ChangeMaker is trying by its various steps and activities to contribute in developing a non-discriminating and equally balanced gender friendly society.

Creating an Enabling Environment for the Development of Women Entrepreneurs and their Business Initiatives through the formation of Grameen Mohila Bebsha O Shilpo Shomitee Rural Women Commerce and Industry “Women’s Right to Business and Industry”

The full inclusion of women in the economic process is extremely critical for overall economic development. This is particularly true when women constitute half of the total population and represents half of the talent and potential of the country. Yet many economic players have not yet taken
	the necessary measures to enhance the active participation of women and their full inclusion in the economy. Full inclusion meaning that women not only have the right to get the same conditions to conduct business and industry and progress as their male counterparts, but also that they have a voice in the business and economic policies and in the various economic decision-making processes. The present women entrepreneurial capacity building and micro finance programs have paved very important foundation to further the initiatives of the women entrepreneurs. However, because of inadequate access to various important services such as market information, business opportunities, business services, etc., as well as lack of platform to voice their concerns to the appropriate government and non-government authorities for policy changes, has seriously impeded the desired growth of women business and industries. Consequently the women entrepreneurs have become dependent on the generosity of a few social change or-

ganizations or specialized short-lived government and non-government program activities and have confined themselves to traditional products with limited neighborhood markets. Moreover, because of
inadequate supportive environment and encouragement from all parties, women entrepreneurs are not visible and are generally isolated from the mainstream business. Limited scope and opportunity to develop their ventures also dictates them to work individually in low profile. Lack of organized platform for women has also limit their voice to various government and private sector institutions and agencies. The Association of Women Commerce and Industry is designed to establish the right of women in business and advocate for women on business and economic as well as leadership issues particularly for the women in the rural area.
The association is expected to create business and economic and leadership opportunities for women by building a strong community voice, lobbying to protect women’s interest in business, and providing programs and benefits to support the growth of women entrepreneurs in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The members of the association would be women individuals, business owners, career professionals, women's organizations, economic development organizations and leadership organizations

Association of Women Commerce and Industry would:
 

•  Focus on targeted issues and strategies that will move women from the role of the "influenced" to    influential.
•  Mainstream women rather than perpetuating the    marginalization and isolation created by years of    segregation/compartmentalization through "women's groups"    and "women's programs." •  Establish a clear and true voice that speaks to government,    political and corporate leadership and is not politically or      corporate led, controlled or appointed. •  Bring together the existing women's entrepreneurs that share    common values to increase economic impact, extend    business capabilities and grow business leadership. •  Place women in positions of key influence in trade, business,    commerce and industry. •  Establish linkage with appropriate government and    commercial service providers for business growth. •  Include new women entrepreneurs to assure reach, inclusion    of their issues and continuity for the future.
•  Provide access to knowledge, information, education, services and resources needed by women    entrepreneurs for growth and opportunity without unnecessary restrictions, obligations, influences    and costs.

Project Objectives
The project would pursue several objectives expected to generate positive short and long term results with regard to the promotion of gender equality for women in business and in the relevant decision-making processes.

The short-term objectives of the project are:
 

• To organize women entrepreneurs under the Association of Women Commerce and Industry to foster their business initiatives • To raise and increase awareness about women business initiatives and their right to business and the women members of the association for the benefits of the full inclusion of women in the economy - and the balanced participation and representation of women and men in trade, commerce and industry and policy making process • To identify obstacles that prevent women from fully participating in the economic process (trade, business and industry) and in policy making • To integrate the association with the local government process
• To collect good practices of the association and the member enterprises as well as other business associations and enterprises that have implemented in favor of the full integration of women in the economic environment and in the decision-making process • To encourage the other associations/local chamber of commerce, government agencies, and private sector business enterprises that have not yet actively addressed the question of gender equality and the promotion of women in business • To facilitate sharing of information and knowledge of business opportunities among the members
• To organize capacity building programs for the women enterprises for effective growth of their businesses through improved and enhanced skills and capabilities.

The long-term objectives of the project are:
• To develop women entrepreneurs association in every union and link them with upazilla, district and 
   national level associations of women entreprenuers
• To increase the number of women enterprises participating actively in the economic ventures;
• To create a positive environment for women that enable them to efficiently address problems they are
   facing in their day-to-day business operation – such as access to bank finance, space allocation in
   market, access to government resources and facilities (khash land, water bodies, etc.) and to take
   part in decision-making processes in various business and economic issues.

