When women gain economic power, their children grow up healthier, communities are stronger, economies develop faster, and we all benefit.
Women are the engines of economic development, especially in rural farming communities, yet they continue to experience gender inequalities that leave them unable to access credit, land, tools or resources to secure a good livelihood.
Business-building opportunities offer women the management, financial, and marketing skills to start, diversify and sustain their farm and off-farm businesses. Alongside gender equality training for men and women, these strategies break down traditional barriers to women’s success, and increase their confidence and ability to fully participate in family and community decisions that directly affect their own and their children’s lives.
In Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda we are helping to unleash women's potential:
6,077 people (76% women) are participating in savings & credit groups
1,469 people (86% women) have started 1,425 new businesses
969 people (95% women) have been trained on business skills
3,494 people have been engaged in discussions on sexual and reproductive health & rights
When you invest in a man, you invest in an individual. When you invest in a woman, you invest in a community.
KANAYO F. NWANE, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, UNFAO, 2016
The Challenges
Current Initiatives
GIRLS' EDUCATION
Hover or tap to find out moreYou can make it possible for girls to get a good education by:
- Raising awareness of the value of girls’ education
- Supporting safe, healthy, well-equipped schools
- Encouraging girls’ involvement in clubs and extracurricular activities to gain voice on the issues that matter to them
- Training educators, school management committees and parent-teacher associations to address issues such as harmful traditional practices and sexual and reproductive health and rights
WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Hover or tap to find out moreYou can help women gain business skills and establish good livelihoods by:
- Providing seed capital
- Offering business skills training
- Linking women to markets and value-addition opportunities, including through business incubation hubs
INCOME GENERATION, CREDIT & SAVINGS GROUPS
Hover or tap to find out moreYou can raise women’s and household income by:
- Establishing credit and savings co-ops
- Targeting membership in credit and savings co-ops, income-generating groups, farm-based organizations to women
- Offering women skills-building (saving, using credit, VSLA/SACCO management, investing in their own business)
- Encouraging women to take on leadership roles in community organizations and as agricultural/community extension agents
GENDER EQUALITY & GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Hover or tap to find out moreYou can help promote gender equality, SRHR, and reduce SGBV by:
- Engaging women and men in community conversations, raising awareness and inspiring action
- Working with opinion leaders to disseminate and promote key messages related to gender equality, SRHR and harmful traditional practices
- Incorporating gender equality training in women’s income and livelihoods programs
- Raising awareness of the value of girls’ education and encouraging opinion leaders, educators, SMCs/PTAs, other community and governmental/civil society groups to take action on SRHR, SGBV and gender bias
CLIMATE-ADAPTIVE AGRICULTURE
Hover or tap to find out moreYou can help increase the use of climate-adaptive agricultural practices among women by:
- Targeting women’s involvement in climate-adaptive agricultural training
- Increasing women’s access to land, credit, markets, inputs that maximize yields and profits
- Improving dry season farming practices, food preservation and storage, and climate-friendly pesticide and fertilizer use
- Enlisting women in the roles of community/agricultural extension agents and supporting women-led producers’ associations
Learn more
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Women's Work Is Never Done
We must work for women's economic empowerment that benefits, not further burdens, women and girls.Download
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Partner with us
Join a growing community committed to making long-term changeMembers of the leadership
giving circle
giving circle
Income and Livelihoods
6,077
members of 196 savings groups; 76% women
1,425
business ventures are benefitting 1,708 people; 86% women
969
people received business skills training; 95% women
Agriculture / Horticulture
4,539
people trained on climate-smart agriculture/horticulture; 56% women
3,322
people received agricultural inputs (seeds, tools, plants, etc.); 72% women
Youth Clubs
4,441
youth participated in school clubs; 79% girls
Gender Equality
3,494
people trained on SRHR/gender equality
Hearing from women & girls
About the progress they're making
Last year, I achieved large yields for my farming activities. We were able to buy more land to expand, and now I feed my children nutritious meals.
The training I received has changed everything, including how to live my life happily. [Before], I could not even support myself, but now I am supporting the whole family. Women should not be economically dependent on men for their livelihood.
Getting an education is not harder for girls if they are given the same opportunities as boys. I am a member of a girls' club and we discuss this issue with our teachers and students during our meetings.
Women now have vegetable gardens. We have enough vegetables to prepare nutritious meals for our children and to sell some to earn an additional income. I feel I am becoming more productive and economically empowered and my voice is heard in the household and community.
Where your support is needed
To achieve women's economic empowerment & justice102 high-need communities in 4 countries
