EL PASO, TX–(Oct 10, 2016) – Angélica Fuentes Foundation (FAF), a private institution committed to the overall empowerment of women of all ages through the strengthening and financing of organizations that support women’s advancement, proudly announced the first results of its support to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Fund for Gender Equality.

With support from partners, the Fund’s programs reached over 218,000 direct beneficiaries in 2015 alone through evidence-based strategies to advance gender equality at the local, national and regional levels. As of 31 December 2015, a total of US$ 64 million has been awarded to 120 programs in 80 countries, reaching over 10 million direct beneficiaries since the Fund’s establishment in 2009.

Key cumulative results by 2015 include:

• 628,000 stakeholders sensitized about gender equality and women’s rights
• 77,000 women participated in public forums to influence policies
• 228 new national and local laws and policies protecting women’s rights adopted
• 300 women achieved leadership positions in institutions that affect their lives
• 17,000 women accessed productive resources
• 7,100 women benefitted from social protection measures and services
• 13,000 women accessed sustainable income sources

Angélica Fuentes, Founder of the Angélica Fuentes Foundation, commented, “Latin America and the region have been the priority and the focus of our Foundation. We hoped that by partnering with the UN Fund for Gender Equality, we could facilitate and strengthen the support and investment of the Fund in the region. We are both very proud and thankful that the total invested Funds in LATAM since our involvement resulted in an approximate aggregate investment of $2MM in 6 different countries, 3 times the order of magnitude of our Foundation’s contribution. Beyond these figures, and provided the expertise and rigorous work of the Fund for Gender Equality. We are completely confident that the gender equality and women empowerment results derived from this investment in selected programs and countries will be at par or, very likely, above our expectations.”

About Angélica Fuentes Foundation
Angélica Fuentes Foundation believes that women empowerment and gender equality are some of the most efficient tools for social, economic and environmental development. They envision a world in which women and men cooperate and work together in a context of equanimity and equality of opportunities, where women are able to fully participate in all the areas of human endeavor, for their personal wellbeing as well as that of the communities they live in.

Angélica Fuentes Foundation’s goal is to promote and encourage gender equality and women empowerment in Latin America as one of the most efficient tools for economic, social and environmental development in the region. To achieve this goal, they work with a model that seeks to accurately measure the impact they can have in communities and countries where they have a direct or indirect presence, through their programs, their network of organizations or those for which they provide financial support and consulting.

The measurement carried out by the Foundation seeks to define comparative criteria to evaluate the economic participation of men and women, access to education and professional development, as well as pay equity by gender. Likewise, these measurements also allow monitoring the direct impact these rights have on other externalities such as teenage pregnancy, gender violence and access to justice, as well as the well-being and progress of the community in general.

** News, Media, PR and Content distribution provided by 1-800-PublicRelations, Inc.“1800pr”