FCDO's Work and Opportunities for Women Programme
The Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme is a flagship programme funded by UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
Overview
The objective of WOW is that women have access to improved economic opportunities through business interventions in supply chains and economic development programmes.
The 5-year programme aimed to enhance the economic empowerment of 300,000 women working in global value chains and work with 35 economic development programmes to increase the numbers of women beneficiaries by September 2022.
It will achieve this goal by supporting businesses, organisations and programmes that are ready and willing to act on women’s economic empowerment (WEE); enabling players across the supply chain ecosystem to drive change; and influencing the UK and global agenda on women’s economic empowerment.
It is being delivered by an alliance of global experts at the cutting edge of women’s economic empowerment research, programme design and delivery. PwC leads this alliance, which also includes CARE International and Social Development Direct. Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the University of Manchester were members of the alliance between 2017 to 2020.
Four areas of activity
1. Partnerships with business to improve women’s participation in supply chains: businesses improve women’s access to higher-return and higher-productivity jobs and roles in supply chains, with improving working conditions
WOW’s unique approach, the first of its kind for FCDO, will accelerate business action through access to experts rather than by providing traditional funding. It will focus on the most entrenched barriers to progress and go beyond simply encouraging women’s participation in global value chains, to enabling dignified, equal, and economically empowering work for women.
It will do this in the following ways:
- scale: existing programmes which have demonstrated proven or promising results can be scaled up such that they reach more women
- replication: initiatives which are proven to be successful can be replicated elsewhere to maximise their impact
- innovation: new interventions can be piloted in a small number of cases
- sustainability: interventions that create lasting, systemic change by supporting existing interventions to transform social norms on gender, promote the adoption of new public policies and adapt existing legislation, promote changes in business practice in supply chains
- depth: existing programmes can have their scope increased or improved such that they empower women within their supply chains more successfully or in a more sophisticated way
2. Partnerships with business to improve data and transparency on women’s work in supply chains: women’s work in supply chains is made more visible, to improve global knowledge on women’s economic contribution
The programme will partner with a number of companies in priority sectors to gain a deeper understanding of the risks and opportunities for women, particularly deeper in the supply chain where women may be less visible, and/or their greatest challenges are unknown. The research will also help us identify other opportunities for partnership that meet WOW’s criteria for further intervention.
Research will be undertaken at 3 levels:
- macro-level (global supply chains)
- meso-level (company supply chains)
- micro-level (deep dive country supply chains)
In , the WOW programme explores the issue of unequal and unpaid work and care among garment workers in Bangladesh. The briefing paper presents an overview of current knowledge about unpaid care in the sector, and shares findings from primary research conducted with garment workers in 2019.
3. Increased knowledge and support for delivering women’s economic empowerment through economic development programmes
HMG economic development programmes reach larger numbers of women and improve global knowledge on how to deliver results for women and girls through economic development interventions.
A WOW Helpdesk will provide FCDO and other government departments with access to rapid technical assistance and expert analysis for guidance, and know-how to address WEE at different stages of programming through:
- a responsive query and programme support service, drawing on a wider expert pool to respond to queries from FCDO advisers across central and country programmes
- proactive guidance and support on priority themes for WEE across Economic Development portfolio
- regular communications updates drawing together learning from WOW and wider research and evidence on WEE, in the form of evidence digests
: The table summarises all the queries delivered by the WOW Helpdesk during Year 1
4. The Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) Fund
The WOW Fund supports initiatives that drive forward the Action Agenda of UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (UNHLP). The £1.8 million Fund supports select, strategic initiatives which promote long-term change in women’s economic empowerment.
The Fund complements the wider activities of the WOW programme, which works directly with global supply chains and with HMG programmes to support improved women’s economic empowerment (WEE) outcomes.
