Mitreeki 2016: Strathmore Business School, March 03-04 2016, Nairobi, Kenya

Supported by

INTEGRATING WOMEN IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Women’s economic empowerment is critical for gender equality and for achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. DFID India recognises the value of peer learning and partnerships between developing countries and through its Knowledge Partnership Programme (KPP) managed by IPE Global, hopes to share Indian and global evidence on policies that impact development outcomes for women and girls and support advocacy towards strengthening policy design and implementation.

MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

BACKGROUND Women make up one half of the world’s human capital and yet women continue to be denied control and access to resources and decision making. Thus, empowering and educating girls and women and leveraging their talent and leadership fully in the global economy, politics and society emerges as the fundamental element of prospering in an ever more competitive world. Women's exclusion from development planning is one of the major reasons of backwardness in an economy as “society that fails its women and girls, ultimately fails itself.” Gender inequality and skewed distribution of assets and power within family, workplace and socio-political institutions are both the cause and consequence of multiple forms of discrimination that tend to reproduce themselves over time and over generations thus having a negative impact on development outcomes.

Women’s economic empowerment is critical for gender equality and for achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As an indication of global commitment, the UN Secretary-General has set up a first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, where the Government of UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is a founding member, to provide thought leadership and mobilise concrete actions to close economic gender gaps and outcomes.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

The Knowledge Partnership Programme (KPP) supported by DFID India and managed by the IPE Global is a programme conceived and Developing countries have taken developed to provide a knowledge sharing platform to developing several measures for gender nations to expand their horizons through potential sources of equality, ending gender based learning. One of the priorities under KPP is to share Indian and violence and creating economic Global evidence on policies that impact development outcomes for opportunities for women. There women and girls and support advocacy towards strengthening are various models, initiatives policy design and implementation. As a part of the KPP initiative, to and success stories which can be share some of the successful Indian experiences of women leveraged for learning to empowerment with African counterparts and to provide an accelerate the process in the opportunity for mutual learning, Mitreeki 2016 was organized in respective countries to bridge the association with Kenya Association of Women Business Owners gender gap and change women’s (KAWBO) at Strathmore Business School, Nairobi, Kenya. lives at the ground level. Mitreeki provided an opportunity for partners to learn from each other. It examined both good policies and practices and partnerships to mentor, support and collaborate with each other. The workshop discussed key areas of financial inclusion; market linkages; opportunities in the emerging sectors and addressed social norms that impede women’s participation. Each session reflected on policies; programmes and models that have addressed these barriers.

The workshop had representation from regional and national governments (specifically Ministers working on women and economic issues), bilateral and multilateral international agencies, UN agencies, Civil Society groups/ Non-Governmental Organisations, financial institutions, private sector, regional networks, think- tanks, academia and grassroots groups, from the participating countries which included India, Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

THE SESSIONS Spread over two days, the workshop was divided into four plenary sessions. Along with the Opening Session, the first day included four plenary sessions (i) Financial Inclusion and Market Linkages, (ii) Enabling Environment to overcome Socio-Cultural Barriers, (iii) Workforce Participation in Traditional and Emerging Sectors, (iv) Leveraging Partnership Potential. The second day started with a re-cap and learning from the first day, which was followed by a Practitioners Session and Conclusion.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

 Financial Inclusion and Market Linkages: The two critical pillars of enterprise and business development that women often do not have access to. The session looked at: - Key elements of policy frameworks, financial products and services for women - Capital/business advisory services - Experiences of successful projects

 Enabling Environment to overcome Socio-Cultural Barriers: Social cultural norms can often hold women back and constrain them from achieving economic empowerment. The session focused on: - Safety and security – within homes, public spaces and in workplace - Time poverty and support systems; involving families, men and boys - Legal and regulatory frameworks

 Workforce Participation in Traditional and Emerging Sectors: With liberalisation and economic growth, a change in the workforce participation pattern is emerging. Women’s participation in some of the traditional sectors is dwindling, while there are opportunities opening up in new sectors. The session focused on both traditional and emerging sectors like agriculture and service sector and discuss opportunities and challenges to enhance: - Skills and employability - Income parity, and work conditions moving up the value chain

 Leveraging Partnership Potential: Africa and India share strong ties and several dynamic partnerships exist. The session discussed how partnerships have helped deliver better/greater impact and what have been the lessons/challenges. It also helped identify opportunities for linking partners.

The workshop had around 70 participants from 7 participating countries:

Ethiopia India Kenya Malawi Rwanda

Tanzania Uganda

DAY ONE OPENING SESSION

Ms. Eva Muraya- Chairperson, Kenya Association of Women Business Owners (KAWBO) opened the event with a welcome address and highlighted the objectives of the workshop. She requested for participant engagement for an enriching learning experience. She expressed her heartfelt gratitude and thanked the organisers, the hosts and all the participants for being present and participating in the workshop.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

George Njenga – Dean, Strathmore Business School, Nairobi welcomed the participants and iterated his support for the workshop agenda mentioning that beyond insightful discussions, it was important that such fora come up with tangible outcomes that impact and transform people and societies. He also shared that the movement to empower the girl child has made great strides but that it should not be at the expense of the boy child. He also pointed out that the empowerment of women and youth includes both male and female youth.

David Smith – Executive Director, IPE Global, in his opening remarks shared that cross learning is the key for advancing women empowerment. It is for this reason that IPE Global held the workshop so that it can benefit everyone at multiple levels. He referred to the progress made by women in breaking the glass ceiling and scaling new heights, with examples from Britain.

