. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/24 
13 October 2010 
 
 (10-5260) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Aid for Trade  
 
 
 
EXPERT ROUND TABLE MEETING ON THE GENDER  
DIMENSION OF AID FOR TRADE 
 
Background Note  
 
 
I. OVERVIEW 
1. Aid for Trade aims to increase the effective participation of developing countries in the 
multilateral trading system, with the aim of s upporting economic growth and poverty reduction.  
Various studies have highlighted that trade impacts are not gender-neutral.1  Mainstreaming a gender 
dimension in interventions can improve the impact and effectiveness of Aid for Trade.2 
2. Mainstreaming a gender dimension into Aid -for-Trade interventions requires aligning 
national priorities to take account of gender realitie s and relationships.  This  implies that national 
development plans consider the interests of wome n and mainstream them in to national and regional 
action plans, export strategies and trade-related pove rty reduction strategies.  Specific monitoring and 
evaluation indicators may also be needed to evaluate the gender impacts of Aid-for-Trade 
interventions. 
3. To further work on the role of gender in Ai d for Trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
and the International Trade Centre (ITC) plan to organize an expert round table on the "Gender 
Dimension of Aid for Trade", with support from the Governments of the Republic of Rwanda and the 
United Kingdom.  It is hoped that the meetin g will showcase strategic actions for gender 
mainstreaming that can be used by stakeholders in  Aid for Trade. By so doing, it is hoped that the 
expert meeting will further the consideration of the gender perspective in the Aid-for-Trade initiative. 
4. The expert roundtable will be organized around th e presentation of a series of case stories 
sharing national experiences of gender impacts in different areas of Aid-for-Trade support.  One 
particular focus of the round table is to take stoc k of the work done on mainstreaming gender into the 
Enhanced Integrated Framework.  The use of a case  story approach should also provide useful input 
which can be considered as part of the call for cas e stories issued by the OECD and WTO in July 
2010 in document WT/COMTD/AFT/W/22. 
II. APPROACH 
5. Experts will be invited to submit case stories detailing measures taken and impact achieved as 
a result of projects and programmes targeting women and/or gender mainstreaming. The focus will be 
on examining how women in trade are successfully in tegrated into and benefit from Aid for Trade.  
                                                      
1 See for example: " ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme and Cross Border Trade: Experiences of 
Women’s Traders and Entrepreneurs ", 2007 study by ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC).   
2 For more information, see for example: " Gender Equality, Export Performance and Competitiveness. 
The Gender Dimension of Export  Strategy ", International Trade Centre.   WT/COMTD/AFT/W/24 
Page 2  
 
  The suggested format to be used for th e "case stories" is the one provided in 
WT/COMTD/AFT/W/22.  Examples will be requested across all areas of Aid-for-Trade assistance:   
(a) trade-related technical assistance (i.e. trade policy and regulation); 
(b) trade development;   
(c) trade-related infrastructure (i.e. transport and storage, communications, energy supply 
and generation);   
(d) building trade capacity (i.e. business, banking, agriculture, forestry, fishing, industry, 
mining, and tourism);   
(e) trade-related adjustment;  and  
(f) other trade-related programmes.   
III. OUTPUTS  
6. It is envisaged that the expert meeting will produce a series of case stories which could be 
used as part of the call for case stories made by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD) and the WTO.  Depending on  the relevance and volume of outputs received, 
either the individual case stories or a summary document could be submitted by 31 January 2011 as 
part of the evidence-based assessment in preparati on for the Third Global Review of Aid for Trade in 
July 2011. 
7. Further outputs from the meeting may also include: 
(a) Agreement to a process for the preliminary development of a methodology, including 
possible indicators, to better integrate and evaluate the role of women in trade in 
Aid-for-Trade processes and activities to en sure that they will benefit from the 
initiative;  and  
(b) The establishment of a network of gender and trade experts that governments, core 
agencies and others could engage to pr ovide advice/implement activities/work on 
monitoring and evaluation to secure benefits to women under Aid for Trade. 
8. Conclusions arising from the expert roundtable on the "Gender Dimension of Aid for Trade" 
will be shared with the Committee on Trade a nd Development.  A specific session on gender 
mainstreaming is being organized as part of the Workshop on "Mainstreaming of Aid for Trade", to 
be held on 26 October 2010.  
IV. LOGISTICS  
9. The expert roundtable, jointly organized by the WTO and ITC, with the support of the 
Governments of the Republic of Rwanda and the United Kingdom, w ill bring together approximately 
20 experts in a one-day meeting.  The experts w ill be drawn from the public and private sectors of 
least-developed and developing countries together  with selected non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs) specializing in gender and trade.  The meeting is open to Members and Observers.   
10. The meeting will be held at the WTO on Monday, 25 October 2010 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.  An 
agenda will be faxed to de legations in due course. 
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