MAYOUX, L. (2005)
Marrying Jeckell with Hyde? Transnational Enterprises, Pro-Poor Development and Sustainable Ethical Learning
TNE/ participatory methods/ethical enterprise
MAYOUX, L. (2003)
Trickle-Down, Trickle-up or Puddle? Participatory Value Chains Analysis for Pro-Poor Enterprise Development
http:///www.enterprise-impact.org.uk/informationresources/toolbox/valuechainsanalysis.shtml
value chains analysis/ impact assessment/ Fair
Trade/ Corporate Social Responsibility/ ethical
enterprise/ enabling environments/ PALS/
Most enterprise development agencies now have an
explicit commitment to pro poor growth. At the
same time there is an increasingly understanding
of the complexities of what pro- poor enterprise
development might mean, and how it might be achieved.
There is now increasing consensus that there is
no ' magic bullet ' for pro-poor growth but the
need for a range of strategies at different levels
including: targeted micro-level support for micro-enterprise,
general enterprise support to stimulate the private
sector, macro-level national and international
policies to protect the interests of employees
and poor entrepreneurs, effective social policies.
This multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder approach
to enterprise development poses new challenges
for impact assessment.
This paper discusses one possible tool: value chains
analysis and how it can be adapted for participatory,
multistakeholder assessments. Value chains analysis
can be used as a sort of meta- framework for in-depth
research and one-off external impact assessments.
As discussed in detail in the paper, rigorous quantification
or qualitative investigation of any or all of the
dimensions of value chains analysis above may be
complex and difficult to assess, depending on the
particular context or sector being investigated.
Like any process of participatory action research,
participatory value chains analysis is also no
panacea for all the problems of enterprise development
and poverty reduction.
Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings, value chains
analysis does have considerable potential as a
focus for setting up ongoing structures for accountability
and empowerment as part of a participatory and
sustainable learning process. Where treated sensitively
and effectively facilitated, participatory value
chains analysis is useful in:
· identifying
the potential range of different types of intervention
at different levels which might be possible,
· providing a
broad benchmark framework with which to bring together
the different stakeholders to identify and track
their common or conflicting perspectives and to
track contextual changes.
· providing a
common methodology and diagram language which can
provide the basis for ongoing and sustainable learning
by and between stakeholders to inform decision-making
and policy.
The final section outlines some guidelines which
can help address some of the inherent challenges
which will inevitably be encountered in the participatory
process.
MAYOUX, L. (2003)
From Marginalisation to Empowerment: Towards a New Approach in Small Enterprise Development
http://www.intercooperation.ch/sed/2003/wks-sed-and-empowerment/presentations/mayoux.pdf
enterprise development/ empowerment/ pro-poor development/
enabling environments/ ethical enterprise
In the late 1990s, and particularly in the current
century, there has been increasing international agreement
on the importance of ' pro-poor growth '. There has
also been increasing agreement that any coherent strategy
for pro-poor growth and wealth creation must include
small enterprise development. However small enterprise
development is not necessarily pro-poor. Small enterprises
are very diverse and small entrepreneurs include not
only extremely poor people but also skilled consultants
like the author, with very different opportunities
and constraints. Power relations are integral to the
ways in which economic negotiations are conducted at
all levels. Class, gender and ethnic inequalities in
power and resources are key determinants of which people
are able to take advantage of economic supply and demand
factors, and of the relative balance between market
supply and demand itself. They therefore determine
where values are allocated at different levels of production
and market chains. Ultimately most markets within which
small-scale entrepreneurs operate are structured by
international inequalities in bargaining power and
resources in International ‘Free’ Trade
Agreements which continue protection for large-scale
Northern interests.
Empowerment must therefore be an integral part of any
strategy for pro-poor growth. Small enterprise development
which does not include strategies to address power
inequalities is unlikely to be successful in benefiting
significant numbers of poor people. Most will continue
to be consigned to insecure, low income subsistence
enterprises. The very poor are likely to be even further
disadvantaged through increasingly unequal competition
in the markets on which they depend for survival. This
is not only a disaster for people themselves. It also
slows local and national economic development, not
only of the small-scale agricultural and enterprise
sectors, but the medium and large enterprises which
depend on them for inputs, production and local distribution.