Initiatives supported by the Fund will deliver and demonstrate catalytic impact and contribute to global knowledge on how to economically empower women in 3 key areas:
- enhancing land tenure security
- recognising, reducing and redistributing unpaid care and work
- improving outcomes for women in informal work
Following a selection process in 2018, the WOW Fund is pleased to announce that grants have been awarded to support the following projects:
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innovations in informal land tenure awareness, rights and security for the economic empowerment of informal women workers in Delhi and Patna. Lead implementer: SEWA Bharat with implementing partners SEWA Delhi, SEWA Bihar, SEWA Grih Rin and the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS). This project aligns with the WOW Fund priority area of enhancing women’s land tenure security. It will work with women home based and domestic workers living in informal settlements to increase their land tenure awareness and security, as well as access to infrastructure services and housing finance. This in turn will lead to increased economic opportunities for women and strengthened individual and collective agency of women to advocate for change with local and municipal authorities. Learning generated can inform wider advocacy efforts to promote security of tenure for women in informal settlements and the development of innovative finance products and services targeting women informal workers
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accelerating national progress toward achieving equality in unpaid care and domestic work and promoting women’s economic empowerment. Lead implementer: Promundo-US with implementing partners Rwanda Men’s Resource Center (RWAMREC) and Sonke Gender Justice. This project aligns with the WOW Fund priority area of recognising, reducing, and redistributing unpaid care and domestic work. Its overall aim is to support and facilitate the redistribution of unpaid care work responsibilities between women and men and to increase women’s decision-making power within the relationship, in part, to support women’s economic agency and advancement more broadly. This approach involves thoughtful and consistent dialogue with individuals and institutions with the intention of questioning, challenging, and changing harmful and restrictive gender stereotypes that perpetuate social and economic inequality. In Rwanda and South Africa, Promundo and partners will adapt Program P, a curriculum aimed at engaging men in active fatherhood from their partners’ pregnancies through their children’s early years, to increase its focus on issues specific to WEE. The initiative will also support selected government ministries and civil society actors in both countries to incorporate this approach into existing systems and institutions, including by offering trainings and ongoing support to community health workers and social work personnel. The initiative will produce evidence and learning on how to ‘scale up’ approaches aiming to redistribute unpaid care work at the household level, as well as on the links of this programming to wider WEE outcomes
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home-based Workers Organizing for Economic Empowerment. Lead implementer: Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) with implementing partner HomeNet South Asia (HNSA). This project aligns with the WOW Fund priority area of improving outcomes for women in informal work. The WIEGO/HNSA initiative will empower home-based worker (HBW) leaders to negotiate better outcomes for their members working in precarious conditions in the garments sector. The initiative will also support the building of alliances between HBW organisations and wider civil society groups working for change in women’s working conditions in the garments industry; support exchanges between HBW leaders in South Asia and East Africa, and contribute to the emergence of a global HBW Network. The learning generated will build understanding of how to build effective negotiating strategies that improve the situation of women home-based workers and on the role of national and global organising in enabling positive change for these women
If you have further questions about the WOW Fund, please email Alexandra Lockyer, WOW Fund Manager at alexandra.lockyer@pwc.com.
Resources
Toolkits
: the transition to net zero will impact many of the most vulnerable women working in global supply chains around the world. With this in mind, the Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme has collaborated with Business Fights Poverty and the Harvard Kennedy School Corporate Responsibility Initiative on the creation of a toolkit for business on gender and climate that will support businesses to incorporate gender considerations into the action they are taking on climate change throughout their supply chains. It builds on WOW’s recent work investigating how women are disproportionately affected by climate change and includes examples of companies that are identifying opportunities for achieving a gender-just transition to net zero. The toolkit was launched at the Climate Justice Summit at COP26 on Thursday 4 November 2021.
Supply chain decarbonisation with a gender lens: this report is mainly for multinational businesses with supply chains in developing countries that are taking steps to decarbonise. It is particularly relevant to businesses in sectors that rely on significant numbers of women in their supply chains, for example in agriculture and clothing. It provides practical steps and actions that businesses can take on their decarbonisation journey, with examples and case studies.
Events
The WOW Programme hosted a webinar on 22nd July 2020 on unpaid work and care in global supply chains, for which the recording is now available. Speakers included Baroness Sugg and representatives from The Body Shop, Primark and Promundo.
Evidence digests
WOW helpdesk evidence digest, February 2024: this is a 3-page summary of knowledge and learning from recent work done by the WOW Helpdesk. It includes evidence reviews on women’s economic empowerment and electric vehicles in Kenya, sexual exploitation and harassment in labour market transitions, and on gender and acute food insecurity. It also links to other news and updates on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
: this evidence digest highlights new resources on Women’s Economic Empowerment, including the 2X Global Inclusive gender and climate finance. It also summarises knowledge and learning from recent work done by the WOW Programme, including support to Women’s Economic Empowerment in the blue economy in Small Islands States (SIDS), and the WIEGO Domestic workers during the COVID-19 crisis: pathways of impact, recovery and resilience in six cities.
