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A large group of representatives, including government, business owners, and development partners gathered in Nuku’alofa, Tonga last week for the Tonga National Business Conference. PSDI’s Economic Empowerment of Women Specialist, Sarah Boxall, presented the PSDI gender-inclusive private sector enabling environment framework assessment for Tonga on 19 October—Day 3 of the conference—during a session on “Women in Business”.

The presentation included background on the processes PSDI followed to determine the assessment, and how Tonga performed against the criteria in the PSDI-developed framework, which measures the gender inclusivity of the private sector enabling environment in the Pacific across seven dimensions:

1. Gender equality context
2. Workplace environment
3. Business enabling environment
4. Financial inclusion and access to capital
5. Participation in key economic sectors
6. Technology and the future of work
7. Leadership and voice  

The process to develop the framework and checklist encompassed an extensive literature review and consultations with stakeholders to assess existing frameworks, determine how they may or may not apply in the Pacific, and ascertain whether data are available to support the measurement of a gender inclusive enabling environment. The presentation in Tonga was the second in a series of workshops and presentations that PSDI is now holding to discuss and validate its findings for individual countries.

Keep an eye out for PSDI’s gender inclusive private sector enabling environment framework, which will be published in late-2023. 

Photos courtesy of Tonga Ministry of Trade and Economic Development and Tonga Chamber of Commerce and Industry.