Empowerment of Women

1. Empowerment of Women The experience of Mauritius 57th Congress in Cameroon 23-30 October, 2009 Aline Wong

2. Context • Food Crisis • Increase in household food budget (CSO) - higher prices of meat and sugar;- higher prices of some ready-made clothing; - higher prices of gasoline and diesel; and- lower prices of milk. • International economic Crisis • Retrenchment in EPZ (figures) • Elimination trade protection • Increased competition with China in garment • Fall of 36% in sugar prices • Increasing oil prices • Increase of 15-20% of operational costs of enterprises without being able pas on cost increases on their products

3. The expectations • A concrete approach to address increasing poverty pressures in a context of economic downturn and uncertainty , and restricted public funds.

4. New sources of funds • Review of personal income tax regime • Introduction of a campment tax • Review of cost of annual lease of government land • Corporate tax maintained at 15% , but with an additional commitment of 2% for Corporate Social Responsibility projects • Restructuring of MRA • Tax on residential property • Donor agencies • Soft loans negotiated with major trade partners

5. Recovery packages • Job fairs for unemployed groups affected by retrenchment ( June 2007 onwards) • Workfare programme since (Feb 2009 onwards) • Mix of work and training scheme • Placement for training programme • Espace des metiers (Oct 2009) • Faster business registration (3 days) • Special Programme for Unemployed Women

6. Food Security Fund • Budget of Rs1 billion (about US$40 million) • Mix of assistance and soft loans for group projects • Objective: To reduce imports in the island and achieve food sufficiency • Public private partnership: Sugar companies have made about 400 hectares of land available to the government • Farmers who register with the programme and would also get technical advice to operate in an industrial approach.

7. Women empowerment

8. Mainstreaming women into jobs /business

9. Reskilling strategies • Failure of pure re-skilling • Re-skilling needs to be accompanied by internships • Training and placement mechanism enables provides an entry into enterprises with opportunities of employment offers • Need for Life Skills in order to reinforce • Self confidence • Endurance • Facilitate reorganisation of family life and allow enterprise level access

10. Transitional Suport for SMEs with a turnover of < Rs 50 mn • Support to SMEs facing finanical difficulties due to the global financial crisis by way of equity supporting working capital requirements in the restructuring process. • Government participates at 75% in the restructuring process and • The SME injects 25%

11. Loan scheme for acquisition and modernisation of equipments by SMEs • Leasing facilities for acquisition and modernisation of equipments • Lending rate at 8.5% • Max lease amout of Rs 50 mn • Initial down-payment of 10%

12. Mix of work and training scheme • SMEs in manufacturing and tourism sectors facing a reduction in their turnover may obtain financial assistance for training offered to their employees as an alternative to lay off their workers at shop floor level (rank and file and first line supervisors)

13. Placement for Training programme • An opportunity for an unemployed to gain an in-company placement coupled with a work-related formal training so as to make them employable

14. New Microenterprise financing schemes for women • Booster loan of the Development Bank of Mauritius • RoI: 9% • Up to Rs 100,000 • Mauritius Post and Cooperatives Bank • RoI: 8.5% • Rs 40,000 per person, up to Rs 400,000 for projects involving 10 women • Bank One • RoI: 11.35% • Rs 50,000 – Rs 500,000

15. TV programme on opportunities for women

16. Mushroom Cultivation From spores to mushroom bags Mushroom bags sold to women entrepreneurs Mushroom cultivated bought back and sold to hotels Self sustainable without any Government grant or technical support

17. Women in non-traditional sectors • Electricity services • Plumbing services • Home maintenance • Gardening etc.

18. Access to counselling of mentors • Exchange of information and advice with experienced mentors • Business planning and project follow-up assistance • Financial contribution of 10% by beneficiary

19. Mobilisation meetings • Access to information • One stop shop with all institutions • 9,000 mobilised in 2 yrs

20. Individual profiling Understanding the aspirations, interests, dreams and constraints of each individual

21. Examples of start-ups The different faces of start-ups

22. Participation in trade fairs • 3 days of direct sales training • 4 days of participation in fair • Instigating a taste for personal contact and direct sales • All products sold out • Thanks to innovativeness of products • > Rs 1 mn of new orders

23. Product development and innovation How is your product unique? Market testing Product development Food lab analysis analysis Bar Code registration Brand development Coming soon: Products in Super markets

24. Training for catering services, maid services

25. Duck supply chain • Initiation of duck farms • Corporate Social Responsibility support for egg incubation • Value added: Samoussas “bourguignon de canard “ , • Frozen dishes ready to eat: “Canard a la vanille, Canard a l’orange”

26. Where there is a WILL, there is a WAY. BE CONFIDENT AND DARE… Thank you Aline Wong