: the UN HLP key WEE initiatives to drive empowerment outcomes; and informal and formal labour markets. This evidence digest summarises the knowledge and learning from that and other work done by the WOW Helpdesk. It also includes a teaser of the upcoming Targeted Guidance on unpaid care and domestic work, and other news and updates on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
: this is a 3 page summary of the knowledge and learning from recent work done by the WOW Helpdesk, including Green growth opportunities for women and youth in urban areas, a snapshot of the third Targeted Guidance focused on climate change and the net zero economy. It also links to other news and updates on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
: this Evidence Digest covering the period January-November 2020 summarises knowledge and learning from the series of three papers on WEE and COVID-19 conducted by the Helpdesk and other recent work done by the WOW Programme, including access to recordings of two events: presentation of the Implications of COVID-19 on women informal workers query, and the launch of the WEE Measurements Guidance note. It also features other COVID-19 and WEE key resources available online.
: the December ED shares findings from our report on addressing violence and harassment in garment factories and supply chains, features key messages from our Guidance Note on promoting WEE in the informal economy, and showcases WOW’s latest query and partnership updates.
: our latest Evidence Digest shares some key considerations for designing gender sensitive trade-related research or programmes in middle-income countries (MICs), addresses gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in China, and updates on our work with retailers to advance women’s rights in Bangladesh.
: this 3 page evidence digest summarises knowledge and learning from recent work done by the WOW Programme, including support to Women’s Economic Empowerment programming on Land, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Market interventions; highlights from a workshop with companies about women’s visibility and influence in global value chains; and updates on WOW engagement with UK retailers.
: this 3 page evidence digest summarises knowledge and learning from recent work done by the WOW Programme, including Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) interventions in the work place for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) and links WEE and tackling Modern Slavery in value chains.
: this 3 page evidence digest summarises knowledge and learning from recent work done by the WOW Helpdesk for DFID, including on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in FCAS, Time Use Data, and a portfolio review of DFID’s Commercial Agriculture portfolio.
Guidance and research
: this guide was developed to support businesses to take tangible steps towards understanding and addressing women’s invisible labour. The guide explores how businesses rely - both directly and indirectly - on women’s invisible labour for the resilience, productivity and success of their supply chains, and draws upon real life examples to illustrate how business can benefit by taking action on invisible labour, and accelerate progress toward a gender equitable world.
: this rapid research report builds on the findings of ‘Hidden in plain sight’ and draws on emerging data about how women workers have fared through the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, shining a spotlight on the enduring invisibility of women in global value chains. The report argues for proactive strategies by companies and policymakers to rebuild more gender-equitable value chains in the recovery, and presents recommendations for achieving this.
: this WOW research brief details the issue of data gaps on women in global value chains (GVCs), and how addressing these gaps will lead to improved responses to workers’ needs, better management of business risks, and enhanced responsible business practices. It is written for companies or practitioners engaging in GVCs, in particular those such as garments, agriculture and personal care, which rely heavily on women workers.
: this WOW Helpdesk Guidance Note aims to provide an analysis of the gender dynamics of informal work, and a set of corresponding recommendations. It is aimed at DFID and UK government advisers working on economic development, across a range of issues including agriculture, business environment, private sector development, social protection, urban and infrastructure development, digital development, and research.
: this WOW Helpdesk Guidance Note aims to provide an international analysis of best practice in the field of WEE measurement and compare this to current DFID/HMG. As well as provide practical recommendations to increase the effectiveness and consistency in the ways that WEE is measured.
(accessible version): this primer aims to help the UK government ahead of COP26 in its thinking around how to better understand the differential effects of climate change and support the inclusion of women in climate action, by bringing together the latest thinking about how women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and climate change intersect. The primer, together with the complimentary briefing on women and the net zero economy, make up the WOW guidance note 3.
(accessible version): this briefing aims to help the UK government ahead of COP26 in its thinking around how to better understand the differential effects of climate change and identify opportunities for the transition to a net-zero economy to deliver decent job opportunities for women. The briefing, together with the complementary primer on women’s economic empowerment and climate change, make up the WOW guidance note 3.
