Project Description:

In the context of the PBF Gender Promotion Initiative, Guinea-Bissau will implement a Joint Programme (JP) led by UN Women with FAO and UNICEF to promote “Women’s Economic Empowerment and the improvement of their working conditions”, working towards the global PBF outcome “revitalizing the economy”, and the Bissau-Guinean’s Peacebuilding Priority Plan outcome “Women […] have increased access to decent employment and self-employment opportunities and to micro-credit services for viable micro-enterprises development in selected sectors”.

The JP aims at improving women’s economic security and rights, contributing directly to initiatives ensuring their economic, social and legal empowerment, through investment, promoting and protecting their rights and building organizational capacity of 2 umbrella Civil Society Organizations, with a direct impact on 10 000+ women and contributing to an enabling environment for attaining decent work for women. Initiatives for the elaboration of a national employment strategy as well as to macroeconomic growth include women and young women as target groups for formal employment and credits. However, tackling women’s disadvantaged position in the country and taking into account the fact that they already do much of the work and without decent work conditions, entails that the creation of formal employment will benefit a minor number of women and not necessarily empower the most vulnerable; and consequently there is a potential risk of further discriminating women excluded from existing economic and employment strategies and programmes. Bissau-Guinean women work mainly in the informal low scale agricultural sector, e.g. in horticulture, and hence do not benefit for example from the export of cashew, Guinea-Bissau’s main produce.

The JP plans to fill the gaps by creating an enabling environment intervening on multiple and complementary levels which jointly will ensure a sustainable and long lasting impact on women’s lives:

• creating a basis of knowledge and evidence on women’s economic role, situation and working conditions, market opportunities within key investment economic sectors,

• reviewing the legal framework (in particular related to the status of women vis à vis property rights, labor rights and business rights) and being able to hold duty bearers accountable to it,

• supporting and directly investing in economic initiatives of entrepreneurs for SMEs (as well as other type of economic organizations, such as cooperatives, associations, etc.) by directly supporting the creation of businesses and simultaneously empowering women through functional literacy, facilitating access to credit schemes, legal assistance, training on setting up and managing businesses, communication, negotiation, human rights awareness, claiming and creating decent work conditions, inter alia.

In summary, the proposed project adopts a legal empowerment approach to ensure promotion and fulfillment of improved decent working conditions and access to jobs and business opportunities.

CNMT (Commission of Women workers) and AMAE (the Association of Women in Economic Activity) are the main umbrella organizations working at multiple levels regarding women’s legal and economic empowerment, including access to justice, credit schemes, research on the situation of women in the labor market, supporting various types of economic initiatives, etc. These organizations have a wide range of members, both individuals and collective ones all over the country, and the ability to reach all types of public, including the most vulnerable, grassroots organizations and CBO’s. Their areas of intervention are complementary; however, their level of influence, scope and impact is limited due to reduced technical capacity, including human and financial resources. Their role, influence and reach will be substantially strengthened and interventions improved by providing increased institutional and response capacities. It is important to note that before the war in 1998, AMAE had a significant impact and was able to perform an effective role of coordination and support to their members. However in the post-conflict period it has been unable to regain this role due to the lack of funding and support.

To guarantee sustainability of the outcome and project outputs, a strategic approach will be used in strengthening the two key networks, CNMT and AMAE, aimed at women’s legal and economic empowerment and security and involving stakeholders from the national level at Parliament, to women’s associations at the community level. It is expected that this support will be catalytic on several dimensions: improving the legal framework and awareness of as well as capacity to claim rights regarding women’s economic security, hence result in a rise in decent work and business creation. The key networks supporting individual women and women’s associations will provide legal support and continuous technical assistance, ensure de facto economic empowerment for women, increased income and wealth, and improved capacity for the different organizations to manage themselves and mobilize further resources in the future for new programmes and projects.

Gender Marker Score: 3

PBF Priority Area(s) and Outcomes: Revitalizing Economy

PPP Guinea-Bissau Outcome:

"Women […] have increased access to decent employment and self-employment opportunities  and micro-credit services for viable micro-enterprises development in selected sectors”

Output and Key Activities:

1. Businesses, collective economic initiatives and decent working conditions created by and for 10,000+ women
2. Enabling environment for the protection and promotion of women’s economic security and rights created