© Joseph Cyubahiro
Empowering women in Rwanda amid the COVID-19 crisis
Fodé Ndiaye Resident Coordinator United Nations, Rwanda
Investing in women’s economic empowerment, sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.
Women make enormous contributions to policies, economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home.
The Government of Rwanda has registered tremendous achievements from investing in policies and programmes that empower women, including in rural areas where using financial products or services has significantly increased from 85% in 2016 to 90% in 2020.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, life has not been the same. Particularly for women and girls who are hit hardest by the crisis as they are more likely to be employed in the informal sector, earn less, save less and hold less secure jobs. In Rwanda, most women are rural based, with 74% of them (2.9 million) residing in rural areas.
© Joseph Cyubahiro
Vast initiatives to empower women economically
The UN Country Team in Rwanda is contributing to women’s empowerment through the Joint Programme on Gender equality, as well as other initiatives, such as RWEE (Rural Women Economic Empowerment), Gender Equality Seal Certification, Women in Financial Technology, and the International Trade Centre’s SheTrades initiative.
Through the Joint Programme on accelerating progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women implemented by UN Women, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the UN Country Team in Rwanda aims to secure rural women’s livelihoods and rights in the context of sustainable development, assisting over 2,080 direct beneficiaries and 1,740 indirect beneficiaries.
Moreover, the programme has made a significant contribution to improving agricultural practices at the individual and cooperative/group level, by increasing vegetable, fruits and livestock production, securing healthy diets and nutrition, assuring linkages to the market, developing entrepreneurship, securing financial access through village savings, lending associations and linkages to financial institutions, and building leadership skills. This has increased the women’s confidence and self-esteem.
The Joint Programme on Gender has also engaged with partners to commission studies, for instance on trade barriers for better decision-making and a gender-responsive business environment for both domestic and international trade. The findings and recommendations of this study are shaping the policy dialogue on strategically positioning women entrepreneurs to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other regional trade protocols, while the support from other UN Agencies, such as the International Trade Centre, increases small business’ understanding of the Agreement and their capacity to trade in this regard.
The Gender programme equipped me with business skills and my profits have increased.
I built a house, paid for my child’s university fees and bought cattle.
I have electricity and a TV in my house.
Uwingabire Consolee
The Gender Equality Seal Certification Programme, implemented with the assistance of the UN Development Programme and UN Women Rwanda, is promoting gender accountability in the private sector. It engages private-sector companies to institutionalize gender equality with currently 29 organizations on board.
The UN has also worked with development partners to provide data and helps integrating gender in Rwanda’s COVID-19 response. UN Women, UNFPA and the Government jointly commissioned a Rapid Gender Assessment to draw attention to the gender-differentiated impact on women and men, with findings illustrating how the stringent COVID-19 containment measures in Rwanda have disproportionately affected women’s economic activity and incomes; and increased their vulnerability to poverty.
The UN has rapidly adjusted to the new dynamics and supported women entrepreneurs through a resilience-building journey, for instance through the International Trade Centre’s SheTrades project or through UN Women providing business clinics that offer business advisory services, coaching and psycho-social support.
© UN
© UN
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Call for Action
Agenda 2030 can only be achieved if our efforts and commitments are inclusive, resilient, green and sustainable, shock-, gender- and youth-responsive. We commend the longstanding partnership with the Government of Rwanda to advance joint advocacy and policy dialogues on gender issues, which contribute to our efforts in improving social norms, fighting gender-based violence and strengthening policies on women’s economic empowerment. In addition, we partner to produce disaggregated data as a basis to ground policy discussions, report on progress and increase joint accountability.
The UN Country Team in Rwanda recognizes the contributions of women in sustainable development in this challenging period of COVID-19. I call for action to assist women and girls to grow their capacities to respond to climate change through agricultural production, food security, and natural resources management, and to contribute to creating more wealth and decent jobs.
As a HeForShe, I encourage all partners to join our efforts in increasing women’s access to economic opportunities and participation in financial services, entrepreneurship, off-farm and decent jobs, ensuring an inclusive recovery as countries embark on COVID-19 recovery process for sustainable development – leaving no one behind.
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The International Trade Centre is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.
Copyright: International Trade Centre, unless otherwise indicated.