FAO and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development together for women’s empowerment in agriculture

FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development signed in a virtual ceremony the agreement on Gender Rural Equality and Tourism project (GREAT) that contributes to rural women's empowerment in Albania and strengthens its role and contribution in community in context of Agenda 2030.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Milva Ekonomi, emphasized the importance of the project in strengthening rural women's capacity and their development in businesses. "The project will provide training for rural advisory services, Agricultural Technology Transfer Centers, municipal authorities and gender-related services related to the value chain and agritourism," said Minister Ekonomi. During her speech, minister expressed that the formation of gender equal group on a local action will be another priority of the project added that the Local Action Group Law, which will be passed in the Parliament very soon to strengthen the role of women in the rural development.

For the next phase, minister added that is planning to build three incubators of traditional products that women have opportunity to gather and promote the value chain among other women in rural areas.

"The project is based on best practices applied in other countries and tries to extend them in the Albanian context by implementing innovative approaches aimed at promoting the co-manager of farms and increasing the capacity of rural advisory services at the local level to provide gender-responsive services for rural tourism, agribusiness and value chain development", stressed FAO Representative in Albania Raimund Jehle. FAO would work closely with national authorities to design and implement a gender-responsive legal and policy framework that will contribute to the sustainable economic empowerment of rural women.

The total budget of the GREAT project is 1 million 350 thousand Euros and is implemented by UN Women, the Italian Cooperation and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, where the component implemented by FAO is 678 thousand dollars.

"FAO will advocate for women staff in rural service delivery and introduce gender equality in new service delivery. There are social, cultural and trade barriers for women moving up the value chain. Therefore, work will be focused in promoting the untapped potential and value of the role of women in agriculture and the benefits it can bring to the rural economy through awareness and dedicated campaigns," highlighted Jehle.

GREAT project will assist rural women in capacity building and business creation, self-organizing and registering as local groups and improving their funding opportunities. Value chains of local and traditional products with a strong commitment and perspective of rural women will be selected in each implementation area to add value to the final product, strengthen collaborative work, improve market access and strengthen the role of rural women in agriculture and rural development.

The project contributes to the FAO Strategic Framework for rural poverty reduction, equal access to productive resources, services, organizations and markets, sustainability, Country Programming Framework, policy support, capacity development, and knowledge development accelerate gender equality and economic empowerment of rural women in line with the Regional Initiative 1.