usaid zambia enterprise development and growth enhanced
TRANSCRIPT
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USAID Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity
Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion Strategy February 2021
Submission Date: 02 22, 2021 Submitted by: , Chief of Party
ACDI/VOCA
Activity Start Date and End Date: 50 F St. NW Suite 1000 August 3, 2020 – August 2, 2025 Washington, DC 20001
This document was developed by Tidzitwa Zulu Ilubala and produced for review by the United States Agency for
International Development Zambia Mission (USAID/Zambia).
DISCLAIMER: The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United
States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.
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CONTENTS 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity ................................................... 4
2. Strategy Overview ............................................................................................................................................................ 5
2.1 Vision ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Purpose ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Objectives ................................................................................................................................................................. 5
2.4 Guiding Principles and Overarching Approaches ............................................................................................... 5
3. GYSI Analysis Findings ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Key Findings .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
4. Programmatic Approach ................................................................................................................................................. 8
4.1 Component 1: Increased Access to Finance for Agricultural SMEs, Including Female-Owned
Enterprises ............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
4.2 Component 2: Increased Competitiveness for SMEs’ Products ...................................................................... 9
5. Management Approach .................................................................................................................................................. 11
6. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning .......................................................................................................................... 11
6.1 Gender and Social Inclusion Outcome Pathways ............................................................................................. 12
6.2 EDGE Learning Questions ................................................................................................................................... 13
7. Gender And Youth Action Plan (2021–2022) ........................................................................................................... 14
7.1 Market Opportunities for GYSI by Value Chain .............................................................................................. 20
ANNEX A: Market System Principles and Social Inclusion .............................................................................................. 24
ANNEX B: Market System Principles and Social Inclusion .............................................................................................. 25
ANNEX C: EDGE Indicators ................................................................................................................................................ 26
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ACRONYMS AMELP Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan
CLA Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting
COP Chief of Party
COR Contracting Officer Representative EDGE Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced Activity
EMMP Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan
FSP Financial Service Providers
FTF Feed the Future
GRZ Government of the Republic of Zambia
GSI Gender and Social Inclusion
GYSI Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion GMEL Gender First Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Framework
ICT Information and Communications Technology
LOA Life of Activity MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
MFI Microfinance Institution
MS Market Systems
OCA Open Capital Advisors
PYD Positive Youth Development
SME Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise
TA Technical Assistance TOT Training of Trainers
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VC Value Chain
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Zambia’s agricultural sector is key to the development of the Zambian economy and is the engine of growth for the next decade and beyond. The sector contributes about 22 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides a livelihood for at least 50 percent of the population, most of whom are rural dwellers. When divided along gender lines, the Zambian population is comprised of around 51 percent women and 49 percent men.1 When analyzed by age, approximately 74 percent of the population is under the age of 30.2 With these demographics, the sector has great potential to be a source of employment and income for a good proportion of the population, thereby fostering sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction for the country as a whole.
1.2 Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity
The USAID Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity is a five-year intervention that aims to create jobs and increase the profitability of small- and medium-sized agricultural enterprises (SMEs) in Zambia.
Many SMEs struggle to access finance, often lack business management skills and technology, or have limited access to markets. Over the next five years, EDGE will boost entrepreneurs’ and businesses’ competitiveness by addressing these barriers and constraints. The Activity uses a facilitative approach and works closely with and through local partners to drive lasting systemic changes that create sustainable impact at scale. Implementing partner ACDI/VOCA, together with Agova, Open Capital, and Dimagi, will apply inclusive market systems approaches and principles to address the root causes, rather than the symptoms, of a poorly performing market and catalyze opportunities across select value chains (VCs). Overarching Activity Objectives and Expected Key Result Areas
To increase profitability for agricultural SMEs and improve job creation, EDGE has two mutually reinforcing objectives:
1. Increased access to finance for agricultural SMEs, including female-owned enterprises 2. Increased competitiveness for SMEs’ products
EDGE will focus its efforts on activities within these objectives, including strengthening the ability of banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to serve SMEs, catalyzing non-bank financial institutional growth, strengthening SMEs’ management and marketing capacities, and improving network input/output relationships.
During the life of the Activity (LOA), EDGE is expected to support 450 agricultural SMEs, which will become the main vehicle to promote economic growth in the agricultural sector. This will generate at least 2,500 full-time positions, including at least 40 percent youth and 30 percent women participants. Women-owned agricultural SMEs will account for at least 20 percent of the 450 SMEs.
As part of the inception phase, EDGE has prioritized and selected six VCs that show the most promise in terms of inclusiveness, resilience, and competitiveness. They include:
1 NEPAD et al., National Medium Term Investment Program: Volume 1 of 4. November 2004. 2 Youth Map Zambia Assessment Report. A Cross-Sector Analysis of Youth in Zambia. May 2014.
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1. Groundnuts 2. Poultry 3. Animal Feed 4. Aquaculture 5. Honey 6. Horticulture
In implementing this activity, EDGE utilizes the Inclusive Market Systems Development approach, which explicitly and intentionally aims to include people who are poor and marginalized. These populations benefit in particular from equitably developing market systems around them. During the proposal phase, women and youth were identified as vulnerable groups with a need to safeguard their equal participation and benefit from the activity. Therefore, EDGE will actively work with local system actors to reduce barriers that women and youth face as owners of SMEs and as employable populations.
2. STRATEGY OVERVIEW
2.1 Vision
An agricultural sector in which Zambian men, women, and youth are empowered to succeed as SME owners and employees.
2.2 Purpose
The Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GYSI) Strategy seeks to close gender and age gaps and advance gender equality throughout EDGE. To increase the profitability of agricultural SMEs, create and improve jobs, and ensure women, men, and youth participate in and benefit from the interventions, the Activity requires a guiding document that all staff and implementing partners alike can use. The purpose of this strategy is to act as the guiding document for identifying and integrating GYSI considerations in EDGE interventions and operations.
