Farm Africa and International Women's Day

06 March 2014

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

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has declared the theme of this 106th International Women’s Day to be: “Equality for women is progress for all”.

This statement resonates strongly in the African agricultural sector. According to The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), women account for 66% of Africa’s agricultural sector and are responsible for 90% of the food produced. Women are clearly a crucial force in the sector, and yet the International Development Research Centre found that “women in Africa only own 1% of the land”. 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).

Celebrating International Women’s Day – internationally!

On Tuesday 4 March, Farm Africa’s Gender Development and Business Adviser Zemach Getahun led a ‘Gender Learning Bazaar’ at the Farm Africa Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The lively event was well-attended and featured a variety of gender equality awareness-raising and celebratory activities including:

• A keynote speech by Farm Africa’s Ethiopia Country Director Michelle Winthrop about how our projects are supporting and empowering women farmers.
• Innovative presentations from representatives of all Farm Africa Ethiopian projects on their experiences of women farmers’ empowerment. Four staff members were recognised for their outstanding contributions towards gender mainstreaming, and the forest management in Bale eco-region project team was awarded the prize for best presentation.
• A ‘rose-giving’ ceremony, where each male Farm Africa staff member presented a female staff member with a rose as a symbol of respect and recognition for their work.

On International Women’s Day itself, Zemach will be jetting off to New York, where she will be attending the annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, a global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Zemach’s visit is an exciting opportunity to hear first-hand about the challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the first of which is to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’, which of course is central to the Farm Africa mission.

Zemach will also embrace the opportunity to raise awareness about Farm Africa’s work in the field of female empowerment, and will be attending a number of relevant discussions including “Girl Power Project: Empowering Ugandan Girls to Avoid the Deadly Pitfalls of Poverty”, “Empowering Rural Women Through Agricultural Innovation” and “Overcoming Challenges in Women and Girls Empowerment in Rural Areas”. Keep an eye on our Postcard From... blog, Facebook and Twitter feeds for news from Zemach as the meeting progresses.