bank, small and medium-sized 
    enterprises create 4 out of 5 new positions in emerging markets, 
    but approximately 50 percent of formal small and medium-sized 
    enterprises lack 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 in emerging markets lack access to credit.
SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO IMPROVE THE INTERNATIONAL GENDER POLICY OF THE 
UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
    (a) 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, 
        education, opportunities, and services;
            (B) the influence of gender roles, structural barriers, and 
        norms on the division of time between paid employment, unpaid 
        work (including the subsistence production and care for family 
        members), and volunteer activities;
            (C) the influence of gender roles, structural barriers, and 
        norms on leadership roles and decision making; 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.
    (b) International Development Cooperation Policy.--It shall be the 
international development cooperation policy of the United States--
        (1) to reduce gender disparities with respect to economic, 
    social, political, educational, and cultural resources, wealth, 
    opportunities, and services;
        (2) to strive to eliminate gender-based violence and mitigate 
    its harmful effects on individuals and communities including 
    through efforts to develop standards and capacity to reduce gender-
    based violence in the workplace and other places where women work;
        (3) to support activities that secure private property rights 
    and land tenure for women in developing countries, including--
            (A) legal frameworks that give women equal rights to own, 
        register, use, profit from, and inherit land and property;
            (B) improving legal literacy to enable women to exercise 
        the rights described in subparagraph (A); and
            (C) improving the capacity of law enforcement and community 
        leaders to enforce such rights;
        (4) to increase the capability of women and girls to fully 
    exercise their rights, determine their life outcomes, assume 
    leadership roles, and influence decision-making in households, 
    communities, and societies; and
        (5) to improve the access of women and girls to education, 
    particularly higher education opportunities in business, finance, 
    and management, in order to enhance financial literacy and business 
    development, management, and strategy skills.
    (c) Actions.--In order to advance the policy described in 
subsection (b), 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;
        (2) standard indicators are used to assess such strategies, 
    projects, and activities, if applicable; and
        (3) gender equality and female empowerment are integrated 
    throughout the Agency's program cycle and related processes for 
    purposes of strategic planning, project design and implementation, 
    monitoring, and evaluation.
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 should'' and 
        inserting ``development assistance for micro, small, and 
        medium-sized enterprises should''; 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, education, 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), by striking ``microenterprises'' and 
        inserting ``micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises'';
            (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, financial literacy, 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, education, 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 1 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)--
            (A) by striking ``Administrator'' and inserting 
        ``President'';
            (B) 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 (or an 
    appropriate proxy for income level, including for the very poor), 
    by gender, and by type of assistance.
        ``(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 THE 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 Foreign Relations of the Senate 
regarding 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 THE 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 Foreign Relations of the Senate 
regarding 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(b)(3), 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(c), 
    including the quality, appropriateness, and feasibility of such 
    monitoring system.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.