Based on the information provided below called Case 2

As part of a Risk Management Plan, what is the Initial Assessment of Project Assumptions?

Case 2:

Rural Women in Central Asia are a significant entrepreneurial force, contributing to local, national and regional economies and to poverty reduction, but they face different constraints and opportunities from those experienced by men. Social and cultural norms and practices can limit women's access to markets, resources, training, and other services.

In 2019, the United Nations Development Programme (the UNDP) in Kyrgyzstan launched a project called "Rural Women Empowerment in Central Asia". Ten million dollars (CAN$10 M) in project funding is provided jointly by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) and the Asian Development Bank. The overall objective of this regional project is to enhance rural women's economic empowerment in identified districts in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In addition, the project will raise awareness among all stakeholders about effective ways to incorporate gender equality and women's entrepreneurship considerations into the design and implementation of development operations and policy making.

Your company, Women for a Better Tomorrow (WBT), is a non-profit organization that has for many years dealt with issues surrounding gender equality, diversity and the empowerment of women in Toronto. WBT has a small staff of 30 professionals, administration and support personnel. The stated mission of the company is to "empower women to make a better tomorrow for all people". As a consequence WBT has for many years worked primarily with NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) and other civil society groups to lift the social, economic and political status of women all over the GTA.

WBT is looking to expand its operations globally and this Central Asian project appears to fit nicely into its mandate. In response to an RFP that was issued for this project WBT had submitted a proposal and had subsequently won the competitive solicitation beating out several other companies. The project is scheduled to being on September 1, 2020.

In the meantime, WBT has partnered with a Kyrgyzstan company, Bishkek Traders, to has signed a contractor-subcontractor agreement to work with them as their local counterparts. Bishkek Traders is a medium sized company with a good reputation for on-time and within budget project delivery in Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek Traders combines the necessary experience and competence with a significant cost advantage over other local competing vendors. It has been noted by some of WBT's professional staff that Bishkek Traders only has experience working in the Kyrgyz Republic and has been show prior hesitance to do work in Tajikistan and in Uzbekistan. Moreover Bishkek Traders has no female staff members.