Enhancing opportunities for rural women’s employment: Lessons from the Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment - Side-event at the 61st Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It is an honour for me to welcome you to this side-event. This event is a joint effort of FAO, IFAD, WFP, UN Women and the Government of Sweden.

 

“Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” is a joint programme of FAO, WFP, IFAD and UN Women. The Programme has been created as a flagship activity of the four UN agencies to respond to the challenges and opportunities that rural women face. 

 

The RWEE – as we call it – is a 5-year programme that operates in seven countries: Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda. The RWEE focuses on four key outcomes, namely: (1) rural women’s improved food security, (2) increased access to income, (3) enhanced participation in public life, and (4) enabling policy environments.

 

The RWEE allows the four agencies to join forces, while capitalizing on each agency’s mandate, comparative advantage, and institutional strength. Thus, the RWEE brings together: FAO’s specialist technical knowledge on food and agriculture; IFAD’s expertise in co-financing of rural investment programmes and innovative tools to measure women’s empowerment and promote equitable intra-household relations; WFP’s food assistance innovations; and UN Women’s global coordination role on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

 

Since commencement of implementation in late 2014, the RWEE has achieved very impressive results and is making a lasting difference in rural women’s lives. Just to give you a few examples, in only one year:

• 7,500 women were trained in improved agricultural technologies;
• 5,000 women received nutritional advice;
• 6,500 women participated in entrepreneurship trainings for income generation;
• 4,000 women were enabled to access financial services;
• 10,000 people attended sensitization campaigns on women’s rights.
• In addition, the governments of Nepal, Ethiopia and Guatemala received technical support to formulate and implement gender-aware policies for their respective agricultural sectors.

 

Importantly, the RWEE is also enhancing self-confidence of women and increasing their business management skills. As a result, the wellbeing of their households has improved, as families find it now easier to pay for nutritious food, health insurance, and children’s education.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the strong support that the RWEE Joint Programme is receiving from its government partners is a key reason of its success.

 

I am particularly happy to have with us the representative of the Government of Sweden, which (together with Norway) has generously funded this programme.

 

The main purpose of this event is to take stock of what RWEE has achieved so far. We will showcase our achievements; share our good practices and lessons learned; and demonstrate that the RWEE is a highly cost-effective programme that is making a substantial contribution to the expansion of decent work opportunities for rural women, in the spirit of this year’s priority theme for the Commission on the Status of Women.

 

However, we need your support to consolidate and scale-up this important initiative. Our results show that the RWEE has a strong potential to contribute to the realization of Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 2, 5 and 17. According to our calculations, if additional resources are mobilised, the RWEE could easily reach additional 50,000 rural women and their households.

 

Therefore, I hope that today’s event will attract new champions and donors to the RWEE Joint Programme. We count on your support to maintain the excellent work being done jointly by FAO, IFAD, WFP and UN Women under the RWEE Programme. Thank you for your kind attention.