Mr. Sunil Mitra- Team Leader, KPP, India emphasised on knowledge and experience sharing as imperatives for a “quantum leap” in women’s economic empowerment. He said that Mitreeki 2016 provided a platform for Africa and India to come together to complete the unfinished tasks for empowering women and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Mr. Mitra also shared that SDG 5 – that of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls – is not a standalone Goal but one that has linkages with all the other 16 Goals. Addressing gender concerns across goals is the hallmark of SDGs in the global effort to end poverty, ensure zero hunger, education for all, potable water, and sanitation, clean energy, he added.

Ms. Mamta Kohli – Social Development Adviser, DFID India, emphasised that the purpose of the workshop was to guide the process of empowering women and girls as well as boys and men, as it is folly to empower one and not the other. She stressed the need to sensitise and involve men and boys while addressing gender disparities. The significance of such forums could not be understated because the collective learning is deeper and more meaningful than what would be achieved from the internet as such events provide platforms to raise issues and discuss

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA solutions together, face to face. Ms. Kohli highlighted key issues that are pertinent to women empowerment such as market-to-market connections, women-to-women connections, advocacy for better resources, better commitment and support from governments. Discussing the value of peer learning and partnerships, Ms Kohli recognised the role of women’s economic empowerment in gender equality and for achieving the SDGs. She concluded her remarks by reiterating DFID’s commitment to the cause of women empowerment.

H.E. Ms. Suchitra Durai, Indian High Commissioner in Kenya not only graced the event but did so with passion and great commitment. She started by sharing that the subject of economic empowerment of women is close to her heart as it is to every woman. She shared that when she grew up in Madras (now Chennai in India), she had seen women domestic helps, who used to have social meet-ups, also had small loan arrangement within the group known as ‘chit fund’. The loan amount was generated by every member of the group contributing a fixed amount which was then given as loan to the most-needy on the group. Women community groups like Kudumbashree emerged from similar arrangement into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and other community groups. The SHGs, evolved into a more structured entity dealing with issues concerning group members and succeeded in galvanising women empowerment, Ms. Durai explained that these small group gatherings helped in strengthening group ties and in promoting both social and economic empowerment of group members, as both go hand in hand.

Ms. Durai also highlighted that sharing of experiences between countries is mutually beneficial to those involved and it brings the world together. She assured the delegates of the support of the India High Commission to projects that enhance mutual sharing between India and participating African countries. To further make a case for the India - East Africa partnership, Ms. Durai reminded participants that India and East Africa were in fact neighbours ‘just separated by water in between’, and the fact that Hindi and Swahili languages share a lot of words and have borrowed from each other in the past too only explains the commonality and strong ties in the regions. The origin of the Swahili word Harambee which encourages people pulling together is actually an Indian phrase Har har ambe! It was originally used by the railway builders in East Africa in the 20th century, she added. Ms Durai lauded the Mitreeki effort in promoting India-Africa development cooperation.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Ms. Gennet Zewde- Former Ethiopian Ambassador to India was a part of the Ethiopian delegation to the workshop and was the force behind promoting knowledge sharing initiative between India and Ethiopia under the KPP by facilitating exposure visit of a high level Ethiopian delegation to India in 2015.

Ms Zewde mentioned that the biggest problem that women entrepreneurs faced was a lack of market access. The Kudumbashree model of Kerala, India, which empowered women both socially and economically, is impressive and Ethiopia as a part of KPP initiative is in the process of adapting the model with the help of Kudumbashree team. She also referred to other areas of cooperation and learning, especially technologies like the use of solar energy.

Ms Zewde mentioned the significance of female hygiene and sanitation as crucial to women, especially for reproductive health and emphasised that it cannot be separated from women empowerment. She referred to an Indian company which considerably reduced the price of women’s hygiene materials to make them available and affordable to the economically weaker sections of the society. Ms Zewde also talked about the launch of the education network which would help advancing and advocating for women’s rights, gender equality, and fostering income generation for women thus leading to their empowerment.

CONCLUSION OF THE OPENING SESSION Ms. Mamta Kohli (L) and Ms.Gennet Zewde (R) summed up the morning session as follows:

Mindset is one of the biggest challenges facing the agenda of women empowerment. When people don’t believe that women need economic empowerment, it becomes a challenge. But, when women are consciously empowered, the GDP of a country grows by an additional 4% annually.

Thus, it is important for governments to prioritise women empowerment. It was proposed by participants that there should be a virtual shop or space for sharing information and lessons among countries and organisations.

Lastly, it is imperative to not only provide opportunities for women but to also help them to take advantage of the existing opportunities. However, for this to happen, there was a need for capacity building and leadership training.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

PLENARY 1: FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND MARKET LINKAGES Chair: Prof. Ruth Kiraka, Dean of Graduate Studies, Strathmore University

Session Theme: Financial inclusion and market linkages are two critical pillars of enterprise and business development that women often do not have access to. The session focused on: • Key elements of policy frameworks and financial products and services that can help women • Capital/business advisory services • Experience of successful initiatives

David Smith , Executive Director of IPE Global, emphasised that partner organisations need to be clear on service provision and that it has been a long journey but women are now taking up leadership roles- for example the head of BBC is a woman- for the first time in history. The market place is a very important space for sharing ideas for both for men and women, and having innovation cells is also a good idea in this respect. He emphasized that technology adaption is crucial so that women are able to add value to their produce such as milk. Mr Smith pointed out that governments are generally responsible and responsive about policies, but implementation is often the challenge and this is where intervention needs to happen.

Blurring the division of labor between men and women is thus crucial in both the private and public realms for empowerment to happen. The rise of women in academia and other fields should be celebrated and used to sensitise men too.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Ms. Carolin Averbeck, SITA Consultant at the International Trade Center, talked about the work that Supporting Indian Trade in Africa (SITA) is doing in agri-foods, leather and textiles manufacturing and trade. She explained that SITA is especially focused on creating female ICT talent in East Africa and ensuring high participation of women in high tech industries to address skills gap in innovation.

