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Trade Afghan Women’s Businesses

• An IDEA-NEW Gender Strategy Program

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A Training, Certification and Marketing program

•Supporting Afghan women’s businesses in producing agriculturally based products

•Marketing women’s products nationally

•Training businesswomen to make products that are competitive and meet quality standards

•Training women to increase their production capacity to meet market demand

The “Trade Afghan” Brand means 

•Made by Afghan women•Sold by Afghan women•Good Quality•Priced for Afghans

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Program Strategy• Modeled after “Fair Trade” Brand

certification program• Qualifying businesswomen develop

into a network of women with strong identity as in Grameen Bank Borrowers program

• Quality control built into program through a sales network program for qualifying products (only quality products with a market will be bought)

• Training specific to each businesswomen’s needs base on a GAP analysis of products

• Focused on national market• Designed for sustainability after

initial donor investment

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Phase One Objectives• Overall objective of phase one is the support of the IDEA NEW

gender strategy though an assessment of local women’s NGOs as well as the assessment of what women’s produced products are likely to successful in the market.

• The eight IDEA NEW value chains are assessed for potential products that could be produced and successfully sold by Women’s groups.

• An assessment is produced of women’s NGOs, cooperatives, associations and businesses for potential participation in the women’s agricultural initiative.

• An assessment is produced that lists the commercially viable products that could be produced in the targeted provinces and marketed nationally. Priority must be given to agricultural products in IDEA NEW value chains and agricultural products.

• An operationalization plan is produced to show the practical next steps for the support and development of women’s branded product line.

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Phase One Steps• Identification of potential participants in Kapisa,

Nangrehar, Parwan, and Panjshir, and assessment conducted of products produced and capacity of NGO, business

• Research on products found, as well as potential products that could be produced given skills available

• Training program drafted based on GAP analysis of recommended participants

• Plan for Phase 2 completed for program implementation in 2013.

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Assessment of Women’s NGO’s, businesses and cooperatives

• Existing products and new ideas• Number of women workers• Capacity for expansion• Capacity for management• Cultural considerations• Training needs

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Wheat Starch• Nafas Gul owner of "Fardowzeh

Bareem” in Jalalabad•  Makes and sells corn starch for 22

afs a box• Earns 8000 afs a month• Has the capacity to make cheese and

milk products• 20 women work part time capacity

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Pickles• Sola Safi- head of “Afghan

Women Agriculture Association” a registered business in Jalalabad

• Makes and sells pickles at 50 afs a bottle for a total sales of $5000 a year with 15 retail outlets

• Product certified by Ministry of Public Health

• 20 women working in the business

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Carpet Wool and Carpets

• Produces carpet wool thread and carpets

• Raw materials purchased from Koochi tribes

• Award winning quality wool thread

• Gross revenue $50K a year

• 300 women employed (capacity for 1,000)

Sharifa Ahkmadzai, Carpet Weavers Association in Jalalabad

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Women’s clothing Jamila Akhond ZadaNangrehar Handicraft

Producers Association• Clothing, embroidered

items and accessories including belts

• $60k a year with items priced from $50- $300 with a Kabul market

• 600 women working in her business

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Saffron/Chicken Farm• Mah Jan, “Shurgal Project” in Kapisa• Sells Saffron, Eggs, Chickens and

Vegetables• 5000 Afs a month-primarily poultry• 5 women working in poultry and 10

women in saffron-(new business)

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Sample of Preliminary

Findings• 15 NGO’s, Associations

and women’s businesses• Working with 1600 women• Jalalabad businesses have

the most developed infrastructure and capacity

• Panjshir has the least developed

• Products are of varying quality, some excellent

• A number of businesses have good potential for products because of past projects that have been closed.

