Bhutan Association of Women Entrepreneur

Bhutan Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAOWE) empowers economically challenged women and girls by identifying business opportunities and imparting training in  entrepreneurship including financial literacy. It aims at  poverty alleviation, income generation and enhancing livelihood of economically disadvantaged women and girls.

• Our proposed project focuses on enhancing gender equality through economic empowerment of women farmers in Bhutan. It will do so by testing an innovative community agro-business hub model that was designed by BAOWE but has not yet been tested.
• The model brings together and links local women farmers, food processors and sellers to aggregate farm produce, turn it into higher value commercialized products and sell it to broader markets.
• If it was scaled globally, the expected impact of the project will be higher incomes for women farmers and others in the localized value chain and overall reduction of poverty in the district chosen for the project.

Bhutan is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Despite this growth, gender inequality in business and labour force participation has not allowed women to be active recipients of this success. The labour force participation rate in 2018 was 58% for women compared to 74% for men. Bhutan ranks 125th in women’s educational attainment in the 2018 Global Gender Gap Report, with rural women much more likely to lack education. Due to lack of education, women remain concentrated in the agriculture and informal sector, and participation in entrepreneurial and commercial agribusiness activities is low. As a result, women farmers often remain poor, unable to exercise their agency to the fullest. Entrepreneurship, including in the agriculture sector, therefore represents an important path for closing the gender gap in economic participation and empowerment.

• The target population is a group of more than 200 women farmers
• Low investment, low returns, high competition and low innovative practices in women run rural agri-businesses are some of the factors that have limited growth in new products, quality, marketing and distribution. This warrants empowering these women through entrepreneurship programs.

• The target  group of  200 women farmers belongs to communities  deprived of economic development for decades owing to rugged terrain, scattered settlement, poor soil and adverse climatic conditions for agricultural development. The women are semi- literate or completely illiterate, limiting their chances of improving their status.
• Owing to unfavourable climatic conditions, farmers are unable to produce much of commercially viable crops except for a newly introduced crop called yacon, or ground apple. Due to its low glycemic index, it is a recommended sugar substitute for people with diabetes and other ailments internationally. While it can be eaten raw,  the value is much higher when processed into syrup or beverages. In view of an immense potential to develop agri-business around the product, BAOWE conceived the idea to process the crop (yacon) into syrup, wine and juices for export markets such as India, US and Canada. To this effect, a Self-Help Group (SGH) of 200 women farmers have been formed and encouraged to grow the crop on commercial scale.
• The solution will primarily address the issue of rural poverty currently prevalent in the region by enhancing their income through sale/export of the finished products both within and outside the country.

One of the serious problems  is the gender inequality especially in the rural parts where women and girls are mostly semi-literate or completely illiterate with low or no access to credits, technology, innovative practices and entrepreneurship programs. Yet, being a matriarchal society, land ownership mostly goes to the girl child and by default they become head of the family from the early stage.

 Our solution therefore is to empower these women group by training them in different aspects of entrepreneurship such as processing, value addition (pricing, packaging, labelling & branding), and marketing.

Our proposed project focuses on enhancing gender equality through economic empowerment of women farmers in Bhutan. We intend to address this issue by testing an innovative community agro-business hub model that was designed by BAOWE in coordination with Bhutanese women residing in BAOWE’s operational regions but has not yet been tested. The model brings together and links local women farmers, food processors and sellers to aggregate farm produce, turn it into higher value commercialized products and sell it to broader markets. The expected impact will be higher incomes for women farmers and others in the localized value chain.

BAOWE’s past work found that the low volume of farm produce from individual women farmers is rarely commercialized into higher value products and faces limited marketing opportunities. In response, BAOWE developed the concept of the “Fountain Effect” model. The proposed model builds synergies across individual women farmers and their community through the creation of a community-based business hub. The hub networks low-producing female farmers into a Self Help Group (SHG) to aggregate their produce and increase their ability to access credit. It then connects them to a local food processor to commercialize and produce new agri-products based on their produce. It further connects them to local marketers/sellers to sell the commercialized product widely. Working together, greater quantities of commercialized, higher value agri-products can be developed and sold with the profit shared. Similar models have been used elsewhere but not in Bhutan and not conceptualized to its specific cultural and economic context.

