Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Learnings on your challenge
What are the top key insights you generated about your learning challenge during this Action Learning Plan? (Please list a maximum of 5 key insights)
The lab has collaborated with the National Women Entrepreneur Council to understand the food system resilience and women entrepreneurship in the past six months. Using a sense-making approach, five key insights/ challenges for women entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector in SIDS have been identified and these include:
1. Securing Finance - women entrepreneurs still face difficulties in getting finance, especially because they lack collateral or credit history.
2. Access to Markets - women-led enterprises need help and training to create market linkages and value chains that improve their competitiveness and profitability.
3. Networking and Mentorship Opportunities - there is a shortage of networking and mentoring opportunities for women entrepreneurs on small islands. They could benefit from connecting with successful women-led entrepreneurs who can offer valuable information, insights and support.
4. Community engagement can be very important for women entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector, especially in small island networks. It can help them develop social capital and access crucial resources such as information, skills and opportunities.
5. Building resilience and confidence is essential for women entrepreneurs in small islands as they still face many challenges and pressures, such as economic shocks, climate change and natural disasters.
Considering the outcomes of this learning challenge, which of the following best describe the handover process? (Please select all that apply)
Our work has led to a significant change in public policy at a national or local level, Our work has been picked up by UNDP or the government and has now expanded geographically in our country
Can you provide more detail on your handover process?
As a result of this partnership, NWEC has initiated a project worth nearly USD 100,000 (MUR 5 million) to further assist women entrepreneurs in the local food systems (through a sustainable women entrepreneurship initiative under the National Resilience Fund). This project will provide training for women entrepreneurs in specific cluster groups related to the agro-food value chain as a follow-up action.
Please paste any link(s) to blog(s) or publication(s) that articulate the learnings on your frontier challenge.
Data and Methods
Relating to your types of data, why did you chose these? What gaps in available data were these addressing?
We chose these methods because they focused on human needs and perspectives and allowed us to collect data in real time through various interactions, such as dialogues, site visits and meetings.
Why was it necessary to apply the above innovation method on your frontier challenge? How did these help you to unpack the system?
Because these methods were mainly human centered and allowed maximum interaction with the women entrepreneurs and NWEC to co-design activities and to collect data in real time through various interactions.
Partners
Please indicate what partners you have actually worked with for this learning challenge.
Please state the name of the partner:
National Women Entrepreneur Council (NWEC), under the aegis of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare.
What sector does your partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the partnership.
The UNDP Accelerator Lab initiated this collaboration with the National Women Entrepreneur Council (NWEC) to mobilise women to become entrepreneurs in the green economy, particularly in building and running agri-enterprises. This collaboration put forward the expertise and experience of the NWEC as well as the National Women Council (NWC) and other stakeholders, to better prepare, coach and mentor women to develop their ideas into income-generating activities. This collaboration has allowed UNDP to co-design learning sessions with the NWEC and the NWC team to better support the skills and knowledge development of the council through structured and tailored interventions that focused on a human-centered design approach, leverage the UNDP Accelerator Lab methodologies and approach to future visioning and build the capacity of participants to use innovative tools in public sector delivery and public sector innovation.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
End
Bonus question: How did the interplay of innovation methods, new forms of data and unusual partners enable you to learn & generate insights, that otherwise you would have not been able to achieve?
The Accelerator Lab team has benefited from the knowledge and skills of NWEC in identifying and addressing the challenges that women entrepreneurs encounter in the agri-enterprise sector. This collaboration has enabled them to design and implement more effective strategies to integrate women entrepreneurs into the value chain of agri-businesses.
Please upload any further supporting evidence / documents / data you have produced on your frontier challenge that showcase your learnings.
The closing form saves automatically or via the blue "save changes" button the top left. Thank you
2Zero hunger
5Gender equality
8Decent work and economic growth
12Responsible consumption and production
17Partnerships for the goals
Comments
Log in to add a comment or reply.