USAID WEST AFRICA TRADE AND INVESTMENT HUB INTEGRATION PLAN FOR GENDER AND OTHER VULNERABLE GROUPS

The plan aims to integrate gender and other vulnerable groups into the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub's activities, which are funded by USAID's West Africa Trade and Investment Hub contract, number 72062019C00003, with a total award amount of $140,268,756. The plan focuses on increasing access to AGOA opportunities for women-owned businesses, promoting gender-sensitive and socially inclusive project implementation, and transforming gender norms and institutional policies of private sector partners, supply chain actors, and industry organizations. The plan also integrates with USAID Mission Gender Strategies and the Journey to Self-Reliance (J2SR) framework. A literature review was conducted to identify key gender-based constraints and analyze the youth landscape in West Africa. The review found that youth face significant challenges, including limited access to education, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities. The review also highlighted the importance of addressing these constraints to promote youth engagement and empowerment. The plan proposes a gender and youth integration framework, which includes a grants cycle that incorporates gender and youth considerations. The framework also includes a gender-sensitive and socially inclusive project implementation approach, which aims to increase access to AGOA opportunities for women-owned businesses and promote gender equality and youth inclusion. The plan identifies several key countries in the West Africa region, including Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria, and provides country profiles that highlight the unique challenges and opportunities for gender and youth integration in each country. The plan also includes several annexes, including a literature review sources list, a quick guide on gender integration for applicants, a partner gender due diligence checklist, a gender equality and youth inclusion policy for trade hub grantees, and a standard foreign assistance indicators list for the trade hub and W-GDP. Overall, the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub Integration Plan for Gender and Other Vulnerable Groups aims to promote gender equality and youth inclusion in the West Africa region, increase access to AGOA opportunities for women-owned businesses, and transform gender norms and institutional policies of private sector partners, supply chain actors, and industry organizations. The plan's success will be measured through several indicators, including the number of women-owned businesses that access AGOA opportunities, the number of youth who participate in the program, and the level of gender equality and youth inclusion in the program's implementation. The plan's implementation will be overseen by the Chief of Party, Michael Clements, and the Deputy Chief of Party, who will work closely with the program's staff, partners, and stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the plan. The plan's budget will be allocated to support the implementation of the plan's activities, including the grants cycle, gender and youth integration framework, and gender-sensitive and socially inclusive project implementation approach.