Dr. Gouri Krishna, CEO of Basix Consulting and Technology Services Ltd., India, gave a presentation about the activities that BASIX takes a lead in and about - policy initiative in India, with regard to entrepreneurship promotion and government schemes to promote micro, small and medium enterprises, especially among women. She spoke about the Basix livelihood trend mode with positive livelihood impacts among women of Jharkand through a community based retailing enterprise (CBRE).

Ms Makena Mwiti, Gender Adviser, Trademark East Africa, Kenya, shared that three in every ten women in Kenya now have access to banking, which is progressive, however most women still only access microfinance.

She shared some interesting statistics, for instance that 60% of trade in Kenya as a whole is cross-border, and that 80% of the cross-border trade is done by women who mostly trade in food articles, used clothes, for which the margins are not very high.

The major challenge faced by women highlighted by her was lack of information on custom procedures and tax compliance. Some solutions she proposed were :- to have import waivers, to focus on capacity building and business development services specifically for women, sensitization of border officials on the specific needs of women traders, and one-stop border spots which would help women to cross borders without being troubled.

Dr. Victoria Kisyombe, Founder and Director, Sero Lease and Finance Ltd., Tanzania, shared that 36% of Members of Parliament (MPs) in Tanzania are women and that Tanzania got its first female Vice-President in 2015. She highlighted Makena Mwiti (L); Victoria Kisyombe (C); Prof Kiraka (R) that formal laws provide for equal rights to access land and tenure but the challenge is traditional customary laws which make it hard for women to access land and resources. She shared her personal story of how she was disinherited after the death of her husband because of customary laws which are difficult to change. However, from her own experience of subsidising her government salary with income generated from her cow, she was able to encourage other women to empower themselves too. Further, she presented to the Tanzanian Parliament a leasing law and the bill was passed into law to lease agricultural materials to women.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Over 25,000 women have benefited from the leasing plan and 17 million US dollars has since been rolled out to women in form of loans and financing for projects. This initiative earned her recognition from the World Bank in 2007 and she won the 2010 Social Entrepreneur for Africa Award at the World Economic Forum. These awards, she said, were dedicated to for the women that she works with.

PRIMARY PLENARY 1 CONCLUSIONS:

 Women can and are influencing laws  It is imperative to start with whatever one has instead of waiting for resources to multiply before embarking on an entrepreneurial journey  Delivery of banking services at an affordable cost to the disadvantaged and low income group  Governments should initiate policies and programmes to create market linkages and access to finance  It is important to share information and build the capacity of women venturing into entrepreneurship  It is crucial to focus and leverage on the strengths of women

Results

•Capacity building •Simplified regulations and procedures • Social Empowerment •Business Development Support for women •Women become vocal in expressing their views •Identify areas of strengthen and exploit •Women leaders emerge in villages those • Economic Empowerment •Advocacy initiatives •Women entrepreneurship •Enhanced financial literacy and decision-making • Skills building • Income enhanced Solutions

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

PLENARY 2: ENABLING ENVIRONMENT TO OVERCOME SOCIOCULTURAL BARRIERS Chair: H.E. Elizabeth Paula Napeyok, Uganda Ambassador to India

Session Theme: Social cultural norms can often hold women back and constrain them from achieving economic empowerment. The session focused on:

• Safety and security within homes, public spaces and in the workplace • Time poverty and support systems involving families, men and boys • Legal and regulatory frameworks

Dr. Pam Rajput, Former Chairperson, High Level Committee on Status of Women, India began by iterating that the conversation on enabling environments to overcome social barriers was very timely. She appreciated the efforts of Kenya and Tanzania for proposing the candidature of Dr. Wangari Maathai and MsAnn Tibaijuka for leading the gender discussion at Beijing on behalf of the UN. She noted that the sociocultural landscape of India was very complex and that some of the lingering issues include discriminatory practices, witch hunting, honor killings, dowry and Pam Rajput (L); H.E. Elizabeth Paula Napeyok (R) domestic as well as violence in public spaces.

Ms Rajput highlighted some the Indian government initiatives aimed at women empowerment:-

- Beti Bachao Beti Padhoo which translates to ‘see to it that the girl child survives and is educated’ -Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MNREGA), 100 days of employment in rural India of which she noted, one third beneficiaries have to be women and about 54% of women nationally were taking advantage of this scheme. - Mahila Samakhya; an autonomous registered women’s body that specifically targets marginalized women and empowers them through education and awareness generation. - Naari Adalat (Court for women), provides justice to the women at their doorstep - Crime mapping which includes asking women to answer questionnaires on what kind of harassment they face and their location so that these areas are marked, recorded and acted upon. - Women participation in Panchayats; 1.4 million women are members of the panchayats - local administration units that decentralize administration.. As per the law, women have 50% representation in panchayats and this has helped in facilitating participation of women in the decision making process and hone their leadership skills

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Ms. Tsigie Haile, Founder and Executive Director of the Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE), Ethiopia, showcased the WISE Centre activities in Addis Ababa which impressed the workshop participants. She shared that WISE creates employment opportunities and that the centre was also a place where women converge to learn, and sometimes to seek comfort and to share whatever they were going through in their lives.

Ms Haile stressed that WISE focuses largely on entrepreneurship training which include building on creative thinking and technical skills; financial services through Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) that accord them a platform for savings, micro loans and insurance for maternity leave, and lastly, business competitions which inspire women to come up with feasible and innovative business ideas. WISE has reached over 32000 women and has established over 70 women-led self- reliant SACCOs in Addis Ababa.

