LCTP Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

November 25th globally marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women , as designated by the United Nations. In recognition of a perpetually relevant issue, the event is meant to raise global awareness on the need to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world, calling for global action to increase awareness, promote advocacy and create opportunities for discussion on challenges and solutions

Women are sadly at risk of multiple forms of violence in many roles, circumstances, and contexts, including as traders and entrepreneurs. Thus, any project promoting gender-sensitive trade facilitation and/or supporting female entrepreneurship should incorporate measures to prevent and mitigate violence – that is definitely the case of Lao Competitiveness and Trade Project (LCTP).

The project, currently being implemented by the government of Lao PDR, which is funded by the World Bank Group as well as Australia, Irish Aid, and USAID, aims to simplify business regulations, facilitate trade, and improve firm-level competitiveness. Its design has strong focus on promoting effective mainstreaming of gender in all project intervention areas, and on building capacity of project stakeholders in integrating gender in all aspects of their work. Those efforts also include measures specifically intended to prevent and mitigate the risk of violence against women as well as children, indigenous people, and all other vulnerable categories.

First, the LCTP has developed a Code of Conduct which all project team and consultants are required to sign up and commit to. The purpose of the code is to help ensure the project meets international Environmental Social, Health Safety (ESHS) and Occupational Health Safety (OHS) Standards objectives, as well as prevents and/or mitigates the risks of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) and Sexual Harassment (SH). Mutual respect and fair treatment between those working on the project and local communities is critical to a safe, respectful, and productive workplace and operating environment. SEA and SH can be one of the most serious violations of respect and fair treatment which can harm the local community and/or individuals working on the project in any capacity, and significantly damage trust and cooperation between parties. Therefore, the project is very against those acts.
Second, the LCTP is about to launch a Grievance and Redress Mechanism (GRM) to offer all concerned stakeholders an avenue for safe and anonymous reporting of complaints related to project activities. Grievances regarding suspected instances of SEA will also be accepted by the GRM and dealt with as urgent matters.

Finally, the LCTP has established an ‘’institutional infrastructure’’ of gender focal points within the various government agencies responsible for implementing project activities. It is now in the process of delivering comprehensive technical capacity building to those contact persons, including but not limited to how to prevent and mitigate violence against women under the project.

Overall, the LCTP is positioning itself as a regional good practice for gender-sensitive trade facilitation and female entrepreneurship promotion and would now like to use the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women as an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment that critical fight, and help promote and increase awareness on the suffering of women worldwide. This day is marked to prevent as well as respond to violence against women and to apprise people about the basic human rights of women and gender equality. Furthermore, the LCTP supports Laos’s national 16 Days campaign to eliminate violence against women. 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence falls between 25 November and 10 December and are part of an annual global advocacy period to raise awareness on ending gender-based violence. During this time, the LCTP will spotlight the gains and milestones achieved in the bid to address violence against women and gender aspect under the project implementation . Please stay tune!