Behaviour Change for Inclusive Markets (BC4IM)

The BC4IM Project aims to support ethnic minority women and people with disabilities in Son La and Lao Cai provinces to overcome social barriers and stereotypes, build confidence, and expand their opportunities to participate in economic activities within the bamboo shoot and tourism value chains.

Through capacity strengthening, community awareness-raising, and the promotion of inclusive workplaces, the project contributes to creating more employment and livelihood opportunities while enhancing the voices and decision-making roles of ethnic minority women and people with disabilities within their families, workplaces, and communities.

Objective of BC4IM

To enable ethnic minority women and people with disabilities to actively participate in bamboo shoot production and tourism activities, while enhancing their confidence, social standing, decision-making power, and achieving a more balanced distribution of household responsibilities.

Expected outcomes from BC4IM

The investment generated positive impacts on women’s economic empowerment, including:

For Ethnic Minority Women

Increased confidence in participating in production, business activities, and livelihood development within the bamboo shoot value chain.
More equitable sharing of household responsibilities among family members.
Greater influence and participation in decision-making within their families, workplaces, and communities.

For People with Disabilities

Improved access to opportunities to participate in economic activities within the bamboo shoot and tourism sectors.
Increased confidence in pursuing employment and livelihood opportunities.
Greater participation in and influence over decisions related to their work, income, and personal lives.

How does BC4IM work?

1. Promoting Family and Community Support for Ethnic Minority Women

The project will encourage men, family members, and communities to share responsibilities and create a supportive environment for women’s participation in economic activities and livelihood development.

Key activities include:

Showcasing role-model couples who share household responsibilities and make decisions together.
Organizing community events to promote positive stories about gender equality and livelihood development.
Selecting, training, and mentoring role-model couples to become champions of behavior change within their communities.
Engaging local leaders, the Women’s Union, and influential community members to promote gender equality.
Organizing learning visits and follow-up support activities to help stakeholders effectively integrate gender equality messages into their work.

2. Strengthening Inclusive Cooperative Governance

The project supports bamboo shoot cooperatives in adopting more inclusive governance practices and creating opportunities for ethnic minority women to participate more actively in decision-making.

Key activities include:

Assessing the governance practices of six bamboo shoot cooperatives and identifying areas for improvement.
Organizing learning visits to cooperatives that have successfully implemented inclusive governance models.
Supporting cooperatives to develop and implement inclusive governance action plans.
Providing technical assistance, financial support, and coaching to help cooperatives implement their plans.
Delivering training and simulation-based dialogues to strengthen leadership, management, and decision-making skills among ethnic minority women.

3. Raising Awareness and Expanding Opportunities for People with Disabilities

The project promotes positive perceptions of the capabilities and contributions of people with disabilities while supporting their access to vocational training and employment opportunities.

Key activities include:

Organizing community events to raise awareness of the rights, capabilities, and contributions of people with disabilities.
Training local stakeholders on appropriate and safe approaches to identifying, engaging, and supporting people with disabilities.
Connecting people with disabilities to vocational training and employment opportunities.
Supporting families with members with disabilities to jointly develop plans for career development and suitable livelihood options.
Linking people with disabilities to other GREAT projects in tourism, hospitality, and digital transformation.

4. Building More Inclusive Recruitment and Work Environments

The BC4IM project supports cooperatives and businesses to improve workplace accessibility, recruitment practices, and employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Key activities include:

Reviewing the bamboo shoot value chain to identify and develop suitable job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Supporting cooperatives to upgrade facilities and equipment to improve accessibility.
Providing technical assistance to tourism businesses to create more inclusive workplace environments and human resource practices.
Facilitating knowledge-sharing among tourism businesses that have successfully adopted disability-inclusive employment models.
Building connections among organizations of people with disabilities, vocational training institutions, and businesses to expand employment opportunities.
Supporting businesses to design job opportunities that match the abilities and aspirations of people with disabilities.
Producing communication materials to showcase inclusive tourism models and success stories of people with disabilities.