2.3 Objectives
Against this background, the specific objectives of this strategy include:
• Strengthen women- and youth-owned SME access to and utilization of finance, resources, knowledge, and markets
• Promote women and youth participation in non-traditional roles and decision-making in agricultural SMEs as owners or employees
• Facilitate greater access for women and youth to decent work, productive employment, and business opportunities
2.4 Guiding Principles and Overarching Approaches
Do No Harm: EDGE will uphold ACDI/VOCAs “Do No Harm” principle, which is to identify all potential risks to the Activity’s participants and staff throughout the Activity life cycle and take steps to do no harm and mitigate negative and unintended consequences and backlash. This principle entails identifying social constraints and risks before and during implementation of activities and finding ways to remedy them.3 Collaboration and Partnerships: EDGE will commit to identifying and working with partners, individuals, and organizations promoting social inclusion who are able to provide advisory and training services to stakeholders with the aim of complementing or strengthening the Activity’s services. Where possible, EDGE will engage government officials and decision makers in the agricultural sector, or those who may have influence in the sector, on issues regarding social inclusion and agriculture as supporting functions within the market system.
3 Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Policy. (Washington DC: ACDI/VOCA, 2020).
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Inclusive Market Systems (IMS): In an IMS approach, facilitators recognize that markets must be socially- inclusive or they will only reach market-ready stakeholders while worsening the status of under-privileged populations. The market position of these under-privileged populations is governed by several factors that place them at a lesser advantage for both access to and benefit from market development. EDGE will use an IMS approach to identify the root causes of women and youth exclusion and facilitate interventions to build the capacity of poor and marginalized people to become more engaged in the markets in a profitable manner.4 (See Annex for Market Systems Principles and Social Inclusion) Women’s Empowerment in Market Systems: Women’s empowerment interventions are a means to contribute to the ultimate goal of gender equality. Guided by USAID’s Women’s Economic Empowerment in Market Systems framework and the WEAMS framework (see Annex), EDGE will use gender integration and targeting approaches that address both access and agency to achieve greater women’s empowerment. Positive Youth Development: EDGE will follow a Positive Youth Development (PYD) approach. As defined by USAID, this engages youth along with their families, communities, and/or governments to empower them to reach their full potential. PYD approaches build skills, assets, and competencies, foster healthy relationships, strengthen the environment, and transform systems. EDGE will specifically focus on:
• Increasing youth engagement in project design, review, and adaptation
• Involving not just youth, but also those around them who create appropriate enabling environments for growth (e.g., family, mentors, community, etc.)
• Treating youth as a diverse group made of not only males and females, but also youth of different ages who require different types of interventions
• Helping our staff, partners, and participants view youth as opportunities, not challenges
• Ensuring PYD is implemented by everyone and seen as everyone’s role
3. GYSI ANALYSIS FINDINGS To ensure the Gender Strategy and Action Plan is informative and speaks to the needs of the Activity’s stakeholders, EDGE carried out a gender and youth analysis of the six selected VCs in November and December 2020. The aim of the analysis was to understand reasons for the current division of responsibilities and benefits and their effects on the distribution of rewards and incentives among men, women, boys, and girls within the market system.
3.1 Key Findings
For the activities carried out, findings show that men, women, and youth participate in all the VCs, but men have more opportunities in the processes, such as input supply, production, and marketing, than women and youth. Women and youth are more involved in labor than men, while men have access to owning assets, such as transportation and equipment, unlike women.
Women are more involved in jobs like weeding, planting, harvesting, selling products (input), and marketing outputs. Youth mostly take up jobs like advertising, loading and offloading, selling produce, planting, weeding, applying fertilizer, and packaging. The reasons women and youth were involved in these types of jobs were because they did not require educational qualifications or decision-making responsibilities and were informal roles.
Additional findings based on the domains are detailed in the table below.
4 Hunter, A. et al., Inclusive Market Systems Development. Sustainable Growth for Everyone. World Vision Policy Paper.
https://beamexchange.org (2018)
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DOMAIN FINDINGS
Formal laws and policies; Cultural norms and beliefs
Multiple payments of council levies at council checkpoints and annual payment of council levies, employer statutory payments, and company registration processes were mentioned among the laws that negatively affect the horticulture, poultry, groundnut, and honey sectors in Lusaka, Eastern and Southern provinces. This was the case for women-, men-, and youth-owned enterprises. It was also found that most women-operated businesses are not registered and the registration processes were one of the hindrances to them becoming formal.
SMEs in the animal feed, poultry, aquaculture, and horticulture sectors in all four provinces were of the view that women or youth business owners experience some discrimination but not in all instances.
Findings further show that women and youth face discrimination particularly from their husbands, fathers, family, and community members as business owners and employees. For instance, some women are dominated and restricted from participating in work and business by their husbands. Some women entrepreneurs highlighted that women are sometimes deterred from conducting their business activities because their spouses, for instance, require their wives to seek permission to travel.
Gender roles, responsibilities, and time used
Findings from the data collected show that both men, women, and youth perform tasks from the input to the marketing stage, though it is distinct based on the level of physical activity required. However, the study also showed that women fill both productive and reproductive roles and struggle to balance being fully employed with ensuring household chores are done. This may lead to family conflicts and gender-based violence between spouses.
Gender stereotypes also influence employment. For example, female youth respondents in Lusaka believe male youth are given part-time cultivation jobs over women because female youth are viewed as lazy.
Access to and control over resources
Land is listed as a resource to which SMEs and some men, women, and youth across sectors and provinces have access. However, based on the findings, most women and youth do not own land but instead have limited access to family and rented land. Meanwhile, men typically own and control land.
Across the six VCs in all four provinces, men, women, and youth cited lack of working capital to purchase inputs, equipment, and storage facilities, distances to the market, and lack of transport for goods as challenges to accessing resources.
Access to finance as a resource
The Value Chain Analysis shows that men, women, and youth have low access to finances and transportation services. Findings from field interviews reported that, in all four provinces, both female and male agro-dealers have access to loans from community village banking and financial institutions.
Most women and female youth reported accessing loans from community village banking groups rather than from financial institutions, as loans from village banking groups do not require collateral and have lower interest rates. Men and male youth indicated accessing loans from financial institutions more than community village banking groups because most men are not members of village banking groups and, thus, are not eligible to get loans from them.
Access to markets Findings show that women and female youth have limited access to markets, as
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DOMAIN FINDINGS
the environment is most favorable for men’s produce and VCs that have a high level of male-owned enterprises. Compared to women, men have strong bargaining power, have access to productive resources, and cultivate high value products that fetch good market prices throughout the value chain. However, minimum input requirements and availability of market, both locally and internationally, motivate women, men, and youth to venture in the groundnut value chain.
