Geneva, 29 October 1999
ECE/GEN/99/26
A WAY AHEAD
PROPOSALS FOR SUPPORT MEASURES BY
GOVERNMENTS, REGIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO PROMOTE WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES
The Conference on
"Women's Entrepreneurship - East-West Cooperation" hosted by the
Government of the Republic of Croatia was held on 21-22 October 1999 on the island of
Brijuni in Croatia. The Conference was jointly organized by the CEI Secretariat, OECD Leed
Programme, UN/ECE and the Croatian Institute for International Relations and the Centre
for Small Enterprises.
The Conference was attended by over one
hundred and twenty participants, representatives of relevant governmental authorities,
entrepreneurs, academicians, NGOs and other organizations dealing with women's
entrepreneurship from sixteen CEI Member States, six advanced market economies and eight
UN and other international organizations.
In order to democratize the economy with
full observance of human rights and to improve job creation in CEI countries in
transition, it is important to harness the full potential of women's entrepreneurship. In
the context of rapid economic and social change, development policies should work toward
eliminating gender inequalities. Women should play a more important role in all spheres of
life, that is, not only in politics, administration, management and non-profit
organizations, but also in enterprise creation and development of a strong private
sector economy.
The participants expressed their special
concern regarding low levels of women's entrepreneurship in the transition economies. They
called for economic and social policies and programmes in these Member States that would
improve the regulatory, institutional and business environment and facilitate women's
direct participation in economic growth and development. They called for the removal of
obstacles such as:
lack of integration of gender perspective
into transition strategies,
lack of access to guarantee funds and
adequate credit schemes,
inadequate access to new information
technologies,
poorly developed education and training
facilities, especially in the field of entrepreneurship, insufficient technical advisory
services, and
underdeveloped social infrastructure
support,
which is needed to sustain women's
activities.
The participants acknowledged that the
image of entrepreneurs in the transition countries is tarnished and that actions should be
taken to highlight the positive dimension of entrepreneurial initiatives based on new
business opportunities and on social, technological and organizational innovations.
The participants emphasized the high
priority of mainstreaming the issue of women's entrepreneurship into the regular
activities of the CEI and its fora, as appropriate.
Furthermore, the participants stressed
that CEI Member States should:
promote collection, processing, analysis
and dissemination of gender-sensitive national statistics and studies on entrepreneurship
and SMEs;
encourage the formation and development of
associations and networks of women entrepreneurs devoted to improve training and know-how,
technology diffusion and development of contacts that can facilitate access to markets and
growth; and
develop transnational exchange of
experiences and best practices on women's entrepreneurship.
The participants endorsed the importance
of participation in the civil society during the economic transition process through the
creation and strengthening of NGOs, who can be pivotal in changing social climate
favouring a widespread culture of entrepreneurship, self-employment and risk taking.
The participants called the Heads of
Government of the Central European Initiative Member States to invite the OECD and UN/ECE
to strengthen co-operation with the CEI in the field of women's entrepreneurship. In this
context, the similar invitation should be extended to financial institutions such as the
EBRD and World Bank, to the European Commission, and to other international institutions
such as ILO, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNDP, etc.
UN/ECE prepared a Discussion Paper on
"A way ahead - Proposal for support measures by governments, regional and local
authorities and financial institutions" (OPA/AC.14/1) which can be obtained from the
Coordinating Unit for Operational Activities (see address below).
The outcome of the Conference is reflected
in a Final Statement which highlights the main proposals. The participants recommended
that the Government of the Republic of Croatia, as the host of the Conference, present
this Statement to the meeting of the Heads of Government of CEI Member States, to be held
in Prague on 5-6 November 1999.
The outcome of the discussions and the
recommendations provide a significant input and contribution to the preparatory process
for the 2000 review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action and especially
to the Regional Preparatory Meeting which will be held on 19-21 January 2000 at the
Palais des Nations in Geneva.
For more information please
contact:
Mr. Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Coordinating Unit for Operational Activities
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations, Bureau 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: + 41 22 917 2471
Telefax: + 41 22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
UN/ECE Information Unit
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations, Bureau 356
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: + 41 22 917 4444
Telefax: + 41 22 917 0505
E-mail: [email protected]