81311531-Access to finance for women-owned MSME in Rwanda

Brief description of the Project:

The "Promoting Women"s Economic Empowerment in Rwanda" (WEE) project is part of the Special Initiative (SI) "Decent Work for a Just Transition" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Under the brand Invest for Jobs, the SI creates good jobs, improves working conditions, and enhances social protection in its partner countries. The WEE project was launched in January 2024 and will end in June 2026. It is being implemented by GIZ in cooperation with the Rwandan Ministry of Trade and Industry. The WEE project aims to enhance the participation of women in the Rwandan economy. The project"s key success indicators include the creation of good jobs for women, improved working conditions for women, and improved performance of women-led businesses. Adopting a gender-transformative approach, the project tackles specific gender-related challenges faced by women employees and entrepreneurs in the private sector that limit their full participation in the economy. The project collaborates directly with women-owned businesses through open calls for innovative ideas that align with its objectives. It also works with businesses indirectly through partnerships with government agencies, civil society, and business support organisations. It operates on a national scale and across different sectors. The project has two outputs: (1) The working conditions for female employees in selected companies have improved, and (2) The positioning of women-led businesses in the economic and social environment has improved. Under Output 1, the project collaborates with the private sector to enhance working conditions for women. It assists companies in implementing gender and diversity management practices, which include policies promoting work-life balance, increasing the proportion of women in decision-making positions, eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace, and addressing gender-based pay gaps. Under Output 2, the project supports women-owned businesses - ranging from microenterprises to cooperatives to medium-sized companies - in strengthening their marketability. It offers a variety of support packages to women-owned micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), ranging from short-term training and coaching on specific technical topics to business development advice and long-term partnerships. The project collaborates with the Specialized Cluster of the Private Sector Federation as well as other business support networks to target formal women-owned small- to medium-sized enterprises for certain activities (e.g. its Call for Expression of Interest to establish collaborations with women-owned companies). The project also supports numerous informal women-owned microbusinesses through its collaborations with feminist civil society organizations, which work with female microentrepreneurs and women-majority cooperatives.