18 June 2026 · Trade FacilitationWomenFreightWorldBankDevelopmentPolicy
Trade facilitation challenges for women traders and freight forwarders in the Pacific
Tebbutt Research contributed to a World Bank Group regional study examining trade facilitation challenges faced by women and men cross-border traders and freight forwarders across the Pacific.
The report, Trade Facilitation Challenges for Women Traders and Freight Forwarders: Survey Findings and Recommendations – Pacific Region, compares survey findings from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu. It provides evidence to help governments, development partners and the private sector better understand how border processes, access to information, consultation mechanisms and trade systems affect women and men involved in cross-border trade.
Project details
Lead organisation: World Bank Group
Supporting partners: International Finance Corporation, Trade Facilitation Support Program, national governments of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu
Additional support: IC Net Inc. supported the Fiji survey
Countries covered: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu
Topic: Trade facilitation, women traders, freight forwarders, border processes, private sector experience
Output: Published regional survey findings and recommendations report
Tebbutt role: Survey rollout and preliminary analysis in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu
Evidence for more inclusive trade facilitation
Trade facilitation is often discussed in terms of systems, regulations, procedures and infrastructure. But for businesses, it is experienced in practical ways: finding information, preparing documents, clearing goods, dealing with border agencies, understanding fees, accessing complaints processes, and participating in consultations about reform.
For women traders and smaller firms, these processes can create barriers that are not always visible in administrative data.
This World Bank Group study helped fill an important evidence gap by collecting firm-level data from traders and freight forwarders across five Pacific countries. The findings were used to identify regional trends and develop recommendations to make trade facilitation reforms more responsive to the needs of both women and men.
Tebbutt Research’s contribution
Tebbutt Research conducted the rollout of the surveys and preliminary analysis in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.
This work reflects a core strength of Tebbutt Research: delivering practical, policy-relevant research in Pacific markets where good data can be difficult to obtain.
The study required more than administering a questionnaire. It involved identifying and contacting eligible cross-border trading firms and freight forwarders, working with available trader lists, supplementing contact information, managing survey fieldwork by phone, and supporting analysis that could be used in a regional evidence report.
For Tebbutt Research, this is the kind of work that sits at the centre of our role in the Pacific: turning complex research requirements into usable evidence for governments, development partners and decision makers.
Working across challenging Pacific research contexts
The report covered five countries with very different trade environments, business structures, geography and administrative systems:
- Fiji
- Papua New Guinea
- Samoa
- Timor-Leste
- Vanuatu
The World Bank Group team led the overall work, with IC Net Inc. supporting the Fiji survey. Tebbutt Research’s role focused on Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.
In those countries, the work drew on Tebbutt Research’s long-established Pacific presence and practical field capability. Research of this kind depends on strong local knowledge, persistence in reaching respondents, disciplined field systems, and the ability to work with incomplete or imperfect contact information.
That matters because the population being researched was specific and relatively hard to reach: firms engaged in cross-border trade of goods, along with freight forwarders involved in the movement of goods through border processes.
What the study examined
The survey explored practical issues affecting traders and freight forwarders, including:
- Access to information on border regulations and procedures
- Experiences with import and export documentation
- Awareness of trade facilitation reforms
- Consultation between government and the private sector
- Representation through trade and industry associations
- Release times for goods
- Use of electronic systems and payments
- Awareness of grievance or complaints procedures
- Safety and confidence in border environments
- Differences in experiences between women and men traders
The regional report found that many of the challenges identified were not simply technical. They related to information access, consultation, representation, confidence, and whether traders knew where to go when problems occurred.
These are areas where survey research can make an important contribution. It allows the lived experience of businesses to be captured, compared and translated into evidence that can inform reform.
Why gender-disaggregated evidence matters
One of the important contributions of the study was its focus on women traders.
Trade facilitation measures may appear neutral on paper, but they do not always affect all businesses in the same way. Women-led firms may face different constraints, including lower representation in trade associations, less access to information, limited consultation, additional care responsibilities, or different experiences when dealing with border processes.
The report found that women traders experienced greater challenges than men in several areas across the surveyed countries. These included information gaps, lower awareness of some electronic trade processes, lower consultation in some settings, and lower representation in trade or industry associations in several countries.
By collecting and analysing survey data by gender, the study helped make these issues visible.
From survey data to recommendations
The report used the survey findings to identify practical recommendations for governments and development partners. These included improving access to official trade information, strengthening National Trade Facilitation Committees, increasing consultation with the private sector, working more effectively with trade and industry associations, addressing delays in the release of goods, strengthening electronic payment systems, and publicising official grievance procedures.
The value of this kind of study is that it connects policy recommendations to evidence from businesses operating in the real economy.
For Tebbutt Research, this is an important part of our contribution to development research in the Pacific. We help clients and partners collect reliable data from the people and organisations affected by policy, then turn that data into findings that can support better decisions.
Supporting partners
The report was led by the World Bank Group and benefited from guidance and comments from colleagues across the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
Financial support was provided by the Trade Facilitation Support Program, funded by Australia, Canada, the European Union, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The governments of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu contributed to the project, including through the provision of trader data.
IC Net Inc. supported the Fiji survey.
Tebbutt Research conducted the survey rollout and preliminary analysis in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.
Pacific research grounded in local realities
Good Pacific research requires more than a regional label. It requires local knowledge, systems that work in challenging conditions, trained teams, practical problem-solving, and the ability to generate evidence that clients can use.
Tebbutt Research has worked across the Pacific for more than three decades. Our role in this study reflects the type of contribution we continue to make: supporting high-quality research on issues that matter to the region, from private sector development and trade to financial inclusion, governance, public policy and social outcomes.
Published studies like this show how Tebbutt Research’s Pacific capability supports evidence-based decision-making — not only through fieldwork, but through research implementation, data handling, preliminary analysis and the delivery of findings that contribute to regional development.
Published report
The full report is publicly available through the World Bank: