In recent months there have been several noteworthy policy and program evaluations published, examining what works - and what doesn't - in efforts to support women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. Here's a linked listing of the best of the bunch:

• Buvinic, Furst-Nichols: Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment: What Works?, World Bank Group Policy Research Working Paper No. 7087 (11/2014)
• Fairtrade Foundation: Equal Harvest: Removing the Barriers to Women's Participation in Smallholder Agriculture (3/2015)
• International Labour Organisation: Effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Development Interventions for Women Entrepreneurs (12/2014)

Some common conclusions and recommendations include:  

• Support targeted at women should be designed specifically for women: one can't just rename general purpose business support (otherwise known as "painting it pink");
• Education, mentoring, and financing alone (in isolation) are not usually enough to overcome environmental (legal, cultural) constraints: holistic support is more effective; and
• Much of the impact evaluations performed to date are relatively short term. The true impact of policy and/or program interventions may take longer to bear fruit, and may be felt in broader terms than simple business growth measures.

Every few years, the United Nations publishes a look at the progress of the world's women with respect to their health, education and legal empowerment. The latest in that series, Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights, was recently published. The previous reports are archived on this page.

The UN has also published data compendia (every five years, from 1990 to 2010) on The World's Women. These reports, which contain a wealth of statistical data from around the world, are archived on this page and are well worth adding to your womenabling research shelf.

Also worth adding to that shelf are the following new reports:

• African Development Bank - Gender Equality Index
• No Ceilings, an initiative of the Clinton and Gates Foundations - Full Participation Project, a gendered data initiative (report in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish)
• UN Economic Commission for Europe - Indicators of Gender Equality

Of course, all of these reports are also available on the Womenabler Reference Library page at womenable.com!

After eight excellent years of promoting women's entrepreneurship in Sweden, the newly-elected government has closed programmatic support in this area (thus highlighting once again that elections do matter).

In wrapping up their efforts, however, Tillväxtverket (the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth) has compiled some lessons learned reports. Here, for your enlightenment, are:

• 8 years with promoting women's entrepreneurship in Sweden
• Below the surface: what's the talk and who gets the money II?
• Open up! Business promotion on equal terms, 2015-2020

Many thanks to fellow womenabler Gunilla Thorstensson for sharing these reports with us. Unfortunately, business promotion "on equal terms" (meaning "one size fits all") will likely not stand women entrepreneurs in Sweden in good stead going forward. As they say in Sweden,  nära skjuter ingen hare!

Perhaps this will spark advocacy and action among women's business groups there. From adversity can come increased strength and sisterhood.