Women in Trade for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Growth

The project aims to increase the number of women from developing countries involved in international trade as exporters and aims to increase the share of exports generated by women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The project seeks to address the main constraints faced by women exporters including limited skills resources and networks to be able to access global trade markets and low levels of involvement as members and leaders of trade support institutions. The project aims to focus on particular sectors including fresh fruits and vegetables processed foods and niche market artisan products and services as there are favourable opportunities for employment creation for women in these sectors. The project works in 24 developing countries of which 50% is in Sub-Saharan Africa. As well 50% of project resources aim to be allocated to Sub-Saharan Africa. Project activities include: (1) mentoring programs put in place for women-led SMEs on becoming exporters; (2) implementing capacity building for Trade Support Institutions to gain the knowledge skills and resources they need to export to Canada and other international markets including information on consumer demand buyers and buyer behaviour regulations and pricing; and (3) linking women entrepreneurs with women business/export promotion networks to increase their market knowledge and develop their business contacts. The project aims to directly benefit 13 150 SMEs of which 6 650 are women-owned/led and 30 are Trade Support Institutions.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved representation of women-led SMEs in selected Trade Support Institutions; and (2) women-led and men-led SMEs in selected sectors are better able to identify and respond to Canadian market demand and other international market demands.