Poor access to tailored finance to women contributes to limiting female entrepreneurship. An analysis of gender gaps in Somalia, in relation to financial and digital access, suggests that women face discrimination and considerable socioeconomic barriers to accessing jobs and livelihood opportunities. Traditional gender roles still limit women’s employment opportunities, often excluding them from work in formal sectors, generating gender gaps in labor market participation. Gender gaps in education and basic literacy translate into weak digital and financial skills among women, which in turn limits their financial and digital services access. Nevertheless, Somali women are largely responsible for growth in microenterprise activity and yet are not supported to grow and expand their businesses. A recent review of the World Bank’s Small and Medium-Size Enterprise Facility (SMEF), which provided business development services (BDS) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Somalia under the Somali Core Economic Institutions and Opportunities Project (SCORE), reiterates that women-led businesses struggle to access funding even though there is demand for financing among female-headed SMEs. This is partly because financial service providers do not necessarily offer financial products that target women, nor do they implement a cohesive policy that targets women in a way that removes barriers that currently restrict access. For example, women face discrimination in accessing credit due to existing collateral requirements. Even when women have the required collateral, banks typically ask for a male guarantor, and when women do receive loans, they are typically microcredit, that is, in the range of US$1,000. This project if realized will help poor vulnerable women by providing opportunities for positive change by providing a pathway for women to access and take control of productive assets. It will realize this by providing a channel for women to become financially included, build assets that enable them to build a sustainable livelihood through the self-help group model revolving fund and developing a mobile App in Somali and English languages for women groups, and master trainers to review business skills on their own, M&E of group, complaint and feedback mechanism and information sharing including success stories particularly in the hard to reach areas. Behavioral and attitudinal changes brought in by the project among the women will empower them to actively participate in decision-making processes at the community level.
The Project is aligned to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 which focuses on ending poverty in all its manifestations, SDG 5 which focuses on the reduction of gender inequalities and SDG 8 which focuses on sustainable economic growth. CCP has developed a Women Empowerment Strategy to complement its efforts in reaching out to poor women