Small enterprise development which does not address
empowerment concerns will also fail to comply with
the cross-cutting commitments of development agencies.
However, although the term ‘empowerment’ is frequently found in official documents and programme promotional material, the implications of an empowerment approach to small enterprise development has rarely been thought through. This paper attempts to provide a basis for initiating a debate. Part 1 provides an overview of debates about small enterprise development and empowerment. Part 2 then proposes a strategic framework for an empowerment approach small enterprise development and the implications for different areas of SED intervention. The paper focuses particularly on the ‘wealth creation needs’ of
very poor entrepreneurs, particularly very poor women,
who are being excluded from or increasingly marginalised
by current small enterprise development policy.
MAYOUX, L. (2001)
Impact Assessment of Ethical Enterprise Development and Fair Trade
http:///www.enterprise-impact.org.uk/informationresources/application/iaoffairtrade.shtml
impact assessment/ Fair Trade/ Ethical enterprise
Ethical enterprise development is central to ensuring
that enterprise development conforms to the principles
of both the human rights approach and sustainable livelihoods
approach in donor development policy. DFID is currently
supporting a number of complementary types of enterprise
intervention which explicitly promote ethical principles:
· Fair Trade Organisations
· Ethical Trade
· Socially-responsible Business
· Ethical consumerism
· Ethical investment
These initiatives are not mutually exclusive. There
are however important questions to be asked about what
form support for ethical enterprise should take. Impact
assessment, has a key role to play in identifying the most effective ethical strategies to
promote pro-poor growth, human rights and sustainable
development and the best ways in which DFID can support
them. Also in comparing poverty reduction contributions of
ethical enterprise interventions and support for the
mainstream private sector in the context of sector-wide
approaches and country strategic plans. And identifying innovative ways of mainstreaming ethical
concerns in DFID enterprise policy.
This paper focuses on Fair Trade as an important area
of support at the cutting edge of ethical enterprise
development.
· Section 1 discusses
the underlying aims of Fair Trade and hence criteria
for assessment, the different types of intervention
to be assessed, and the stakeholders involved.
· Section 2 gives
an overview of existing impact assessments of Fair
Trade, the methodologies used, findings and challenges
faced which have implications for future impact assessments.
· Section 3 provides
a framework for impact assessment in the light of this
experience, summarises the practical questions to which
impact assessment, could make a contribution and outlines
the ways in which different methodologies could be
used.
· Section 4 discusses
some of the broader implications for comparative impact
assessment of Fair Trade interventions, Ethical Trade,
socially-responsible business development and mainstream
private sector interventions.
· Appendix 1 gives
an overview of history of different types of ethical
enterprise development, definitions and summary details
of the main organisations involved in the Fair Trade
movement.
· Appendix 2 gives
details of the main international agreements on criteria
for Fair Trade.
· Appendix 3 gives
some suggestions for possible future impact assessments
of DFID-funded programmes.
MAYOUX, L. (2000)
Jobs, Gender, and Small Enterprises: Getting the Policy Environment Right
ILO Geneva
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/empent/docs/F228761170/WP15-2001.pdf
US/ UK
gender/ micro-enterprise/ enabling environments/ Ethical
enterprise
Micro and small enterprise (MSE) development for women
is currently being promoted as a key intervention for
women by governments and development agencies across
the political spectrum. This emphasis is partly because
of evidence of the rapid expansion of women’s entrepreneurship since the 1980s, and hence the increasing numerical importance of women entrepreneurs as a development constituency. Millions of women at all income levels in developing, transition and industrialized countries are setting up enterprises. In some countries women entrepreneurs now outnumber men in the small-scale sector. The numbers and scale of women’s
enterprises are increasing at a faster rate than those
of men.
Since the mid-1990s attention has increasingly focused
on how the economic, legal and social environments
can be made even more conducive to expansion and development
of the small-scale sector. Although there is a broad
consensus on the development potential of small-scale
enterprises and the importance of an enabling environment,
there are disagreements about some aspects.
