GAP FACT SHEET:

With funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) aims to develop partnership agreements with selected agribusiness firms for documenting their "best practices" in women's employment. The expansion of decent employment for poor women is a congressionally mandated area of high priority for American foreign assistance, and the project flows out of this mandate. We know that in many countries, women are employed in seed production, commercial food production, and food processing, but not much is known about their working conditions, wages, or productivity. Documenting what the leading companies regard as their best practices, and sharing these arrangements with the wider business community through case studies and reports, are ways of improving the conditions of women's employment.

The project enables the company to contribute to an important and growing area of management education. Practices that simultaneously benefit workers and enhance company performance demonstrate good citizenship in the host country and to the home country, and also demonstrate good management to shareholders and the larger agribusiness community.

The project team includes the representatives of the agribusiness companies and UIUC faculty from the colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Commerce and Business Administration; Communication; and the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. GAP is managed by Kathleen Cloud (k-cloud@uiuc.edu), Director, and Dale Silver (isilver@uiuc.edu), Coordinator.

Project staff works with each participating company to plan exactly which of their operations we will call on, the timing of the visit, and our respective activities and responsibilities. This planning can occur at company headquarters, a regional office, or by phone and e-mail, depending on circumstances. From this mutual collaboration, a simple statement of understanding will be produced and signed.

The project has been funded for all necessary travel. Once the work plan is developed and the dates are set, a faculty team member from UIUC will travel to the site. The project also has the funds for a company person to travel from their headquarters or a regional office to the work site, if that seems useful. If not, we would ask that someone from the in-country office work directly with us to assure that we gain a full picture of what is happening at the work site. The project team will cover all of its own expenses while the company's investment will be in personnel time.

The project member will spend an average of 2-5 days with the company, interviewing management and workers, reviewing relevant documents, and seeing the operations. The time on-site will vary depending on the size of the operations and whether more than one site was involved. The team member will spend additional time in-country with USAID, women's organizations, and other sources of information on women's status and their employment patterns throughout the economy. At the end of the visit, both company and UIUC team members will hold an exit interview with relevant company personnel.

The products will include a case study appropriate for use in management training, both within the company and in other training institutes. These cases will be written by faculty knowledgeable about agribusiness. Information on the company's best practices will also be included in the final summary report made to USAID. If the company wished additional brief reports for circulation in-house or in-country, these can be arranged for during the exit visit.

There must be a release signed by the company before a case can be used for teaching purposes. Such a release provides the company with a chance to clarify or correct any misunderstandings. Prior to release of the case, any and all information on which it is based are treated with the utmost care and confidentiality.

To date, a model partnership has been created with Cargill, Inc., a leading agribusiness company, to explore women’s employment in cotton ginning at several work sites in Zimbabwe. Several other partnerships are currently under discussion and planning with Quaker Oats Latin America, Novartis, Land O’Lakes, and Cargill Asia Pacific.