Overview
Conference Name: 2X Global Summit 2026
Date: September 16, 2026
Organized by: 2X Global, Global Affairs Canada, and FinDev Canada
Location: Montreal, Canada
Key Participants
Emi Hirose, Senior Advisor, Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction Promotion Office, Governance and Peacebuilding Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Lori Kerr, CEO of FinDev Canada
Jessica Espinoza, CEO of 2X Global
Emmanuelle Riedel Drouin, Deputy CEO of Proparco
Approximately 260 people, including development finance institutions, private investors, and fund managers
Background and Objectives
The 2X Challenge is an international initiative launched jointly by development finance institutions, including JICA, at the 2018 G7 Summit in Canada to expand investments that promote women’s economic empowerment. Using the 2X Criteria as a common framework, the initiative has worked to expand opportunities for women in employment, leadership, and access to finance.
Held on September 16 during the 2X Global Summit 2026, which took place in Montreal, Canada, from September 15 to 17, 2026, the “2X Challenge Full Circle” session was organized to reflect on the achievements of the past eight years since the launch of the 2X Challenge and to discuss future directions. Canada is the birthplace of the 2X Challenge, and this session was positioned as an opportunity to “return to our roots,” bringing together founding members and new participating organizations under one roof.
Contents
During the “2X Challenge Full Circle” session, participants discussed the achievements since the 2X Challenge was founded in 2018 and the program’s future direction.
The 2X Challenge is an international investment initiative launched jointly by development finance institutions (DFIs), including JICA, to promote women’s economic empowerment. During the session, founding members—including FinDev Canada, Proparco, and JICA—explained how the 2X Challenge established common standards for gender-lens investing (the 2X Criteria) and has since grown to mobilize approximately $34 billion in investments.
In conjunction with this session, development finance institutions participating in the 2X Challenge—including JICA—issued a joint statement. In the Joint Statement, they reaffirmed that women’s economic empowerment is essential for achieving sustainable economic growth and expressed their commitment to expanding investment in women, further promoting the 2X Criteria, ensuring women’s safety and inclusion, and integrating a gender perspective into day-to-day investment decisions and project development processes.
Emi Hirose, Senior Advisor in the Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction Promotion Office of the Governance and Peacebuilding Department, who spoke on behalf of JICA, highlighted JICA’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment as a founding member of the 2X Challenge. She also noted that, for the target period from 2024 to 2027, JICA has developed 11 2X projects totaling approximately $560 million, and announced the organization’s goal of incorporating a gender perspective into 80 percent of its projects by 2030. Furthermore, JICA explained that it is promoting women’s economic empowerment not only through investment and financing but also through technical cooperation and capacity-building support, and expressed its intention to continue working toward achieving concrete results through the 2X Challenge.
During the session, other case studies were presented—including support for women entrepreneurs, gender mainstreaming in the infrastructure sector, and the development of women-led funds—and participants agreed that investing in women yields not only social benefits but also economic and financial returns. It was confirmed that there is a need to further expand gender-lens investing by engaging large institutional investors, such as pension funds.
For a look at the symposium, visit the URL below
https://2xglobal.org/2x-global-summit-2026-highlights-closing-day-3
© Source JICA