· The main aims of
MSE development in the context of development as a
whole;
· Definitions of
the MSE sector and characterization of different types
of MSE;
· What is meant by environment and
categorization of different levels of environment,
generally referred to as micro-level, meso- or sectoral
level, and macro-level, and their relative prioritization
in policy intervention;
· Approach to gender,
being the ways in which gender/ issues have been (generally
rather belatedly) inserted into male/mainstream arguments.
Part I of this paper identifies three distinct paradigms
of MSE development for women underlying current debates
about best practice. Part II reviews the evidence regarding
the impact of different dimensions of economic and
social change on women’s entrepreneurship based on an analysis of existing documentation and information. It focuses particularly on material from Africa (Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa), South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka), Europe (the UK, the EU’s policy), and the US. Part III argues that providing an enabling environment for women’s
enterprise will require a radical shift in conceptual
frameworks from socially responsible growth generally
confined to voluntary self-regulation by vested interests,
to socially equitable growth which provides
the necessary regulation and support for empowerment
and poverty eradication. This in turn requires a holistic
framework of integrated macro- and meso-level policies
to adequately address the multiple constraints facing
women entrepreneurs, and particularly poor women. The
final section of the paper gives details what such
a holistic framework would entail in terms of concrete
policies.
MAYOUX, L. (1995).
“Alternative Development or Utopian Fantasy: Women and Cooperative Development in India.” Journal of International Development 7(2): 211-228.
India/ West Bengal/ Tamil Nadu/
cooperatives/ gender/ micro-enterprise/ ethical enterprise
Particularly since the mid-1970s cooperatives have
been seen as a way of countering the often appalling
working conditions of women and exploitative rates
of pay in the informal sector. Producer cooperatives,
where women work together in a co-operative work shed
outside the home, has been seen as having particular
benefits because they challenge forms of female seclusion
and the unequal household division of labour. However,
although they have undoubtedly been some successes,
failure has been, not confined to women only cooperatives.
Committed proponents of cooperative development have
pointed to shortcomings in funding, support structures
and project implementation which can and should be
rectified. Others have expressed scepticism about cooperatives
as a serious development option for women, particularly
poor and illiterate women i.e. the main target group
for income generation and poverty alleviation programmes.
This article discusses research by the author on women
in ten producer cooperatives in West Bengal, Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu in India. These findings are supplemented
by information from preliminary research by the author
on a number of other cooperatives in which women were
involved and secondary sources. The research indicates
that producer cooperatives for women can be successful
if there are at least a few women with the necessary
skills who are prepared to put in sufficient time and
effort. Moreover, this can occur even without significant
amounts of external support. However, many of the co-operative
studied had failed to a taste in part because of lack
of enthusiasm for co-operative working on the part
of many of the women involved. It is argued that this
cannot be dismissed simply as 'false consciousness
', but rather is a relatively realistic assessment
of the potential problems involved in the producer
co-operative model being promoted. At the same time,
for the cases studied, there were arranged of unexplored
ways in which other types of co-operation could have
been developed to respond more directly to the economic
context and to the needs of the women concerned.
It is argued that are far more wide-ranging debate
is needed about ways in which the ideals of co-operation
and empowerment can be preserved while at the same
time responding to the context in which cooperatives
have to operate. It is clear that there is no blueprint
of an 'ideal co-operative 'but a range of possible
co-operative options which may be useful in particular
economic and market contexts, and for particular women.
In order to respond to the very varying needs of the
women involved, there is a need for a participatory
transformation of both state and NGO co-operative development
agencies. At the same time much greater commitment
is needed to assist women in negotiating change in
gender/ inequalities in ways which they themselves
see as relevant and important. The final section discusses
the wider implications of the Indian case and suggest
some of the many possible ways forward.
MAYOUX, L. (1993).
“Integration Is Not Enough: Gender Inequality and Empowerment in Nicaraguan Agricultural Cooperatives.” Development Policy Review 11(1): 67-90.