(accessible version): this is a reference guide on unpaid care and domestic work for people working in international organisations. It sets out the evidence-base for action, and summarises what works to ensure that the extent and impacts of unpaid care and domestic work are recognised, reduced and redistributed. It shows that there are different ways to address the disproportionate amount of time women spend on unpaid care. Everyone has a role to play, whether they are working on infrastructure projects, in social protection programmes or designing economic development programmes.
: this paper explores how increasing the economic empowerment of women in global value chains can reduce the risk of modern slavery.
: this document provides an overview of WOW research. It is the first of a planned series of Research Briefings that will be produced at different stages during the WOW programme.
: the Work Opportunities for Women (WOW) Helpdesk supported the DFID Commercial Agriculture Team (Growth and Resilience Department) to build on the analysis of a recent review of the DFID commercial agriculture portfolio, to consider the gender responsiveness of the programmes.
: the Work Opportunities for Women (WOW) Helpdesk supported the DFID Research and Evidence Division (RED) with a desk review to identify and discuss the sources and applications of data on paid and unpaid labour. It provides an overview of the current state of global databases on women’s labour force participation, and on paid and unpaid work. It addresses issues of data availability and comparability, as well as ways in which these data have been used in relation to addressing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment (WEE).
: the Work Opportunities for Women (WOW) Helpdesk supported DFID Occupied Palestinian Territories with a mapping of good practice examples of economic development (EcDev) programmes that have sought to include and empower marginalized groups, in particular women and persons with disability (PwD). The sectoral focus is strengthening/rehabilitation of energy and water infrastructure, as well as interventions to boost trade, particularly through direct business support and Industrial Zones.
: the Work Opportunities for Women (WOW) Helpdesk supported the DFID Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Team with a rapid, desk-based review of the evidence on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) interventions in the workplace and women’s economic empowerment (WEE).
: the WOW HD supported DFID Burma with a review of Gender and Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) inclusion in their Business for Shared Prosperity (BSP) Programme
: Gender Review. The WOW Helpdesk carried out a desk-based document review of Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA)’s progress on gender mainstreaming to date.
: the WOW Helpdesk conducted a rapid evidence review on how best to use SRHR to influence demographic transition and examples of integration of WEE interventions within SRRH Programing.
: informed by a comprehensive evidence review and conceptual framework developed by IFPRI (2017), this Helpdesk query assessed publicly available evidence on the contribution of ‘additional interventions’ along 3 main potential impact pathways:
- links between women’s land rights and women’s agency and decision-making
- links between women’s land rights and interventions and increases women’s productivity/ incomes in farming and other agricultural related livelihoods
- links between women’s land rights and improved productivity and/or income in non-agricultural livelihoods
: this query explores evidence on the impact of Self-Help-Groups and girls clubs on livelihoods on employment, earnings, consumption and poverty.
: in support of the revisions to the Gender and Inclusion Policy of the Prosperity Fund, this query gathers evidence on the relationship between gender equality, WEE and growth and key drivers to ensure WEE opportunities are maximized.
: this brief synthesises evidence on the linkages between gender, social inclusion and trade, highlighting women’s different roles in trade in selected middle-income countries (MICs). It identifies key evidence gaps relevant to the Prosperity Fund’s (PF) focus on Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to trade in MICs and identifies good practice tools, approaches and interventions integrating gender, social analysis and appraisal into trade programming to support gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth.
: the country brief identifies key gender gaps and barriers in China related to PF areas of intervention, what is the enabling environment in China for address gender inequality and promoting WEE and what are the opportunities for PF programmes to address Gender and Inclusion and WEE.
: this query maps existing evidence on the nature and prevalence of sexual harassment in the garment sector. It is informed by a comprehensive review covering a wide range of garment-producing countries and methodologies.
: this query lists key facts about investments, entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment. The facts were selected on an assessment of the strength and breath of the evidence and the credibility of the sources.
: this slide-pack provides compelling arguments, backed up with robust and clearly stated evidence on why DFID should incorporate a gender and Women Economic Empowerment lens in their work on tax policy, what are entry points to implement this and a selection of case studies showing the benefits of a greater focus on women’s economic empowerment within the tax field.
: this WOW Helpdesk query is a stock take of existing practices in measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment in DFID and HMG economic development programmes.
