Gender and Social Inclusion

Given over 70% of the world’s poorest are women, EDS First underscores all program design, research analysis, project implementation and M&E work with a gender analysis and social inclusion approach.  EDS First has extensive global networks with women’s associations as well as with gender and trade experts in the World Bank, the International Trade Centre, UNCTAD and the WTO along with various regional bodies such as the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, ASEAN and Africa Regional Economic Communities. Our social inclusion work extends to analysis of how those in the lowest income sectors of a community can most benefit from development programs, including people with disabilities, indigenous groups and other marginalised groups and how such activities align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  Some typical EDS First gender and social inclusion programs are summarised below.

  • Sponsored by the World Bank and the Australian Government, EDS First provided senior external trade and development advisors in support of a program on how to better integrate gender equity with trade facilitation and trade infrastructure activities in the South Asia region. This required consultations with women’s networks, indigenous groups and low income communities in villages across North East India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal in the design of projects and activities that linked their trading and business needs with improvements in regional trade infrastructure and trade facilitation modalities.  A recent independent evaluation assessed the program activities and outcomes as generally effective, sustainable and socially inclusive.
  • From 13 February to 24 February, 2017, Economic Development Services Limited (EDS First) managed and successfully completed a tailor made Aid for Trade training program for twenty participants from Indian Ocean Island States and Mozambique. The trade training course was the result of specific request from the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry for such training and subsequently requests from the IORA secretariat and other regional chambers of commerce in the Indian Ocean region seeking trade capacity building support for their SME sectors.  The course was also supported by the Australian High Commission in Mauritius.
  • EDS First experts have designed and implements workshops and conferences on international trade and gender issues for DFAT in South Africa, for the WTO in Fiji with an emphasis on the role of trade in services for women’s enterprise development and in India working with various South Asian women’s networks.
  • EDS First, through their associated experts, carried out a comparative set of case studies from Indonesia and Nigeria, focussing on Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs. From these case-studies, we were able to identify characteristics that were important for the success of future programs. The results highlighted the importance of political conditions for the success or failure of the CCT programs.
  • EDS First has worked with Action Aid offices in Nepal and Sri Lanka, in support of a Forum for the Protection of Public Interest on areas relating to education, child rights, trade and development, women rights and gender equality.

Social Inclusion Policy and Research

  • Provided external advice to DFAT for the review of their Economic and Inclusive Growth Strategy. Subcontracted through the Innovation Resource Facility to advice DFAT on the quality and appropriateness of the work being produced by the review team with an emphasis on gender and inclusive issues. Recommendations were provided on the effectiveness of the proposed strategy and likely outcome of its success.
  • EDS First has undertaken applied research contributions on trade issues for women managed SMEs, the most recent being a comprehensive paper on the Role of Aid for Trade in assisting mainly women SMEs to comply with Sustainability Standards, with an updated extract since published by the Global Trade Professionals Alliance, December, 2018.