Nicaragua/ Latin America/
cooperatives/ gender/ empowerment/ethical enterprise
Despite a very mixed record, cooperatives or cooperative-style
organisations have continued to be seen as an important
means whereby the poor can increase their productivity
and incomes, and achieve more political strength. Cooperatives
have often been promoted as the ideal type of project
for women, combining possibilities for both income
earning and consciousness-raising. More recently, in
addition to women only cooperative projects there have
been attempts to integrate women into wider cooperative
movements, particularly in rural areas. Such integration
has often been seen as a more radical solution, avoiding
economic and political marginalisation. At the same
time, it has often been supported by those opposed
to the formation of separate 'feminist ' women's organisations.
This article discusses the experience of women in agricultural
cooperatives in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas. It
is based on research at the end of 1988, supplemented
by information from the number of other sources. After
the 1979 Sandinista revolution, considerable encouragement
was given both to women's issues and co-operative development.
Concurrently, there was widespread grass-roots mobilisation
of women in support of the Revolution. In agricultural
cooperatives a range of measures, including legislation,
were taken to increase women's participation. Gender
issues were ignored in wider co-operative policy, however,
and the emphasis was on mobilising women for production
rather than around broader 'feminists ' issues.
The Nicaraguan case suggests that women and men have
different needs and priorities in cooperative development
because of the division of labour and power structures
in both the family and the wider society along gender
lines. It is doubtful whether a focus on 'integrate'
women into production within the established organisational
framework could ever succeed in reaching all eligible
women. Even for many of those who did become involved,
the degree to which their integration constituted 'empowerment
' is a moot point. It is argued that co-operative structures
and priorities need to change if they are to truly
address women's needs and provide the necessary framework
for their 'empowerment '. In particular, there is a
need to address reproduction issues as an integral
part of the organisation of cooperative work, and also
to build structures to deal with inequalities within
as well as between families. Importantly, these issues
need to be taken into account in the formulation of
overall cooperative policy, and not simply in the context
of separate policies for women.
MAYOUX, L. (1992).
“From Idealism to Realism: Women, Feminism and Empowerment in Nicaraguan Tailoring Cooperatives.” Development and Change 23(2): 91-114.
Latin America/ Nicaragua/
cooperatives/ gender/ micro-enterprise/ tailoring/ethical
enterprise
Co-operatives have been widely promoted as the ideal
type of project for women. Because of the focus on
income earning, they have been seen as less threatening
that more explicit attempts to organise feminist consciousness-raising
groups. Based on field research conducted in 1988,
this article discusses the experience of women in Nicaraguan
tailoring cooperatives. After the 1979 revolution,
these were set up on a large-scale as part of a wider
economic policy and grass-roots political mobilisation.
After an initial period of expansion in which many
women benefited both in the improved income and access
to training and management experience, the cooperatives
found themselves in serious difficulty in 1988. It
is argued that even without the wider economic crisis
in Nicaragua, they would have faced serious problems
without extensive and probably unsustainable state
support. Although cooperative employment has considerable
potential, the Nicaraguan case highlights the need
for new thinking on ways to resolve basic tensions
between economic efficiency and worker participation.
It also cast doubt on their viability as a development
alternative for women, without specific attention to
basic gender inequalities.
MAYOUX, L. (1989).
African Women in Cooperatives: Towards a Realistic Agenda.
Addis Ababa, IFAA.
Ethiopia/ Africa/
cooperatives/ gender/ empowerment/ ethical enterprise
Cooperatives have been widely advocated as a preferred
means of development for women by national governments,
international agencies, NGOs and feminists. They are
seen as important for the wider mobilisation conscientisation
of women, and increasing women's income through the
elimination of intermediaries. However, as the papers
presented here clearly demonstrate, the cooperative
movement in many countries have not included women
on equal terms with men, despite the stated aims of
quality and democracy of the cooperative movement.
Much cooperative development aimed specifically women
has been in the form of isolated projects which have
not been integrated into mainstream economic development.
There have been a number of undoubted success stories,
and even more cases were also cooperatives have eventually
failed they have succeeded in raising women's consciousness
and improved their ability to participate in decision-making
in the wider society. However it must be admitted that
large numbers had been unsuccessful, or at least have
had serious problems.
The conference on which these volumes based brought
together activists in the cooperative movement and
academics from both Africa and the UK in an attempt
to clarify some of the issues and arrive at some concrete
policy proposals the government, international agencies,
non-governmental organisations and the wider women's
movement.