CONTEXT AND POLICY ANALYSIS, ACTION & ADVOCACY STRATEGY FOR THE « WOMEN IN ENTERPRISE» PROGRAM

Publication Date: 15/05/2019

The present study is part of the development of an advocacy strategy that aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing policies that may or may not be favorable to women entrepreneurs, the context and actors of their implementation in Côte d'Ivoire. To guide the design of a national advocacy strategy for the «Women in Enterprise» Program, with a focus on advocacy for the development of women entrepreneurs.

Data collection was carried out in Abidjan and in the regions of TONKPI and GBÊKÊ among actors involved in the issues of women's empowerment, financial inclusion and women's entrepreneurship.

Following data collection and data analysis, it appears that:
- Policy and institutional framework for women's empowerment, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship is provided.
- Government has made efforts to facilitate the creation of businesses through the Single Window CEPICI, but some conditions limit women in their process to start a business.
- Structures and programs have been created for entrepreneurship development and funds have been mobilized and made available to women, but access to these initiatives remains limited due to the conditions of grant and interest for some and lack of information for others.

At the end of the analyzes, barriers to the development of entrepreneurship were identified; these include low women education, limited access to credit, land and information related to entrepreneurial activities and lack of entrepreneurial culture.

Some recommendations for the development of women's entrepreneurship were formulated to the different institutional, technical and financial stakeholders and areas of cooperation for advocacy have been identified.