Gammage S., Diamond, N. and Packman, M., 2005, Enhancing Women’s Access to Markets: An Overview of Donor Programs and Best Practices,

2.4 APPROACHES TO ENHANCE LIVELIHOODS, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

2.4.5. Strengthening IE with attention to gender issues

Recommendation: 

33) Follow an 8-step strategy to prepare a sound programme enhancing women’s access to markets:

• Prepare gender analysis tools
• Undertake a value chain analysis
• Improve micro-macro linkages
• Pursue a life cycle approach
• Support entitlement and capabilities programs
• Promote clustering and networking
• Expand access to credit and financial services
• Address informality

Reference: Gammage S., Diamond, N. and Packman, M., 2005, Enhancing Women’s Access to Markets: An Overview of Donor Programs and Best Practices, Review of multiple projects and/or actions, GATE Analysis Document, USAID, Washington DC.

Evidence sample: a study USAID (2005) compiled by focused on enhancing women’s access to markets, drew on donor experience to elicit key areas of best practice:

1) Use gender analysis tools to design, implement, and evaluate projects and programs. It will enable greater understanding of the inequalities in power that underlie gender- differentiated outcomes in markets and identify points of intervention, as well as strategies to engage potential beneficiaries.

2) Undertake a value chain analysis to identify opportunities for women’s broader participation in markets. Analysing the global value chain and the rents generated, provides opportunities to target assistance and inputs and provide incentives to reduce the number of intermediaries, increase the bargaining power of producers, and ensure access-appropriate processing technology, storage, and transport facilities enable resource-poor producers to capture more of the value added in the global value chain.

3) Improve micro-meso-macro linkages: Linking smaller suppliers and buyers can minimise predatory pricing and monopsony impacts and overcome concerns about volume and production reliability that larger entrepreneurs have towards small entrepreneurs.

4) Pursue a life cycle or livelihoods approach: Some interventions and support to increase market access may need to be short-run and agile such as emergency food-for-work programmes. Other programmes may need to create and encourage the expansion of financial instruments and social insurance to mitigate risk, insure inventories, and provide access to pensions and social security.

5) Support entitlement and capabilities programs: Successful projects and programs pay attention both to inputs as well as to the individual or group ability to deploy these inputs.

6) Promote clustering and networking: Groups of women producers may be able to access services collectively, which they might not be able to purchase as individual entrepreneurs Additionally, groups requiring the same service are usually in a better negotiating position with potential suppliers or can bargain more effectively with buyers than they could alone.

7) Expand access to credit and financial services: Microfinance remains a powerful tool to provide financial resources to the underserved and compensate for the absence of financial markets.

8) Address informality. Women cluster in informal markets and face particular barriers to formalising production. Efforts to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers, promote tax reform that can lift burdens on smaller enterprises, and generalise access to social security, pensions, and health-benefits can greatly affect the terms and conditions of women’s employment and enhance their security in the informal economy.