women empowerment

1. Harnessing the Potential of Women in the Fight Against Poverty

2. How to reduce inequalities and
advance the status of rural women
...through...through improved access to:improved access to:
Productive resources
Participation in rural
institutions and decision-making
Basic services and rural
infrastructure
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IFAD’sIFAD’s
PerspectivePerspective
IFAD’sIFAD’s
PerspectivePerspective
Why do it?Why do it? What are the challenges?What are the challenges? The way aheadThe way ahead

3. A root cause of poverty: the imbalance between...
What rural women have:What rural women have:
2% of land
5% extension
services
15% parliamentary
seats
Marginal access to
formal credit
Less education
FewerFewer rightsrights
What rural women do:What rural women do:
Family care
Domestic work
Agricultural
production
Income - generation
Management of
household food
security
Natural resources
management

4. NutritionNutrition Maternal
mortality
Maternal
mortality
Infant
mortality
Infant
mortality
HIV/
AIDS
HIV/
AIDS
Malaria and
other diseases
Malaria and
other diseases
Income growthIncome growth
Water
and sanitation
Water
and sanitation
Universal
primary education
Universal
primary education
Gender equality/
women’s
empowerment
Gender equality/
women’s
empowerment
……an opportunity, and an essential condition for achieving thean opportunity, and an essential condition for achieving the
Millennium Development GoalsMillennium Development Goals
ODA for
basic
services
ODA for
basic
services
Reducing inequalities - Empowering women...

5. Achieving the MDG, empowering women
Global challenges:Global challenges:
More resources, but also
...better planned and better focused
Turning globalization into an opportunity
and not a risk
Mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on
women
More of the same is not enoughMore of the same is not enough

6. IFAD’s challenges:IFAD’s challenges:
Reinforcing field impact
…and achieving a broader catalytic effect
through:through:
IFAD’s achievements:IFAD’s achievements:
Organization and decision-making
Economic empowerment
Improved living conditions
advocacy
policy dialogue
partnerships
Achieving the MDG, empowering women

7. 1.1. Women’s access to productive resourcesWomen’s access to productive resources
A matter of
• Legal and policy frameworks
but also...
• Gender roles and culture
• Social recognition of women’s
rights © IFAD
Achieving the MDG and empowering rural women - Critical issues:
• Enabling conditions

8. 2.2. Women’s participation and decision-makingWomen’s participation and decision-making
A matter of
• Legal and policy frameworks
• Gender roles and culture
• Quotas?
• Confidence
• Women’s time
• Organization Beyond groups to broader
coalitions and sustainable
local institutions
Beyond groups to broader
coalitions and sustainable
local institutions
© IFAD
Achieving the MDG and empowering rural women - Critical issues:

9. 3.3. Lack of basic services and rural infrastructureLack of basic services and rural infrastructure
• A constraint for rural people
But will commitments materialize?
• A special burden for women
and girls
• A central MDG concern
(22/49 indicators)
© IFAD
• A limiting factor for women’s
advancement
Achieving the MDG and empowering rural women - Critical issues:

10. How to reduce inequalities and
advance the status of rural women
...through...through improved access to:improved access to:
Productive resources
Participation in rural
institutions and decision-making
Basic services and rural
infrastructure
© IFAD
IFAD’sIFAD’s
PerspectivePerspective
IFAD’sIFAD’s
PerspectivePerspective

11. The way ahead:
key questions...
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• Which new development approaches?
• What issues to address in advocacy
and policy dialogue?
• How to engage men as champions of
women’s empowerment?

12. End
© IFAD