While the direct target group of the project is women entrepreneurs, the indirect target group is the business community. The activities foreseen in the frame of this project aim at enhancing the potentials for women in business to actively seek advancement of their business and actively represent women entrepreneurs in the relevant economic policy making forums and processes.

Project Activities/Interventions:
The following activities are projected for establishing the rights of the women to conduct business and trade and achieve its desire outcomes:
 

1.	Identify and organize Women Entrepreneurs for the benefits full inclusion of women in the economy - and the balanced participation and representation of women and men in trade, commerce and industry and policy making process
2.	Formation of Women Business Association through chamber of commerce in UP/Upazilla level
3.	Identification of constraints/opportunities of women entrepreneurs and their enterprises and develop appropriate plan of action to address them
4.	Establishing linkage with different committees such as local chamber of commerce, LGRD, Market Management Committee of local Union Parishads (UP) and other trade associations for necessary support to the women association.
5.	Advocating to different government, non-government organizations and private sector enterprises and associations to create “space for women” for efficient and profitable business by women
6. Developing effective linkage with formal and non-formal financial institutions for access to necessary start-up capital, working capital and other loans and credits. 7. Developing linkage with backward and forward market actors to increase easy access to quality products and services 8. Organizing capacity building programs for the women enterprises for effective growth of their businesses through improved and enhanced skills and capabilities on operations, business management, financial management, business correspondence, business negotiation, marketing and promotion, quality control, etc.
9.	Establishing sharing of knowledge and information on market, business opportunities, and business service provisions
10.	Establishing linkage with Women Business Associations in upazilla, district and national level for advocacy, establishing rights, and sustainable improvement of their business
11.	Organizing media advocacy and advocacy dialogue meeting with various local and national policy makers
12.	Establishing linkage with various women right based organization for enhance knowledge/education on women rights and gender mainstreaming
13.	Promoting the associations mission, objectives, programs and success stories to to increase membership base
14.	Facilitate exchange visits to other local and national Chamber of Commerce, trade and business associations, to share knowledge, information and experiences
15.	Organizing trade fair and other promotional activities (trade directory, catalogues, brochures, reports, and marketing tools) for the promotion of products and services of women enterprises.

Project Area and Target Population:
Project location with estimated women enterprises/entrepreneurs are shown in the table below:

Approach and Strategy:
ChangeMaker, during the project period, will play the role of a facilitator. As a facilitator, ChangeMaker would ensure development of capacity of the women entrepreneurs; ensure development of appropriate service provisions and emphasis on participatory involvement of women entrepreneurs from project design to implementation to supervision and monitoring. ChangeMaker would set an exist strategy through capacity building and transferring of direct functions to the women entrepreneurs. The first year of the project, would emphasize on the capacity building, while the second year would focus on transfer of functions to the women entrepreneurs.

ChangeMaker believes it would extremely important to closely observe and monitor the learning and operations of women entrepreneurs for at least six months. During this period the involvement of ChangeMaker would be to primarily monitor the effective implementation and application of learning and operate effectively without facilitator. In case of emergency, ChangeMaker would provide brief consultative intervention to put the operation on context and help steer the process effectively.

Duration of the Project:
The project is envisaged for a period of two and half year. During the first year, the capacity development, promotional activities, linkage building will be focused such as developing training modules, organizing trainings, dialogue meetings, advocacy, etc. as well as sensitization of the woman groups, private sector actors, local government bodies, various trade association and local and national chambers of commerce. In the second half of the project, ChangeMaker will switch its role to enable the rural women’s business and trade association (RWBTA) network and facilitate private sector service providers to address the inclusion issues.

Outcome of the project:

1.	Increased awareness to the importance of gender equality as a societal issue is created in the project area.
2.	Gender enabling environment is created for the small woman entrepreneurs where the women operate their business activities confidently and safely.
3.	Women are organized in Association and work collectively to protect their interests.
4.	Women corners are created at different local markets where woman stallholders come and sell their produce to get fair price.
5.	Woman entrepreneurs have increased access to the financial institutions.
6.	Women enterprises will integrated with expanding markets
7.	Women groups have improved awareness, empowerment and bargaining capacity
8.	The Association will increase and diverse membership representing a wide spectrum of large and small businesses in the rural areas.
9.	The Association will actively represent at all levels of government regarding trade and business and commercial legislative matters and recognize as a source of valuable trade information and opportunities, both domestically and internationally.
10.	Capacity will be enhanced of women entrepreneurs on effective businesses plan, Rights, leadership, operations and production.
11.	The Association will be linked with Chamber of commerce, associations and market actors.