Blog

In early June, I had the opportunity to see how the United States has used trade to advance gender equality while on an interagency delegation with senior officials from the Department of State, Department of Labor, and U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR).

How do you rise to the challenge of extending equitable economic opportunities to more than 600,000 women and men in Northeastern Nigeria ?

Women make up around 80% of the workforce in the garment industry and are the most important voices in the fashion industry today. However, their voices often go unheard. This blog dives into the achievements of and learnings of The Worker Wellbeing project in Vietnam which aims to improve well-being and dignified conditions for female factory workers.

New research from World Vision Australia (WVA) highlights ways their Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) approach realized women’s access and agency outcomes and social norm change.

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“Blame it on the supply chain,” has become somewhat of a mantra around the globe. Consumers are increasingly frustrated by grocery store shortages. Meanwhile, producers are struggling to get ahold of important inputs to keep their businesses afloat. For farmers and agro-dealers, the implications of shaky supply chains can have rippling repercussions for the food on our shelves.

Globally, women are 18 percent less likely than men to own a smartphone. This statistic illustrates— particularly in low-income, rural households— the ‘gender digital divide’ where women are less likely to be connected to the Internet and have access to important tools that could improve their lives.

This blog is co-authored by Komal Bazaz Smith, Program Director of USAID Digital Connectivity & Cybersecurity Partnership Programs and Anthony Brown, Co-Founder, Acute Incite

Senegal is home to an emergent fresh fruit and vegetable sector that employs many women, from production to retail. Despite challenges in maintaining quality throughout the product lifespan, there are growing markets for fresh fruit and vegetables, like “ditax”. Ditax, or Detarium Senegalese J.F. Gmel, is a forest tree found in Senegal whose fruits are locally called ditax in Wolof.

Across Guatemala’s Alta Verapaz region, the USAID/Microsoft Airband Initiative partnered with New Sun Road to bridge the rural broadband gap and close the gender digital divide by establishing 10 Digital Community Centers and, in turn, 10 Women’s Leadership Committees (WLC) to run them. In this blog, WLC members share five key reflections and lessons learned from their involvement with the Digital Community Centers and the impact on their communities.

This blog is jointly authored by Wilson Wakawa, Intervention Lead – Livestock Productivity of the Rural Resilience Activity, Nurein Abdulafattah Shittu, Advisor, Peace and Conflict at the Rural Resilience Activity and John Rachkara, Deputy Chief of Party of the Rural Resilience Activity.

This blog is jointly authored by Cecilia Adamu, Intervention Lead and Inclusion focal point of the Rural Resilience Activity, Dooshima Anita Terkehe, Intervention Lead for Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) on the Rural Resilience Activity, and John Rachkara, Deputy Chief of Party of the Rural Resilience Activity.

This post was authored by the Feed the Future Advancing Women's Empowerment program and was originally published on Agrilinks.

Across Central America, the number and size of renewable energy power plants has grown exponentially in recent decades. In Honduras particularly, hydroelectric power plants have sprung up as the government looks for sustainable ways to generate energy and economic stability for communities across the country.

This post was authored by the Feed the Future Advancing Women's Empowerment activity and originally appeared on Agrilinks.

This blog was authored by Jody Delichte, Ben Taylor, Solyana Amsalu. For any new technology, the early adopters are unlikely to be those at the bottom of the pyramid. This is even less likely where adopting that technology requires infrastructure, asset ownership, skills, and other preconditions. For programs that explicitly aim to benefit the poor, there is often a question of whether to support business models that do not immediately appear to benefit them.

How many times this week have you heard someone rave about an amazing mother who is simultaneously juggling her business with childcare, while running a household? This is constantly happening. Everywhere across the globe. We all do it – men and women. Glorifying multi-tasking by women entrepreneurs must stop.

This blog was authored by Tess Bayombong, Maria Adelma Montejo, Emily Janoch, Caitlin Shannon, and Tzusuan Peng. Women entrepreneurs who talk about success in their businesses in the Philippines have fascinating contributions to what success means. Cecile Corio describes an arc of resilience and equality: “I think of ways to recover (my business). Don’t lose trust in yourself. I started from nothing; I can prove that I can lead a better life. … My husband and I have a good give-and-take relationship.”

By the USAID CATALYZE WEE team

By Natalie Alm, Communications Advisor, and Nicole Garcia, Senior Activity Manager, INVEST

By Kendahl Tyburski, Senior Gender Program Associate, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE)

CARE and MARS’s Women for Change program works with women and their families in cocoa-growing communities to improve livelihoods so communities can thrive. The program started in Côte d’Ivoire in 2016, founded on CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) approach. Between 2016 and 2022, more than 77,000 VSLA members (58,000 women) were supported through CARE’s partnership with Mars.

Amakelech Lulu is no stranger to winning. Founder of Gishen Pharmacy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she won the 2019 Invest2Impact East Africa competition, which included 100 women-led businesses selected based on their potential to achieve growth and contribute to women’s economic empowerment. In July 2022, she also was awarded a certificate of merit in recognition of her exemplary professional service for best Community Pharmacy Practices by the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Association. Despite her success, even her business was not immune to the economic impact of COVID-19.

Necessity Breeds Entrepreneurship  “I needed to provide for my children.” It’s a simple reason that motivates millions of parents to earn money every day.

Tailored financial services could help women platform workers mitigate some of the downsides of this growing source of livelihood and translate new opportunities into greater security for themselves and their families over the long-term.