: this query aims to ensure gender equality, social inclusion and women’s economic empowerment are integrated within the programme design of the next phase of GGF Moldova, through inclusion within a revised theory of change and identification of suitable entry points based on pre-existing programme history and a rapid gender/women’s economic empowerment analysis.
: the aim of this query it to inform the design of the Prosperity Fund Horn of Africa Programme to ensure greatest potential for transformative outcomes to women entrepreneurs, traders and market actors in Ethiopia and Somaliland, with sustainability in mind.
: this query explores priority issues and interventions that will contribute to ensuring work for women workers in the emerging ready-made apparel sector in sub-Saharan Africa, with predominant focus on rights at work and social dialogue pillars in line with ILO core labour standards and the principle of ‘Decent Work’.
: the WOW Helpdesk supported the Investment Climate, Cities and Infrastructure, and the Jobs and Inclusive Growth teams shape the business case for a new investment climate and economic transformation programme – TEIGR – to ensure that gender is mainstreamed and specific interventions are designed to advance women’s economic opportunities.
: a rapid evidence review to understand the context of violence and coercion by officials, especially customs officials, at border crossings to inform the customs element of a new DFID-funded tax and customs programmes.
: the report and explores ways of transition from basic education to obtaining better jobs in the labour market for adolescent girls and young women in conservative and conflict–affected FATA, Sindh and Balochistan provinces in Pakistan, aiming at maximising programmatic potential for economic empowerment for women and girls, and define ways to measure progress towards this aim.
: this query aims to understand what types of infrastructure development and delivery related interventions within the Global Infrastructure Development Programme (GIP) have the greatest potential to strengthen women’s economic empowerment outcomes, achieving an ambition aimed at “empowerment” in the PF G&I framework.
: the slide pack raise awareness and build capacity of newly elected Colombian Mayors and Governors on Gender and Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment and how these can be integrated into sub-national government policies, plans and projects.
: this brief explores the existing linkages between unilateral trade preferences and women’s economic empowerment, with the objective of providing a series of recommendations for the future UK Generalised System of Preferences (GSP)
: this query created a G&I and WEE Toolkit for newly elected Colombian Mayors and Governors that raises awareness and builds their capacity on how WEE/G&I can be integrated into sub-national government policies, plans and projects.
: this report provides assistance to HMG’s offices for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) in the design of interventions for current and future Prosperity Fund programmes.
: this report was produced to support DFID and FCO-funded Good Governance Fund Armenia to integrate women’s economic empowerment into the design of the next phase of their economic programming.
: this query provides guidance and entry points for Prosperity Fund programmes to take advantage of the opportunities and manage the risks of new technologies for gender and inclusion and women’s economic empowerment.
: this helps understand which countries in Africa have removed taxes/duties from sanitary products and what results have emanated from these policy decision including on the economic empowerment of girls and women.
: assesses the robustness of the Terms of Reference developed on “socio-economic study on gender in job search and recruitment: identification of barriers to women’s economic participation and proposals for corrective actions to stakeholders”, to increase the probability of the study to provide solid evidence on the barriers that Algerian young women face in transitions from education to decent work and is able to identify strategies to overcome these barriers.
: a rapid review of evidence from web searches and key sources, with the aim to provide early examples of evidence, practices, and key issues for consideration. Evidence has primarily focused on low- and middle-income countries, but also on higher income countries where relevant information could be applicable.
: a rapid review of existing written evidence, with the purpose to share “real-time” information about what is happening to women in relation to informal workers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
: this paper is a snapshot of how COVID-19 economic stimulus measures undertaken by sovereign governments can impact Women’s Economic Empowerment. It provides a brief overview of emergency fiscal and monetary stimulus policy options and their potential impact on women, drawn from examples of responses to previous economic crises.
: this query helps understand both the reasons behind the economic disparity between men and women in Côte D’Ivoire and the country’s existing economic policies, to inform HMG work with the government of Côte D’Ivoire on the design and roll-out of WEE-sensitive interventions. The findings and recommendations were presented to FCDO in December 2020 – .
: this query identifies potential economic opportunities for urban women and youth in the green-growth and low-carbon sectors economy in Mozambique, with the aim of informing the design of new interventions to be implemented by the MUVA programme. A was created to help the MUVA programme identify all the question it needs to consider in further research.
