GREAT Women Project II to Support Growth of Women's Small Businesses in the Philippines

• GREAT Women Project II is an extension of the success of the initial GREAT Women Project
• Seeks to enhance sustainability, productivity, and competitiveness of women's micro-enterprises
• Emphasizes the facilitation of the empowering environment for women's economic empowerment

Following the success of GREAT Women 1, the GREAT Women Project II, or otherwise referred to as Supporting Women's Economic Empowerment in the Philippines, is a PhP 334.9-million program aimed at enhancing the micro-enterprises of women.

It targets increasing sustainability, productivity, and competitiveness, and promoting a more enabling environment for women's economic empowerment.

Within this project, the Gender Responsive Value Chain Analysis (GRVCA) was supplemented with a new module that included "greening" as a fundamental component in the development of women-owned and family-managed SMEs.

The project is led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which is working in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the SMEs, and private sector representatives.

For management of implementation at the national level, DTI created a project management office within its Region IVA office.

In preparation for GREAT Women Outcome Assessment 1, a coordination meeting with head office and regional implementers took place in October 2019 to cap the process, approach, and timeline of the field assessment.

On October 25, impact assessment interviews with the Barugo Roscas Producers were conducted in Barugo, Leyte. The next month, DTI Camarines Sur organized an Impact Assessment session, as well as focus group discussions in CAR, Quezon, Bohol, and Iloilo.