Andrew
Fatima Bulla-Musakwa
Gender and Community Editor
THE Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni recently launched a booklet titled, “Understanding the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)”.
The book looks at ways Zimbabwean women can benefit from the free trade agreement. It explains and summarises the key issues in the AfCFTA.
The booklet was published in English, Shona and Ndebele through a partnership with UN Women and other partners.
Its major purpose is to raise awareness of the AfCFTA among stakeholders in Zimbabwe, especially women traders.
In addition, the booklet also intends to facilitate access to information on opportunities and benefits of the AfCFTA for women in trade.
It also describes what the continental free trade area is and its role in facilitating economic integration and development.
The booklet explains the framework of the AfCFTA agreement including its composition of protocols on trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.
Of note is the explanation it gives of how the agreement facilitates free movement of people and labour, right of residence, right of establishment and right of investment.
The booklet also enlightens the reader about the AfCFTA’s role in creating a
liberalised market for trade in goods and how it engenders inter-African
trade.
Crucially, it also explains how women and youth are recognised as key players as enshrined in the agreement’s preamble, Article 3 and 27 (2) (d), before it explains why AfCFTA is important to women in Zimbabwe.
This booklet arms women exporters with knowledge of available markets which can boost their trade and spur economic growth and job creation.
It mentions that those in the informal cross-border trade will, as a result of the AfCTA, have greater business opportunities as a result of the reduction of tariffs enshrined under the protocol on trade in goods.
For women in agriculture, the booklet says it is crucial for them to understand the entire value chain in order to gain a comparative advantage by leveraging on the AfCFTA’s protocols on rules of origin which permits access to affordable raw materials.
Through reading the booklet, smallholder female farmers will get simplified information on how they can benefit from opportunities to integrate their enterprises into regional agricultural value chains and high-value-added agro-processing activities.
A host of benefits for women under the AfCFTA are also captured in this booklet, while it also offers an explanation of the dispute settlement mechanism which they can turn to when they face unfair and discriminatory treatment.
Of equal importance is the focus on challenges to women’s participation in trade and what can be done to enhance women’s opportunities to trade under AfCFTA.
Women face challenges that include corruption, insecurity, gender-based violence and harassment, high transaction costs, limited access to credit and collateral, limited knowledge of relevant institutions providing trade services among a host of other issues.
Women are starved of information; they do not know whether information is available, where to get it and if they get it, they do not understand the complicated jargon it is packaged in.
Where information on the AfCFTA has been available, it has been presented in complicated jargon which characterises legal protocols and agreements.
This kind of information is difficult to understand even for an average literate citizen.
Summarising issues around trade for women in English, Shona and Ndebele was a commendable development considering that women make up the vast majority of informal cross-border traders in Zimbabwe.
They require such critical information not only for their personal benefit, but that of the entire country.
This booklet is a game-changer towards the empowerment of women traders.
Ensuring that the booklet lands in the hands of women in all corners of the country is of critical importance and has to be done with the utmost urgency.
Online Reporter