Women’s economic empowerment and agribusiness: Opportunities for the gender transformative agenda
This report (PDF) by the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development explains the extent to which donor-supported agribusiness initiatives engage with the gender transformative agenda. A methodology for analyzing agribusiness projects from a gender perspective was developed to review gender-related initiatives at the field level and in project management. The most common gender-related field-level activities were; developing women’s technical and business skills and knowledge; strengthening women’s voice and representation in groups and organisations; promoting access to resources, services, markets and employment. In contrast, the majority of projects did nothing specifically to address women’s voice in household decision-making and their well-being. Related to project management, most projects paid attention to the M&E system. Several projects had a gender strategy and allocated funds to support gender mainstreaming activities. Few projects paid attention to ensuring the gender-responsiveness of staffing, partners and procedures. At the agency level the authors recommend to use the methodology to review the agency agribusiness portfolio. As well it is recommended to introduce some of the more innovative field-level gender transformative approaches into the design of new projects or the implementation of ongoing projects. Lastly, it is recommended to strengthen the genderresponsiveness of project management to create an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment.