International Trade Forum - Issue 3-4/2008
From Canada to Cambodia and more, policy-makers in this online
edition share inspiration to integrate women in pro-poor national
development frameworks.
Cambodians make a forceful case for coordination between
ministries and responsible stakeholders. Canada's push for equality
is backed by research showing that equal opportunity could bring
the country $168 billion more in income, an extra 1.6 million jobs
for women and a whopping 21% increase in its Gross Domestic
Product. Similarly, Ugandans just revisited their National Export
Strategy to leverage the power of women to generate wealth and
fight poverty.
Reducing poverty can only happen with sustainable revenue that
comes from trade, not aid. A hidden key to success in least
developed countries is to get the trade diagnostics right - and
identify trade constraints specific to women. The Enhanced
Integrated Framework offers a means of addressing such constraints,
weaving solutions into national development plans.
Corporate supplier diversity programmes present enormous
opportunities for women entrepreneurs to plug into global value
chains. In this issue AT&T reveal they spend over $2 billion
with women-owned enterprises each year and can trace $26 billion in
annual revenue to their Supplier Diversity Programme. This is not
philanthropy.
With a window into new policy-making approaches, introductions
to change agents - especially women's business associations - and
profiles of the power of women's entrepreneurship, I hope this
issue inspires you to act for women's economic empowerment through
trade in 2009.
For our part, on International Women's Day, in March, ITC is
launching the Women and Trade Programme. This will help us to
improve our outreach and deepen our contribution to Export Impact
for Good. We encourage you to work with us.
Patricia Francis
Executive Director
International Trade Centre