Skills for employment
Most Tier C SMEs—both male and female-owned—preferred grade 12 graduates who are self-motivated and can read and write. With Tier C, a job applicant’s mind-set was cited to be cardinal, needing them to be motivated, self-starters, etc. High tiers (such as Tier B) of SMEs preferred diploma or degree holders who have some level of experience in jobs for which they are applying.
4. PROGRAMMATIC APPROACH The GYSI Analysis findings show that many of the challenges women and youth face are common to all or most EDGE VCs. Therefore, this strategy is designed to be an overarching strategy applicable to all programmatic areas of EDGE. However, recognizing there are also some different challenges faced in different VCs, section 7.1 prioritizes key GYSI strategies to focus on per VC.
4.1 Component 1: Increased Access to Finance for Agricultural SMEs, Including
Female-Owned Enterprises
The GYSI Analysis highlighted that women and youth are averse to accessing collateral-based finance and are therefore marginalized from accessing formal finance essential for their businesses. Many other factors hinder their participation in formal financial markets, such as not being a legally registered entity for Tier C SMEs and the lack of access to information on appropriate financial products for all tier businesses. EDGE will work on both the supply and demand sides to increase access to finance for women- and youth-owned SMEs by working with SMEs and financial service providers to change mindsets and develop business models, products, and services targeted towards these groups. Understand Women- and Youth-Owned Enterprise Financial Needs: Through research, snapshot assessments, monitoring activities, and first-hand working knowledge from interactions with SMEs, EDGE will place itself in a position to understand the financial needs, trends, and aspirations for women- and youth-owned enterprises. EDGE will share this information with FSPs and work with them to understand what gendered information they are capturing through their own information systems and how that can be analyzed to monitor and better understand women’s and youth’s financial needs. Build Internal FSP Commitment to Increase Lending to Agricultural SMEs With a Focus on Gender and Youth: EDGE will engage with FSP executive teams, including their board of directors, to ensure top leaders’ “buy-in” and commitment to developing and promoting credit specific to women- and youth-owned SMEs in the agricultural sector. EDGE will make the business case of “why” FSPs should focus on women and youth and provide capacity building to leadership if required. Strengthen the Ability of Banks and MFIs to Serve Women- and Youth-Owned SMEs: EDGE will identify and create partnerships with FSPs that have financial products and/ or services targeted for women- and youth-owned enterprises. The program will provide technical assistance (TA) to FSPs that are willing and able to innovate and promote women and youth entrepreneurs’ access to finance through new or revised financial products that meet their needs (e.g., not strictly collateral-based), as well as those that provide non-important
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financial services, such as financial literacy training. Through the Business Advisor Network, EDGE will facilitate linkages between these FSPs and the women- and youth-owned enterprises under its portfolio. Link Banks and MFIs to Savings Groups: The GYSI Analysis highlighted savings groups as one major source of women’s finance. These groups have continued to grow and have been perceived as the gateway to financial inclusion in Zambia. With this backdrop, EDGE will identify savings groups relevant to the Activity’s target SMEs and outline potential engagement avenues with more formal FSPs. Develop and Communicate the Business Case for Gender: EDGE will continue to derive learnings (through MEL activities) from its partners (implementing partners and enterprises), demonstrating the social and economic impact potential and efficiencies that an enterprise would enjoy if it were to mainstream gender in its business operations. EDGE will intentionally test inclusive business models with enterprises and extract key lessons to develop case studies.
The team will develop tools for communicating these business cases, highlighting the process and short-term impacts on both the community and business. It must be noted that “buy-in” from enterprises may take time and, therefore, requires a robust presentation of the business case alongside delicate management of the change in mindsets and corporate practice. Sustainably developing and disseminating business cases fosters a replication of efforts on Gender and Social Inclusion in similar enterprises, hence achieving “crowding-in” of socially inclusive behavior in the market.
4.2 Component 2: Increased Competitiveness for SMEs’ Products
EDGE will work to increase the competitiveness of SME products and services by strengthening their management and marketing capacity and improving network input/output relationships. By overcoming these challenges, SMEs will be well-positioned to increase employment opportunities, including for women and youth. Some of the key challenges identified in the GYSI Analysis was women’s difficulties in formalizing their businesses and underperformance compared with male-owned enterprises. This is partly due to poor management capacity, time burden balancing household chores and business activities, and a general lack of access to information, finance, and formal market linkages. Therefore, EDGE will look to do the activities described below. Collaborate on Enabling Environment Changes: The lack of an enabling environment is a significant barrier to achieving gender equality and social inclusion in most sectors, including agriculture. The GYSI Analysis shows that several regulations and legislative procedures (e.g., PACRA Certification, Tax Payments, etc.) hinder women’s willingness to formalize their businesses, which leads to less access and lower market participation than men. Since EDGE does not include an enabling environment component, the Activity will seek to collaborate with Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) when possible to provide expertise or provide feedback on relevant laws or policies that affect women- and youth-owned agricultural enterprises. Develop and Operationalize an Inclusive Business Advisor Network: EDGE will provide TA to SMEs by developing a network of business advisors (BAs) that will serve B and C level SMEs. Throughout the Business Advisor Selection Process, EDGE will make efforts to have a 20 percent minimum threshold of women BAs at all stages of BA recruitment. The Activity will encourage women mentorship between female BAs and women-owned enterprises as a way of encouraging and building the confidence of these businesses to participate and benefit fully from the market. The BA Selection Committee within EDGE must have a Gender and Youth Specialist who will oversee the consideration and inclusion of women and youth as BAs. Build BA and SME GYSI Capacity: As the concept of GYSI is a relatively new concept for private sector
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enterprises in Zambia, EDGE will offer training support, exchange visits, and business development advice to its BAs and SME partners to build their knowledge on and ability to develop and monitor business models that are inclusive of gender and youth. EDGE will ensure curricula or consultancy services provided to BAs and SMEs include the business case for greater inclusion of women and youth, understand social and gender norms and how to overcome barriers faced by women-owned SMEs and youth when seeking employment, and best practices to employ and work with women and youth.
