Title: In Liberia, 66% of respondents felt that government lost p
1United Nations Development Fund for Women UNIFEM
SHARING THE FINDINGS OF THE BASELINE STUDIES ON
WOMEN IN INFORMAL CROSS BORDER TRADE IN AFRICA
ECA/ATPC Inception Workshop on Mainstreaming Gen
der into Trade Policy Addis Ababa, 21-22 April 20
09
2INFORMAL CROSS BORDER TRADERS
- Outside Musina train station, this woman had just
placed her luggage on the ground to rest when a
voice emanating from the platform announced,
hurry-up mama, the train is about to leave! She
gathered her strength, grabbed her belongings and
staggered on. - Picture courtesy of Moshe Sekete
- (Source IOM Photo Exhibition on WICBT in Southern
Africa)
3CONTENT OF THE PRESENTATION
- Basic information on the UNIFEM Feminized Poverty
Programme (FPP)
- Why the choice of WICBT?
- Objectives of the baseline studies on WICBT
- Research methodology
- Research findings
- Focus of Phase II of the FPP
- Some recommendations
4BASIC INFORMATION ON THE FPP
- Project title Strengthening Responses to Create
Wealth and Reduce Poverty for Women in Informal
Cross-border Trade in Africa
- Programme Duration 1st phase January 2006
December 2008 2nd phase 2009-2010
- Potential regional partners AU, RECs, ADB,
CODESRIA
- Possible UN Partners UNECA, ILO, UNDP, IFAD,
FAO, IOM
- Estimated total budget USD 8,000,000
5BASIC INFORMATION ON THE FPP
- Strategic focus
- Deepening understanding and knowledge of women in
ICBT
-
- Strengthening the capacity and organizing of
WICBT to increase the profitability of their
activities and bargaining power
- Strengthening the capacity of intermediary
organisations and institutions to analyze,
advocate and actively influence trade policies
and poverty reduction strategies so that they
can benefit WICBT - Supporting the review and revision of laws,
regulations policies, systems and practices that
discriminate against WICBT and hinder their
access to and control of productive resources and
markets.
6WHY THE CHOICE OF WICBT?
- Official sources report an average value of
informal cross border trade in the SADC Region
US 17.6 billion per year (Southern Africa Trust,
August 2008) - ICBT contributes for 30-40 to intra-SADC Trade
- 70 of informal cross border traders are women.
- Main foodstuffs traded in 2006/7 are maize
(97,000 MT), rice (6,500 MT) and beans (10,000
MT). 8
- By ignoring informal cross border trade, SADC
member States could be overlooking a significant
proportion of their trade.
IOM Photo exhibition on WICBT
7WHY THE CHOICE OF WICBT?
- Trade is the most important source of employment
among self-employed women of SSA providing 60 of
non-agricultural self-employment (ILO 2004).
- In West and Central Africa, WICBT employ 1.2
people in their home businesses support on
average 3.2 children as well as 3.1 dependants
who were not children or spouses. (Oculi n.d.
8). - Contribution to national GDP 64 of value added
in trade in Benin 46 in Mali and 41 in Chad
(Charmes 2000, cited in ILO 2004).
- WICBT address vital issues of livelihoods such as
food and income security, Yet they are neglected
by mainstream trade policies and institutions,
thus undermining the profitability of their
activities
Photo IOM Zimbabwe border with South Africa
8OBJECTIVES OF THE BASELINE STUDIES
- To identify the global, regional and national
policy and regulatory frameworks that have an
impact on ICBT
- To scan the overall operating environment of
WICBT
- To analyse the economic and social position of
WICBT
- To analyse
- the nature and intensity of womens activities in
ICBT
- their determinants and constraints
- the mapping of their locations within the
production and value chains at different levels
as well as their routing patterns and
- their coping strategies
- To identify the responses that should be provided
for addressing those issues and barriers at the
policy level as well as in terms of service
provision and -
- To develop baseline data and indicators for
programming in order to enhance womens
engagement in and benefits from ICBT.
9RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Desk-based studies of secondary research
- Focus group discussions
-
- Institutional survey (COMESA and SADC)
- In depth individual case studies
- Surveys of women and men ICBT conducted in
various border points in
- Southern Africa Swaziland (400) and Zimbabwe
(457 respondents)
- Eastern Africa Tanzania (95)
- Central Africa Cameroon (400)
- English speaking West Africa Liberia (400)
- French speaking West Africa Senegal, Niger,
Guinea, Togo (600)
10RESEARCH FINDINGS
- The research has confirmed that
- Cross border trade contributes to poverty
reduction, employment and wealth creation
- There are gender differences in the types of
goods and services provided by WICBT
- WICBT face various constraints and adopt various
coping mechanisms
- There are several levels of accountability to
address the issues faced by WICBT
11RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Cross border trade contributes to poverty
reduction, employment and wealth creation as
shown in tables 1, 2 and 3
Zimbabwe
Liberia
Swaziland
Tanzania
Traders by major/main source of income for
family
12RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Traders by reason for engaging in ICBT and by
sex
Zimbabwe
Liberia
Cameroon
Swaziland
Tanzania
13RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Traders by use of income from cross-border
trading and sex
Zimbabwe
Liberia
Cameroon
Swaziland
Tanzania
14RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Impact on Government revenue
- In Liberia, 66) of respondents felt that
government lost potential revenue from ICBT
through corruption. A further 9 of respondents
said that the increasing number of border points
added to the difficulties for government of
collecting and accounting accurately for revenue
- In Cameroon 12 of male traders and 42 of female
felt that ICBT caused government to lose revenue.
Reasons offered included non-declaration of
imported products and thus non-payment of taxes,
and endemic corruption among tax officials and
police which meant that collected revenue did not
end up in the state coffers. - The Tanzanian team was given access to records of
the Tanzania Revenue Authority at two of the
border posts. Examination of these records
suggested that collections from small traders
(defined as amounts less than USD 500) were
contributing in a small, but increasing, way to
government revenue. - In Zimbabwe, 84 of the interviewed traders (89
of men and 78 of women) said that they paid the
required duties for the goods they imported into
the country. In Swaziland, 52 of interviewed
traders said that they paid the required import
duties, with a further 48 reporting that they
paid only part of the required duties.
15RESEARCH FINDINGS
- What are the goods and services traded by WICBT?
- Most of the goods traded by WICBT are
agricultural commodities. For instance, in
Liberia, agricultural goods account for the
majority of imports and exports (70 of women and
67 of men respondents). The Liberian report
notes that most of the agricultural goods traded
are produced by the traders themselves. - More women (60) than men (40) are involved in
the imports of industrial products, and the
composition of goods shows gender-specific
differences, with men engaged in higher value
items such as watches and radios, while women
tend to specialize in textiles (including used
clothes), plastics and stationery. There is a
similar pattern with the mineral and forest
products, with women trading mostly in imports of
kerosene and beads, while imports of gasoline
fuel are done exclusively by men who also
dominate trade in gold and silver jewelleries. - Trade in services (transport, money exchange and
warehousing services) is dominated by men, while
women are mainly involved in carrying loads on
their heads across and within the border markets.
16RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Constraints faced by WICBT Weak trade-related
institutions, services and resources
17RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Constraints faced by WICBT Weak trade-related
institutions, services and resources
18RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Constraints faced by WICBTVAW
19RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Strategies used to overcome challenges by sex
-
Liberia
Cameroon
Tanzania
20RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Charter of Accountability for addressing the
issues of WICBT
21DISCUSSION OF SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
- High level of suspicion on the part of the
traders about the objectives of the study (namely
the fear that it could be used for taxation or
other punitive purposes). - Difficulty in defining common criteria for
informality. The definitions vary according to
countries.
- Difficulties when asking about income and other
financial details of traders businesses, and
distinguishing between gross and net income.
-
- The reported patterns show the profile and
situation of the particular traders who were
interviewed. They cannot necessarily be
extrapolated to make generalizations about all
informal cross-border traders in a particular
country or sub-region
22QUESTIONS ARISING FROM THE RESEARCH
- Do WICBT opt for invisibility? Does visibility
hamper profitability? How can they be supported
without exposing them for heavier taxation?
- Is Informal Cross border trade a viable economic
option in the long run or should we aim for
graduation? Would graduation be relevant for such
small scale businesses? - How can WICBT be effectively supported, taking
into account the volatility of their activities
and the numerous and complex trade regimes?
- What would be the best entry points for
institutional and policy change in favor of
WICBT?
- How to address data related challenges so that
their activities could be better captures in
national accounting systems and statistics
databases of the RECs?
23FOCUS OF PHASE II OF THE FPP
- Three pillars
- Support to actions directly benefitting WICBT
- Promote policy change in support of WICBT, at two
levels
- Sub-regional level with the RECs
- National level
- Enhance knowledge sharing on WICBT to inform
policies
24FOCUS OF PHASE II OF THE FPP
- Amplify collective voice of WICBT in national,
subregional and regional trade foras
- Promote women cross border traders access to
services, social safety nets, information on
trade agreements and protocols, skills, finances
and market opportunities (including graduation) - Support trade related institutions at regional,
sub-regional and national levels to better
deliver for WICBT
- Enhance statistical databases of RECs and NSO to
make available GDD on WICBT
25 - THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION