2015_natbldgscwc25junesej&cj_final for iaffe

Jalbert Consulting

June 2015

Observations on the Challenges and Perspectives of Women’s Entrepreneurship in the South Caucasus Region

In 2003, Dr. Susanne E. Jalbert was tasked by USAID to produce the

first gender assessment for its Georgia Mission. During the course of

her work in Tbilisi, Jalbert was introduced to Dr. Charita Jashi, who at

that time, was wearing several hats, including: professor at Tbilisi

State University, President of the Economic Education Association

and was serving as Head of the Association for Social-Economic

Development. Jashi and Jalbert bonded over their mutual passion

for women’s economic equity.

Women’s Leadership in Nation Building (The Case of the South Caucasus)

Jalbert Consulting promotes

peace by enabling equitable

business development strategy

and advocating parity policy.

Dialogue

Dr. Charita Jashi is an Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University professor, a board member of South Caucasus

Women's Congress, and Head of the Association of Caucasus Development Group.

Located astride Turkey and north of Iran, the South

Caucasus is a lush, mountainous region nestled between the

Black Sea (West) and the Caspian Sea (East).

1

2 – Women’s Leadership in Nation Building – The Case of the South Caucasus

Jalbert Consulting - 2014

The South Caucasus Women's Congress works to advance women’s rights in the region and ensure equal involvement of women in political processes.2

Will regional collaboration improve the economic power of women in the South Caucasus?

In a recent email, Dr. Jashi said

that Georgia had signed the

Association Agreement with the

European Union (EU). Since

September 1, 2014, nearly 80%

of the Association Agreement,

including the Deep and Com-

prehensive Free Trade Area

(DCFTA), has been applied on a

provisional basis. Expansion

opportunities exist for increased

trade and investment.3

New business regulations will be

introduced in accordance with

the EU integration-related

reform agenda. The new

regulations do not set legislative

limits for women’s economic

engagement. Optimized

opportunity for women-owned

business escalation is a critical

link to national economic

growth, and it is on the South

Caucasus’ hopeful horizon.4

Will women impact the

reform agenda?

Able to historically raise their

progressive voices, the South

Caucasus Women’s Congress

(SCWC) recognized that the first

step would be re-evaluation of

the current women's role in

political and economic

processes. SCWC goals are

to share results and develop

common strategies among

member countries: Armenia,

Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

The Women's Resource

Center in Armenia, the

Association for Women's

Rights Protection in Azerbaijan

and the Women's Political

Resource Center in Georgia

are founding members. The

broad stroke of SCWC’s

mission is bold promotion for

women's advancement and

gender equality in the region.

Byline

Susanne E. Jalbert, Ph.D.



Without economic empowerment

for women the political barometer

will remain static.

In agreement with SCWC, such

sentiments were articulated at the

U.N. 59th Special Session of the

Commission on the Status of

Women (CWS59/Beijing+20). This

year’s session aimed to assess the

achievements of the past 20

years, subsequent to adoption of

the Beijing Platform for Action.

It is also time to assess the UN’s

Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) as the current agenda

ends. The UN system, member

states, and civil society organi-

zations gathered in March 2015 to

discuss priorities for a Post-‐2015 UN

Development Agenda.

Frustration was expressed

about the lack of ascending

movement toward equity,

opportunity, and progress.

How can SCWC answer

the call for women’s

economic leadership to

build actionable, real and

sustainable momentum?

Reviewing the MDGs and the

Beijing Platform for Action

targets, along side the EU

Association Agreement,

including DCFTA, SCWC sees

ample chances to achieve.

Like many feminist activists, SCWC

board members have offered

clear and consistent commitment

to the empowerment of women

and girls for decades. Yet, they

are frustrated by the slow political

mobility women have achieved.

By uniting their shared values of

gender equality and inclusiveness,

SCWC will establish a Regional

Women's Political Platform. It will

represent a safe, reliable ground

for women, women's groups, and

other partner organizations across

all of the South Caucasus.

Elevate Women’s Economic

Leadership

Leaders stress that a platform to

elevate women’s political

leadership is a vital mandate to

increase economic leadership.

SCWC’s main objectives are to

achieve efficient results in: 1)

advancing women's rights, 2)

ensuring equal involvement of

women in political processes, and

3) peace building.

CSWC promises to increase fruitful

cooperation among women's

non-governmental organizations

(NGOs), local governments, as

well as international donors.

It is certainly time to increase

collaborations.

It is certainly is time for global

transformation.

It is certainly time for gender

equity, enhanced economic

empowerment, and increased

feminist political leadership.

The mountains of South Caucasus are an undulating range that spans Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.5



Representatives of South Caucasus

Women Congress at the Conference

in Istanbul 2014

SCWC recognizes sluggish progress and poor measurable results that

were disproportionate to stated goals. Local, national, and global

organizations have worked for decades to advance women’s

economic, social, and political leadership across a range of issues.

It’s time to change the conversation about economic parity.

It’s time to scale up women leaders and demonstrate what they are

capable to accomplish.

It’s time to make the inclusion of women and girls a prerequisite across

all sectors, and most especially in employment and entrepreneurship.

What will be SCWC’s approach?

How much emphasis can SCWC apply to the EU’s Eastern

Partnership Program to promote women’s new business

and expand potential export opportunities?

SCWC begins with a push toward greater economic empowerment,

specifically for women entrepreneurs. Across the Caucasus region,

women’s entrepreneurship is recognized as an important stimulator of

economic growth, poverty reduction, and employment opportunities.

DCFTA, currently only signed by Georgia, opens exciting business

possibilities for women business owners, yet commerce challenges

remain daunting.

Acronyms

DCFTA - Deep and

Comprehensive Free Trade Area

EU - European Union

MDGs - Millennium Development

Goals

SCWC - South Caucasus Women

Congress

UN – United Nations

USAID – United States Agency for

International Development

WTO – World Trade Organization



Barriers currently obstructing

women’s economic strides are:

violation of property rights, lack

of information about consumer

market opportunities, limited

access to bank credits, no

entrée to new technologies,

and absence of sustainable

consultation centers.

Already heavily engaged in

supporting women’s economic

empowerment, SCWC wholly

understands women’s needs

and can facilitate their progress

into the modern global market.

What are SCWC’s tools to

break the barriers?

First and foremost is that regional

cooperation offers a unique

juncture for South Caucasus

women’s networks to collaborate,

adapt to the demands of a liberal

economy, and develop women’s

economic capacities. The Eastern

Partnership program for Armenia,

Azerbaijan and Georgia requires

fostering the process to establish a

relevant political and economic

atmosphere. This means creating

a better business-enabling

environment for women.

SCWC facilitates initiatives for

entrepreneurship development in

both urban and rural areas. They

support partnerships with local

stakeholders, organize events,

and offer effective networking

experiences for women

entrepreneurs. Other important

mechanisms are: business visibility,

dissemination of best practices,

capital access, identification of

concrete challenges, and

thorough integration of regional

perspectives. Activities are

provided through teamwork with

multiple women’s NGOs and

subject matter experts.

How can SCWC guide the

global conversation about

the emerging UN Post-2015

Development Agenda?

To position women to frame the

Post-‐2015 Development Agenda

and build a sustainable economic

basis, the global conversation

needs thrust, action, support, and

resources. SCWC raises collective

voices regionally to address the

following issues, in order to:

• Be explicitly shaped by and

grounded in international human

rights, including the principles of

equality and non-‐discrimination.

Years ago, Armenia, Azerbaijan

and Georgia stirred to ratify the

Convention on the Elimination of

All Forms of Discrimination against

Women, and the International

Covenants on Civil and Political

Rights and Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights.

The region is in accord with the

international consensus

documents, including the

Declaration on the Right to

Development, the Vienna

Declaration on Human Rights, the

ICPD Programme of Action, and

the Beijing Declaration and

Platform for Action. Going

forward, SCWC needs a clear

framework to promote and

protect women’s human rights

and to address gender inequality.

SCWC should form, articulate,

and project strong regional

opinions on any UN post-‐2015

development framework.

• Place gender equality, women’s

human rights, and women’s

empowerment as core principles

and core competencies. The

SCWC mission clearly reflects

these cornerstone ideas. It

supports that the succeeding

development agenda must

outline specific strategies to

eliminate gender-‐based

inequalities. Inequity must be

understood and addressed from

an intersectional and a structural

approach. Whereby, the ways in

which multiple factors – race,

ethnicity, class, gender, sexual

orientation, disability, etc. – are

recognized as the potential to

increase and compound discrim-

ination and marginalization.



Conclusion

A strong public presence of

leadership is how women will

have the most influence upon

their future. SCWC knows how

to harness power by utilizing

four direct methods of:

1) Applying appropriate

influence,

2) Collaborating and

building awareness with

women’s business

associations and pro-

fessional organizations,

3) Evolving steadily the

escalation of women’s

leadership positions,

and

4) Assessing and accessing

power in the region.

The South Caucasus Women’s

Congress legacy is the genuine

expectation to engender this

generation with the leadership

tools and skills to guide inclusive,

equitable decisions for the future.

Women’s economic and political security

necessitates full inclusive participation as elected

decision makers, business and NGO

leaders, and as equal contributors to vigorous

public dialogue.

• Address structural factors that

perpetuate crisis, inequality,

insecurity, and human rights

violations. SCWC notes that in the

wake of the alarming global

financial crisis a disproportionate

impact on women arose. SCWC

proposes to transform policy

responses and rethink mainstream

development models to promote

greater inclusiveness, equality,

equity, security and sustainability.

A post-‐2015 framework, and

SCWC itself, must ensure that

macroeconomic policies and the

international financial system

function to advance gender on

balanced, parallel levels.

• Stipulate “a seat at the table”

with women’s full participation

and leadership. Women’s

organizations, such as SCWC, and

social justice groups working for

gender equality, human rights,

and women’s economic parity

should be supported to meaning-

fully engage -‐ at all levels of

consultation. Grassroots women

leaders from community-‐based

organizations are key stakeholders

in the chrysalis of a UN Post 2015

Development Agenda. SCWC

recognizes an opening to enable

and to negotiate for their regional

development priorities.

• Ensure strong mechanisms for

accountability within the nation,

the region, and at international

levels. Accountability should be

universal, holding governments to

account for their commitments to

gender equality, economic

empowerment, and women’s

human rights. Robust financing

for development is crucial and

ascertaining how to shake money

loose from the trees of

government to support these

goals is urgent. No less important

is the collection of sex-

disaggregated data. Distill,

disaggregate, disseminate and

dissect global data, to the

regional level; this is part of what

SCWC must closely monitor.6

At the regional, where are

SCWC’s strongest power

points, and how can they be

leveraged for enhanced

women’s leadership?

To resolve regional economic

problems for women, it is crucial

to study and thoroughly examine

the dilemmas faced by women:

employed, unemployed, and

entrepreneurial. It is especially

important to research in more

depth the hurdles women

entrepreneurs confront in the

export sector.7 It is necessary to

develop new tools and policy

measures to overcome existing

difficulties, but first SCWC must

acquire ample, verified research.



Author’s Bios

In 2003, Jashi and Jalbert bonded with passion for

women’s economic rights.

