rademark East Africa (TMA) has earmarked $2million for the next three years to support women in the logistics and transport sector in the East African Community countries.

According to Sandra Kirenga, an Economist at TMA, the funds will be used to establish a secretariat that will develop strategy on mainstreaming gender in the logistics sector.

“The fund will also be used to train women in leadership to become agents of change, do research on challenges facing women and how they can be addressed; develop a guideline for gender equality best practices and also engage educational institutions on available opportunities for women in the logistic sector,” she said.

“The fund will also be used to organize regional logistics awards that will be aimed at promoting women in the logistic sector.”

According to a survey that was done by the Federation East Africa Freight Forwarders Association (FEAFFA) with funding from TMA on 97 logistics companies in East Africa, Only 19% of all the employees in the companies are women.

“Even the small percentage that is employed in the logistics sector is being unequally treated compared to their male counterparts. They are paid less for the same jobs, they are sexually harassed and work in unconducive environment with no security,” Kirenga said.

The Gender project, she said, will start in Kenya with $600,000 dollars already secured from TMA funders and will be expanded to other East African countries.

Kirenga revealed this during a panel discussion on ‘Mainstreaming Women in Logistics’ during the Global Logistics Convention that concluded on Tuesday at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala

The Convention, themed ‘Freight Logistics: The Edge to Competitiveness’ was hosted by Uganda Freight Forwarders Association (UFFA) in partnership with the National Logistics Platform (NLP) and the Ministry of Works and Transport and sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID) through TradeMark Africa

The chairperson of the NLP, Merian Sebunya asked TradeMark to focus on the most enlightened women first instead of focusing on the rural women, as these will encourage and even train the latter to make the program more productive.

Source Chimp Reports

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.