Furthermore, EDGE will work with BAs and SMEs to promote and facilitate women’s and youth’s participation in non-traditional roles that they are interested in but may be unable to attain due to gender and youth stereotypes, as well as support increased decision-making power for women and youth in family or co-owned enterprises. EDGE will promote gender and social inclusion through a business lens to ensure sustainability of its efforts. Strengthen Women and Youth Business Management and Marketing Capacity: EDGE is cognizant of the fact that women, men, youth, and co-owned enterprises have needs, challenges, and opportunities unique to their business as a result of the gender and age of the business owners. This cuts across access to resources, management, decision-making trends, and business strategies. Therefore, EDGE will endeavor to build the management capacities of women- and youth-owned enterprises by providing customized TA and business advice through a network of business advisors and other innovative avenues while making the above considerations. This TA and business advice will also look to increase leadership and decision-making capacity among mixed-gender enterprises, offering a convincing argument for why diversity in business decisions is essential. Improve Women owned SMEs’ Time Management Capacity: The GYSI Analysis highlights the challenges women entrepreneurs face when combining owning and managing their firms with family life and responsibilities. Other studies have also suggested that women's family responsibilities inhibit entrepreneurship, such as constraining the time and efforts women entrepreneurs are willing or able to put into the business, restricting growth ambitions or reducing the willingness to take risks.5
EDGE will implement strategies that women business owners can adopt to manage such challenges. The Activity will introduce businesses to technologies that will reduce their work burden, such as digitizing their business operations. This will include innovations like digital inventory management, accounting systems, and cashless transactions, which all seek to reduce the time spent on business management activities. Most importantly, the Activity will aim to involve the family during SME inception meetings to get “buy-in” for women to participate in EDGE interventions. This will encourage family members to appreciate women’s contributions to the family and is also a risk mitigation measure to prevent negative reactions to women dedicating more time to their businesses. Increasing Access to Markets for Women and Youth-Owned Enterprises: EDGE will facilitate market linkages for women- and youth-owned enterprises. EDGE needs to identify key pain points for women- and youth-owned businesses that are essential to growing or strengthening their businesses. These market linkages will include assistance like facilitating formal supply contracts and accessing appropriate financial services. EDGE will form strategic partnerships with large enterprises or market actors and link women- and youth-owned businesses to their supply chain of goods and services, as suppliers or consumers. These new relationships will result in the SMEs gaining access to markets previously outside their reach.
5 Loscocco, K. & Bird, S. R. 2012. Gendered paths why women lag behind men in small business success. Work and occupations, 39(2):
183-219.
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Connect Skilled Women and Youth Job Seekers: As the GYSI Analysis revealed, different sizes or tiers of SMEs have different skill level requirements for job seekers. To match skilled job seekers with the SMEs, where possible, the Activity will partner with organizations and institutions training youth and women in skills essential to the market and then link them to the SMEs with which EDGE will be working.
5. MANAGEMENT APPROACH It is EDGE’s belief that all Activity staff have a responsibility to integrate gender, youth, and other social inclusion considerations into their work with assistance from the Director of Social Inclusion and Innovation and Gender and Youth Specialist. To operationalize the GYSI strategy, EDGE will take the approaches detailed below. Ensure Commitment by EDGE Management: There is need for ongoing commitment from EDGE management to offer tools, resources, and support in to help staff and partner’s efforts in mainstreaming cross-cutting themes, such as GYSI. While the EDGE GYSI team is responsible for the overall implementation of this strategy, the Chief of Party (COP) and other technical leaders have a responsibility to ensure it is mainstreamed into their work. Build GYSI Capacity of EDGE Staff: To help realize the vision, EDGE staff will undergo a gender awareness (i.e. gender sensitivity/gender responsiveness training) and PYD training to understand the importance of integrating GYSI in agribusinesses. Training EDGE staff is important to ensure staff have the needed knowledge and tools to offer TA to SMEs on gender and youth inclusive business models. The training for staff will also include a review of the GYSI strategy so everyone is in agreement and clear on their roles and responsibilities in respect to the strategy. Conduct Annual Review of Strategy and Work Plans: Seeing that the GYSI strategy is a living document, the EDGE GYSI team will review the strategy and work plan on an annual basis with input from other team members to suit and cater to the changes and trends observed by the Activity. Ideally, this review will coincide with the annual survey and overall EDGE work plan. Integrate GYSI Into Staff Performance Reviews: GYSI must be included in all EDGE staff members’ Key Performance Indicators, ensuring that achieving the strategy is a team effort to which all staff will be assessed against.
6. MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING The MEL team will be the core source of information on gender and social inclusion. The team will carry out market research and constantly share knowledge on current happenings, as well as promote, publicize, and disseminate best practices in support of empowering women, youth, and other marginalized intersections as business owners and employable populations in agricultural markets. EDGE is committed to a data-driven and evidence-based approach to GYSI. Sex disaggregated data plays a critical role as a diagnostic tool in one’s ability to understand development impact, adapt strategies and activities, and communicate results. Therefore, the Activity will disaggregate its targets wherever possible and develop indicators to measure GYSI throughout the Activity’s cycle. Please see Annex for EDGE indicators. EDGE will also use the Gender First Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (GMEL) Framework, which is a tool that will guide the Activity to comprehensively measure and derive learning on gender. The tool monitors changes along six domains:
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1. Participation 2. Aptitude & Agency 3. Access & Adoption 4. Increased Production, Income, & Assets 5. Expanded Autonomy 6. Improved Life Outcomes6
6.1 Gender and Social Inclusion Outcome Pathways
In the table below, EDGE presents the logic behind the GYSI actions that will achieve the inclusion of women and youth in the Activity. The assumption in the Activity is that women and youth entrepreneurs, like men, are serving as catalysts for job creation, in-community transformation, and economic growth. Therefore, by applying the principles and approaches of the GYSI strategy, the Activity is on the path to achieving its goals. Using ACDI/VOCA’s Gender First approach, interventions with the most potential to reduce gender equality gaps among SMEs, communities, and markets have been identified and prioritized. This is the same for youth. As shown in the EDGE GYSI Logical Model below, interventions, like promoting and linking savings groups to FSPs as a source of financing for women- and youth-owned businesses, will ultimately lead to increased SME profitability and more job opportunities for women and youth. EDGE GYSI LOGICAL MODEL
Ultimate Outcome: Increased profitability and employment for women and youth SME owners and job seekers
Intermediate Outcome 1: Increased investment in women- and youth-owned SMEs
Intermediate Outcome 2: Strengthened investment capacity, business acumen, and market participation by women- and youth-owned SMEs and increased employment opportunities for women and youth job seekers
Immediate Outcome 1.1 FSPs develop/revise and promote women and youth appropriate financial products and services
Immediate Outcome 2.1 Improved business management and GYSI sensitization of SMEs
Immediate Outcome 2.2 Improved linkages to markets by women- and youth-owned SMEs
Immediate Outcome 2.4 Increased availability of qualified women and youth job seekers for SMEs
Output 1.1.1 OCA/EDGE provides training and TA provided to FSPs on gender and youth inclusion
Output 1.1.2 OCA/EDGE creates linkages between savings groups and FSP
Output 2.1.1 BAs provide customized business development advice provided to women- and youth-owned businesses
Output 2.1.1 BAs build capacity and make the business case for gender and youth inclusion in all SMEs
Output 2.2.1 BAs facilitate market linkages for women- and youth-owned SMEs
Output 2.4.1 EDGE identifies and facilitates linkages between SMEs and trained women and youth job seekers
