Business Desk : BUILD in collaboration with The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Ministry of Commerce, organized a national stakeholder consultation meeting on Monday in the city. The purpose of the workshop was to present the new SheTrades Outlook (STO) policy tool, discuss good practices, as well as identify areas for collaboration aligned with Bangladesh’s policy priorities. The event in Bangladesh follows the launch of the pilot phase in Malaysia, Jamaica, and Ghana, with a view to administer surveys in 25 countries by the end of 2019. Chaired by CEO, BUILD Ferdaus Ara Begum, the inaugural ceremony was attended by Dr. Judith Fessehaie, Policy Lead, SheTrade Initiative, who explained how this initiative has been working in other countries where policy commitments for supporting Women in Business is very important. Dr Selim Raihan, Professor of Economics of Dhaka University and Executive Director, SANEM was also present. Mashfique Ibne Akbar. Private Sector Development Adviser elaborated how UKAid is supporting the program and has a plan to expand it. Highlighting role of women in the economy, CEO BUILD informed that Bangladesh attained 48th position among 148 countries and is top among South Asian countries in gender equality. SheTrades could be a supporting element for further development of women in business in Bangladesh. Funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), SheTrades in the Commonwealth was launched in April 2018 It aims to deliver training, strengthening and mentoring activities to 3,000 women-owned businesses in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, as well as provide Commonwealth-wide support to governments through advisory services and tools to encourage more gender-responsive trade and trade-related policies including through SheTrades Outlook. The STO, a key output of the She Trades in Commonwealth project, assists users in assessing, monitoring, and improving the extent to which the ecosystem supports women’s participation in international trade. It is supporting evidence-based policy-making by collecting and analyzing data, identifying gaps, and enabling dialogues and consensus on high impact policy measures. Taking into account different dimensions, contexts, and geographies, the STO creates an innovative digital tool for Commonwealth governments, trade and investment support institutions, development partners, lead firms and women’s business associations to pinpoint actionable items and benefit from evidence-based policy change.