The pilot for the proposed project has been identified as Bongo, an underprivileged village in the south-west district of Chukha. The target population is a BAOWE created Self-Help Group (SGH) of 200 semi or illiterate female farmers belonging to communities that have been deprived of economic development for decades because of the rugged terrain, scattered settlement, poor soil and adverse climatic conditions for agricultural development. BAOWE has been working in the region for 2 years identifying and encouraging these farmers to cultivate yacon, or ground apple internationally known for its health benefits due to its low glycemic index. While the 200 women farmers in the SHG cultivating the crop will be given range of training in capacity development, a second women’s group comprising of 8-10 women will be identified and trained in processing “Yacon” into syrup, wine and juices. A third women’s group of around 10 members will also be identified and trained in marketing and sale of the product. All profits generated from the product will be shared between the three women’s groups. This will create a self-sufficient, synergistic and mutually beneficial model.

For BAOWE’s Fountain Effect model to work, all three levels of beneficiaries – farmers, food processors, sellers – will require increased capacity to successfully interact with one another, commercialize and sell farm products. The research findings will anchor and inform the entire initiative to ensure it is a culturally appropriate entrepreneurship and business model specific for Bhutan.

The labour force participation rate in 2018 was 58% for women compared to 74% for men as per the data obtained from ILOSTAT Database. Women are mostly concentrated on a small scale in the agriculture sector. As a result, women farmers often remain poor, unable to exercise their agency to the fullest.

The proposed project aims to enhance gender equality through economic empowerment of women farmers in the village of Bongo under Chukha district. It will do so by testing BAOWE’s Fountain Effect, an innovative community agro-business hub model which brings together and links local women farmers, food processors and sellers to aggregate farm produce, turn it into higher value commercialized products and sell it to broader markets.

The project will train 200 women members from the SGH in various aspects of capacity development and encourage them to grow Yacon on commercial scale to feed the processing unit. The second women group of 8-10 women members from outside the Self-Help Group (SHG) will be trained in processing Yacon into three products – Syrup, Wine and Juices. The last group of 10 women members from outside the SHG will be trained in marketing and sales.

The good team dynamics, synergies and cohesion with the team of these women groups will ensure processing of Yacon crop into a fine finished product, well labelled, branded and packaged for domestic as well as international markets. The part of the sale proceed from sale of the finished product will be retained with the group in the form of group saving and the balance will be disbursed among the members. Distribution of income equally among the group members will ensure income enhancement and reduction of poverty in the region. Further, the group saving will ensure sustainability of the project in future and social support system of the members.

Please note: 

 This URL provided above (film your elevator pitch: https://www.baowe.org) is not for the solution but for activities undertaken by BAOWE.

Other two links/URL provided in the forgoing pages show some initiatives of BAOWE.

Bhutanese social protection system is designed only for the civil servants and people working for government owned corporations. The private sector and the people working in the informal sector are mostly governed through favourable business policies and mechanisms. Within the context of these favourable business policies, private and the informal sector are required to design their own social security system. However, while most of the private sectors are reluctant to design one, people in the informal sector, being uneducated and illiterate do not even know how to design such system. In addition, while government has  instituted effective service delivery system to reach services even to the rural population. To this end, BAOWE engages exclusively with single mothers and women from underprivileged groups in a range of microfinance, training and mentorship initiatives. BAOWE’s Fountain Effect model will address this situation by connecting producers, processors and sellers and imparting relevant training programs enabling these group of uneducated rural women to grow “Yacon” crop on commercial level, process the same into various finished products, sell them to the domestic as well as international market and distribute the income amongst themselves besides allocating certain percentage towards group saving which will serve as social protection system for the group. In terms of the service delivery, while local government agencies will be involved in catering inputs for agriculture plantation, BAOWE will be engaged in facilitating for required services and building market networks inside and outside Bhutan

BAOWE’s solution involves testing of a model which is more inclusive in nature by including underprivileged women sections of the society. To include these underprivileged in the government’s social protection system has been a big problem for the government and hence, they are still out of the system.     

BAOWE in its own small way have come up with its model (Fountain Effect) whereby this group of women will have some sort of their own social security system in the form of group saving. The system is very user friendly in the sense that the SGH group will have a Chairman, Treasurer and a general Secretary to manage day to day affair of the group. Upon sale of the finished product, the Chairman will ensure to lay aside certain percentage of the sale proceeds and deposit in the group saving account maintained with BAOWE Microfinance Institution. The saving deposit will earn 6.5% interest per annum. The group will also have a system of donating certain amount to an individual or a group of individuals at the time of death in any families of the group members to meet certain expenses. This sort of mechanism as evidenced from the other CSOs in the country have played significant role in strengthening team cohesion and group dynamism leading to better team coordination and success.

The entire process of the social security system does not entail going through long processes making the system more user- friendly.

Currently, no technologies exist in Bhutan to manufacture syrups and wines so there is no question of interoperability. Besides the machines and technology, we would be deploying a technology that will have three lines of production for syrup, wine and juices. Since such machines/equipment doesn’t exist even in India, machine customization may have to be done so that it suits not only our requirement and environmental standards as well. The machine should not be noisy (free from noise pollution) and should not emit large amount of smoke or gases.

BAOWE’s Fountain Effect model will address this situation by connecting producers, processors and sellers and imparting relevant training programs enabling these group of uneducated rural women to grow “Yacon” crop on commercial level, process the same into various finished products, sell them to the domestic as well as international market and distribute the income amongst themselves besides allocating certain percentage towards group saving which will serve as social protection system for the group. In terms of the service delivery, while local government agencies will be involved in catering inputs for agriculture plantation, BAOWE will be engaged in facilitating for required services and building market networks inside and outside Bhutan.

If this project or initiative using this proposed technology succeeds, we plan to initiate the same in other parts of Bhutan with same weather conditions.

Our solution has considered and taken into account both the low connectivity environment and low literacy and numeracy levels users while designing it. Keeping in view the two challenges, Self-Help Group (SHG) was created so that the solution could be applied to a group where group members help each other and create team synergies on their own.  As regards the low literacy and numeracy level users, the training manuals will be designed in English but the national language "Dzongkha" will be used as medium of instruction during the training session. This will enable every member (trainees) to understand content of the training. Effort will also be put in to make use of pictures as much as possible because pictures will have more impact than oral transmission of theories.

The good team dynamics, synergies and cohesion with the team of these women groups will ensure processing of Yacon crop into a fine finished product, well labelled, branded and packaged for domestic as well as international markets. The part of the sale proceed from sale of the finished product will be retained with the group in the form of group saving and the balance will be disbursed amongst the members. Distribution of income equally amongst the group members will ensure income enhancement and reduction of poverty in the region. Further, the group saving will ensure sustainability of the project in future and social support system of the members.

The proposed solution has not been put into action at the moment. If the proposed proposal is able to secure intended fund, the model will be tested among more than 200 women farmers in a remote village called Bongo under Chukha District in the south-west Bhutan.

For the first year, the solution will serve the identified 200 women farmers, 10 processors and 10 marketing and sales personnel.

If the model is effective and scaled-up to other communities with similar economic conditions, it has the potential to impact thousands of women in Bhutan. The ultimate outcome is increased incomes and reduced poverty for women farmers in Chukha and other parts of Bhutan. 

Within the next year, BAOWE seeks to make its model work successfully with the Self-Help Group (SHG) group identified with more than 200 women farmers in the village of Bongo. If the model becomes successful and able to generate good amount of income for the group members, the project model will be replicated in other 19 districts as well choosing the regions potential crops. Currently the target group comprises of 200 women farmers. If replicated in the balance 19 districts over the next 5 years, thousands of lives of Bhutanese rural women farmers will be impacted through poverty reduction, income generation and enhancement of livelihood.

In this way, BAOWE would be able to develop a social-consciousness-driven private sector and promoting women entrepreneurs at the grassroots’ level contributing to poverty reduction, self-reliance, and business (from a GNH perspective) -  the economic empowerment of women and also provide a common platform through which the needs, concerns and aspirations of women entrepreneurs are collectively and effectively advocated, voiced and addressed by facilitating meaningful dialogues with relevant stakeholders, key partners and business community in general.

We have a number of viable initiatives kept on hold for want of funds. Therefore, if we are able to partner with agencies willing to provide funds, the mission of “Empowerment through Entrepreneurship” can be achieved to a large extent whereby Bhutanese rural women could  become successful, empowered entrepreneurs leading meaningful lives as responsible and responsive citizens of Bhutan.

Engaging women in economic ventures and entrepreneurship in particular, is not easy because of obstacles related to cultural norms and access to resources. In 2016, the Department of Cottage and Small Industries reported that only 35.53 percent of the total registered micro, small and medium enterprises in the country were owned by women. Women-run businesses are often started out of necessity and tend to operate at the subsistence level with low investment, low returns and high competition. Rural women face the most challenges. Agri-businesses in particular have progressed relatively little, especially in innovative practices. This has limited the growth in new products, quality, marketing and distribution. The multiple practical obstacles rural women face in becoming agricultural entrepreneurs is therefore compounded by cultural values that are purported to discourage entrepreneurship generally.

