Sarah Mills

iDE UK Gender Programme Officer

Building Gender-inclusive Value Chains

ADB REGIONAL SEMINAR, Bangkok, 20-22 May 2015:
WOMENS EMPLOYMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP & EMPOWERMENT:
MOVING FORWARD ON IMPERFECT PATHWAYS

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of
Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence
of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

Value chains
Farm to fork
Inputs
Machinery
manufacturers; local
traders; extension
service providers

Production
and
processing
Farmers;
cooperatives; wage
labourers

Marketing
Farmers;
cooperatives;
intermediaries;
wholesalers; retailers

Consumer

Making Markets work for the Poor (M4P)

Developing market systems to
benefit poor rural communities
Seeks to make markets more
inclusive of the poor,
effectively and sustainably
External actors play temporary
and catalytic role
Addresses causes of weak
market performance
Gender and other forms of
social exclusion key here

Why Gender Equity in Value Chains?

Social Justice

Poverty reduction

Business opportunities

Women tend to be less integrated into

value chains
Identify and strengthen weakest
links
Distributions of power and
resources
Ultimately, gender equitable and
more inclusive value chains
improve their overall strength and
performance.

Gendered Value Chain Analysis

AIM: integrate small scale female producers, processors, traders, and
entrepreneurs into value chains to enhance their economic
empowerment
Focus on key subsectors and levels of VC

Where women are already active (production, processing, etc.)

Potential for womens employment and entrepreneurship

Identify key constraints

Identify possible solutions

Gender analysis
Resources

Agency, voice and

choice

Divisions of labour
Who has
what?

Who
does
what?

Who
decides?

Who
benefits?

Economic and social

Power/ redistribution of
Potential negative
impacts

Constraints

Socio-cultural
Policy and regulation (e.g. inheritance,
land ownership)
Access to/control over resources incl.
land, finance
Low literacy/numeracy
Lack of productive assets
Mobility and time access to markets

Possible Solutions to Improving WEE through

VC support
Horizontal and vertical links and relationships
Key VC support mechanisms

Technologies
Crops/products
Finance
Information
Skills training

Enabling environment
Socio-cultural practices
Policies, regulations
Infrastructure, certification

iDE Nepal
Openness to womens participation
High value crops close to home
Commercial pockets/collection centres
33-50% female representation in
leadership roles
Multiple use water systems (MUS);
labour-saving technologies
Community Business Facilitators last
mile distribution

Challenges
Ensuring women engaged in whole design and delivery
process.
Are value chains the most appropriate way to address gender
inequalities?
Designing and delivering whole-system programmes
engaging with other actors etc.

Summary
Value chain programmes that support gender equity goals:

Understand mens and womens roles and relationships

Foster equitable participation
Address the distinctive needs of women
Support womens economic advancement
Promote gender equitable market-driven solutions
Design equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms
Include men in defining the problem and the solution
VCs exist in gendered social structures and institutions