22 – 30 November 2010 Karen Cooperative Training Centre Nairobi, Kenya Welcome! Gender Equality in Value Chains Writeshop

Sponsors

Arguments for Gender in Value Chains Well consolidated arguments on why gender in value chains is an important field of work

Right-based approach Principle of rights: conventions and agreements (ILO, MDGs) Rights: Ensure that women can withdraw their labour if they are not remunerated Voice and Accountability Anti-poverty: Gender relations affect development outcomes Social welfare argument Positive economic spillovers of investing in women.

Potential pitfalls Right based approach: formal equal rights, whereas the challenge is implementation and achievement of right. Rights versus responsibilities: women are active agents with own opinions about the change (but gender inequality can be socialized) Poverty alleviation  a lot of poverty aspects are invisible: they take place within the household

Business argument Efficient use of all human capital Increase income in the hands of women leads to increased well- being of family/household New Market opportunities: 1) Access to new markets (target sensitive consumers) 2) Women are clients (services, inputs, net products); 3)Feminization of agriculture Risk reduction and compliance Branding and reputation Investing in women means improving the management of resources important to the chain; women are important in decision making Gender diversity of management gives better decision-making Opens doors: In some cases including women opens doors to new funds.

Potential pitfalls (continued) Business argument Business argument runs the risk of becoming instrumental Profit in exploiting women Women preferential employment tend to be more labour intensive and provide more insecure employment Formal sector is hard to reach for women: Codes of conduct used are not always efficient, not sufficient or can be too complicates CSR frameworks only address formal inequality vs substantive gender equality Many CSR do not mainstream gender and only mention non- discrimination Gender is a household case. Household is a black box.

Bridging the arguments Both arguments are valid and are not necessarily competing Gender equality is positively correlated with economic growth and poverty alleviation Gender inequalities exact a high cost on economic and human development in the long run. Gender inequality affects competitiveness by creating rigid labor markets and restraining productivity and growth.

Agri-ProFocus Strategy Agri culture and Agri business in developing countries is key to economic development and poverty reduction. Pro moting farmer entrepreneurship and supporting entrepreneurial producer organisations through joint action and exchange and learning is the goal of our partnership. Focus is on countries and themes Actual themes: value chains, financial services, sustainable food production and gender 7 focus countries:

APF members 10

Our history

The wider network on Gender in Value Chains