Lack of financial literacy among rural women entrepreneurs and access to affordable finances have been an acute challenges faced by government in promoting entrepreneurship ecosystem. The problem is further compounded by lack of appropriate technology for processing and marketing. Though government have been forthcoming in easing business policies, the impact has hardly trickled down to the informal sector not yet registered with the government system. Last but not the least, the women entrepreneurs have not been able to export the limited finished products due to lack of standardization, volume and branding.

Numerous barriers:

Financial Barrier

The current barrier to put the model into test is the finance. The proposed project requires huge amount of money to set up the processing unit, buy relevant equipment and technology, train the Self-Help Group (SGH) members, buy packing materials, pay for logistics of both BAOWE team and teams from relevant stakeholders such as DCSI,  and local government. BAOWE being a NGO do not have means of earning and government do not support CSOs in Bhutan with financial aid. As such, the full fund will have to come in the form of donor fund.

Cultural Barrier

As indicated, cultural barriers are evident being a small closed society. It will require BAOWE to visit the SHG members, conduct focus group discussions, and persuade spouses of the women in group to send their wives for work.

Technological Barrier

The project doesn’t require highly sophisticated technology for processing. The machine will be a simple user-friendly machines imported from the region that could be operated and managed through simple operational trainings. Therefore, it is not a barrier to be considered.

Market Barriers

 The aim of the project is to reach out to as many members as possible and encourage them to grow the Yacon so that adequate volumes of raw materials are created for the processing unit. The volume will automatically increase to the expectation of buyers in the international market. BAOWE will ensure to help the group find international markets even after completion of the project

Our solution team is a part of Bhutan Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAOWE) which is a Civil Society Organization (CSO) registered under the Civil Society Organization Act of 2007 and it came in to existence in 2010. 

Please Note:

We do not have URL for this particular solution. However, we do have links to view some of the activities undertaken by BAOWE:

1. Women's Own Open Market by BAOWE

2. Bhutan  Association of Women Entrepreneurs

BAOWE is managed by 7 full time employees (2 Men & 5 Women) including the Founder/Chief Executive Officer.

4 employees (2 males & 2 females) including the CEO will be working on the solution on full time basis till the end of the project. Since all the employees have adequate amount of project management skills and relevant qualification, there will be no requirement for any part-time employees for the project. While there will be requirement for equipment supplier and construction workers at a later date when the implementation starts, the number cannot be determined at this juncture. 

The BAOWE team:

Ms. Damchae Dem – CEO/Founder

She is a pioneer women industrialist in the country who owns a steel plant of her own. She has been into business since the early 2000 and known for her business acumen and leadership in entrepreneurship development both within and outside the country.

Dr. Sonam Tobgye – Director (Projects)

He has over 27 years of experience in various fields having served as a lecturer at the Royal University of Bhutan, as Deputy Managing Director for Bhutan Postal Corporation Ltd (BCPL), General Manager at Bhutan Board Product Limited (BBPL) and Senior Finance Officer at Chukha Hydro Power Corporation (CHPC).

Mr. Lhap Tshering – Program Manager

He has over 21 years of experience working for various renowned companies in Bhutan such as Bhutan Telecom Limited (BTL), Bank of Bhutan (BoB) and Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited (NRDCL). His last position before he joined BAOWE in 2018 was General Manager (HR & Admin) for NRDCL. He holds an MBA Degree from Maastricht School of Management (MsM), the Netherlands and B.A Economics Honors Degree from Sherubtse College, affiliated to Delhi University. He has adequate amount of experience in project management.

Ms. Namgay Wangmo – Finance Officer

She has more than 10 years of working experience in the field of finance and accounting. She has been working with BAOWE since its inception in 2010 engaged mostly in project finance management. She has Diploma in Financial management from Royal Institute of Management, Thimphu Bhutan.

For this very project, BAOWE is  partnering with Department of Cottage and Small Industry (DCSI) for their support in rendering basic entrepreneurship training for our Self-Help Group (SHG) members and the local government of Chukha district for their support in rendering agricultural inputs and training in crop plantation.

We already had two rounds of preliminary discussions with our partner organization and presented our solution. The two organizations have identified their respective focal persons who will coordinate with us in any matters related to the project and design their programs accordingly as soon as the required fund is secured.

Bhutan Post ( the designated postal operator), the four City Corporations known as Thromdes and Bhutan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BBCI) are the main partners.

