Regenerating Rural Communities

We empower women to regenerate rural communities. Rural women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental, and social changes required for the green and digital transition. Empowering women will be crucial in improving gender equality in energy, climate, and harnessing talent to support a green and sustainable transition. As the International Labour Organization (ILO) points out, women play important roles in the rural economy as farmers, wage earners and entrepreneurs. They take responsibility for the well-being of the members of their families, including food provision and care for children and the elderly. Women constitute majority of agricultural labour force. Yet, women in rural areas face constraints in engaging in economic activities because of gender-based discrimination and social norms, disproportionate involvement in unpaid work, and unequal access to education, healthcare, property, and financial and other services. Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment go hand in hand. Both are important in ensuring that women enjoy their human rights and can play a role in contributing to inclusive and sustainable development through a thriving rural economy. We work to build awareness in the rural areas about women and green entrepreneurship as vehicles for the empowerment of local communities. We also address the need to transform the economy into green and develop new skills required for green jobs and green entrepreneurship in the rural area, using digitalization and social economy models. When empowered, women contribute to their family’s income and become active change leaders in their communities.