WINNER Activities

Round table discussions on common strategies are conducted to further expand the scope of WINNER with other regional networks, in pursuit of institutional linkages and activity networking. WINNER participated in several such fora in the Philippines as well as in Thailand and Hongkong.

Through the WINNER website, project beneficiaries can submit their product offers, with information on capacity, terms of business as well as photos of products. Subsequently, these product photos along with important business details are displayed on the WINNER website.

Linking supply with demand is actively pursued by WINNER for Its beneficiary women's organizations. Some examples of business matching activities include a manufacturer of specialty candies being matched with a buyer from Okinawa, Japan and a women's cooperative being introduced to a novelty product distributor in Osaka, Japan. The matching of businesses also includes technology transfer, as in the case of a herbal soap manufacturer willing to go into joint project with a company based in Eastern Europe in order to take advantage of the opportunity to enter the European market. Another case is that of a government research and development institution joining hands with a Swiss enterprise in developing a handloom suited to Asian women.

To identify opportunities for business, trade fairs play a very important role. WINNER actively participates in trade fairs to spread information about its training courses, receive inquiries on products and production capacity of women's enterprises and provide venue for promoting the various products of women's organizations and their members as well as business linkages. Since the beginning of project implementation, WINNER has joined over 10 international trade exhibitions held at the World Trade Center, Philippine Trade and Training Center, Philippine International Convention Center and various venues like Shangri-la Hotel.

To ensure that the knowledge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) application in small business is spread among as many women entrepreneurs as possible, trainor's training courses are conducted in cooperation with co-sponsoring women's organizations. To date, about 200 individuals have already completed short courses on Internet/ E-Commerce, Website development and management, International Trade and Enterprise Management.

One of the strategies for implementing the activities of the WINNER Project is to sign cooperation agreements with partner women's organizations and agencies of government that promote women empowerment and access to fair trade. To date, there are about 50 cooperating women's organizations, including specialized agencies of government, academic institutions and industry and trade groups.