The Project

Recognizing the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for business development and their potential to empower women, DEVNET/TIPS and UNIFEM have been supporting initiatives world-wide to help women entrepreneurs in micro and cottage industries to access and utilize ICTs, in the form of the internet, the World Wide Web and e-commerce. The pilot global project Women into the New Network for Entrepreneurial Reinforcement with the happy abbreviation WINNER was launched in August 1999 with the support of the Government of Italy.

Five countries participated in Phase I of the project; Albania, Ecuador, Romania, Nepal and, in the East & Southeast Asian Region, the Philippines. In Phase II of the project, China, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were also included.

Background

Information and Communication Technologies are rapidly changing the way business is conducted, even in micro and cottage industries where women tend to be particularly active and which are vital sources of livelihood for many poor households.

In a globalizing world, women in this important sector need to take advantage of new business opportunities and new markets in order to survive and compete. For example, many small women's cooperatives and producers' associations in the Philippines have recently found that the departmental stores that are major purchasers of their products will only deal with suppliers able to process their documents electronically. Thus, the ability to at least access the internet and use e-mail is rapidly becoming essential, even for women in micro and cottage businesses in developing countries.

However, women have to balance their roles as wives and mothers with the demands of their businesses while most businessmen can leave the primary responsibility for their children and managing their households to their wives. It is acceptable for men to put business first and family second, but women - even businesswomen - are expected to put their families first, especially in developing countries. As a result, they have less time than men to take courses or attend meetings to learn about new technologies and new ways of doing business such as e-commerce. With lower levels of education and less access to training, many also lack the skills and experience needed to utilize these new technologies. In addition to poorer access to information about ICT and the lack of IT skills, women's businesses also tend to be smaller and have less access to the capital needed to purchase these new technologies.

What is DEVNET/TIPS?

The Technological Information Promotion System, known as TIPS, is one of the largest networks in the world promoting technology and trade cooperation among developing countries. TIPS is implemented by the DEVNET Association, an international non-governmental organization. In the East & Southeast Asian Region, TIPS operates in Bangladesh, China, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

TIPS Philippines' partnership strategy

To ensure that the knowledge of ICT application in small business reaches as many women entrepreneurs as possible, training of trainers (TOT) courses are conducted in cooperation with co-sponsoring women's organizations. These are a mix of women's NGOs, women's cooperatives, women's associations, women's enterprises and government agencies concerned with enterprise development and gender and development.

Ten courses have been completed since the first course in May 2000, providing training for 230 individuals (196 women and 34 men) on the Internet, e-commerce, website development and management, and international trade and enterprise management. The short courses have used, among other resources, a special WINNER CD-ROM on e-commerce developed by TIPS in Rome under the UNIFEM global WINNER project.

After completing their training as trainers, participants replicate the training among their members. Some groups have incorporated modules on the Internet or e-commerce during training courses for members sponsored by other international funding agencies. Others have used regular membership meetings or social gatherings to introduce the basics of e-commerce through the WINNER CD-ROM.

TIPS Philippines facilitates women's access to IT

To enable participants from provinces not currently connected to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to take advantage the network, TIPS has initiated cooperation with one of the country's largest ISPs and with cyber-cafes located in metropolitan Manila and the provinces.

Successful Business matching by TIPS

WINNER is also actively linking women's businesses in its beneficiary women's groups with other businesses internationally that might purchase their products, a process known as business matching. Some examples of successful business matching include a manufacturer of specialty candles being matched with a buyer in Okinawa, Japan and a Philippine women's cooperative being introduced to a novelty product distributor in Osaka, Japan.

Business matching may also include technology transfer, as in the case of a herbal soap manufacturer in the Philippines willing to enter a joint project to share its technology with a company based in Eastern Europe in order to enter the European market.

In another example, a government research and development institution is collaborating with a Swiss enterprise to develop a handloom specifically suited to Asian women. The Swiss-designed handloom was adapted to the smaller size and specific needs of Asian women, and the prototype demonstrated by the government agency the Philippine Textile Research Institute before groups of potential women users in the provinces. A WINNER cooperating organization, the COD Department Store, is interested in developing the product for the Asian market.

TIPS facilitates women's participation in Trade Fairs

Trade fairs are another important mechanism through which micro and cottage enterprises can identify opportunities and markets for their businesses. WINNER actively participates in trade fairs to spread information about its training courses, receive inquiries on the products and production capacity of women's enterprises and provide a venue for promoting the various products of women's organizations and their members, as well as initiate business linkages.

Since the beginning of the project, WINNER has participated in more than ten international trade exhibitions. The national WINNER website in the Philippines also functions as a "virtual" product exhibition, through which women's businesses can directly submit their product offers, with information on capacity, terms of business and photos of their products. These product photos and business details are also displayed on the global WINNER website launched in September. During the first week of December, WINNER participated in a Technology Fair on Gifts, Toys, and Home Wares featuring women producers from all over the Philippines. The Fair was a cooperative venture involving WINNER, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, TESDA, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Science and Technology, the Chamber of Handicrafts and others at the TESDA Women's Center. Running for three-days, it included an exhibition, technology demonstrations and clinics and training on entrepreneurship, e-commerce and international trade.

TIPS Director and WINNER Project Coordinator Ben Milano reported that the well-attended Fair drew very encouraging feedback from visitors, participants and trainees. One outcome was a proposal from the Director-General of TESDA Lucy Lazo, a long-standing UNIFEM partner, that WINNER set up an extension desk at the Common Service Facility Area for women entrepreneurs at the TESDA building to start in 2002.

Dated: 10Feb2002