Gender

Gender Integration

USAID ATP and USAID E-ATP work with public and private stakeholders to create and sustain competitive and equitably-oriented agricultural commodity value chains.   Our philosophy is that both men and women have contributions to make to increase the value and volume of intra-regional trade, and thus should be integrated into program objectives and activities for greater efficiency and sustainability of results.  We work towards giving both women and men access to the economic opportunities created by regional trade expansion, and proceed in such a way that strengthens equitable gender relations.  Proactive gender integration fosters both competition and gender equity, which in turn help reduce poverty, increase food security, improve institutional capacity, and strengthen overall program management.  

A full-time gender specialist works with program staff and beneficiaries in collaboration with a subcontractor specializing in gender mainstreaming in enterprise, value chain, and trade development.   USAID ATP and E-ATP’s role is to provide oversight:  to ensure that our activities take into account gender issues, that men and women participate in leadership and decision-making, and that gender is considered in our monitoring and evaluation.  Gender equity is intrinsic to our process for selecting value chain actor organizations with which we partner. 

USAID ATP and USAID E-ATP have conducted gender analyses of all six value chains (maize, livestock/meat, onion/shallot; and rice, poultry, and millet/sorghum). As a result of our value chain diagnostics, areas where women have reduced opportunities have been identified and special women-focused trainings have been provided in technical best practices, such as parboiled rice processing; in trade and business-related skills; and in use of the ESOKO-platform, an internet and mobile phone-based market information system.  We have also helped women make personal connections to financial institutions, write funding proposals, and gain access to tools, equipment and packaging.