UN Agencies Cooperate to Support Rural Women in Asia, Africa

Rome: Four United Nations (UN) agencies have announced the forthcoming launch of a new phase of a joint programme that aims to secure rural women’s livelihoods, rights and resilience to advance sustainable development.
 
The ‘Joint Programme: Accelerating Progress Towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment’ (JP RWEE) is a partnership between UN Women, and the three Rome-based agencies, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
 
The programme which began in 2014 seeks to expand its funding base and further scale up to additional countries.

This new five-year phase of the programme will  initially focus on Nepal, Niger, the Pacific Islands, Tanzania and Tunisia, thanks to the generous support of Norway and Sweden who have committed approximately US $25 million towards the programme.
 
“This partnership builds on previous success and demonstrates the impact of combining expertise to achieve significant results for rural women. These results include increased agricultural productivity, economic autonomy, and leadership roles. We are grateful to Norway and Sweden for the opportunity to scale up the programme in both existing and new countries, keeping the rights and needs of rural women firmly at the centre,” said Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director, in a press release on Wednesday.
 
Rural women face structural barriers including discriminatory policies, legislation and social norms which hinder their access to services, resources and opportunities.
 
They carry the disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work and are often excluded from participation and leadership in rural public life.
 
The first phase of the programme was implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda from 2014 to 2021 and reached approximately 80,000 rural women.
 
The participants achieved, on average, an 82 percent increase in agricultural production, generated over US $3,600,000 from on-farm and off-farm sales and almost US $2 million through savings and loan schemes.
 
Programme results also showed greater economic autonomy for rural women, more gender equitable household relations and increased numbers of women in leadership positions.  
 
The new phase of the Programme will be formally launched at a side event during the 66th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on March 23rd, 2022.
 
 
 
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