Our model BAOWE’s “Fountain Effect” will link all three levels of beneficiaries – farmers, food processors, sellers, commercialize and sell farm products. Department of Cottage & Small Industry (DCSI) will bring to the project a proven entrepreneurship capacity development and training framework to put BAOWE’s proposed Fountain Effect model into action. DCSI has undertaken field-based research on the culturally appropriate conceptualization of entrepreneurship in Bhutan and will ensure cultural adaptation of the capacity development framework based on its past practice and research. The research findings will anchor and inform the entire initiative to ensure it is a culturally appropriate entrepreneurship and business model specific for Bhutan.

Furthermore, Local government agriculture division will bring into the project a proven agriculture training framework for the SHG members in crop plantation and management.

The project will train 200 women members from the SGH in various aspects of capacity development and encourage them to grow Yacon on commercial scale to feed the processing unit. The second women group of 8-10 women members from outside the SHG will be trained in processing Yacon into three products – Syrup, Wine and Juices. The last group of 10 women members from outside the SHG will be trained in marketing and sales.

All profits generated from the product will be shared between the three women’s groups. This will create a self-sufficient, synergistic and mutually beneficial model.

BAOWE will implement this initiative upon securing funds. 

The project will train 200 women members from the Self-Help Group (SGH) in various aspects of capacity development and encourage them to grow Yacon on commercial scale to feed the processing unit. The second women group of 8-10 women members from outside the SHG will be trained in processing Yacon into three products – Syrup, Wine and Juices. The last group of 10 women members from outside the SHG will be trained in marketing and sales. 

For this very project, BAOWE is  partnering with Department of Cottage and Small Industry (DCSI) for their support in rendering basic entrepreneurship training for our Self-Help Group (SHG) members and the local government of Chukha district for their support in rendering agricultural inputs and training in crop plantation. The Local government agriculture division will bring into the project a proven agriculture training framework for the SHG members in crop plantation and management.

All profits generated from the product will be shared between the three women’s groups. This will create a self-sufficient, synergistic and mutually beneficial model. 

This group of 200 women will be given the independence to sustain on their own by way of selling products (both within and outside the country) after the project is completed and handed over to the group. If need be, BAOWE will intervene and raise investment capital from the local stock market which normally encourages entrepreneurs to raise capital.

The project or solution is a viable one. However, it has been put on hold for want of funds. Therefore, we seek to raise funds for our solution

The needs assessment stage will take place in the first month and is budgeted at $47,500. During the needs assessment, DCSI subject matter experts and Agriculture Extension officer and Economic Development Officers will travel to perform a needs assessment with BAOWE staff for the project implementation and gather information to inform the second stage.

 The second stage is focused on the training component and is budgeted at $49,500. Between the second to the sixth month, DCSI will design and develop training and curriculum while BAOWE will undertake community mobilization for product development, crop training, marketing and technical training. The stage will also involve DCSI creating a local champion group of trainers from BAOWE to ensure sustainability of the training program. Thereafter, there will be training regarding financial literacy, business, savings, entrepreneurship, etc. as well as the pilot of the products.

The third stage is the operations with an allocated budget of $63,000. The growers, operators, and seller groups will work collaboratively to process the product, market and sell. In the final evaluation stage, the operations is reviewed to assess if additional training is required, and an impact assessment is performed to determine whether objectives have been met,  confirm viability of the model, and develop a business plan for scale (between month thirteen and fifteen months) and is budgeted at $39,000

BAOWE is proposing a total project cost of $199,000. The total project period proposed for this project is fifteen months, set to ideally align with the crop calendar. This project period is broken down into four stages: needs assessment, training, operations, and evaluation. The proposed budget has been prepared for three stages – the needs and assessment stage, training component and the operational stage.

Phase

Travel*

Personnel **

Materials***

Total Cost

Needs assessment (Month 1)

$ 32,000.00

$ 15,500.00

                          $ 47,500.00

Training design, development and implementation (Months 2 to 6 )

$ 17,000.00

$ 28,500.00

$ 4,000.00

$ 49,500.00

Operations (Months 7 to 12)

$ 8,000.00

$ 27,000.00

$ 28,000.00

$ 63,000.00

Impact assessment and evaluation (Months 13-15)

$ 12,000.00

$ 22,000.00

$ 5,000.00

$ 39,000.00

Total requested

$ 89,000.00

$ 93,000.00

$ 37,000.00

$ 199,000.00

Total project cost

                                                                   $199,000.00

Any shortfall (budgeted –the prize) shall be met out of other sources.

