Outcome ZAF_D_2.2

Public and private procurement is gender responsive

The Flagship Programme on Stimulating Equal Opportunities for Women Owned Enterprises (FPI) and at fostering Women Economic Empowerment through entrepreneurship is in its third year of implementation Despite the devastating impact of COVID which has exacerbated the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs including accessibility, connectivity to access training and business opportunities, SAMCO has continued with implementation. The work done in South Africa has demonstrated how a multi stakeholder and sectoral movement can make substantive changes for Women Owned Enterprises (WOEs) through implementation of preferential procurement policy. The strong high level government support for this work in South Africa, has created an enabling environment. The challenge remains on how to ensure that there is systematic implementation of the different aspects of the projects to ensure that 1) Women suppliers have the capacity to leverage on existing business opportunities and 2) Buyers have adequate capacity and commitment to implement gender responsive procurement. SAMCO has continued to strengthen and build strategic partnerships with government institutions, including the Presidency; the National Task Team on Preferential Procurement; the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities; the National School of Government; Private Sector Companies; Implementing partners as well as with the newly established multistakeholder Women Economic Assembly (WECONA); through the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide Pillar 5 on Economic Justice. The FPI team also established a new partnership with women&rsquo;s business associations through the 50% Campaign, which aims to promote 50 per cent participation of women in the economy. SAMCO also positioned itself as a partner of choice and managed to mobilize funding from ABSA, a Private bank of a total of of $173,342 (ZAR2,800,000) contract (2022-2023), renewable after 12 months, to support Mentorship and Coaching for WOEs. Key Results SAMCO efforts of supporting WOEs and building competent and credible women owned enterprises suppliers, has led to a coordinated mechanism of more than 40 entities including sector departments private sector financial institutions to support women owned businesses , and led by Presidential Task Team on the Empowerment of Women-Owned Businesses, In 2021, a total of 1145 women-owned enterprises and entrepreneurs in Limpopo, Eastern Cape and Free State increased their awareness and skills to improve their businesses and access public procurement opportunities and state financing through a workshop series. A Mentorship and Coaching (M&amp;C) Programme was also launched in August 2021, primarily targeting WOEs and UN Women is providing technical support by providing service providers to implement the M&amp;C Programme and conducting the typology of WOEs. SAMCO worked in Women and Transport and 149 women entrepreneurs [1] increased their soft and technical skills to transition into the logistics and transport industry , enter the &lsquo;supply chain world&rsquo; and operate within its value chains. To date, approximately 10% of the participating companies acquired new contracts or pursued new business opportunities. In addition, the programme has produced numerous success stories (Annex). One such example is a entrepreneur who runs the company Sip-Sum Afrika, a South African, homemade, indigenous, traditional beverage was able to establish collaborations to place her business online to counter the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and is now able to have her products delivered from online orders. The Government of South Africa is now fully informed of the feasibility of issuing a deficit neutral Sovereign Gender Bond (SGB) as a strategy to mobilize significant capital to ensure women and youth are positioned as key agents of change in the efforts to build forward better from the COVID-19 pandemic. The &ldquo;SA Gender Bond Landscape Report: A South African Pre-Feasibility Study&rdquo; (Annex ) was conducted by UN Women in partnership with Triple C Advisory and ZeniZeni . h Africa The UN Women Buy from Women Online Platform (BFW Platform) e-learning platform continued to prove a useful knowledge tool, with 853 women accessing the e-learning platform in 2021 to increase their skills and knowledge in enhancing and sustaining their businesses and accessing markets . WOEs will also now have access to five additional online modules on the e-learning site to support them to sustain and grow their businesses, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new courses focus on: How to sustain and grow your business during a pandemic/crisis; How to prepare a business continuity plan to survive during a pandemic/crisis; Understanding and handling company legal aspects, finances and audit; Developing good bankable business plans/proposals; </l

Public and private procurement is gender responsive

The South African government has continued to d emonstrate high level political commitment towards national transformation through promoting the principle of local implementation towards transformative change. The government has contributed in the translation of political commitments into practice by putting in place mechanism to operationalise the 40% preferential procurement through the establishment of a Multi stakeholder and sectorial a National Task Team initiative supporting Women Economic Empowerment Programme (WEEP) Initiative in the public sector. A total of 6156 women entrepreneurs in partnership women Empowerment Programme (WEEP) implemented through the National Task Team on preferential procurement, women entrepreneurs in four provinces (Limpopo, Free State, Northwest, and Kwa-Zulu Nata), represented 14 districts have strengthened capacity to start and grow their businesses. In addition, in October 2021 the President launched the Women Economic Assembly (WECONA), E led the launch of the Women Economic Assembly (WECONA), Home - Women Economic Assembly 2023 (wecona.org.za) , a multi stakeholder initiative, an entity co-led by government and private sector women business associations to engage industry leaders to set gender transformation targets and establish game changing interventions that increase procurement from women owned businesses. He again led the second WECONA event in October 2022, to reflect on progress made to achieve gender transformation in their sectors; showcase industry opportunities and success case stories, and further commit to further action towards gender transformation in industry value chain s. The event reached about 2000 participants including women entrepreneurs, government leaders and policy makers, and industry leaders. A total of 10 industry leaders made commitments to implement strategies aimed at promoting preferential procurement for women owned businesses . These initiatives have enabled investment and commitment to women owned businesses and building an ecosystem mechanism to enhance their participation in the economy.