Project profile — Making Trade Work for Women in Eastern Africa

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) 30% reduction in incidences of violence against women traders at select border posts in Eastern Africa; (2) 15% increase in trade values for women-traded goods and increased access to markets and trade-related services for at least 150,000 women traders; and (3) improved policy, regulatory and institutional environments to support women in trade.

Results achieved as of March 2022 include: (1) developed women in trade empowerment index to assess progress towards project outcomes; (2) facilitated capacity-building and advocacy initiatives to increase women traders’ access to trade information and markets, benefiting more than 107,000 women traders at 16 borders (target: 150,000 at 20 borders); (3) supported the representation of women at eight of 15 targeted joint-border committees, to facilitate the advancement of women traders’ interests and resolve any challenges faced by women cross-border traders; (4) supported more than 18,000 women traders transitioning to formal trading through cooperatives and clusters in East Africa (target: 20,000); (5) implemented seven types of sexual and gender-based violence mechanisms at 15 borders; and (6) established 15 resource centers that act as key points to access trade information or to report gender-based violence cases (target: 15).