The needs assessment stage will take place in the first month and is budgeted at $47,500. During the needs assessment, DCSI subject matter experts and Agriculture Extension officer and Economic Development Officers will travel to perform a needs assessment with BAOWE staff for the project implementation and gather information to inform the second stage.

 The second stage is focused on the training component and is budgeted at $49,500. Thereafter, there will be training regarding financial literacy, business, savings, entrepreneurship, etc. as well as the pilot of the products.

The third stage is the operations with an allocated budget of $63,000. During months seven to twelve, the growers, operators, and seller groups will work collaboratively to process the product, market and sell. In the final evaluation stage, the operations is reviewed to assess if additional training is required, and an impact assessment is performed to determine whether objectives have been met, to confirm viability of the model, and to develop a business plan for scale. This will take place between month thirteen and fifteen and is budgeted at $39,000. 

For 2020:

Due to the COVID 19 Pandemic and subsequent country lockdowns, the expected activities for the year 2020 have been confined only to the need assessment for which the estimated budget would be $ 47,500. However, we would undertake other tasks/activities that would require funds that we are applying for ( projected USD 1,99,000).

The prize that BAOWE is applying for is within the scope of the prescribed projects such as good jobs & inclusive entrepreneurship, learning for girls & women, sustainable food systems and maternal & newborn health which we undertake in numerous States (backward regions) in a phased manner, depending on the urgency and availability of funds.

Through its numerous initiatives, BAOWE facilitates, empowers and promotes women’s knowledge and skills for business in its truest sense. It also ensures the development of women’s capacity and related support services to enable women entrepreneurs to conduct profitable businesses and increase their self-worth, independence and autonomy. Furthermore, it endeavors to create a vibrant business environment for women, involving a broad partnership of actors, enablers, contributors and innovators to open opportunities for women and men with a special focus on single mothers, disabled and marginalized women and unemployed youth.

In particular, if we are successful in securing this funding, we would be in a position to enable 200 odd farmers to process the crop (yacon) into syrup, wine and juices for export markets such as India, US and Canada. To this effect, a Self-Help Group (SGH) of 200 women farmers have been formed and encouraged to grow the crop on commercial scale. Our planned solution will primarily address the issue of rural poverty currently prevalent in the region by enhancing their income through sale/export of the finished products both within and outside the country.

Our solution fits in to the said prize.

Bhutan Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAOWE) is a registered non-government organization. It came to existence on 15th April 2010 under CSO Act of Bhutan, 2007. It stands for a just and equitable society in which women recognize their strengths and become successful, empowered entrepreneurs leading meaningful lives as responsible and responsive citizens of Bhutan. It works to develop a social-consciousness-driven private sector and promoting women entrepreneurs at the grassroots level contributing to poverty reduction, self-reliance, and business from a GNH perspective  - the economic empowerment of women. It provides a common platform through which the needs, concerns and aspirations of women entrepreneurs are collectively and effectively advocated, voiced and addressed by facilitating meaningful dialogues with relevant stakeholders, key partners and business community in general.

BAOWE will continued to be guided by our vision, mission and values to empower disadvantaged Bhutanese women and girls.

BAOWE would like to continue collaborating with our existing partners. In the past, we were able to execute initiatives funded by ICIMOD (ICIMOD funded collaborative Project between Department of Horticulture & BAOWE 2011 -2013), UNDP, GEF & BTFEC (Project funded by UNDP, GEF and BTFEC and executed by DRE, MOEA & BAOWE 2014 -2015), ADB (JFPR 9155 (Grant) -2012-2014, Civil Society Organization Facility Fund (WOOM – Women Owned Open Market 2012 -2012) and Canadian Fund (Canadian Funded livelihood Project 2016 -2017). However, we are looking forward to partner with external agencies particularly with World Bank.

A case in point was  a survey conducted using World Bank’s Bhutan Enterprise Survey data (2015) and in-depth interviews of eighty-one micro and small businesswomen. It has had substantial impact in improving the lives of rural Bhutanese people for which BAOWE is a party to it. Increasing number of Bhutanese women has started to participate in economic activities in the recent years. The study concluded that the obstacles needing immediate attention are poor access to finance; labour shortage; inadequate business skills (managerial, financial and technical); competitions among similar enterprises, lack of proper business premises, lack of formal education, lack of training opportunities, and seasonality of businesses. This is where this prize that we are now applying for could help us achieve our goal of poverty reduction, income generation and enhance livelihood for more than 200 women farmers and their families. This we believe is in line with the goals of the World Bank Mission.