Charita Jashi, Ph.D., Professor, Board Member South Caucasus Women’s Congress, Head Association of Caucasus Development Group, Tbilisi, Georgia

As a highly respected consultant, Dr. Jashi works in Georgia at

several levels, including: NGO, government, UN, and other international partnership programmes. Activities are UNDP, OSCE/ODHIR, World Bank, Oxfam, UNECE, and UNIFEM under the frameworks of EDPRP on the MDGs. She is a member of the International Association Feminist Economics (IAFFE)8, World Social Marketing Associations, as well as Gender, Macro-economics and International Economics, i.e., International Working Group (GEM-IWG) and GEM-EUROPE.

Gender asymmetry is observed in various forms starting from women’s expulsion to low-paid and unpopular work places at a lower part of the social ladder, and further to an area of informal employment to direct discrimination on the grounds of sex while being employed. Women in the South Caucasus find it difficult to further develop their economic potential, be employed, run business or start the new ones.

--- Dr. Jashi’s mantra is: Empowerment of women through education, communication, and cooperation.

---

Susanne E. Jalbert, Ph.D., Founder/CEO Jalbert Consulting International Development, Winter Park, CO, USA

Understanding female economic empowerment and relationships between different forms of empowerment are threaded throughout Jalbert’s international career. Women are grossly under-represented in public institutional leadership. They are far less likely than men to be elected to decision-making positions or hired as business leaders; thus, offering few female role models or mentors for girls.

These imbalances contribute to inequity that is ensnared within societies worldwide. As an activist to end violence against women and to stop trafficking-in-persons, Jalbert uses economic development as an essential power tool towards a more equitable, safe life. Through Jalbert Consulting working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),9 she has implemented over 85 projects in 50 countries on 4 continents. Dr. Jalbert offers keynotes and moderates the community dialogues.

--- Dr. Jalbert’s mantra is: Peace is not only absence of violence, but is also a just rule of law and equitable economic well-being.10

---

National SCWC Boards

For details about the Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia national boards, please refer to:

http://scwpp.com/index.php/en/who-we-are-en

NOWHERE in the world

are women EQUAL

to men.


Women’s Economic Leadership in Nation Building (The Case of the South Caucasus)

Susanne E. Jalbert, Ph.D. Owner, Jalbert Consulting Telephone: 970 726 9440 Skype: sejalbert E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: See Linkedin

Endnotes and Sources: 1Goggle map with the Caucasus region enhanced by Yazen Aswad

2 http://scwpp.com/

3 Because peace is a fundamental principle of a trading system, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is essential to promote dispute resolution, confidence and cooperation. Georgia became a WTO member in 2000, and Armenia in 2002. Azerbaijan is in the final stages of accession to the WTO

4 Jashi, Ph.D., Charita. (2005) Gender Economic Issues (Georgian Case) Tbilisi: UNDP.

5 For more mountain details see: https://ccottibess.wordpress.com/

6 Five bolded points are posited with some alterations for SCWC’s consideration from The Post 2015 Development Agenda: What’s At Stake For The World’s Women? See: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wedo.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FPost-2015-Womens-Coalition.docx&ei=Yb8-VcjbFs_woATa04HACQ&usg=AFQjCNHPGS08MYakG2i6hwdzvCiy4KYDIQ&sig2=TL3_Tg0POKp9BDt8MmxqCA&bvm=bv.91665533,d.cGU 7 Jashi, Ph.D., Charita. (2007) Women’s Entrepreneurship in Georgia. Geneva: UNECE. 8 http://www.iaffe.org/

9 http://www.usaid.gov/

10 Jalbert, Ph.D., Susanne E. (2007) Women in Business Conference: Iraq: Baghdad Al Rasheed Hotel. Photo Sources: Charita Jashi, Ph.D. Proofing Source: Jalbert Consulting - Admin Support: Molly Lucido Gratitude: Special thanks to Bea Celler of KonnectWorld for her regional and WTO expertise.

8 – Women’s Leadership in Nation Building – The Case the South Caucasus

2015_natbldgscwc25junesej&cj_final for iaffe

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