Linking Women to Markets: A Closer Look at Women's Market Readiness

Jul 24, 2018 | by The SEEP Network

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Background

This webinar explored different approaches of linking women to markets in the context of market systems and private sector development programming, and some of the examples and lessons coming out of the AWEF Jordan country program, the International Trade Centre’s SheTrades Platform, and ACDI/VOCA’s program supporting women in agribusiness. The discussion examined practical lessons of different approaches for promoting women’s access to markets, specifically examining the extent to which women require training, capacity building and safeguarding measures to reduce risks such as exploitation. Speakers showcased how different approaches can work effectively in diverse contexts, but also the implication for replication, sustainability, and scale.

This webinar was the second event in a two-year learning series: "In Practice: Women's Economic Empowerment in Market Systems," which will feature a thought-provoking sequence of webinars, e-discussions, and practitioner briefs, followed by an in-person learning event. The learning partnership is brought to you by the Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund (AWEF) together with DAI Europe, MarketShare Associates, the SEEP Network and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Speakers

Reham Gharbiyeh, Jordan Country Director with the Arab Women's Enterprise Fund

Reham Gharbiyeh has worked with public, private sectors and donors such as EU, USAID, DFID for the past 20 years, with particular focus on employment, enterprise innovation, and women’s economic empowerment. Prior to her role with AWEF she worked as the Board Director for the Asia Science Park Associations and CEO of Al Urdonia Lil Ebda, where she managed 5 business incubators. Reham also brings experience on organizational change, business incubation, market systems development in rural areas (M4P approach) and value chain analysis.

Anna Mori, SheTrades Partnership Coordinator, International Trade Centre

Anna Mori works for the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, and is responsible for developing key partnerships and advancing the #SheTrades initiative to connect one million women to market by 2020. Prior to ITC, Anna held various positions in international business development for multinationals in Brazil and China. Anna is a human rights and inclusive trade advocate. She holds a Master of Economics from Université de Lyon and a Bachelor from the University of Curitiba (Brazil).

Heather L. Bateman, Associate Director of Partnerships & Investments, ACDI/VOCA

Heather L. Bateman has nine years' experience in business development, socially responsible investing, and business advisory in emerging markets. She is the Associate Director of Partnerships & Investments at ACDI/VOCA, where she designs and implements strategies to catalyze investment and improve financial services to be more inclusive for small, growing businesses and low-income communities in developing economies. She also serves as the Associate Director at AV Ventures LLC, an impact-driven investment management firm and subsidiary of ACDI/VOCA providing mid-sized debt and quasi-equity investments in emerging markets, where she manages financial modeling, impact measurement, investor relations, operations, and supports strategy and outreach. Prior to her work at ACDI/VOCA and AV Ventures, Ms. Bateman advised East Africa-based small and medium enterprises as part of a business accelerator, the African Entrepreneur Collective; worked in ESG credit research at a $21B Boston-based fixed-income asset manager; and managed local economic development projects in the Balkans. Ms. Bateman has a Master’s degree in International Business from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is also a DC Chapter Leader for Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE), an international professional and networking organization for women working in ESG, socially responsible investing (SRI), and impact investing.

Moderator

Fiona Shera, Technical Director, Arab Women's Enterprise Fund

Fiona Shera has over 20 years of experience in international development covering economic management, trade, regional integration and private sector development. Fiona has worked for and with DFID, the World Bank, the EU, the NGO sector and for the last 5 years as a consultant. She is the technical lead on Trade and Economic Development in DAI Europe and earlier this year she became the Technical Director of AWEF. Through her career Fiona has had a range of roles as a technical adviser and manager covering country programme delivery, economic advice on programmes and management including two overseas postings in Tanzania and Ethiopia and two years working as a Country Director for Traidlinks in Uganda. As Head of DFID’s Trade and Development department she helped to start many new Aid for Trade programmes including an initiative the International Trade Centre that focused centrally on promoting women in trade. She was a gender champion in DFID and focused in particular on encouraging Policy Divisions work to more effectively mainstream women’s economic empowerment and gender. As Country Director of Traidlinks Uganda 2011-13 she developed new programmes to support regional trade promotion and small business development. As Technical Adviser on DAI’s FoodTrade East and Southern Africa programme she carried out a poverty study that looked explicitly at how to better mainstream gender into programme operations and systems. Fiona is very excited about the work of AWEF which takes a pioneering and strategic approach to both market systems development and women’s economic empowerment. She is proud to be part of the very dynamic AWEF team that is helping to tackle social norms and create new very real opportunities for women in Jordan and Egypt.

Explore past webinars in this series:

Accelerating Women's Digital Financial Inclusion

Women's Economic Empowerment: Practical Tools for Gender-responsive Poverty Measurement