Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), in association with the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of and the International Trade Centre (ITC) ‘s SheTrades Initiative, organised the 3rd virtual policy dialogue on “Gender-Responsive Public Procurement in Bangladesh: Interview Findings” on March 10, 2021, 2021 to increase women’s participation in the public procurement in Bangladesh.
Survey results, scored country assessment based on specific questions as developing, meaning of which is the inclusion of Women-Owned Business (WoB) in the country’s agenda is in place but not yet fully accomplished in case of public procurement. In the case of entity assessment in that respect, the current situation is marked as developed, meaning some action/administration issues have been done, but the results are yet to be achieved. Data on WoB shows an almost similar number in the case of “yes” and “no”, meaning there is a similar number of benefits at the same time barriers for encouraging participation of WE in the tendering process in public procurement.
Masud Akhter Khan, Director (Joint Secretary), CPTU, in his speech, informed that as the leading authority of dealing the public procurement issue in Bangladesh, CPTU has been working very closely with World Bank and ITC to increase the capacity of WoB. He stressed taking the initiative to define ‘women-owned businesses”, and the Ministry of Commerce, as well as the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, may take the initiative in that respect. Besides, global best practices need to be analysed while preparing the roadmap and policy in the context of Bangladesh. Moreover, he noticed that procurement is a complex and comprehensive issue. Prior to engaging in that system, WoB needs to upgrade themselves with proper technical knowledge. He welcomed women entrepreneurs (WEs) to come to CPTU so that CPTU can train them to be more competitive in the overall public procurement system.
Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO, BUILD, made a presentation in that respect highlighting the findings of the survey conducted during Jan-Feb ’21 for getting Gender-Specific information on public procurement. Women entrepreneurs are not aware of the prevailing scopes for them in the public procurement domain. She presented country comparison among Nigeria, Chile, Gambia, and Bangladesh to have the scenario of public procurement.
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