(12 September 2017) Flor and Monica are two entrepreneurs from El Salvador selected from the "Ciudad Mujer / Onu Mujeres" project to attend the Levante Fair in Bari. Flor produces fabrics, clothes, and accessories through traditional dyeing in añil (Indigo) while Monica runs a micro-enterprise of coffee and cocoa products: both of them arrived in Bari thanks to the commitment of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), which funded the project with €500,000. "Ciudad Mujer / Onu Mujeres" is conducted by UN WOMEN in collaboration with the Social Inclusion Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador with the aim of promoting the economic empowerment of women, especially those most vulnerable who live in extreme poverty and situations of exclusion. The initiative promoted the creation of the Mujer Fund, consisting of a Microcredit Fund and a Guarantee Fund, which has been entrusted to the El Salvador Development Bank. The Mujer Fund is designed for micro and small business-owners in vulnerable situations who can not access the Salvadoran conventional financial market by providing them financial services at favourable terms. In July 2017, the Fund allowed access to microfinance 88 micro and small Salvadoran entrepreneurs. In the framework of the project, two female beneficiaries of the Mujer Fund have been selected to participate in the Levante Fair: the criteria that led to their selection include innovation and marketing capability and product sales potential. (Red)

AN ASBOLUTE NOVELTY

Women's participation at the Levante Fair has been promoted to enable them to gain experience in an important international fair, to strengthen their marketing skills and to establish contacts with other producers. Flor and Monica, who recently landed in Bari, took their place in the stand assigned to them at the Galleria delle Nazioni, presenting typical local handicrafts in El Salvador, such as indigo, chocolate, and coffee dyed fabrics. During the inauguration (with Gentiloni, Emiliano and DeCaro), the extraordinary Commissioner of the Levante Fair, Antonella Bisceglia, emphasised the importance of the project, recalling that El Salvador's presence at the Fair of the Levante is an absolute novelty.