(accessible version): ahead of the Climate Change Conference (COP26) HMG set up a grant-based, demand-led Technical Assistance Rapid Response Facility (RRF) to the ETC’s response to requests for support arising from the ETC-country dialogues. This WOW Helpdesk rapid desk-based research looks at the key issues around the economic empowerment of women, people with disabilities and other excluded groups with the aim of supporting interventions of the Rapid Response Facility (RRF).
The WOW Helpdesk delivered an interactive workshop with the aim of providing tools and approaches to equip Manufacturing Africa to address the following key elements: 1) Strategies for success - understanding the business case for gender smart manufacturing; 2) The cost of disregarding social safeguarding - Win or lose?; 3) Positioning for gender smart investing in practice - Show me the Money!
(accessible version): women’s Economic Empowerment and Disability Inclusion in Future Cities programmes. This query is a concise summary of current evidence, good practice and resources for integrating the priorities and needs of women and people with disability in the Prosperity Fund Global Future Cities programme.
(accessible version) This query provides guidance and recommendations on how to better integrate WEE into the 5-year strategy of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Investment Project.
How legal barriers affecting women’s economic empowerment can be overcome. This Helpdesk query aims to find out how discriminatory laws affect women’s economic empowerment and what lessons have been learned about how to eliminate legal barriers to women’s full and equal participation as employees, managers and business owners, drawing on examples that have proved effective.
(accessible version) A rapid review of existing written evidence, good practice and resources for integrating the priorities and needs of women and people with disabilities in the Finance sector and wider economic development programmes.
(accessible version) This desk-based review aims to help FCDO understand how the private sector has included women’s economic empowerment in their value chain response and recovery efforts from Covid-19 and what FCDO can do to support the private sector to build back better and assist women returning to work.
WOW Helpdesk Query 70: This query aims to strengthen the British Embassy of Mexico’s awareness of why women work in the informal economy in Mexico, the benefits of women working in the formal economy, and the barriers in accessing formal work. The evidence will be used by the British Embassy in Mexico in discussions with the Government of Mexico and the Mexican private sector.
WOW Helpdesk Query 71: UNHLP Women’s Economic Empowerment Drivers: An evidence review of progress since the UN High-Level Panel in 2016. This report looks at the latest evidence on the 7 drivers of transformation of women’s economic empowerment.
(accessible version) International Financial Institutions and Women’s Economic Empowerment: an evidence review. The WOW Helpdesk conducted a mapping and critical assessment of the work carried out by International Financial Institutions (IFIs) on women’s economic empowerment. This assessment aims to enable FCDO to engage with the World Bank Group as it launches a refresh of their gender strategy.
. This query is a rapid desk-based review of the evidence on women’s economic empowerment in blue economy sectors in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) where women often take up more precarious, lower paid, and less visible jobs. Specifically, it presents the status, trends and barriers; how to achieve economic empowerment for more marginalised women; and what works to prevent and respond to violence experienced by women working these sectors.
. This report provides an overview on the extent to which the main economic and foreign trade databases in Mexico are disaggregated by gender.
. This query provides UK government staff, particularly those who are not specialists in gender and social development, with an evidence review of the literature on the barriers to women’s economic empowerment, and what works to overcome these challenges.
. This report provides an evidence review of sexual exploitation and harassment of women and girls during their early careers (‘sex-for-jobs/advancement’).
WOW programme helpdesk query 79: Gender and acute food insecurity. This report examines the importance of engaging women in preventing and responding to acute food insecurity.
. This report reviews the status of gender-inclusive design in relation to electric vehicles, with a focus on 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers.
WOW programme helpdesk query 81: Women’s economic empowerment and climate change: an update to the WOW targeted guidance 3 primer. This updates 2021 guidance to help the UK government better understand the differential effects of climate change and support the inclusion of women in climate action. It summarises new evidence and presents a revised framework for action.
WOW programme helpdesk query 86: Integrating gender in the design of scaled-up or new British High Commission Tanzania programmes. This report identifies entry points for integrating gender equality into the design of 5 British High Commission Dar Es Salaam’s programmes. The report addresses how each programme contributes to the 4 pillars of the British High Commission’s climate and environmental strategy. It outlines the potential opportunities and entry points for each programme in integrating gender equality.
