Inclusion
Why we engage in inclusion
Ethnic minority women, including those with disabilities, are critical to lifting the northwest region of Viet Nam out of poverty and growing the nation’s economy. They bring labour force, leadership, skills and expertise, and networks that can drive key economic sectors such as agricultural and tourism. Despite this, their full potential is not harnessed due to entrenched social norms and market practices that continue to exclude ethnic minority women from participating equally.
Ethnic minority women fare worse than ethnic majority Kinh men, with lower health and education outcomes, greater incidence of gender-based violence, lower employment and less access to vocational training, financial services and digital platforms.
How we do
GREAT’s market analysis and investments choices will target those market systems functions and actors critical to ethnic minority women’s inclusion. GREAT works to sharpen their incentives and build their capacities to innovate and operate inclusively, ensuring social and economic viability and sustainability.
GREAT’s principal program beneficiaries being ethnic minority women requires an inclusion approach anchored in gender equality and cultural appropriateness. This intersectional lens informs all analysis, program design, implementation and reporting across all project investments. For example, all project designs include, and are accountable for, GEDSI Objectives with a clear, tangible and evidence-based pathway for achieving those objectives.
The inclusion focus also considers ethnic minority women with disabilities, encouraging where possible, practical mainstreaming and market system changes that can sustain disability inclusion.
Disability equity
GREAT recognises the significant contribution that persons with disabilities can make to growing economies. Ethnic minority women with disabilities will also be actively included where practical and sustainable in market systems. Drawing from GEDSI analyses of each of the GREAT’s investment sectors, we will work with disability organisations to identify opportunities for inclusion.
Key interventions
Developing GEDSI Strategy:
- Develop a GEDSI Strategy in the first implementing year
- Define and utilise commitments across partnership, research, communications, and advocacy
Applying gender-responsive and culturally appropriate approach
- Apply a GEDSI responsive lens to all program activities
- Address barriers and identify opportunities to enhance women’s economic empowerment across market systems
Mainstreaming social inclusion:
- Examine and integrate social inclusion considerations across all program interventions
- Ensure access to resources and opportunities for the ethnic minority women, including ethnic minority women with disabilities
Strengthening skills and capacity:
- Work through women producer groups and service organisations to enhance ethnic minority women’s skills in finances, digital literacy, agricultural production and processing, tourism destination management and business leadership
- Collaborate with implementing partners to offer continuous support for ethnic minority women and their affiliated groups
Supporting women leaders:
- Provide ongoing mentoring and training to ethnic women-group leaders
- Develop leadership and business management skills among ethnic women
Addressing social barriers:
- Work at the individual, household, community, private sector and government levels to address social norms and remove social-structural barriers that hinder economic empowerment of ethnic minority women, including those with disabilities
- Engage men and households to support ethnic women, including those with disabilities, access to resources and opportunities, recognising men’s critical role in advancing gender equality
Implementing Do No Harm framework:
- Implement a Do No Harm approach to identify and mitigate potential risks for affected communities, women and men
Fostering disability inclusion:
- Explore opportunities to increase the participation of ethnic minority women with disabilities
Behaviour change
Behaviour stemming from cultural and structural practices and perceptions can be deeply rooted and complex. GREAT is cognizant of the depth and breadth of socio-cultural changes needed to enable transformative women’s economic empowerment. GREAT will make the first steps on this long journey through investment in behaviour change interventions. Our investment will work with the social norms and cultural and institutional practices that prevent ethnic minority women, including those with disabilities from participating in markets equally.
These include applying “nudges” into our programming to encourage market actors to behave in more inclusive ways. A considered nudge in the market system makes it more likely that a market actor will make a particular choice, or behave in a particular way, by altering the market system so that automatic cognitive processes are triggered to favour the desired outcome.
Drawing from GEDSI analyses, GREAT will identify opportunities, resources and interventions to change market actor behaviours for greater inclusion of ethnic minority women. These behavioural change interventions will be both integrated into projects as well as stand-alone as cross-cutting GEDSI intervention.
