SDC published a synthesis of its recent e-discussion with the e+I network, held from 19 March to 10 April 2012. The discussion on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) projects was the first e-discussion of SDC’s e+I Network in 2012, organised in collaboration with the M4P Hub.
The insights of this e-discussion will be presented at SDCs public seminar on WEE on May 9 2012 and will contribute to respective guidelines on M4P and WEE to be elaborated by the M4P Hub.
'How can the Making Markets Work for the Poor Framework work for poor women and for poor men?'
This is the underlying question of a discussion paper for an M4P Women's economic empowerment (WEE) framework prepared by Dr. Linda Jones on behalf of the M4P Hub, In order to achieve WEE, through M4P or any other approach, the paper recognises the need to define economic empowerment and its main elements. The four main elements of WEE proposed in the paper and used as a guide during the e-discussion were:
- Economic advancement - Increasing income and return on labour
- Access to opportunities and life chances such as skillsdevelopment or job openings
- Access to assets, services and needed supports to advance economically
- Decision-making authority in different spheres including household finance
The discussion concluded by compiling a set of tips for practitioners to prioritise WEE within M4P and market development programmes, which can be found at the end of the synthesis paper. The synthesis can be downloaded here.
Linked to the above e-discussion, a second paper commissioned by the M4P Hub and offering guidelines for practitioners on how to apply WEE to M4P projects will soon be available online.