Background
Over recent years, increased attention has focused on the role and potential of the emerging value-added services (VAS) of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a pathway to bridge the gender and economic development divide. Yet in APEC there is a lack of a more holistic framework to address the pressing challenges for women entrepreneurs to gain access to these new technologies and business opportunities to improve their livelihood.
This project aims to build upon previous work supported by the APEC PPWE, Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN), and Women Leaders’ Network (WLN) to develop women small, medium and micro-enterprises by promoting the diffusion of technology-driven ICT innovations. This project echoes closely to important APEC declarations in recent years. In response to the 2011 APEC Leader’s Declaration, the project endeavours to promote inclusive regional growth by taking concrete actions to expand economic opportunities for women. Corresponding to the 2011 San Francisco Declaration, the project aims to facilitate the sharing of best practices on how member economies use ICT innovations to enhance women’s livelihood development capacities and entrepreneurial skills and to foster an equitable workforce participation of disadvantageous women, increasing their access to cross-border opportunities.
APEC Multi-year Project : Chinese Taipei
Project |02
APEC PPWE Project, Project No: M SCE 03 2013A
Four APEC economies: Chinese Taipei, Chile, the Philippines, Republic of Korea are performing this research.
Innovation for Women and Economic Development:
Facilitating Women’s Livelihood Development and Resilience with ICTs (2013 – 16)
Background
Over recent years, increased attention has focused on the role and potential of the emerging value-added services (VAS) of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a pathway to bridge the gender and economic development divide. Yet in APEC there is a lack of a more holistic framework to address the pressing challenges for women entrepreneurs to gain access to these new technologies and business opportunities to improve their livelihood.
This project aims to build upon previous work supported by the APEC PPWE, Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN), and Women Leaders’ Network (WLN) to develop women small, medium and micro-enterprises by promoting the diffusion of technology-driven ICT innovations. This project echoes closely to important APEC declarations in recent years. In response to the 2011 APEC Leader’s Declaration, the project endeavours to promote inclusive regional growth by taking concrete actions to expand economic opportunities for women. Corresponding to the 2011 San Francisco Declaration, the project aims to facilitate the sharing of best practices on how member economies use ICT innovations to enhance women’s livelihood development capacities and entrepreneurial skills and to foster an equitable workforce participation of disadvantageous women, increasing their access to cross-border opportunities
Objectives of the project
Submitted by Chinese Taipei and co-sponsored by 14 member economies, the APEC multi-year project, commencing in June 2013, puts forward a 3-year work plan that aims to: (1) promote awareness of women entrepreneurs’ needs in APEC region in embracing new devices and services for livelihood development; (2)identify and disseminate pertinent experiences and know-how of ICT innovations that can be replicated to broaden women entrepreneurs’ capacity of doing business and enhance their resilience to risky environment; and (3) assist stakeholders to formulate innovative public-private partnerships (PPPs) which will facilitate the development of sustainable business models and policy environment for women entrepreneurs.
Scope of Works
This project will implement a series of research activities in year 2013-2014. The expected outcomes include:
1) identify and document best practices that help women entrepreneurs to access market, business connections, financial resources and training and consultation services; 2) recognize impediments that inhibit the adoption of ICT-based approaches by women entrepreneurs; 3) as a result, explore the opportunities for the development of innovative solutions to meet women entrepreneurs’ needs.
The tasks of the Contractor include initiating contract activity to undertake 3 activities:
Activity 1: Baseline program inventory (Nov. 2013 ~ July 2014)
Inventory existing or previous programs/initiatives in which ICTs - mobile phones and computers – are employed as tools in order to enable women entrepreneurs to access markets, business networks, resources, e.g. raw materials, labour and business tools, and business development training.
Deliverables include:
a. Program / initiatives reports.
Activity 2: Case studies
At this stage, case studies will be carried out in order to identify:
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Key drivers for the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches that help women entrepreneurs to access market, business connections, financial resources and training and consultation services;
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Impediments / obstacles that inhibit the adoption of ICT-based approaches by women entrepreneurs;
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Policy recommendations and ICT-based solutions that can address existing obstacles;
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Opportunities for transferring best practices between member economies or scaling up best practices at the domestic level.
The Contractor will take the following steps to collect relevant data and information, including:
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Select programs/initiatives from the program inventory developed in activity 1 for case studies;
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Design the questionnaire, together with the project coordinator in Chinese Taipei, in order to ensure the consistency of the results across different studied member economies.
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Identify interviewees and undertake interviews.
Deliverables include:
a. A short progress report I in response to steps 1 and 2 above
b. Progress report II in response to steps 3.
Activity 3: Final report
Write up a final report based on the analysis in activity 2. The report must deliver thorough discussion about the research findings as a result of the activity 2.
The deliverable is: A final report.
Reports and documents prepared for publication must be prepared in accordance with the Guidebook on APEC Projects, APEC Publication Guidelines and APEC Logo Guidelines, and be accepted by the Project Overseer, prior to submission to APEC Secretariat for approval.