6 Gender First Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Framework. (Washington DC: ACDI/VOCA, 2020).
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6.2 EDGE Learning Questions
The questions below are from the EDGE MEL Plan and have been adapted to have a specific focus on gender and youth. The activities proposed within the present GYSI strategy should address and answer them.
1. What are the main limitations affecting female-owned, male-owned and co-owned (both genders) agricultural SMEs’ abilities to access financing in Zambia?
2. What would increase Zambian financial institutions’ willingness to provide more financing to agricultural SMEs? What about in particular to women-ow
3. ned SMEs? 4. Are Zambian market systems becoming more (or less) competitive, inclusive, and resilient? 5. What drives job creation for women and youth in Zambia?
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7. GENDER AND YOUTH ACTION PLAN (2021–2022)
OBJECTIVE ACTIONS TARGET OUTCOME INDICATOR IMPLEMENTER / RESPONSIBILITY
To create awareness and competence of EDGE staff and implementing partners (IPs) on gender and PYD to effectively contribute to the purpose of the Gender and Youth Strategy.
• Training and awareness
raising within EDGE and
for IPs.
• Integrate gender and
PYD into staff job
descriptions and
performance
assessments
• Promote the workplace
Gender Policy
EDGE and IPs
• High-level decision
making inculcating a
gender and PYD
consideration
• Increased knowledge,
ownership of, and
contribution to the
Gender and Youth
Strategy
• The Gender and Youth
Strategy is integrated
into all EDGE activities
• Number of staff
trainings on gender and
PYD
• Number of staff that
have a copy of the
workplace Gender
Policy
• Gender and PYD KPIs in
job descriptions and
performance
assessments
IMPLEMENTER
• Director of Social
Inclusion & Innovation
• Gender & Youth
Specialist
• Human Resources &
Operations Manager
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director of Social
Inclusion & Innovation
To conduct research and document gender and youth dynamics in employment and business ownership within agricultural markets.
• Conduct all research
with a gender and PYD
lens, disaggregating
information by gender
and age
• Conduct research on the
challenges and
opportunities pertaining
to women’s, men's and
youth’s inclusion in
market systems,
understanding the
specific and unique
needs of women- and
youth-owned businesses
that would enable them
to equally participate in
the market
SMEs Employable women and youth populations
• Clear statistics and
analysis for informed
planning, decision
making, and
investments around
women and youth
employment creation
and women- and youth-
owned enterprise
development
• Accurate results (feeding
into AMELP) on the
number of women- and
youth-owned
enterprises and
employees accessing
improved agriculture
markets facilitated by
EDGE
• Number of interventions
initiated based on the
needs of women- and
youth-owned
enterprises
• Number of reports
generated on women
and youth skills required
by SMEs
• Number of case studies,
publications, and
documentaries on the
business case of
employing women and
working with women-
owned enterprises in
the EDGE VC
IMPLEMENTER
• Senior Director of
Monitoring, Evaluation, &
Learning
• MIS & ME Specialist
• Communications
Specialist
• Gender and Youth
Specialist
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director of Social
Inclusion & Innovation
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OBJECTIVE ACTIONS TARGET OUTCOME INDICATOR IMPLEMENTER / RESPONSIBILITY
• Understand the required
skillsets by SMEs and the
common skillsets among
employable women and
youth populations
• Develop case studies on
piloted youth and
women interventions as
business cases;
disseminate the case
studies to the wider
market players
• Case publications and
documentaries on the
business case of gender
and PYD inclusive
business models
• SMEs begin to employ
more women and youth
• Number of women and
youth employed by
SMEs
To conduct Continuous Learning and Adaptation (CLA) sessions around GYSI activities in order to better understand interventions effectiveness, and challenges/lesson learned
• Conduct pause and
reflect (P&R) sessions
on activities that
integrate GYSI
• Carry out P&Rs
specifically on GYSI with
EDGE components and
IPs or SMEs
EDGE Staff and IPs SMEs
• EDGE identifies key
areas of success of
various activities ,
challenges and lessons
learned during
intervention
implementation are
highlighted and actions
to remedy the
challenges are
implemented
• Number of P&R Sessions
with GYSI component
conducted quarterly
IMPLEMENTER
• Senior Director of
Monitoring, Evaluation,
& Learning
• Gender and Youth
Specialist
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Senior Director of
Monitoring, Evaluation,
& Learning
To develop youth mentorship circles (YMCs) made up of youth-owned enterprises.
