Empowering women in rural areas

Rural Women's Empowerment Project 

Economic opportunities are extremely limited for rural women in Ethiopia. Women generally have fewer assets than men and limited opportunities to make money. They have difficulty gaining access to the credit they need to set up small businesses that generate income.

FARM-Africa's Rural Women's Empowerment Project aims to give women the support they need to develop their position in society. With education, training and financial support, women in Ethiopia are building more prosperous, secure futures.

How are communities benefiting?

Women involved with the Rural Women's Empowerment Project will have increased access to positions of power in household and community level decision making processes

• Women are using our training and the livestock we provide to start new income-generating activities.
• Village savings and loans groups mean women can manage their money in a simple way that provides them with sufficient credit to set up income-generating businesses such as goat fattening, baking, coffee shops and small restaurants.
• Women are trained as Community Based Legal Advisers (CBLAs), enabling them to advise other women about their legal rights in family law, land and property rights, and criminal law.
• Livestock breeding and goat fattening are becoming more profitable as FARM-Africa trained Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) provide local affordable access to essential basic veterinary care and advice.  Healthy goats are more valuable at market and produce more nutritious milk.

Who are we helping?

With the project's help, some 15,160 rural women will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities that will help them increase household incomes.  This, together with more knowledge about their rights will mean these women are more involved in decision making both at home and in the wider community.

Project partners

FARM-Africa is working together with government (particularly the Women's Affairs Office and the Agriculture and Rural Development Office) at district and village level; the Ethiopian Women Lawyers' Association; Bright Image for a Generation Association; and CARE International.

Empowering women in rural areas

Rural Women's Empowerment Project

Between 2004 and 2008 FARM-Africa worked with rural women in six districts of Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) as part of FARM-Africa's Women's Enterprise Development project. We provided the tools and training women needed to establish small businesses to earn money for food and other household expenses. Our current work is building on this experience and bringing benefits to more communities.

Women's groups are an important part of the social structure in rural Ethiopia. FARM-Africa has been working with some of these groups, providing the training and equipment they need to establish themselves as saving and loan co-operatives. As a result, members now have access to the small-scale credit they need to set up and expand income generating activites.

Achisse's story

Achisse is a member of one such co-operative. Achisse, her husband and their five children are a typical family from Ethiopia's barren and dry south-western region. They struggled to grow enough maize on their small plot of land to survive. With no livestock and no other means to earn a living the family were constantly hungry.

Despite their difficulties, Achisse was determined to do all she could to make a better future for her family so she joined her local women's group. As a result she was chosen to receive two kid goats through a FARM-Africa goat scheme operating in the area at the time. With additional training in goat care and breeding Achisse reared and sold around 20 goats. The money she earned paid for food for the family, a corrugated iron house and a dairy cow to milk and breed from.

With help from FARM-Africa the women's group was able to set up a savings and credit co-operative. Using some money from goat sales, Achisse joined the co-operative and took out a series of loans. She set up a small enterprise buying and selling local commodities such as grain and butter. Achisse also invested in vegetable seedlings, which now produce enough cabbages to keep her family from hunger, with plenty spare to sell at market.

The whole community is now benefiting from women like Achisse selling a wider variety of goods locally. And women in the area are inspired by the success of these new female-run businesses. Membership of the co-operative continues to grow.

Project Experiences and Evaluations

Women’s Enterprise Development Project: Final evaluation
Word Document - 1.21mb

Working Papers

14. Scaling-up Success - FARM-Africa\'s new strategy for development
Adobe PDF - 444kb