Ms. Haile also shared that they run an academy and have worked with SEWA, SETU Africa, African Centers of Excellence (ACE) for women training and EMPOWER with Coady International Institute of Canada which in addition to Ethiopia, partners with Gambia and Zambia as well. She shared the success and challenge stories of women who have been impacted by the organization.

One of the key lessons that Ms. Haile shared was that training must be followed by follow ups to ensure implementation and sustainability. Ms. Haile concluded with a powerful phrase that summed up her work: - ‘money is power; so is knowledge’.

Ms. Asa Torkelsson, Senior Gender Specialist - UN Women focused on the efforts made by UN Women to encourage and assist African women especially farmers, to take up technology initiatives. For instance, the bid to get rid of the hand-held hoe as it is inefficient.

Ms. Torkelsson shared that most of the unpaid labor world over is contributed by women in what she called ‘The Cinderella Paradox’. This led the UN to do a prototyping with over 100 women with the Rockefeller Foundation in 2015 where they asked women to highlight their specific challenges. The result of the Rockefeller Project was two-fold. One was that UN Women decided to advocate on policy changes, and the other was that they launched an edutainment program which benefited millions as they learned about new technologies through television However, she reflected on the availability of many policies and technology but women were constrained by lack of market for the goods.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

PRIMARY PLENARY 2 CONCLUSIONS: • People are moving from time poverty to ultra-time poverty, because of increasing participation of women in the formal economy and lack of a support system. • There is a need to have a more strategic/proactive approach than a reactive/emergency approach to women issues • It is imperative to address the multi –faceted challenges faced by women to create an enabling environment for them to harness their full potential

Results

•Justice for Women through women’s courts - Affordable & accessible legal services and • Access to funds that will allow women to access settlement of cases opportunities and technologies •Training women on their rights at grassroots • Upscaling of technologies and increased government •Crime mapping involvement for a greater reach •Identifying crime prone areas •Sustainable livelihood for improved quality of life •Labour saving technologies to speed up •Creation of African Centres of excellence for women’s production processes (e.g., in farming where a leadership hoe becomes a thing of the past)

Solutions

PLENARY 3: WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION IN TRADITIONAL AND EMERGING SECTORS Session Theme: With liberalisation and economic growth, a change in the workforce participation pattern is emerging. Women’s participation in some of the traditional sectors is dwindling, while there are opportunities opening up in new sectors. The session focused on both traditional and emerging sectors like agriculture and service sector and discussed opportunities and challenges to enhance: • Skills and employability of women • Achieve income parity and improved working conditions to move up the value chain

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Chair: Dr. Folasade Ayonride, Senior Program Officer, East and Southern Africa Operations Department, African Capacity Building Foundation

Dr. Gudula Naiga Baraza, Chairperson, Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited and CEO Gudie Leisure Farm, a former Ugandan University professor who is now a farmer focusing on agriculture noted that 70% of people engaged in agriculture are women yet the women are at the bottom of the food chain. She informed the audience that Uganda has the highest fertility rate in the region standing at 7 children per woman, which constrained women. The textile industry in Uganda, which provides employment opportunities for women, used to thrive until the entry of China into the market and this has led to displacement of women. Women are presently moving towards other industries such as construction, road building where they mostly cook for the employees in the building industry and in the retail shops.

Dr. Gudula referred to the initiatives by the Ugandan government for women which includes:

- Providing loans for women in business. - Encouraging banks to create products tailor-made for women like up to USD 10,000 unsecured loans.

- Coining the “Buy Ugandan, Build Uganda” slogan which encourages people to promote local products - Ensuring that a percentage of any investment must have local content/ local representation. - Encouraging investment clubs so that institutions can now lend to women - Giving grants to promote business

Dr. Gudula also shared about the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Ltd, (UGWEAL), which is now 29 years old with a membership of over 1000. The main investment areas of UGWEAL are capacity building (which are courses run by professional women to teach fellow women) and an incubation center for women business. The UGWEAL works in partnership with IFISAT from Hyderabad India. One of the association’s agendas is that they have been pushing to have 50% of all government funds for agriculture go to women.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Mr. Narendranath Damodaran, Head, National Resource Center for Livelihoods, PRADAN, India, has worked with self-help groups since 1989. He informed the audience that there are currently 8 million SHGs in India, covering over 100 million households - which is almost half of the total population. He observed that programmes in India must target a million people at least or else the programmes impact cannot be assessed given the sheer size of the population in the country.

A question worth pondering on, he noted, was how to take into consideration the roles of women at home while setting the state’s agenda. He cited an innovative policy in 1992 that allowed lending to informal groups of illiterate rural women. This policy had a big impact and it would be good to have more such policies.

Mr. Narendranath highlighted a few key Structural Adjustment Goals (SAGs) as follows:-

• Financial intermediation- financial inclusion and insurance programmes • Mutual help function- Women come together to help each other in neighborhood groups, encouraging women to enter into non-traditional trades • Empowerment groups - Political and economic empowerment; teaching women to ask questions and seek answers about their role and impact in society • Entering into politics as contenders and leaders, winning elections and not just voting

Ms. Mercy Waithanji, Business Entrepreneur and board member at KAWBO noted that there was a common denominator in all the developing countries and that that was marginalisation of women. She mentioned that when it comes to promotions at work, women are often sidestepped and they do not complain because they are constrained by all the [other] things they have to do.

