Celebrating International Women's Day 2014

06 March 2014

International Women’s Day, which this year takes place on Sunday 8 March, gives us the opportunity to reflect on and celebrate our work with women in eastern Africa.

United Nations Women has declared the theme of this year's International Women’s Day to be: “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity”.

This statement resonates strongly in the African agricultural sector. Women are clearly a crucial force in the sector, and yet often struggle to access finance and productive resources. At Farm Africa we recognise that women play a critical role in farming and rural economic development, and one of the cross-cutting priorities identified in our Strategic Plan 2012 – 2015 is to build female farmers’ skills and opportunities so they can improve their incomes and lead enterprises.

How are we supporting women farmers in eastern Africa?

We are currently running two projects in Ethiopia that are designed specifically to empower women farmers. Our Time and energy saving for women project supports 300 smallholder women maize and sorghum farmers, and our Rural women’s economic empowerment project (RWEP) is helping more than 15,000 women increase their household income and learn how the legal system can protect them.

We have been implementing RWEP in Ethiopia since 2009, and a recent evaluation of the project’s impact highlighted some inspiring outcomes, including:

• 23,430 people (including over 17,000 women) have joined Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLAs). They received training, tools and technical support, and have so far saved more than 3.6 million Birr, 3.35 million of which was redistributed to VSLA members as business loans.
• 6,301 women have received two breeding nanny goats, and a further 6,301 women received kids produced by those goats. Independent to the project, some of these secondary beneficiaries are now breeding kids to a third group of over 800 women.
• There are now 160 Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) who support Women Asset Groups in all project areas. So far, they have provided treatment to over 30,500 sheep, goats and other animals.
• There are now 108 Community Based Legal Advisors (CBLAs) working in the project areas. They visit community venues and events to spread awareness of gender issues including women’s legal rights, and in 2013 they recorded an attendance of over 134,000 people (60% women and 40% men).