GENEVA, Switzerland – Sustained efforts are underway to ensure that the benefits of trade are shared more broadly and that trade policy powers a more prosperous future leaving no one behind.
Françoise Uwumukiza, a member of parliament at the East African Legislative Assembly, advocates for small-scale women traders.
Ildephonse Musafiri, formerly Rwanda’s agriculture minister, devised the country’s agricultural reforms, mindful of their impact on women smallholders.
Emily Yomira Ore Ichpas, a civil servant at Peru’s ministry of foreign trade and tourism, implements initiatives on women and trade, including within the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, of which her country is part.
Beatrice Hamusonde, director of gender and social affairs at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa integrated gender considerations in the organisation’s programs, projects and policies.
While thousands of miles apart, they are all alumni of the trade and gender e-learning programme offered by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The programme, created in 2015 and funded primarily by the government of Finland, equips participants with the knowledge and tools to analyse how trade and trade policy affect men and women differently, as well as formulate evidence-based and gender-responsive policy recommendations.
In the past ten years, the e-learning programme has trained more than 2,500 participants from 170 countries, nearly two-thirds of them women.
The result? A broader shift towards formulating inclusive policies, as gender provisions in trade agreements are becoming the rule.
This means stronger policy support and a more enabling environment – notably in developing economies – to help harness trade as a force for women’s economic empowerment and gender equality.
UNCTAD16: Fostering inclusive trade in a changing world
The e-learning programme’s 10-year milestone coincides with the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16), slated for 20-23 October in Geneva under the theme “Shaping the future: Driving economic transformation for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development”.
The quadrennial ministerial conference will push for solutions to create a global trade policy framework conducive to bringing prosperity for all. Priority issues for discussion will include:
- Exploring how the current trade dynamics – characterized by rising uncertainty and complexity – affect women differently, particularly in low-income and export-dependent economies.
- Debating how provisions related to women in trade agreements are effective in practice, as well as the main barriers to implementation.
- Drawing lessons from countries that have successfully integrated considerations related to women into trade policy.
- Formulating concrete steps to ensure that trade policy serves as an effective catalyst for women to participate in, and benefit from, trade.
More broadly, what UNCTAD is doing for gender-equitable trade
Advancing inclusive trade requires arming policymakers with practical frameworks to understand the differing impacts of trade, and design policies that elevate women in trade.
In this regard, UNCTAD’s pioneering e-learning programme, grounded in solid research and analysis, plays a key role in supporting policymakers worldwide.
Its groundbreaking trade and gender toolbox has proven to be an effective instrument to inform policymaking through a systematic framework, which evaluates the impact of trade agreements or reforms on women and gender inequalities prior to their implementation.
Over the past decade, the e-learning programme has evolved to cater for diverse needs, incorporating modules focusing on the gender dimensions of emerging development issues such as e-commerce, the technological upgrading of agriculture, non-tariff measures, to name a few.
There are also tailored versions for specific regions including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community and the Southern Common Market.
Looking ahead, UNCTAD expects to develop more courses on new topics, local adaptations and additional languages to continue supporting national and regional development priorities.
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