Project profile — Women’s Leadership for Economic Empowerment and Food Security

• Ghana (35.00%)
• Zambia (30.00%)
• Ethiopia (35.00%)

• Secondary Education: Vocational training (11330) (16.00%)
• Post-Secondary Education: Advanced technical and managerial training (11430) (37.00%)
• Government And Civil Society, General: Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (27.00%)
• Banking And Financial Services: Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries (24040) (10.00%)
• Agriculture: Agricultural extension (31166) (10.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)

This project aims to strengthen the leadership of more than 1,000 women associated with Coady’s partner organizations in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia to address lack of access to sufficient, nutritious and safe food and promote sustainable livelihoods. In addition, in Ethiopia, the project aims to train 2,000 women and youth from ten communities in business development and life skills, and to contribute to strengthening 50 cooperative networks to improve their access to markets. In Ghana, it aims to train 500 women and youth in 20 communities to grow, process and use indigenous foods. In Zambia, the project seeks to provide 800 local groups and 80 area associations with training in the area of economic empowerment for women.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) Strengthened voice and leadership for women and girls at the community level in decisions that affect their economic livelihoods and food security; (2) Strengthened leadership, capacity and organizational sustainability of three partner organizations that directly support women's economic empowerment and food security; (3) Increased knowledge on women’s leadership, women’s economic empowerment and food security; and (4) Strengthened influence by partners and their peers on program and policy decisions that contribute to women’s leadership, women’s economic empowerment and food security.

Results achieved at the end of the project (February 2019) include: (1) 4,966 people (4,895 women and 71 men) across all 3 targeted countries participated in community-based training courses on topics such as food security, mobilizing assets, markets and livelihoods, and microfinance; (2) trained 6,516 community members (5,603 women and 913 men) in life-skills with a gender perspective to improve women's leadership in the project groups, area associations, and district associations. The trainings include courses such as leadership, critical analysis, confidence building, effective communication, decision-making, information management, negotiation, and conflict resolution; (3) 169 participants (127 women and 42 men) from partner organizations and network members attended the Coady’s institute leadership courses, including thematic certificates, diploma programs and women's leadership programs; (4) 228 trainers (145 women and 83 men) participated in train the trainer courses to build institutional capacity; (5) created and delivered 6 new courses by regional community-based training and learning centres in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia in partnership with local implementing partners; and (6) held 8 inter-country learning forums and brought together leaders to share action research findings and lessons learned.

• Proactive disclosure