Moderator

• Andrea Castaño
  LAC Regional Hub, UNDP, Gender Policy Analyst on Economy and Private Sector

Panelists

• Ing. Carlos Ernesto Rodríguez Castaño
  Trusts Established in Relation to Agriculture (FIRA) México., Deputy Director General of Sectoral Intelligence.

• Karina Michelle Sánchez
  Ministry of Finance, Honduras, Legal Advisor and Coordinator of International Taxation

• Stella Guillén
  Development Finance Agency (AFD), Paraguay, President

• Luis Antonio Molina Chacón
  Ministry of Finance, Costa Rica, Vice Minister of Expenditure

Background
A decade after the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (2015), financing for gender equality has evolved from a political aspiration into a pillar of sustainable development. Latin America and the Caribbean has been a pioneer in this regard, demonstrating that substantive equality and the care economy drive growth, inclusion, and resilience. 

The Seville Commitment, adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, reinforces this vision. Paragraph 11 recognizes gender equality as an essential condition for sustainable development and calls for increased public and private resources, stronger care systems, and the promotion of women’s economic autonomy.

This political momentum was further strengthened at the 15th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico City, 2025), where member states adopted the Tlatelolco Commitment, a call for a decade of action to achieve substantive equality and build a care society. It urges states to ensure gender mechanisms with institutional authority and sustainable resources, gender-responsive budgeting, accountability, and social participation.

The Seville Action Platform is the main vehicle for implementing these commitments, with over one hundred initiatives. Among them: 

• The “Seville Commitment on Public Finance for Gender Equality”, which promotes the integration of a gender perspective into revenue, spending, and accountability systems.
• The initiative “Investing in Care for Equality and Prosperity”, co-led by Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and international organizations, which seeks to mobilize public and private financing for national care systems.

The region has made progress through gender-responsive budgeting, public spending tagging, inclusive financial instruments, and redistributive fiscal policies. However, public spending on gender equality remains below 1% of regional GDP, and investment gaps in care and women’s economic autonomy persist.

Today, there is an opportunity to turn commitments into results by aligning fiscal and institutional frameworks with gender equality and building more caring, inclusive, and sustainable economies.

Objectives

1. Review recent progress in Latin America and the Caribbean on gender-responsive budgeting, care policies, and women’s economic autonomy, as part of implementing the Sevilla Commitment and the Tlatelolco Commitment.
2. Highlight fiscal, financial, and institutional innovations that promote sustainable and coherent financing for gender equality and inclusive economies.
3. Foster regional dialogue and exchange on mechanisms, partnerships, and country-led experiences that advance gender-responsive financing within the Sevilla Platform for Action and its key initiatives on gender and care.

Guiding questions

• What recent fiscal, budgetary, or care-related innovations are linking public finance with gender equality goals?
• How can governments strengthen the institutional and financial capacities, consistent with the Sevilla and Tlatelolco commitments?
• What opportunities exist to expand regional cooperation and attract public and private investment toward substantive equality and the care economy?