Publications

This report provides policymakers with recommendations on how to build the resilience of women-led businesses in the long term. This includes policy actions to improve the competitiveness of women-led businesses, address the barriers they face when participating in trade, and make the...

This SME Competitiveness Outlook assesses the impact of conflict and fragility on business performance. It unveils a Fragility Exposure Index, and shows that fragility, as experienced by firms, can be reduced by 25% if they take actions to reinforce competitiveness. These include engaging with...

This report applies a gender lens framework to government procurement through the public provision, consumption and employment channels. It identifies opportunities to develop a gender lens for government procurement in the World Trade Organization to inform and advance the debate among negotiators,...

This report identifies how World Trade Organization negotiators and signatories can mainstream gender considerations through the negotiations on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD). It examines policies and regulations that can encourage investment that attracts women-owned businesses and...

This report advises governments on tackling gender inequality and promoting women’s economic empowerment when implementing the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA). It recommends helping women traders access vital information about their rights, border crossing times,...

This report supports the World Trade Organization (WTO) Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender by offering an analytical framework outlining trade and trade-related impacts on women (and men) through the employment, consumption and public provision channels. It presents a step-by-step approach...

E-commerce is a vital part of commercial activity, yet few provisions on digital trade reference gender equality. This report explores policy reforms needed to bridge the gender divide on digital access, adoption and usage. The report recommends building e-commerce capacity focused on gender...

Small firms are at the heart of Eswatini’s participation in international value chains. But they often struggle to trade due to production capacity constraints, including inadequate managerial skills and certification, failure to engage with business support organizations and weak linkages with...

Managing risk and building climate resilience among small firms requires a team effort. Climate change is hitting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hard, and supply chain disruptions have a domino effect. This guide explains how development cooperation agencies, business support organizations,...

Quatre secteurs sont essentiels à une transformation économique axée sur les services. Ce rapport les nomme « services connectés ».  Les transports et la logistique, les services financiers, les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC), ainsi que les services aux...

Four services sectors are key to an economic transformation. This report calls them 'connected services.' Transport and logistics, financial services, information and communication technologies, and business and professional services contribute directly to economic growth – with an increasing...

Cambodia's small and medium-sized enterprises play a central role in the country's economy and development, but face a number of challenges that have been further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.