entrepreneurs without collateral, have been a useful mechanism to help families weather economic shocks, but many microcredit borrowers largely remain in poverty. 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 SMEs in between, which are critical to driving economic growth in developing countries. (8) According to the World Bank, SMEs create 4 out of 5 new positions in emerging markets but about half of formal SMEs don’t have 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 (MSMEs) in emerging markets lack access to credit. 3. Actions to improve gender policies of the United States Agency for International Development (a) Development cooperation policy It shall be the development cooperation policy of the United States— (1) to reduce gender disparities in access to, control over, and benefit from economic, social, political, and cultural resources, wealth, opportunities, and services