This study aimed to provide an analytical review of existing and potential value chains that could help Somali women generate income and access local urban and rural markets in 4 subsectors. It aspired to identify sector specific value chains with the best employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women. Within this framework and in this line of thinking the study asked questions that would help gather information from various sources. It asked basic questions like what do we know about the 4 subsectors – fishing, agriculture, livestock and services provision chain value in Puntland? Who are involved in these subsectors? How small or large are the organizations and various stakeholders implicated in these value chains? Are women concerned and if so what roles do women play in the process of the chain value?
Value chains exist and operate within a given social context that affects the distribution of resources, benefits and opportunities. Gender issues and gender relations are equally important to consider in these value chains since they are affected by the ways in which value chains function. Gender is thus an important aspect of value chain analysis as it offers tremendous opportunities to both men and women through better market linkages and employment opportunities. At the same time, the analysis helps see the ways these value chains operate and can affect some groups negatively. A value chain is considered here a way of describing the stages by which the full value of a product is managed and ultimately realized. When applied to the fishing and agriculture subsectors, the framework describes the steps from the extraction of natural resources, to their processing and sale, all the way through to the ultimate use of the revenues.
