CSW event on joint UN initiative highlights stories of enabling women to be masters of their own destinies
Success stories of more than 41,000 women benefitting from a Joint UN Programme, “Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” (JPRWEE), took center stage during a side event organized on the margins of the Commission on the Status of Women on 14 March 2019 in New York.
JPRWEE is a unique UN initiative implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).
Kawinzi Muiu, WFP Director of Gender, delivered the welcoming remarks and noted that the side-event was a perfect opportunity to exchange views and ideas on the lessons learned and discuss success factors from the JPRWEE since it started in 2014.
Dinara Rakhmanova, FAO Assistant Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic, highlighted the dynamic partnerships that have been built through the project to improve food security and nutrition, increase household incomes, and enhance leadership of the JPRWEE participants.
Ndaya Beltchika, IFAD Lead Technical Specialist on Gender and Social Inclusion, shared the participatory methodologies that the JPRWEE is using to enable both women and men articulate what they want to achieve as individuals and households. “Beneficiaries realize that they can reach their vision for the future. They learn that with the resources and the skills they already have they can get themselves out of poverty. It is really a message of hope,” she said.
Susan Kaaria, FAO Senior Gender Officer, noted that empowerment has different meanings for different women. “What the JPRWEE does is that it increases women’s autonomy, expands their choices and strengthens their feeling of being respected. All this stimulates wider benefits – for households, communities, and societies at large,” Kaaria said, as she explained the dimensions of the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), which the JP RWEE employs in some of the programme countries.
According to André Mundal, Senior Advisor for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Women are not vulnerable because they are women. They are vulnerable because of discriminatory laws, regulations and social norms. This is why it has been so crucial for the JP RWEE to develop solid and efficient partnerships at the local level; partnerships that have allowed to successfully reach out to women and make them realize their potential for social and economic leadership.”
In this context, Eva Johansson, Lead Policy Advisor for Gender Equality at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) remarked: “For a women’s empowerment programme, the focus on rural areas is really critical, because this is where the issues are particularly pressing and where women and girls need our support the most. This is why Sida has decided to allocate additional 4 million USD to the JP RWEE”.
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