• Identify lead youth-
owned enterprises to
develop YMCs of youth
enterprises and
individuals with the aim
of mentoring the youth
to employ other youth
and aspire for
Youth-owned enterprises and youth in the community
• Increased self-esteem of
youth
• Increase in youth
employment among
youth SMEs
• Number of youth
employed by youth-
owned enterprises
• Number of youth under
the YMCs network that
have started their own
businesses through
success stories
IMPLEMENTER
• Gender & Youth
Specialist
• AGOVA
RESPOSNIBILITY
16
OBJECTIVE ACTIONS TARGET OUTCOME INDICATOR IMPLEMENTER / RESPONSIBILITY
employment in the
agricultural market • Youth in the community
begin to start their own
business
• Number of success
stories on the youth as
employees and business
owners, including
around self-esteem
• Gender & Youth
Specialist
To have women- and youth-owned enterprises participating in EDGE as business owners
• Identify and select
women- and youth-
owned enterprises to
participate in EDGE with
a 20 percent minimum
proportion of women-
owned enterprises to
men-owned
• Carry out calls for
expression of interest
(EOI) targeted at
women- and youth-
owned enterprises
• Recruit at least 30
percent women BAs as
mentors
Women- and youth-owned enterprises in the Central, Eastern, and Lusaka province
• Women- and youth-
owned enterprises
participating in EDGE
• Number of women- and
youth-owned
enterprises participating
in EDGE
• Number of women BAs
recruited and offering
advisory services to
SMEs
IMPLEMENTER
• Director of SME
Development
• AGOVA
• Gender and Youth
Specialist
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director of SME
Development
To develop a youth internship program for the agricultural sector specific to the EDGE VCs
• Link universities and
colleges to SMEs willing
and able to employ
youth graduate interns
into their companies
Youth graduates
• Youth graduates
employed by SMEs
under EDGE
• Youth employed by
SMEs through support
from EDGE
• Number of youth
graduates employed by
EDGE SMEs
• Number of youth
employed as interns and
apprentices
IMPLEMENTER
• Technical Services &
Innovation Specialist
• Gender & Youth
Specialist
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Technical Services &
Innovation Specialist
17
OBJECTIVE ACTIONS TARGET OUTCOME INDICATOR IMPLEMENTER / RESPONSIBILITY
To increase access to finance for women- and youth-owned businesses
• Strengthen women and
youth businesses by
linking them to financial
institutions and asset
loans
• Offer technical
assistance to FSPs on
developing and
promoting women and
youth appropriate
financial products and
services
Women and youth SMEs FSPs
• FSPs developing and
promoting financial
products and services
appropriate to women
and youth enterprises
• Women and youth SMEs
have access to finance
• Number of women and
youth SMEs accessing
financial products and
services
• Number of women and
youth SMEs accessing
financial literacy training
• Total value of finance
accessed by women-
and youth-owned
enterprises
• Number of FSPs being
offered TA on gender
and PYD in product
offerings and business
modelling
• Number of FSPs
developing and
promoting women and
youth appropriate
products and services
IMPLEMENTER
• Director of Access to
Finance
• OCA
• Director of Social
Inclusion and Innovation
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director of Access to
Finance
To create business efficiencies through investing in gender and youth inclusion
• Developing a GYSI
Training Manual
• Conducting a Trainers of
Trainers for the GYSI
Training Manual
• Creating efficiencies in
agri-businesses through
gender and youth
inclusion
SMEs
• GYSI Training Manual
developed
• SMEs trained on gender
and youth investing for
business efficiencies
• GYSI Training Manual
(as part of the BA
Training Manual)
• Number of SMEs
trained on gender and
youth investing for
business efficiencies
IMPLEMENTER
• AGOVA
• Gender and Youth
Specialist
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director of Social
Inclusion and
Innovation
18
OBJECTIVE ACTIONS TARGET OUTCOME INDICATOR IMPLEMENTER / RESPONSIBILITY
To strengthen women and youth SMEs’ management and marketing capacity
• Offer targeted (based on
women and youth
business needs and
challenges) business
development training to
women- and youth-
owned SMEs
• Offer targeted digital
business management
solutions to women and
youth SMEs
Women and youth SME owners
• Business management
training provided
• Women and youth
businesses have
improved business
acumen
• Women and youth
effectively and
efficiently managing
their business
operations through
digital systems
• Number of youth-built
capacity in business
management
• Number of SMEs with
gender disaggregated
monitoring and
reporting systems
• Number of women and
youth SMEs accessing
digital solutions
facilitated by EDGE
IMPLEMENTER
• AGOVA
• Director of SME
Development
• Technical Services &
Innovations Specialist
• Dimagi
• Gender and Youth
Specialist
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director of SME
Development
To increase competitiveness of women and youth SMEs and their products and services
• Link women and youth
businesses to markets
necessary for their
business growth, such as
input markets and off-
take markets vis-a-vis
off-take agreements
• Formation of VC
consortiums (i.e, form
partnerships among
multiple players with
competitive advantages
along a VC, such as
linking women
processing SMEs to crop
aggregators,
transporters, financiers,
etc.)
Women and youth SME owners
• Women and youth SMEs
create new and
benefiting business
linkages
• Women and youth
SMEs’ products and
services become
competitive on the
market
• Women and youth SMEs
improve efficiencies and
increase their profits
• Women and youth
businesses exposed to
business fora and new
ideas
• Women and youth
businesses innovate
• Number of business
partnerships facilitated
with women and youth
enterprises
• Percentage increase in
profits of the women
and youth businesses
• Success stories on
increased efficiencies of
the business as a result
of business linkages
IMPLEMENTER
• Director SME
Development
• Gender & Youth
Specialist
• Technical Services &
Innovation Specialist
• AGOVA
• OCA
RESPOSNIBILITY
• Director Social Inclusion
and Innovation
19
OBJECTIVE ACTIONS TARGET OUTCOME INDICATOR IMPLEMENTER / RESPONSIBILITY
• Based on women and
youth product capacity
needs, facilitate for
partnerships with
organizations offering
training on production
and value add processes
to build capacities of
women and youth
• Create Science,
Technology, Information
and Partnerships (STIP)
for youth in the
agricultural sector
around their products
and services offering
20
7.1 Market Opportunities for GYSI by Value Chain
Based on the GYSI Analysis findings, there are several overarching challenges that are not unique to a specific
VC but are common to all. Approaches to these challenges have been highlighted under the Programmatic
Approach in the GYSI strategy document.
However, EDGE is cognizant of the fact that agricultural markets offer opportunities for GYSI in different ways
and to varying degrees. Some markets have VCs that show a high level of women and youth participation and
potential for growth, while others, due to deeply rooted cultural variables, demonstrate very little room for
women and youth participation. It is therefore essential to highlight these varying opportunities to identify
which market may need specific interventions that would open opportunities for a specific social intersection.