• Access to market biggest challenge to expansion and employment of more women

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Market ResearchFinding products that Afghan’s are

already buying and providing quality products at competitive prices

• Village level-barter or sales• Town- finding shopkeepers who will

sell Trade Afghan products• Kabul-finding retail outlets for

products that can be produced in quantity

• Looking for new ideas and new markets

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Products found in assessment process

Direct Agricultural Products-Raw materials from Afghanistan • Dried green and red

pepper, aromatic white pepper, tomatoes, onions, mint, eggplant, cilantro, mulberries

• Fresh Cilantro, Parsley• Fresh Vegetables• Tomato Sauce • Pickles and Chutney• Cheese/Milk/Dogh• Eggs/chickens

• Meat -goat and sheep• Saffron• Shoes• Wool thread for carpet

making• Saplings -fruit and shade

trees• Flowers and Houseplants• Cheese/Milk/Dogh• Eggs/chickens• Meat -goat and sheep• Corn Starch• Seeds

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Products found in assessment process

Secondary Products-may include materials from other countries • Embroidery• Lace• Beadwork • Woman's clothing • Men's clothing• Children's clothing• Wedding dresses• Pillows

• Dusters, bedding for children and adults.

• Curtains• Traditional floor

pillows• Table Cloths• Carpets• Accessories• Cookies and breads-

traditional

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Product Development

• In Phase One we evaluate the recommended businesses capacity to produce new products

• We research the national market • We connect the businesswomen with

resources and training to expand their product line

• When the product is certified as a “Trade Afghan” product we market the product

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GAP Analysis• Each business will have a

detailed analysis of what each potential product needs to become marketable through Trade Afghan:

• Ie. MOPH certified for hygiene, capacity for production, transportation to market, quality standardization

• PARSA trainers will work with each business to implement a plan for certifying products and expansion

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Training Program being designed• Quarterly workshops in Kabul

for heads of associations and business owners

• Provincial training programs for employees and workers including literacy, numeracy, basic business concepts including handling money

• In certifying a product, participating women join the Trade Afghan Women’s Businesses network which will be developed to offer additional benefits

• Trade Afghan Women’s Businesses Network agreements

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Sample of Possible Trade Afghan Women’s Businesses Network Principles

• We shall follow and advance the four principles of Trade Afghan: Honesty, Hard Work, Unity, Peace – in all walks of our lives.

• If we come to know of any breach of discipline in any Trade Afghan program, we shall all go there and help restore discipline.

• We agree to produce high quality work, on time delivery at the right price.

• We shall participate in training programs.

• We understand Trade Afghan program is a discipline to improve our lives and we will commit to the following principles below in our personal lives as well:

• We shall not live in dirty houses. We shall keep our living places clean.

• We shall educate our children, boys and girls, and teach them to learn to earn an income to support their families as an adult.

• We shall always keep our children clean and teach them to clean themselves.

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Certification of Trade Afghan Products

The Trade Afghan Program helps Afghan business women improve their product development capacity and ability to expand their market nationally.

• CERTIFICATION – Each product will be certified when the production meets the Trade Afghan standards for quality, price and is verified as produced by women who receive direct benefits from the sales.

• Gap Analysis – This service allows partners to understand what they need to do in order to meet challenges and costs that will be involved in achieving Trade Afghan certification.

• Training – will address training needs of businesswomen who elect to certify their product under Trade Afghan. Trade Afghan quality standards include MOPH certification for hygiene, and a rigorous process of quality control. Participating businesswomen will have access to specific training that will help them qualify their product for the Trade Afghan certification.

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Marketing Trade Afghan Products

• Branding of the product line

• Word of Mouth and other village level promotion strategies

• Radio-educational programs and programs promoting women’s businesses that are excelling

• Television-appealing to national pride and support for women businesses

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Phase Two Development

Features of the program:• Assessment, GAP analysis and recruitment will be

ongoing and inclusive• Certification of products will be rigorous and support

through training will be available• Four retail stores selling Trade Afghan products will open

with a target of 10 outlets through other businesses in three provinces and Kabul

• Marketing campaigns will be developed for each product at village, town and city level

• Each participating business will be monitored throughout the process for both challenges and progress

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Challenges• Participants and PARSA employee security• Marketing products that businesses to not have the

capacity to produce over time• Maintaining the integrity of the Trade Afghan certification

process• Insuring the integrity of the retail stores finances and

financial information• Insuring that the earnings from the program go to the

women involved in the product production• Making sure business women do not exploit lower level

workers• Conducting a marketing campaign that appeals to Afghan

consumers

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Leveraging the program to benefit Afghan Women nationally