The only person who can help the empowered woman, Ms. Waithanji said, is the woman herself and enlightened men. She quoted President Barack Obama who said, “Excluding women in the economy is like having a football team with half of its members missing.” She cited the most progressive law in Kenya as the 30% rule, which requires that for every government procurement, 30% of the tenders should go to women, youth and people with disabilities. In this respect, KAWBO has asked women to register their organisations so that they can be considered for government grants. Examples of such beneficiary organisations include: Kachi Collections that does business in the US, Mohazo Supplies in Germany, Japan and China and House of Chemicals that does business internationally.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Dr. Yanira Ntupanyama, the Chief Director for Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, Malawi, began her presentation with an emphasis on the role of parental influence. She shared a story of how their mother would push them so they can be ‘somebodies’, not ‘nobodies’ and how this pushed her siblings and her to work hard and pursue careers of their choice that were unique and less explored. .

She also highlighted that when a woman is in power, it has a ripple effect on the nation, for instance the years that Joyce Banda was Vice President of Malawi, women did better economically in the country. The other factor she highlighted was that the NGO sector was doing well in Malawi and had a higher percentage of women than the 23% that were in the public sector, though it was more due to donor regulations as opposed to deliberate government policy. However, she shared that there is ongoing advocacy for gender inclusion in the Malawian law, for example, the 40% rule which states that for any selected position in academia and employment, no gender can have over 60% representation.

PRIMARY PLENARY 3 CONCLUSIONS: • There is need for policies and programmes by governments to enhance women’s participation in the economy, both in the traditional and emerging sectors • Special skill development and capacity building programmes are required to enhance the employability of women and to benefit from the schemes for women.

•Enabling government legislation and policies towards Results increasing women •Promoting gender parity –30% of positions for women (Kenya); 40% (Malawi) •More advocacy for conducive business environment •Access to Women Enterprise Funds for women •Matching grants by government to promote women’s •Women-friendly financial products businesses •Women’s empowerment in decision-making •Mentors for women –other women in leadership •Advocacy for involvement in political processes and •Role of other players in capacity building, business positions incubation

Solutions

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

PLENARY 4: LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIP POTENTIAL

Chair: Mr. Sunil Mitra- Team Leader, KPP, India

Session Theme: Africa and India share strong ties and several dynamic partnerships exist. The session discussed how partnerships have helped deliver better and greater impact and what the lessons and challenges have been. It also helped to identify opportunities for linking partners.

Ms. Lakshmi Iyer, Director- Africa Programmes, Digital Green, Ethiopia shared the video-based approach that Digital Green uses in Ethiopia and its effectiveness in teaching and empowering communities. They also use participatory radio campaigns where listeners call in for questions and contributions, and also the use of data- led entry on mobile phones.

Ms. Seblewongel Deneke the Director General, Gender and

Nutrition, in the Agricultural Lakshmi Iyer (L); Seblewongel Deneke (R) Transformation Agency, Ethiopia highlighted the importance of organisations and stakeholders within individual countries ensuring that they communicate so as to avoid duplicating the same work. He also advocated for organizations to be specific in their agenda and objectives as opposed to trying to have general or several agendas as it then becomes difficult to deliver.

Further, Ms. Seblewongel emphasised the importance of doing research to support the policy changes that organizations wanted to propose to governments.

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA

Mr. Shree Kant Kumar, Project Director- SETU Africa, Self- Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) shared the origins of SEWA in India from its inception in 1972 and how it has attained its objectives of full employment and social security for its members.

SEWA was later introduced in South Africa by a trade unionist who formed SASEWA- South African Self-Employed Women’s Association which then gave rise to SETU which is the same organisation but for South Africa, Ethiopia and Tanzania. SETU’s activity areas are microfinance, need-assessment workshops and exposure visits of leaders from the three countries.

The main lessons and gains by SETU Africa were:

• Livelihood is central- working capital, marketing crafts, organizing bazaars, and designing development workshops. • Integrated financial services with instance policy advocacy for inclusive financial services. • Support services such as child care, health care, housing, water and sanitation as these are crucial in enabling women to sustain their jobs and businesses. • Capacity building inputs that strengthen and sustain livelihoods. • Advocacy for governments to promote enabling policies that help the communities to thrive.

SETU’s action points for moving forward included fostering trade links between informal sector women workers of Ethiopia and India, formation of poor women’s cooperative banks, technical support for proposed women’s banks and differentiated support for traders and domestic workers.

Dr. Truphena Mukuna, Acting Research and Capacity Development Director, Organization for Social Sciences Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) talked about the organization’s focus to publish African research. OSSREA, present in 23 African countries, has published five manuals on gender training and a rule that requires all the universities in its member countries to have an institute of gender research and studies.

OSSREA works closely with One Acre Fund in Kakamega County in Western Kenya where women form 67% of the work force. She shared the situation where men attend meetings where they are taught new farming technology but they do not share the information with

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MITREEKI 2016: STRATHMORE BUSINESS SCHOOL, MARCH 03-04 2016, NAIROBI, KENYA women. There is thus a need to ensure that these meetings are held at a time when women are not busy elsewhere or with household chores and are able to attend the sessions.

The other challenge is the lack of documentation of indigenous learnings which are therefore not being passed down to younger generations. She called on the need for more call-in shows in vernacular on TV and radio so as to promote discussions on food security, among other issues.

Dr. Mukuna also shared the triumphs and challenges of mobile marketing where women in Kakamega collaborate with bodaboda drivers (motorbike riders) who collect their produce from the farms and deliver it to towns from where it is transported to various parts of the country and once it is received at the point of delivery, the entrepreneurs at that point pay the women farmers over M-Pesa. While this is working well, the women lose some money because of the involvement of so many middle-persons. They only get a fraction of the value of their produce whereas if they enabled to come together and transport the produce to the endpoint, the profit margins would be higher.