The GYSI Analysis shows a general low level of participation by women-owned enterprises in the honey,
aquaculture, and feed VCs, while highlighting numerous opportunities to help women strengthen their
businesses in the groundnut, horticulture, and poultry VCs where there is already high participation. The honey
VC presents a high opportunity for male youth-owned enterprises in the honey input sector, mainly around
supply of beekeeping kits and other accessories. It was also noted that youth (male and female) mostly
participate in the processing and marketing activities along all VCs, except for honey. This is also the case for
service provision, where most youth provide numerous services to all VCs, such as extension services, mobile
money services, mechanized service provision, and branding and advertising. The poultry VC presents quite a
unique opportunity, as it is inclusive of all genders and age groups throughout the VCs, with a few exceptions.
With these trends, EDGE will apply a mixed approach to include mainstreaming, integration, and targeting. The
integrated approach will be implemented around the groundnut, horticulture, and poultry VCs, as growth in
these sectors is foreseen to have a positive trickle-down effect to women and youth both as SMEs and
employees along the VCs. The Activity will also closely monitor the possible negative consequences of
formalizing these VCs on women businesses (both formal and informal) and implement actions to mitigate or
prevent such risk or consequences.
Where possible, the Activity will look to strengthen women’s and youth’s positions along these VCs. The
activity will also use a targeted approach (i.e., developing specific and deliberate actions around women and
youth that will improve their position in the VCs as businesses and employees). This will especially be the case
for those VCs that present a lower level of participation and benefit for women and youth.
The table below highlights some challenges, opportunities, and approaches that are VC-specific. Value Chain Key Challenges Key Opportunities Key Approaches
Horticulture • Women entrepreneurs only participate in processing at micro-level where medium and commercial scale processing is carried out by male-owned enterprises
• Strengthening women’s processing capacity
• Link women to formal off-take markets for horticultural produce
• Look into leveraging opportunities with food processing experts and organizations, such as the Alliance for Inclusive and Nutritious Food Processing (AINFP), to train women enterprises on food inspection/safety training, sorting, washing, and hygiene coaching opportunities
• Offer technical advice to financiers and suppliers of equipment to offer available accessible groundnut processing machinery that is appropriate for women-and youth-owned businesses
21
Value Chain Key Challenges Key Opportunities Key Approaches
• Facilitate linkages between equipment suppliers, FSPs, and women- and youth-owned enterprises
• Facilitate supply contracts between women SMEs and large horticultural off-takers, processors, and distributors
Aquaculture • Low participation of women and youth at the input supply stage
• Low participation of women in cold chain marketing
• General low participation of youth in the VC
• Increasing women and youth businesses’ abilities to distribute aquaculture inputs, such as feed, fingerlings, etc.
• Strengthen women’s position in the dry fish VC
• Strengthen capacity of women and youth to market fresh fish along the cold chain
• Link women and youth businesses to large aquaculture input suppliers who afford them a distributorship and training on the input products (i.e., vet drugs for fish, feed producers, fingerlings)
• Through partners, link and build capacity of women and youth businesses that are into drying or smoking fish to formal markets (such as chain stores) on packaging, food hygiene/preparing, micro-processing, marketing, and standards
• Work with cold chain suppliers of fish to sign distributorship contracts with women and youth businesses Facilitate women’s access to finance for their aquaculture, processing, or other fish VC-related businesses
• Partner with and link institutions that offer training in aquaculture and business to youth, with a particular focus on female youth
Groundnuts • Low level of participation of women and youth in groundnut input supply
• Despite women and youth highly participating in groundnut processing, more men-owned enterprises have access to groundnut processing equipment than women and youth
• Introduce women and youth agro-dealers to the business of supplying groundnut inputs
• Strengthen groundnut processing capacity of women- and youth-led businesses
• Facilitate supply contracts between input suppliers and women and youth agro-dealers to become distributors of inputs
• Facilitate financiers of equipment and suppliers to offer available accessible groundnut processing machinery that is appropriate for women- and youth-owned businesses.
• Facilitate linkages between equipment suppliers and women- and youth-owned enterprises
• Encourage processing businesses that EDGE works with and are in the groundnuts VC to hire or train women and youth
• Partner with organizations that offer training and TA on value addition and processing of groundnuts (to include aflatoxin management); further link these organizations to women and youth enterprises
Poultry Most women, like men and youth, participate throughout the whole VC; however, women
• Create end market linkages for women SMEs’ poultry products (to include eggs)
• Strengthen the capacity of women and youth businesses that are into marketing poultry products by linking to formal off-take markets, distribution and packaging
22
Value Chain Key Challenges Key Opportunities Key Approaches
do not highly participate in the lucrative poultry cold chain, which involves refrigeration and transportation of processed poultry
• Training women and youth on poultry disease control and general management
services, and standard training on feed, eggs, and meat
• Facilitate linkages between the Zambia Veterinary Institute (ZAVI) and women and youth businesses to distribute and offer the thermally stable i-2 vaccination services to farmers
Feed • Low level of
participation by women and youth businesses supplying inputs
• More men-owned enterprises have access to feed processing equipment than women and youth
• Increasing women- and youth-owned businesses to distribute cereal inputs
• Develop and strengthen women- and youth-owned enterprises’ feed processing capacity
• Link women and youth businesses to large input suppliers as distributors and suppliers of inputs in the feed VC, to include seed, fertilizer, etc.
• Facilitate input finance for women- and youth-owned enterprises through supply contracts, consignment stock agreements, etc.
• Link of financiers of equipment and suppliers to offer accessible soybean (extruder/expeller capacity for Tier A/B businesses) processing machinery that is appropriate for women- and youth-owned businesses
• Facilitate linkages between equipment suppliers and women- and youth-owned enterprises
• Link women- and youth-owned SMEs to organizations that can offer trainings on feed formulation and manufacturing
Honey • Low participation of women in the production of honey due to the nature of the production process, involving placing beehives in trees
• Very low participation of youth in the honey VC, except for the input supply of beekeeping kits
• Strengthen women enterprises’ processing capacity
• Strengthen youth enterprise capacity to supply production inputs in the honey sector
• Facilitate women’s access to honey processing equipment, packaging, and marketing services
• Increase women enterprises’ knowledge on processing honey products for both local and international standard through training and TA
• Facilitate STIP/TEVET trainings for youth to develop, produce, and distribute honey inputs TEVETA (Technical Education,
Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Training)
STIP (Science, Technology, Information, and Partnerships)
Cross-cutting services (male and female youth)
• Maintenance and repair service provision for in-community production and processing equipment
• Youth-owned enterprises offering
• Link Youth to machinery suppliers, facilitating training on maintaining and fixing equipment in-community
• Identify and link youth-owned branding and marketing businesses to EDGE SMEs to sustainably offer innovative and creative business solutions
• Link youth SMEs along VCs to offer services such creating digital platforms
23
Value Chain Key Challenges Key Opportunities Key Approaches
branding and marketing solutions to SMEs in all VCs
• Youth-owned enterprises offering digital solutions to SMEs in all VCs
• Increase youth enterprises in the transportation, cold chain, and processing services
• Increase youth employment and business ownership in the mobile money services and agency banking sector
• Facilitate access to asset finance for transportation, cold storage, and agricultural processing facilities, developing market incentives to promote the uptake of these facilities by youth
• Partner with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and FSPs to identify and offer agency banking and mobile money contracts to youth-owned enterprises, with emphasis on female youth
24
ANNEX A: MARKET SYSTEM PRINCIPLES AND SOCIAL
INCLUSION
Box 2. Market System Principles and Social Inclusion
Market system principles represent the common characteristics of market systems development (MSD)
programs, to include: Systems Thinking, Facilitation, Iteration and Adaptive Management, Scaling for Impact,
and Sustainability. Gender integration in each of these components can play out in different ways.
