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Project

Women in Trade knowledge platform to boost inclusive and sustainable growth
 

Cambodia
Ghana
Madagascar
Nigeria
Senegal
Viet Nam
Project ID
109348
Total Funding
CAD 593,074.00
IDRC Officer
Bouba Housseini
Project Status
Active
End Date
Duration
36 months

Programs and partnerships

Employment and Growth

Lead institution(s)

Summary

This project seeks to establish a “Women in Trade” (WIT) knowledge platform that will help women-led businesses improve their access to Canadian and international markets, thereby boosting inclusive and sustainable growth.
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This project seeks to establish a “Women in Trade” (WIT) knowledge platform that will help women-led businesses improve their access to Canadian and international markets, thereby boosting inclusive and sustainable growth.

Promoting gender equality in global trade is an important element of an inclusive growth agenda, but women faces challenges that are amplified by rules, institutions, and laws that limit their participation, access to markets, and economic opportunities. As a result, women remain an untapped economic resource. However, trade promotion can create a win-win for both gender equality and economic growth.

This project will consolidate existing evidence, practices, and lessons into a WIT knowledge platform on trade for development. Drawing on emerging literature on gender and trade and the expertise of Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO), the research seeks to improve understanding of women’s role in trade and the strategies or policies needed to ensure the sector works for women.

A multi-country research team will examine these questions in selected countries from sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Senegal) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia and Vietnam). The project will generate a tool to gather, store, and analyze relevant data on women-led businesses in international and Canadian markets; a multi-stakeholder platform to foster dialogue and policy discussions towards inclusive trade policies and practices; and knowledge, evidence, and practical recommendations on how to boost access to Canadian and global markets for women-led businesses.

Research outputs

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Report
Language:

English

Summary

Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO Canada), with the financial assistance of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the technical support of TFO Canada Dr. Yiagadeesen Samy (Director, Normal Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University) and regional research organizations- Centre for Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and Mekong Institute (MI), worked in partnership and implemented an innovative initiative to produce research on trade and women’s economic empowerment, build capacity of stakeholders and disseminate knowledge on women’s inclusion in trade. The research project ‘’Women in trade Knowledge Platform to Boost Inclusive and Sustainable Growth’’ has completed its third year in December 2022 and met its objectives. The objective of the research project is to examine the relationship between trade and job creation for women, and the extent to which these jobs contribute to women’s economic empowerment. The research project uses both original survey data and qualitative methods to answer the following research questions as they relate to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs): 1). Why – and under what circumstances – do some trade sectors create more jobs for women and others do not? 2). To what extent are the jobs created contributing to women’s economic empowerment? 3). What strategies and policies are needed to ensure these sectors work optimally? The project focused on six developing and least developed countries (LDCs) in South-East Asia: Cambodia and Vietnam and Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Madagascar.

Author(s)
Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada
Study
Language:

English

Summary

Over a period spanning more than four decades, Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada has provided assistance in the form of information, advice and contact services to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Trade Support Institutions (TSIs) from developing countries to gain access to international markets. Drawing from this experience, and as part of the current research project, TFO Canada proposes to establish a Women in Trade (WIT) Knowledge Platform, which will serve as a tool to fill important gaps related to the collection, storage, and analysis of gender disaggregated sector-specific trade and employment data. For the current research project, the following research questions were identified after an extensive review of the literature on trade and gender: 1). Why – and under what circumstances – do some trade sectors create more jobs for women and others do not? 2). To what extent are the jobs created contributing to women’s economic empowerment? 3). What strategies and policies are needed to ensure these sectors work optimally? We wanted to examine the relationship between trade and job creation for women, the extent to which these jobs contribute to women’s economic empowerment, and the policies that should be put in place to ensure that women benefit from trade.

Author(s)
Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada
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