Smallholder inclusion is seen as one of the avenues to leverage investment, opportunities and better livelihoods into rural areas, and many donors, governments, businesses and development practitioners have worked hard to ‘do’ it well.

It can be good for businesses’ CSR (corporate social responsibility) credentials and can help open up new sources of supply, good for governments who hope to see the multiplier effects of formal trade in rural areas, and for donors in meeting their poverty alleviation objectives through ‘trade not aid’. 

Improving women’s empowerment and gender equality has been a major and complementary ambition for the participation of smallholders in modern value chains, as well as being a broader objective under the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5.

IIED’s recent research – based on an extensive review of literature and interviews with key people – explored what we know to date about the impact of smallholder inclusion in global value chains (GVCs), including on gender equality and women’s empowerment.