1. Systems Thinking: This approach recognizes that market actors, from large-scale businesses to
informal sector operators and poor consumers, do not operate in isolation of each other but are
part of an interacting adaptive system. It uses systems analysis to diagnose and address the structural
and social barriers that face poor and disadvantaged people in improving their position within
markets. Market systems can be deconstructed into three components: core function, supporting
market functions, and rules and norms. In carrying out a systems analysis, these components can be
examined from a socially inclusive standpoint:
*Core function: Examines gender and age differentials regarding the horizontal and vertical roles,
responsibilities, and relationships of women, men, and youth in VCs and supply chains.
*Supporting market functions: Accounts for gendered variations in access to services and the ability
of service providers to target and tailor their offerings accordingly.
*Rules and norms: Assess differences between women, men, and youth in terms of institutional
barriers, household/community norms, agency, and time-use.
2. Facilitation: As a market-based approach, MSD involves facilitating change that improves the way
markets work for the poor rather than directly delivering solutions. The aim is to stimulate change
in the market system through partnerships with private sector partners and intermediary service
providers, without becoming part of it, facilitating for partnerships that provide an opportunity for
women, men, and youth in the market system to participate and benefit fully.
3. Iteration and adaptive management: The approach is realistic and recognizes that market
systems are complex and do not always respond as expected. This is more so when facilitating for
the inclusion of the marginalized, as this has not traditionally been the norm of markets.
Therefore, programs are closely monitored, and strategies iterated and refined over time, building
on what works and changing what does not to maximize outcomes.
4. Scaling for Impact: MSD aims to change the way industries and whole sectors of the economy
work for the poor and marginalized. Interventions may start small, targeting specific market
actors, but will be part of a broader strategy to make markets work better for the poor and
marginalized.
5. Sustainability: The focus is on continuation of market services to the poor and marginalized,
including women and youth, rather than just the sustainability of individual market actors within
that market system, to maintain social wealth and inter-generational well-being.
25
ANNEX B: MARKET SYSTEM PRINCIPLES AND SOCIAL
INCLUSION The Women Empowerment and Market Systems Approach (WEAMS):
Women’s empowerment interventions are a means to contribute to the ultimate goal of gender equality. WEAMs facilitates empowering women in market systems to achieve greater gender equality. This approach targets women as a marginalized intersection in the market, developing market-system-led solutions to their disadvantaged state.
WEAMs uses a three-pronged approach to gender mainstreaming, which aims to create equality in the system7:
1. An integrated approach that involves gender as a theme “in all planning phases and processes” and is a
minimum requirement for gender mainstreaming. That is, economic development programs are
advised to incorporate gender aware research, analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring and
evaluation.
2. A targeted approach that supplements the integration of gender and contributes to women’s
economic empowerment. The intent is not to isolate women from the mainstream, but to use targeted
strategies to enhance integration efforts over the longer term.
3. A dialogue approach speaks to the need for a gender perspective to be internalized by implementing
organizations, partners, and other stakeholders. This may involve policies and procedures, gender
sensitive practices (such as parental leave), or ongoing dialogue and awareness raising.
7 Women’s empowerment and market systems concepts; UNFPA http://bit.ly/2aMttXt 18 SDC (2003a) Gender Toolkit Sheets 1-10
SDC/FDA (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs), Bern: SDC/FDA.
26
ANNEX C: EDGE INDICATORS S/n Indicator Code Level LOP Targets
IR 1. Increased access to finance for agricultural SMEs, including female-owned enterprises
1. Value of agriculture-related financing accessed as a result of USG assistance
EG.3.2-27 Outcome
2. Total number of participating SMEs benefiting from financial services provided through financial intermediaries, including non-financial institutions or actors
Custom Output
GYSI and cross-cutting both sub-IRs 1 & 2
3. Percentage of female participants in USG-assisted programs designed to increase access to productive economic resources
GNDR-2 Output
4. Number of female-owned SMEs benefitting from USG assistance Custom Output
5. Percentage of participants in USG-assisted programs designed to increase access to productive economic resources who are youth (15-29)
Youth-3 Output
IR 2. Increased competitiveness for SMEs’ products
Sub-IR 2.1: Strengthening SMEs’ management and marketing capacity
6.
Number of firms receiving USG-funded TA for improving business performance
EG.5.2-1 Output
7. Value of annual sales of producers and firms receiving USG assistance
EG.3.2-26 Outcome
8. Value of annual profits of producers and firms receiving USG assistance
Custom Output
9. Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs created with USG assistance
EG.5-2 Outcome
10. Percent of USG-assisted organizations with improved performance CBLD-9 Outcome
11. Number of SMEs supported by USG assistance CUSTOM
12. Value of targeted agricultural commodities exported at a national level
EG.3.1-C.
Sub-IR 2.2 Improving network input/output relationships
13. Percentage of targeted products supplied by smallholders to processors/traders
CUSTOM
Cross-cutting ALL
14. Number of SMEs with improved capacity to use digital technology due to USG assistance
Custom Output
15. Number of individuals participating in USG food security programs EG.3-2 Output
16. Number of individuals who have received USG-supported agricultural sector productivity or food security training
EG.3.2-1 Output