In April 2016, The Coca-Cola Company announced that its 5by20 initiative had reached a major milestone, impacting 1.2 million women since its launch in late 2010. With a goal to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women across the Coca-Cola value chain by 2020, the initiative was at the mid-point in its timeline, and its programs were on the cusp of moving from incremental to exponential scaling. The Company had earned significant international recognition for 5by20, including Catalyst Award (New York 2013), "Best Global Initiative for Women’s Empowerment," awarded at the Women in Leadership Economic Forum (Dubai, December 2014), and "Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award (2014)," given by Women’s Empowerment Principles, a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact.

This report provides an overview of 5by20, starting with its multi-dimensional contextual setting: the extensive focus on gender equality shared by governments, NGOs and private enterprise, and Coca-Cola’s commitment to and investment in a broad array of initiatives focused on economic development, sustainability, and social goals. The report then describes eight programs from six value chain sectors: Producers, Suppliers, Distributors, Retailers, Recyclers and Artisans, and it concludes with a review of 5by20’s efforts to measure the impact of the initiative, a summary of key elements that contribute to successful scaling, and lessons learned.