WOW programme helpdesk query 88: Building women’s economic empowerment into climate transitions. This paper provides pre-reading for an FCDO conference ‘Building women’s economic empowerment into climate transitions’ at Wilton Park on 18 to 20 March 2024.
We have a zero-tolerance policy on misconduct, including fraud, corruption, and sexual harassment on our programme. If you have any queries on the management of WOW or our policies, email: alexandra.lockyer@pwc.com
Contact us if you would like more information on the whistle-blowing mechanism, or to report misconduct:
- FCDO Counter Fraud and Whistleblowing Unit (CFWU): email reportingconcerns@fcdo.gov.uk or phone +44(0)1355843747
- email: alexandra.lockyer@pwc.com, WOW Programme Manager
- whistle-blowing helpline: phone +44 (0) 20 721 25233
We will follow up matters on an anonymous basis and are committed to investigate claims thoroughly and fairly.
Management information
WOW is managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in alliance with CARE International and Social Development Direct. BSR and the University of Manchester were also members of this alliance between 2017 to 2020.
Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW)
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
7 More London Riverside
London
SE1 2RT
UK
Email: alexandra.lockyer@pwc.com
Last updated 27 March 2024 + show all updates
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WOW helpdesk query 86 and query 88 added.
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Added the WOW helpdesk evidence digest, February 2024.
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WOW helpdesk query 79 and query 81 added.
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New guidance added in the toolkit section on supply chain decarbonisation with a gender lens
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Helpdesk guidance number 4, on unpaid care and domestic work, added.
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WOW evidence digest May 2023 added.
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New documents added: Query 71b, Women’s Economic Empowerment drivers; Query 73, Women’s economic empowerment in the blue economy in Small Island Developing States; Query 78, Sexual exploitation and harassment in labour market; Query 80, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Electric Vehicles in Kenya.
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Added WOW Helpdesk queries 74 (economic databases in Mexico) and 71b (women's economic empowerment drivers).
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Added WOW Helpdesk Query 76: What works to promote Women's Economic empowerment.
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WOW Helpdesk Query 73: Women’s economic empowerment in the blue economy in Small Island Developing States added.
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Query 70 added: Women in formal and informal labour markets in Mexico in English and Spanish.
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Evidence Digest for December 2022 added
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WOW Helpdesk Query 72 added International Financial Institutions and Women’s Economic Empowerment: an evidence review added.
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New documents added: Work and Opportunity for Women Helpdesk Query 66: COVID-19 response of multinational companies (PDF and ODT formats).
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WOW Helpdesk Query 63: Discriminatory Law Reform and WOW Helpdesk Query 64: Key-sheet – Women’s Economic Empowerment and Disability Inclusion in Financial Services added.
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Women and the Net Zero economy: A transition toolkit for businesses with global supply chains added
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Added section on unpaid and unrecognised: How business can realise the benefits of tackling women’s invisible labour publication. Added WOW Helpdesk Query 60: GESI Capacity Building in Manufacturing Africa Power Point presentation. Added WOW Helpdesk Query 62: Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor f Tanzania (SAGCOT) – strategy review.
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Evidence Digest March 2021, WOW Helpdesk Query 59 Economic empowerment of excluded groups in the COP26 Energy campaign, WOW Helpdesk Query 61 Key sheet added
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Added: WOW Helpdesk Guidance Number 3 – Women’s Economic Empowerment and Climate Change: A Primer and WOW Helpdesk Guidance Number 3 – Women and the Net Zero Economy: A Briefing.
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WOW Helpdesk Query 53: Implications of COVID-19 on women informal workers added
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Link to WOW Webinar: Understanding Invisible Labour in Supply Chains: Impact, Opportunities, and Examples - July 2020 added.
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The Double Day report added
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WOW Helpdesk Query 18: Resources on girls clubs and self-help groups impact on women’s economic empowerment, employment and earning added.
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Section 4 - The Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) fund updated.
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WOW Helpdesk Evidence Digest: January 2019 added
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Three new reports added: 1. WOW Helpdesk Query 9: Trade Mark East Africa (MEA): Gender Review 2. WOW Helpdesk Query 13: Evidence Overview on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SHRH) and Rights and Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Programming 3. WOW Helpdesk Query 14: Women’s Economic Empowerment Linked to Land Programming: A preview of evidence for DFID Ethiopia
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Frequently asked questions document added
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Resources now added.
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First published.