Dr. Vasala Kumari, Former Executive Director, Kudumbashree, India, talked about the Kudumbashree and shared the achievements of Kerala’s Sate Poverty Eradication Mission whose goals include increasing literacy, reducing maternal mortality rate and other matters that lead to poverty eradication. Dr Kumar’s presentation emphasised market linkages and the importance of monthly, weekly, daily meetings of the group members, International Trade fairs and festivals, and branding of goods.

The 4 Cs’ of sustainable community empowerment were the last note on day one of the workshop: These were summed up by Dr. Kumari as follows:-

• Collectivisation- collective collaborations • Capacitation – capacity building • Convergence- coming together of organizations that have similar agendas • Communitisation- making the community own the process.

PRIMARY PLENARY 4 CONCLUSIONS: • Emphasised on the need and benefit of knowledge exchange and learning from good practices. • Highlighted the importance of research for assessing the need, understanding the situation and to develop a plan of action • Expressed interest in some of the models presented

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Results

•Learning through peer experience •Linking with the Government for better outreach •Improved livelihoods –access to capital, markets •Gender mainstreaming •Integrated financial services –savings and credit, •Sharing research outcomes insurance, pension, financial literacy •Documenting indigenous knowledge •Capacity building through exposure visits •Synergies to avoid duplication of efforts and programmes

Solutions

DAY TWO

SUMMARY OF DAY ONE

Prof. Ruth Kiraka, Dean of Graduate Studies, Strathmore University provided an executive summary of the learnings from Day One in which she highlighted the importance of partnerships. She was confident that partnerships matter and make a difference. Sharing of success stories provides experiences that can be replicated and scaled up.

Further, she emphasised the need for synergies within partnerships so as to avoid reinventing the wheel and duplication of efforts in NGOs, governments and the private sector.

Prof Kiraka highlighted the need to focus on sustainability which would stem from strong institutions, human capital development and continuous access.

Lastly she enthused the need to continue advocacy for more resources, more political will and more visibility in order to actualize solutions. Her conclusion summed up the summary on a positive note, pointing out that ‘the wheels of policy may move slowly, but they move’.

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Ms. Zeinab Hussein, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs, Kenya, lauded the outputs shared by Prof. Kiraka from the previous day’s session and mentioned that these ideas were pertinent to the agenda of the Ministry of gender Affairs. She highlighted that the ministry focuses on both boys and girls in gender affairs and so, contrary to common belief, the boy child has not been forgotten.

Ms. Zeinab called upon KAWBO to help women to grow beyond the companies and businesses that they create. She reminded Eva Muraya of her (Eva’s) membership in the task force formed by the Ministry of Gender Affairs to create an academy of excellence in procurement.

Ms Hussein concluded by reiterating the government of Kenya’s commitment to the advancement of economic empowerment of women and men.

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INTRODUCTION: PRACTITIONER’S SESSION

The practitioner’s session was facilitated for experts to deliberate upon creating of a knowledge exchange platform between participating countries. This platform would help in linking networks and experts across India and Africa, in documenting and sharing learnings from good practices resulting in empowerment of women at all levels in the participating countries Experts at Practitioner's Session The session brought the experts together to - i) critically draw insights and learns from each other’s experiences of successful models, policies and programme interventions and ii) discuss ways to keep the knowledge exchange alive for e.g. through e-platforms; webinars; learning visits and annual gatherings.

Questions addressed at the practitioner’s session included:

- Is there a merit in forming a network? Interactive group discussions

-What should be the timeframe for forming a functional network?

- What sets this group apart from similar platforms?

- How to operationalise the network?

The session had two parts: (a) Open Discussion (b) Working Group Documenting expert inputs

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OPEN DISCUSSION

The discussions included views on strategies to promote and adapt good models through inter and intra-regional knowledge exchange platforms. It was also observed that it is important to know who the group represents, those at the grass roots or entrepreneurs or all sections of women? Further, the discussion also emphasised the need to be clear on whether the group should have a geographical focus or thematic focus, within the overall subject of economic empowerment of women. Discussing the membership of the network, questions were raised on whether it should be limited to those attending the programme or should it include other people working on similar issues and having same concerns, in the participating countries? It was also debated whether the learning platform should include other African and South Asian countries as well.

However, it was agreed that the network will start with all the participating countries forming the network and identifying the initiatives that have succeeded in their respective countries in empowering women economically.

Some of the key points made by the experts included: • Aligning objectives of the network with Sustainable Development Goals 2030 • Define Short and long Term Goals for the network • ‘We cannot do everything, but we can do something’ – priorities actions • Use the platform to share products and technology – creating a virtual market place • Identification of expertise available from different countries. • Preparing inventories of good practices, policies and programmes from the participating countries. • Identify opportunities for young women – share entrepreneurial opportunities • How to sustain interest and involvement in a network? –Important to understand and ensure continued engagement and interest think of strategy to sustain network as networks often die out • Strengthen and connect to local networks (within the country) • Within the broad theme of economic empowerment sub themes with sector focus could be identified to broad base the network • Understand and address failure of the dead networks to sustain the initiative.

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Objectives of the network which emerged, based on some critical suggestions included: • To look at the development programmes, especially women empowerment, from the SDG perspective as all the countries individually would be preparing their respective action plans to meet the 2030 goal. • Identifying and sharing strategies at national level, the interventions, success stories and lessons learnt, with focus on policy initiatives, would be a good plank to start with. • There is a need to form a core group to conceptualize the expectations, contributions and functional modalities. • Should deliberate on how to sustain the network. • Prepare an inventory of goods and services a partner can offer on an e-platform.

