Gender Mainstreaming in Cluster Development: Unido experience by Fabio Russo

1. 1
Gender Mainstreaming in Cluster
Development: UNIDO experience
Fabio Russo
f.russo@unido.org

2. 2
UNIDO cluster approach as a tool to ensure Inclusive
and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID)
• The UNIDO Cluster Development Programme (CDP) assists micro, small
and medium enterprises with the objective of increasing their
competitiveness by fostering inter-firm linkages and collaborative
relations with local support institutions.
• UNIDO strives to systematically adopt a gender perspective throughout
the planning and implementation phases of its interventions, from
cluster selection to monitoring and evaluation.

3. 3
UNIDO cluster approach and gender mainstreaming
• Ensuring that men and women benefit equally from project
interventions requires an assessment of gender dynamics: in the
division of labor and roles; in power relations; in access to and
control over resources, and of the different practical needs and
constraints of men and women in any given context.
• UNIDO highlights in its cluster methodology the critical factors that
need to be considered in the efforts to mainstream gender into a
cluster development project, with the overall purpose of guiding
cluster development practitioners to carry out gender-responsive
interventions.

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The cluster methodology phases
At the project start: gender balancing the team & building gender capacities
Gender analysis in the mapping and
diagnostics:
- Division of labor
- Access and control over resources
- Responsibilities and power
distribution
- Perception of problems and needs by
men and women
Vision definition and action plan:
- Identify sexo-specific targets, needs
and problems
- Allocation of resources
- Incorporating gender equality
objectives in the cluster planning
- Technical trainings specifically
addressing women needs
- Including men in the process (trust
building and mentality change!)

5. Lessons learnt from project
experiences
http://www.clustersfordevelopment.org

6. Steps in the methodology
• To the possible extent… gender balance the team
• Train the team and CDA in gender aspects
• Make sure they integrate gender mainstreaming aspects and sexo-
specific indicators into their analysis:
• Division of labor
• Access and control over resources
• Responsibilities and power distribution
• Needs and problems perception by men and by women
• + mobility, education, time availability, etc.
• Make sure that the monitoring system takes gender mainstreaming
into consideration
• Communicate about best practices and success stories!

7. Example of gender mainstreamed checklist

8. Some best practices from UNIDO’s experiences
Integrating women into the rosemary value chain of the Eastern region of Morocco
Women actively participate in harvesting the plants (30% of
collectors were women in 2014) but become almost invisible
when it comes to participation in the cooperatives or in any of
the decision-making processes (just 6% of the rosemary
cooperatives’ board members were women )
The project supported:
- informal and formal trainings to strengthen women’s
perception of their work/ contribution to the value chain;
- coaching of existing women collector groups to analyze
common problems and define joint actions;
- parallel awareness raising with men’s cooperatives to
facilitate the inclusion and participation of women in the
networks.
RESULT: women involved in the rosemary collection have
become aware of their role in the value chain and have started
being involved in the processing phase (drying, cleaning and
packaging of final products).

9. Some best practices from UNIDO’s experiences
Market Value Chains Relating to Horticultural Products for Responsible Tourism
Market Access Project, Tanzania
The project supported:
- Coaching and participation to numerous B2B, fairs, etc. ;
- The establishment of substantial and trustworthy business
relationships with the Tanzania Chefs Association, National
College of Tourism and other actors;
- Technical trainings on how to increase productive
capacities, improve the quality and range of the produce,
and enhance producers’ capacity to supply high value-
added agro-products to the local tourism sector as well as
the export markets.
RESULT: the assisted network of companies increased their
knowledge and skills and managed to reach out to more than
40 hotels in the country and 35 leading supermarkets. Women
entrepreneurs involved in the network have managed to
drastically improve their marketing skills to promote their
companies’ products and also differentiated the production
line towards higher value products (jams).

10. Some best practices from UNIDO’s experiences
Market Access facilitation for traditional food products, PAMPAT project in Tunisia
SMSA Tahadi was established in 2013 by 164 women and
became the first entirely female SMSA in Tunisia.
The project supported:
- Collective vision definition and joint action planning;
- The standardization of the traditional harissa production
process by the women (from auto consumption to market
production);
- Compliancy of the production unit with national and
international standards;
- Market access activities and product differentiation.
RESULT: the success obtained by the SMSA Tahadi has become
nationally a model for women’s integration into agro-value
chains. Study tours from different African countries have been
organized to the SMSA premises to promote the best practices
of the success story of collective production and marketing of
this women’s group

11. Some best practices from UNIDO’s experiences
Market Access facilitation for traditional food products, PAMPAT project in Morocco
New law on hygiene and safety standards introduced in
2015 (law 28/07), covering all edible products.
Women in argan oil cooperatives are mostly illiterate
(they cover 100% of the first production phase)
The PAMPAT project :
- Delivered adapted technical training
- Provides regular and continuous coaching to
cooperatives
- Facilitated regular peer to peer exchanges
- Provided experts knowing local language and
capable of translating the law into common
language
- Market access activities and product differentiation.
RESULTS:
• More than 50 producers compliant with the
standards and integrating quality into daily work
• Better relationship and exchange among producers

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Concluding remarks
• Need to Move away from adding a “Gender Component” to adopting a “Gender
Perspective”
• CDAs should promote gender equality at all stage of the project and include both
women and men in their awareness and capacity building activities
• Need to allocate funds and define activities
• Adopting a “Gender Perspective” within CDP is a powerful approach to ensure
Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial development (ISID)