Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to FCDO's Work and Opportunities for Women Programme, published on 21 March 2018, what evaluation her Department has made of the impact and value for public money of (a) the innovations in informal land tenure awareness, rights and security for the economic empowerment of informal women workers in Delhi and Patna project, (b) the accelerating national progress toward achieving equality in unpaid care and domestic work and promoting women’s economic empowerment project and (c) the home-based Workers Organizing for Economic Empowerment project.

The Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) Programme is the FCDO's flagship central programme on women's economic empowerment. Work has included partnerships with private businesses and work with grassroots organisations.

The FCDO's annual reviews have found that its performance has fully met expectations including in advancing women's land tenure security in Patna and Delhi. Initiatives have included launching housing finance and livelihood regeneration loans, providing financial literacy and digital training modules; and improving conditions of home based workers in Africa and South Asia. WoW's published reports 'The Double Day' and 'Unpaid and unrecognised: How business can realise the benefits of tackling women's invisible labour' contribute valuable knowledge to businesses on unequal and unpaid work and care. To date (since 2016 ) WOW has reached over 100,000 women across South Asia and Africa, providing them with improved access to higher productivity and higher return jobs; more diversified roles and improved working conditions in global value chains.