WORKING GROUP The participants in this session were formed into four working groups to answer the following strategic questions: • What the network should focus on? • What should be the network’s activities for coming one year? • How it should work the kind of information it should share and the nature of engagement/ interaction among members? • What different countries/ participants have to offer for others to learn? • What are the areas in which the participants/ countries would like to get information/ gain knowledge? • From the good practices and sharing of experiences, identify models that one would like to know more about/ learn from?

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WORKING GROUPS RECOMMENDATIONS – THE WAY FORWARD  Nomenclature – India Africa Learning Alliance  Core Areas– Microfinance; Entrepreneurs and Policy Connect  Core Principal – SDGs alignment; government partners; linked to grass roots

1. What the network should do in the coming one year  Create online platforms  Organise Webinars  Create and share profile of all members of the network  Collate details of existing good practices from the participating countries – such as SEWA; SACCO; Village Savings; VICOBA; WEF  Map eco-systems – matching interests/areas of priority, etc.  Publicise about the network to encourage more number of people to join the group

2. Areas of interest identified for learning from others  Market Spaces and linkages  Capacity Building  Technology Transfer  Innovation  Information sharing

3. The good practices and lessons that the participants can offer

On sharing market Information – Technology for cottage industry; moving from Leasing to franchising – Sero Lease | Training Modules for capacity building (entrepreneurial skills) | Training people on Advocacy | ACBF – sharing information on existing networks and knowledge sharing platforms| SITA – link women entrepreneurships who are ready to work in ICT; Handloom; Branded Coffee; Pulses; Leather; Cotton; ginger oil; IT service; etc. | Knowledge on changing the mindsets | Facilitate exposure visit to -grass root interventions; interaction with practitioner and policy makers (BASIX) | Action and Research Methodology | Trainings Modules | Case Studies and Research outputs (OSSREA)

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4. Specific Programmes participants want to know more about from the presentations made

Work to be done in the next three months (April May June)

1. Setting up an online platforms (by 20th march 2016) 2. Final short profiles of the network members to be shared and uploaded (by 20th March 2016) 3. FAQs (regular discussions through online platform) 4. Documentation and sharing of best practices (Initial document to be shared by 31st March 2016 – describing some of the practices/programmes discussed during the practitioner’s session) 5. Webinar to be planned at the end of three months.

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MITREEKI HIGHLIGHTS The two-day workshop was successful in attaining its objectives and ended on a cooperative note with the signing of the Mitreeki Resolution.

The workshop adopted a resolution reiterating the commitment of the participants to work together for the economic empowerment of women in the region and in their respective countries.

Mitreeki Resolution: Signed by The members agreed to Share, Learn, Link, Adapt and practitioners from India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi Advocate in collaboration to enhance the agenda of achieving gender and Uganda. goals.

Contact Information

IPE GLOBAL (AFRICA) LIMITED HEAD OFFICE- INDIA (A wholly owned subsidiary of IPE Global Limited IPE Global Limited, India) IPE Global House, B-84, No.4 , Ground Floor, Rahimtulla Tower, Defence Colony, Upper Hill Road, P. O. Box 40324 00100 New Delhi-110024 Nairobi, Kenya Main: +91-11- 4075 5900 Main: +254 20 2710644 Fax No: +91-11- 2433 9534

Nairobi Office: [email protected]; Delhi Office: [email protected]; [email protected]

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MITREEKI 2016 MOMENTS

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MITREEKI PROGRAMME AND PARTICIPANTS

Time Programme Speaker Day-1 (3rd March) 8.30am - 8.40am Welcome Address Dr George Njenga, Dean - Strathmore Business School 8.40am - 8.50am Opening Address Opening Remarks by Mr Sunil Mitra, Team Leader, KPP Observation by Tony Gardner, Deputy Head DFID-Kenya 8.50am – 900am Women Empowerment: A Global H. E William Ruto, Deputy President of Kenya* perspective 9.00 am – 9.15am Special Address H.E. Ms. Suchitra Durai, High Commissioner and Permanent Representative to UNEP & UN-HABITAT 9:15 am -9:45am Setting the context: Partnerships for Ms. Gennet Zewide, Former Ethiopian Ambassador to Development India (Chair) (Format: One on One Q&A) *Eva Muraya to facilitate 9.45am -11.00am Plenary 1: Financial Inclusion and Professor Ruth Kiraka Strathmore Business School (Chair) Market Linkages 9.45am - 10.40am: Ms Carolin Averbeck, SITA Consultant, International Trade Panel Discussion Financial inclusion and market Centre linkages are two critical pillars of Dr Gouri Krishna, CEO Basix Consulting and Technology enterprise and business Services Ltd., India development that women often do 10:40 - 11.00 am: Ms Makena Mwiti, Gender Adviser, Trademark EA, Kenya not have access to. The session will Q&A focus on: Dr. Victoria Kisyombe Kashombe, (Founder and Director,  Key elements of policy Sero Lease and Finance Ltd, Case study, Tanzania) frameworks and financial products and services that can help women.  Capital/business advisory services  Experiences of successful projects 11:00am- 11:15am: Tea Break 11.15am - 12.45pm Plenary 2: Enabling Environment to overcome Socio-Cultural Barriers H. E Elizabeth Paula Napeyok, Uganda Ambassador to 11.15am - 12.25pm: India (Chair) Panel Discussion Social cultural norms can often hold Ms Asa Torkelsson, Senior Gender Specialist, Kenya women back and constrain them Dr Pam Rajput, Former Chairperson, High Level from achieving economic 12.25pm - 12:45pm: Committee on Status of Women, India Q&A empowerment. The session will focus on: Prof Herman Musahara, Executive Director, Organization

for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA)

