Women’s economic power and green economy

Making sure women find their feet in the green economy

Women should have means to elevate their livelihoods. Our work aims to support realization of such means by

supporting women’s and their groups’ cooperation with experts in innovative and sustainable production methods.
enhancing women’s access to ecological materials, technology, energy, and finance.
promoting future-oriented thinking and sustainable business planning to increase women’s understanding of the markets and the importance of collective actions and partnerships that help them in meeting future challenges.

ISF supports the development of businesses in promising industries, focusing on women’s inclusion in the green economy. Even in local markets, products need to be unique and meet certain quality standards to compete with exported products. Accessing larger markets requires production stability, big volumes, and often product standardization and certification. For small-scale producers, this is only achievable through collective business units that engage in bulk purchasing and selling and in maintaining quality consistency in production processes.

ISF addresses the structural causes of gender inequality, with the aim of achieving lasting change in the power and choices women have over their own lives. To strengthen women’s control over assets, time use and movement, the engagement of men is crucial. It fosters positive family dynamics and men are more likely to accept women’s productive role when they understand value of their work. Strengthening the role of women in existing community structures and supporting women’s rights organizations enhances women’s opportunity to assert their own rights.

Case study

Banana Fibre project

Banana is a lifeline of the Kisii region’s agriculture – and now of its circular economy too. Beforehand, a majority of the plant went to waste or was fed to cattle.

Nowadays banana’s leaves and plant is being used to create sanitary pads, beverages, fertilizers or fibres – as is the case in our project with CECOME and Manga Heart.

So far, the project has led into two women’s cooperatives being founded. The project also cooperates with the Finnish design brand Mifuko to whom cooperatives provide fiber.

Climate adaptation and gender

In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, over one hundred million people were directly affected by weather, climate and water-related hazards in 2022. ND-GAIN country index on climate resilience measures the climate vulnerability of countries and their readiness to meet the challenge. Out of 187 countries in the index, Somalia ranks 164th, Ethiopia 155th and Kenya 145th.

Agriculture is the backbone of economic development in ISF programme areas although its productivity is sharply declining, and the years of failure has become more frequent. Women are often disproportionately affected by such climate emergencies.

While many climate funds have made gender policies and action plans possible, there are persistent challenges to fund gender transformative climate actions that directly address women’s needs.
Women and girls travel long distances in search of water and firewood, which exposes them to increased risk of GBV.
While food insecurity affects everyone, women are often de-prioritized in food consumption.
Women’s limited education and fewer opportunities to participate in the workforce risk excluding them from the benefits of the green transition. Instead, they remain in rural areas, producing food under worsening conditions and lacking access to essential services.
Women’s participation in climate adaptation and mitigation planning is low although gender-responsive climate actions and resilience strategies are more successful than gender-neutral actions.

Goal

Women have means and power to generate and control income and assets

ISF follows the outcome of this goal through three different output lenses

Output 1: Women and men apply ecologically sustainable practices and technologies

ISF maps local production opportunities and studies markets to identify viable livelihood options, particularly in the circular economy. ISF promotes women’s membership in self-help groups and cooperatives, through which women can cooperate with experts, establish peer advise systems, and maintain effective production chains. The priority is to strengthen existing women’s groups, because their members are already motivated to develop further, they just lack the support to move forward. Women’s production and manufacturing skills are improved in collaboration with relevant experts to meet market demands and women’s access to existing support services is promoted, ensuring women have a say on the content and availability of service. ISF also links women to digital services and solutions. Additionally, ISF provides vocational training for youth, helping them build their business skills and connect with support services and regulators.

ISF supports community committees and cooperatives in developing and implementing science-based climate adaptation and mitigation plans. Expert-cooperation helps find products and production methods that adapt to changing climate conditions and promote environmental sustainability. The access to early warning systems is promoted. To ensure that the needs of women are incorporated to plans and actions, ISF organises women’s discissions and strengthens their representation in community committees, but also in district level. In joint actions and dialogues, it is possible to increase men’s understanding of the importance of women’s livelihoods and participation in decision-making for families and communities.

Output 2: Women and men have access to key resources

To challenge the idealized masculine traits of ISF strengthens peer savings and loan schemes to enable investments and provide security in hard times. Informal savings and loan associations are particularly important for women microentrepreneurs who often don’t meet the criteria of financial institutions. The membership in cooperatives and business growth will increase women’s access to formal micro-credit and investment schemes.

ISF links cooperatives and self-help groups with reliable input providers and builds capacities to procure items in bulk, which is particularly important for women with limited commercial contacts and bargaining power. The production of local inputs is increased with circular economy solutions, such as fertilizers, energy and fibre products. By using local inputs, women and men are less exposed to price fluctuations, and money remains in the local economy.

ISF invests in storage, processing, energy, and packaging technology to increase ecological sustainability, product quality and shelf-life. The construction of water management systems plays a key role in improving the climate resilience of agriculture. All investments are made following careful environmental, technical, and business planning. Importantly, ISF ensures that women play an active role in the decision making on investments and the management of procured technologies.

The importance of women’s control over resources, including their time use, is discussed with men and women’s role in cooperative and community decision making is strengthened. ISF supports the development of culturally appropriate childcare practices and men are encouraged to participate in caregiving. This helps prevent children from being exposed to workplace hazards and reduces the likelihood of school dropouts. Partnerships with women’s rights organisations help to advocate women’s economic rights, including ownership and inclusive decision-making. It also builds other partners understanding on power relations and their implications.

Output 3: Women and men develop business practices that meet market demands

ISF supports women in obtaining the necessary documentation for business registration and promotes their organisation to cooperatives. This enables microentrepreneurs to achieve economies of scale, reduce transaction costs, and business compliance. In addition, women’s cooperatives can advocate for better services and public investments. ISF organizes peer sessions where women can identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for personal growth, share experiences and foster a positive self-image and entrepreneurial aspirations. When women reach their personal targets, they also learn to value themselves more.

Women are trained in financial literacy, business planning and marketing, and contract management. The trainings will use real examples from women-owned businesses and benchmark visits support learning in practice. Ensuring product consistency is important for entering new markets. ISF supports SHGs and cooperatives to build quality management systems from production to packaging. Cooperation with authorities is promoted to increase understanding on the product standardization and certification requirements and application. ISF also supports cooperatives to improve their environmental and social responsibility practices.

The development of business models is supported to increase access to markets, including contract manufacturing and farming. Business model is a framework that includes key production, quality management and commercial actions and supporting services to cooperative or SHG members. Business development is easier when having direct partnership with cooperative, but if this is not possible, expert cooperation will support the NGO project.