Financed by the Italian Egyptian Debt Swap Programme (Phase II)
Description
The Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) project addresses the challenge of poor access and diversity of economic opportunities in reclaimed desert villages. The overarching goal is to increase women’s income, and subsequently the living conditions of their families by improving existing production and stimulating the development of new income generating activities based on local skills sets and resources.
WEE project components include capacity development programs, financial support and targeted interventions to increase the quality of women’s productions and develop their market opportunities The objective of the assignment is to conduct a market needs and product development assessment in the targeted villages of the above mentioned governorates.
The assessment will focus on rural women activities and products in “food / non-food, handcrafts, eco-tourism, and services sectors” in order to tailor the needed interventions and provide trainings to targeted women who need to improve their social and economic status.
The Market Needs Assessment provides recommendations with the aim to ensure more effective production organization, product development and upgrading, improved distribution mechanisms and access to finance for the project beneficiaries.
Services
The research methodology employed in this assessment has 5 main tracks:
- Desk review: available from the WEE baseline and other relevant reports, academic studies and websites to enhance the market context of the target sectors
- Primary data collection via fieldwork: face to face interviews regarding existing and potential product lines and services in target sectors
- Research results & discussion: identification and final selection of products and services with the highest potential for women economic empowerment
- Needs assessment: examines the technical, financial, and marketing strategies that will have a positive impact on the selected sectors competitiveness and future growth. For each product line or service a SWOT analysis is provided, and value chain overview to present required product development interventions. This includes the training resources required to increase efficiency and quality of women’s production cycles.
- Roadmap for short term action: a roadmap is developed that includes actions and strategies aimed at increasing the growth of the selected sectors over 6 months, while laying the foundations for sustainability beyond the ending of the WEE project.
The market needs assessment provided WEE with:
- Overview the market environment that women’s skills and resources can harness, including product and services supply chains strengths and constraints to enter new trade or maintain and increase levels of market shares at local, national and international levels.
- Key interventions such as technical trainings, equipment and financial support on the identified key value chains. The proposed interventions will lead to improved quality and delivery of their current products and services.
- Proposing required marketing strategies to ensure sustainable, scalable and fair sale outlets for women’s products and services, with a focus on increasing the market share of individual and group enterprises.