ENHANCING WOMEN’S MARKET ACCESS IN AGRIBUSINESS

 

Welcome to Angonia, Tete, Mozambique.  My time with Peace Corps finished in June and after a trip home to the states, I have returned. I did experience a few reverse culture shocks, especially with the costs of items and how they are so easily thrown into the shopping cart, and the many options of toothpaste we have to select from, but it was still great being home.

For the next 10 months, I am consulting on a World Bank project for a non-profit called iDE (International Development Enterprises). “iDE is an international non-profit organization unleashing the power of innovation and market forces for poor rural households and helping individuals access the tools and knowledge needed to increase their income. iDE pioneered market-based development 32 years ago and has been serving the base of the pyramid ever since with market-driven ideas.”

This project is to promote women’s skills in the agricultural market.  Many things are to a women’s disadvantage here; low bargaining power, aspirations, low agricultural skills, all leading to low revenues. Hence the title of the project:

ENHANCING WOMEN’S MARKET ACCESS IN AGRIBUSINESS

The project is based on training 2000 women to increase basic agricultural skills (irrigation, seed quality, soil preparation, fertilizer, planting variations), basic business skills and establishing a network of market contacts. This project is unique because the women will also be receiving a “soft skills training” which are non-cognitive skills. What does that mean? Well for 9 sessions these women will be exposed to a training to promote PERSONAL INITIATIVE, the classes will ignite the self-starting, perseverance, and goal setting; skills that these women have but have been smothered and have resulted in low personal achievements.

The living conditions in these communities are barren. There is no electricity, limited clean water, and access to the communities is by dirt rocky trails.  Some stats:

• ·         17% of the households are single females
• ·         76% of the women are illiterate
• ·         Household welfare is low:
• ·         38% of the households suffered from famine in past 12 months
• ·         Female-headed households significantly more deprived than male-headed households
• ·         Limited women’s bargaining power: women are very rarely the sole decision-makers.

So the project will face some challenges, but the team I am working with is smart and determined. Stay tuned, the training starts in October and I will keep you updated.  Thanks for following.