At the time of the field visit to Tanzania (November 2003), there was no formal focal point for women’s entrepreneurship development within the government. An officer in the MIT-SME Section was assigned responsibility for co-implementing the ILO-WEDGE programme in collaboration with the ILO Dar es Salaam Office. She undertaking projects focused on promoting women entrepreneurs as role models, working on the development of viable women entrepreneurs’ associations, and coordinating gender mainstreaming workshops within the SME stakeholder group. The Ministry of Community Development, Gender (formerly Women) and Children is interested in SMEs as a way of improving livelihoods in communities through women and children. It is involved in programmes to empower women through entrepreneurship development and the promotion of gender equity issues. The Ministry of Labour, Youth and Sports Development (MoLYSD) has also played a role in policy coordination.
However, there did not appear to be any forum for regular meetings with other ministries and departments to discuss common issues, perspectives, and roles with regard to development of women’s enterprise.
The challenge of changing the environment for women entrepreneurs goes beyond the jurisdiction of the MIT alone, requiring advocacy within other ministries and levels of government, and negotiation and coordination with donor agencies and NGOs on strategically targeted initiatives to improve the performance of women entrepreneurs and their enterprises. Many donor-assisted MSED projects do target women’s enterprise development, but these are generally dwarfed by their other components, they rarely conclude with any evaluation of impact, and they are not inventoried in a common database. One recent exception has been the FAIDA project, funded with assistance from the Government of the Netherlands. There has generally been little sharing of lessons learned and good practice in reaching women-owned MSEs and serving their needs, especially for growth. Some regions are more advanced than others in formulating activities to support the development of women’s enterprises at the local level, and most require further education and capacity-building. The need for gender sensitization among policy-makers and implementation agencies continues to be great.
More resources at a higher level within the Ministry could facilitate greater advocacy by key agencies (e.g., those in the government, donors, micro-finance, and business development service provider networks) to support the development and growth of enterprises owned by women.
To learn more about this author, visit International Labour Organization's Website.
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