Stories

UK Parliament seminar to put focus on women's economic empowerment

27 August 2014

ITC News

The economic empowerment of women will be the centre of attention in the United Kingdom's House of Commons on 10 September 2014. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Saana Institute in collaboration with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Trade out of Poverty, will host a seminar focused on the
role women play in poverty reduction in developing countries.

The seminar will feature several prominent participants, including ITC's Executive Director Arancha González, and will be chaired by the Rt Hon Peter Lilley, Member of Parliament and Co-Chair of APPG on Trade Out of Poverty, and a Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

In recent years, a string of development studies and reports have highlighted how women¹s participation in productive activities and trade can play a pivotal role in empowering women economically and reducing household poverty. It was in response to this that ITC had launched its Women and Trade Programme in 2008.

Funded by the UK's Department for International Development, the Government of Norway and Australia, the innovative Women and Trade Programme aims to increase the economic benefits gained from including more women in trade. It has a special focus on providing support to women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses in developing countries to ensure that they are better equipped to understand and enter foreign markets.

Building skills, expanding opportunities

Since its launch, the Women and Trade Programme has helped to increase demand for goods and services supplied by the women participants. To achieve this, international businesses have been linked with female entrepreneurs in developing countries, and the capacity of the women ¬ and their enterprises ¬ have been honed to meet the requirements demanded by international buyers.

The 10 September seminar in the UK Parliament will focus on why facilitating women’s participation in production and trade is key to economic development and poverty reduction. It will also highlight some of the successful initiatives that ITC has implemented through its Women and Trade Programme, as well as to examine opportunities to achieve greater impact through increased support to women entrepreneurs.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear from one of the women exporters who has directly benefited from ITC’s support, and how she has succeeded in scaling up her sales volume.

The seminar will be held from 16:00-18:00 hrs on 10 September in Committee Room 11, House of Commons. To register for the event and secure a place, please RSVP to events [at] saana.com (events (at) saana.com).