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 Safety and security – within Ms Tsigie Haile, Organisation for Women in Self homes, public spaces and in Employment (WISE), Ethiopia workplace  Time poverty and support systems; involving families, men and boys  Legal and regulatory frameworks 12.45 pm-2.00pm: Lunch Break 2.00pm - 3.30pm Plenary 3:Workforce Participation in Dr. Folasade Ayonrinde, Senior Program Officer, East and Traditional and Emerging Sectors Southern Africa Operations Department, African 2.00 pm - 3:10pm: Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) (Chair) Panel Discussion With liberalisation and economic Dr. Gudula Naiga Basaza, Chairperson, Uganda Women growth, a change in the workforce Entrepreneurs Association Limited; CEO, Gudie Leisure 3:10pm-3:30pm: participation pattern is emerging. Farm Q&A Women’s participation in some of Ms Isis Nyongo, Vice President and Managing Director, the traditional sectors is dwindling, InMobi, Kenya while there are opportunities Narendranath Damodaran, Head, National Resource opening up in new sectors. Centre for Livelihoods, PRADAN The session would focus on both Ms Terryanne Chebet, Royal Media Services, Kenya traditional and emerging sectors like agriculture and service sector and Dr Yanira Ntupanyama, Chief Director for Environment discuss opportunities and challenges and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources, to enhance: Energy and Mining, Government of the Republic of  Skills and employability Malawi  Income parity, and work conditions moving up the value chain 3:30 pm-5.00 pm Plenary 4: Leveraging Partnership Mr Sunil Mitra, Team Leader – KPP, India (Chair) Potential Ms Lakshmi Iyer, Director-Africa Programmes, Digital 3:30pm-4:40pm: Green, Ethiopia Panel Discussion Africa and India share strong ties and Dr Maity, Team Leader- Technologies, Development several dynamic partnerships exist. Alternatives 4:40pm- 5:00pm: The session will discuss how Q&A partnerships have helped deliver Mr Shree Kant Kumar, Project Director- SETU Africa, better/greater impact and what SEWA

have been the lessons/challenges. It Dr. Truphena Mukuna, Act. Research and Capacity will also help identify opportunities Development Director, Organization for Social Science for linking partners. Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) Dr. Valsala Kumari, Former Executive Director, Kudumbashree, India

5.00 pm onwards: Wrap-up and Vote of Thanks by Eva Muraya followed by High Tea Day-2 (4th March)

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7am-8.45am KAWBO Power Breakfast (Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank) 8.45am – 9.00 am Talk by Standard Chartered Bank Ms Anne Mutahi, (Diversity and Inclusion) Chairperson - Standard Chartered Board of Directors 9.00am – 9.20am Key Learnings from Day 1 Strathmore Business School 9:20am – 9:30am Introduction to Practitioner’s Session Ms. Mamta Kohli, Social Development Adviser – DFID, *Setting the context India Parallel break-out sessions by SBS during the Practitioners Session 9:30 am- 1130 pm Practitioner’s Session Mr Sunil Mitra, Team Leader, KPP (Chair) This session will bring the experts Ms Asa Torkelsson, Senior Gender Specialist, Kenya together to - i) critically draw Ms Carolin Averbeck, SITA Consultant, International Trade insights and learns from each other’s Centre experiences and ways to adapt the lessons around policies and Dr. Folasade Ayonrinde, Senior Program Officer, East and programme interventions and ii) Southern Africa Operations Department, African discuss ways to keep the Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) knowledge exchange alive for e.g. Ms. Gennet Zewide, Former Ethiopian Ambassador to Through e- platforms, webinars; India learning visits and annual gathering. Dr Gouri Krishna, CEO Basix Consulting and Technology Services Ltd., India Chair: Mr Sunil Mitra, Team Leader, Dr. Gudula Naiga Basaza Chairperson, Uganda Women KPP Entrepreneurs Association Limited; CEO, Gudie Leisure Farm Facilitators: H.E. Ms. Suchitra Durai, High Commissioner and  Mamta Kohli, Social Permanent Representative to UNEP & UN-HABITAT Development Adviser, DFID- H. E Elizabeth Paula Napeyok, Uganda Ambassador to India India Ms Isis Nyongo (Vice President and Managing Director,  Dr N. Hamsa, Policy Lead – InMobi), Kenya Women and Girls, KPP  Dr. Valsala Kumari, Former Prof Herman Musahara, Executive Director, Organization Executive Director, for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Kudumbshree, India Africa (OSSREA) Dr Maity, Team Leader- Technologies, Development Alternatives Ms Lakshmi Iyer, Director-Africa Programmes, Digital Green, Ethiopia Ms Makena Mwiti, Trademark EA, Kenya Narendranath Damodaran, Head, National Resource Centre for Livelihoods, PRADAN Dr Pam Rajput, Former Chairperson, High Level Committee on Status of Women, India

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Ms. Seblewongel, Agricultural Transformation Agency Director-Gender, Ethiopia Mr Shree Kant Kumar, Project Director- SETU Africa, SEWA Tilahun Wolde, Ethiopia Ms Terryanne Chebet, Royal Media Services, Kenya Dr. Truphena Mukuna, Act. Research and Capacity Development Director, Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa Ms Tsigie Haile, Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE), Ethiopia (SEWA linkage) Dr. Victoria Kisyombe Kashombe, (Founder and Director, Sero Lease and Finance Ltd, Case study, Tanzania) Dr Yanira Ntupanyama, Chief Director for Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, Government of the Republic of Malawi Mr. Yosef Akalu, COSAP 11.30am-11.45am Tea Break 11:45 pm- 12:55 pm Conclusion and Way Forward - Mr Sunil Mitra, Team Leader, KPP Practitioner’s Session 12:55 pm- 1:00 pm Vote of Thanks Ms Eva Muraya, BSD

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