GERA PHASE II

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Economic reforms driven by the IMF and the World Bank in Africa over the last decades have exacerbated the gender-based constraints which account for women’s economic subordination and unequal status in Africa.  The results of the research projects carried out under the first phase of the GERA Programme confirm that economic stabilisation policies and structural adjustment programs (SAPs) had worsened the situation of women and reinforced existing inequalities by region and along class lines.  At the same time, these policies have contributed to the definition of Africa’s integration into the contemporary global regime for the regulation of international trade and investment.  Since the early 80s, internal economic policy changes and strategies have increasingly relied on market-based, export-led, and private sector-driven growth, while the foreign private sector led by the transnational corporations (TNCs) has become the vital factor in economic development strategy.

A number of international agreements have emerged to consolidate the structural reforms carried out by African countries and institutionalise them at the multilateral level.  The most important of these, the WTO, brings under a single regime rules covering the movement of goods, services, and capital, and affects policies adopted by African countries in trade, investment and national development.  Other agreements like the Lome Convention, the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and bilateral investment treaties have similar implications.  While proponents see these developments as opportunities for economic growth and Africa’s development, an increasing number of critics argue that trade and investment liberalisation policies have proved to have detrimental effects on sustainable livelihoods in African countries, with increasing evidence of their negative impact on women and gender relations.  It is also suggested that these policies are undermining Africa’s regional integration initiatives promoted through regional groupings such as ECOWAS, SADC, and COMESA.

While both sides recognise the far reaching consequences of the emerging issues of trade and investment policies for Africa’s development and gender relations, there is a lack of adequate and concrete knowledge of the precise nature of these implications.  This calls not only for systematic study of the gender dimensions of these policies and their impacts, so as to generate well-informed African perspectives on trade and investment issues and their gender dimensions, it also calls for an increased women’s participation in national, regional and international advocacy around these issues.  In order to proactively respond to those challenges, the GERA Programme Phase II research focuses on gender, trade and investment policy in Africa.

The GERA Programme is seeking proposals from African women for research and advocacy projects which analyse the impacts/implications and propose the required changes in the following areas:

·        Trade and/or investment dimensions of economic reforms and their impact on women and gender relations, including on the gender division of labour and women’s reproductive and productive activities; how they affect the relationships between the formal and the informal sector; their distributional consequences by gender, etc.  Some of the issues that can be investigated are the elements of national trade and investment policies, their impacts on the different social groups, especially women, and their sectoral effects, e.g. on the private and infomal sectors, cross-border trade, etc.

·        The broad international investment and trade system with its framework agreements like the WTO, the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (formerly the Lome Convention) and AGOA, as well as bilateral treaties, and their implications for and/or impact on women and gender relations.  This pertains to issues related to the impact of this system on livelihoods in terms of food security, job creation, environmental protection, social and transportation infrastructure, and the development of sustainable livelihoods in agriculture.  The research can also address issues related to the various forms of capital inflows and to the sectoral aspects of foreign direct investment, etc.

·        The specific rules and agreements under the WTO and their implications for and/or impact on women and gender relations, for example how the WTO agreement on agriculture relate to the status of women; how Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) affect the terms of ownership of and access to technology, their gender-based distribution, and the operation of women enterprises; how the abolition of measures to protect and encourage local enterprise under the Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) relates to the marginalisation of women’s economic production/enterprise; what the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) implies for women’s role and location in the service sector as part of an integrated national economy, etc.

·        The governance dimension of issues related to gender, trade and investment, with regards to women’s participation in trade and investment decision-making processes at the national, regional and global level, and to the impact of new decision-making processes brought about by the creation of WTO on women’s ability to participate in those processes.

·        The impacts of the international investment and trade system on regional integration initiatives in Africa such as ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, etc.

·        Alternative economic frameworks that could be developed to address gender, trade and investment issues.

Projects Selection Criteria

The mission of the GERA Programme is both to provide critical analyses of economic reform processes in Africa from a gender perspective and to work towards the development of alternative approaches that ensure gender equity and economic justice.

In keeping with GERA’s mission, project proposals selected for funding will:

·        Address one or more of the key issues defined above;

·        Have a policy orientation;

·        Be action-oriented;

·        Include a clear description of a programme of advocacy that could be generated from the research;

·        Demonstrate the project’s capacity to critically analyse existing economic paradigms and processes, and to promote alternative economic frameworks that will support gender equity and economic justice;

·        Demonstrate the project’s ability to integrate grassroots perspectives and needs in economic policy and decision-making processes;

·        Be feasible within a 18-month time frame and US$ 30,000 budget.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants for the fund:

·        must be African women (non-African and male applicants can be part of project teams but should not be team leaders or in the majority);

·        must be based in Africa;

·        must have demonstrated links with grassroots organisations;

·        must be able to demonstrate experience in or commitment to work relevant to GERA.

Priority will be given to applicants:

·        attached to organisations, including civil society organisations; and

·        working in multidisciplinary teams, including gender activists.

Project Selection Process

The projects will be selected through a two-stage process.  First, all applicants are invited to submit a short, two to three-page summary proposal of the project.  These summaries will serve as the basis for an initial selection of proposals.  The summary proposal should include:

·        A brief description of the project;

·        An explanation of how the project links with GERA’s research areas (listed above);

·        The methodology to be used;

·        A budget;

·        Anticipated outcomes; and

·        Applicant’s demonstrated experience (include CVs of principal team members).

Applications are due on  30 November 2000 and will be accepted in English, French or Portuguese.

In the second stage of the proposal selection process, those applicants whose proposals have been short-listed will be invited to submit full proposals by 15 January 2001 for evaluation by the project selection committee.  Requirements and scoring system for full proposals will be made available to successful applicants at this time.  US$ 200 will be given to each of the applicants or team of applicants of the short-listed abstracts to support direct proposal development costs.  Approximately 12 projects will be selected to receive up to a maximum of US$ 30,000.

Proposal abstracts must be postdated no later than 30 November 2000 and sent to:

GERA Programme, TWN-Africa

P.O. Box 19452 Accra North

Ghana

Fax: (233 21) 511188 – E-mail: twnafrica@ghana.com