Project Description

The Women’s Empowerment for Inclusive Growth (WING) Program was a joint initiative by UN Women, UNDP, and UNCDF, aimed at addressing structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment and gender equality in Bangladesh. The program aligned with national strategies including the National Perspective Plan 2011, Vision 2021, and the SDGs. The WING Program supported women and youth in rural and semi-urban areas to expand their economic participation through access to financial services, entrepreneurship opportunities, and local development strategies. The program built on the results of the Inclusive and Equitable Local Development (IELD) program, scaling up investments in women’s SMEs, strengthening LGIs, and promoting gender-responsive business development. To establish benchmarks and guide program implementation, a Local Economic Assessment (LEA) and baseline study were conducted in Kurigram, Jashore, Thakurgaon, Manikganj, and Cox’s Bazar. These studies aimed to analyze local economic structures, opportunities for women’s empowerment, and the state of women-led enterprises and gender-responsive policy implementation. This assignment was awarded to Disaster Management Watch through a competitive selection process for its expertise in conducting large-scale socio-economic assessments. Subsequently, Communication and Development was engaged as a Sub-Consultant to support communications, outreach, and stakeholder engagement within the assignment.

Specific objectives of the study included

• To understand local economic structure with the role, contribution and benefits of women
• To assess development opportunities, needs, and local assets and the potential opportunities of women to benefit from local level planning
• To assess the current state of implementation and enforcement of policies supportive to women’s economic empowerment at the local and national level
• To assess the current state of women’s participation in local economic development activities
• To assess the condition of women-led enterprises and women-oriented enterprises in unlocking and accessing larger volume of domestic capital to expand their economic space

Service Provided By Communication and Development Limited

• Communications & Knowledge Products: Prepared communication materials, summaries, and awareness briefs tailored to stakeholders.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Supported facilitation of dissemination workshops, ensuring findings were effectively shared with local governments, SMEs, and women entrepreneurs.
• Outreach & Visibility: Designed outreach materials (infographics, presentation visuals, and simplified briefing notes) to communicate key findings to wider audiences.
• Capacity Support: Assisted in preparing training/orientation content for stakeholders on how to apply LEA findings in women’s economic empowerment programming.

Key Deliverables

• Local Economic Assessment (LEA) Report.
• Baseline Report on Women’s Empowerment in five districts.
• Survey tools and analysis frameworks.
• Policy recommendations for gender-responsive economic development.
• Dissemination workshop and designed communication products.