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Women’s Empowerment through Gender Transformative Market Opportunities (WE-GO)

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The Women’s Empowerment through Gender Transformative Market Opportunities (WE-GO) program seeks to increase women’s empowerment in agriculture through gender transformative market investments.

To meet this goal, with generous funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, WE-GO will partner closely with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen institutional systems for gender integration within the ministry and will increase income for women farmers by implementing gender transformative activities and diversification in horticulture and livestock.

Intervention

CARE will provide technical support to and strengthen the Women, Children & Youth Affairs Directorate (WCYAD), allowing it to be the central coordination hub to carry out the Gender Equity Strategy for Agriculture in Ethiopia (GESA) by integrating gender transformative programming and accountability within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

WE-GO will also use a real-time, learn-by-example demonstration program to work directly with 5,200 women farmers in Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACCs) in two regions. CARE’s Farmer Field and Business School approach will showcase tools and integrated gender transformative approaches that have proven effective and sustainable in CARE’s agricultural development work in Ethiopia and throughout the world. This outcome will demonstrate the effectiveness of gender-transformative, market-driven approaches and will help institutionalize them within the MoA’s service delivery; including in the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) which is led by ACCs. The MoA and CARE will be equal partners in WE-GO. Both will share responsibilities to implement the project and be accountable for the results, while MoA is the ultimate owner of the project. The Ministry has been actively involved since the design phase of this project, and the targeted directorates of the Ministry, including state ministers, have contributed to program design through consultations held with important stakeholders.

Program achievements

CARE’s experience has shown that women are catalysts for change. Programs that build women’s agency, amplify their voices, and economically empower them have tangible, long-lasting benefits in their households, their communities, and the greater society. Creating an environment where women and men contribute equally – and reap equal benefits – is the critical next step in transforming the agriculture sector in Ethiopia.

5200

women farmers

will be involved in the WE-GO program

The importance of WE-GO

There has been recognition and a growing momentum to bring gender parity to agriculture, which requires overcoming systemic challenges as explained in the Gender Equality Strategy for Agriculture in Ethiopia (GESA): (i) inadequate institutional structures and accountability systems; (ii) limited capacity to deliver gender-responsive agricultural services; (iii) insufficient collaboration and partnership between relevant ministries, institutions, and development partners; and (iv) unequal/imbalanced power relations between women and men in households and communities.

The GESA strategy seeks to address these systemic challenges and the Women’s Empowerment through Gender-Transformative Opportunities program serves as a blueprint for realizing this vision.

Highlighted Resource

WEGO: Gendered Financial Service Needs and Accessibility Analysis Study Brief

Women's Empowerment through Gender Transformative Market Opportunities (WEGO) program conducted a study to understand the gender gap in financial services accessibility, availability, and usage in four woredas of Amhara (Fogera and North Mecha) and Sidama (Wondogenet and Shebedino) regions in Ethiopia. It examined the barriers, opportunities, needs, and perspectives of both the demand and supply sides to provide recommendations for gender equal financial inclusion through a mixed-methods approach interviewing a total of 519 (54.9% women) participants.

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