By Ishmael Bayoh , Information Attachě, Sierra Leone Embassy *Dakar, Senegal , +221775996486
Sierra Leone small and medium enterprises and micro-enterprises women in the rice value chain are to benefit along over 1000 other women from Senegal, Guinea, and Niger from a $12,250,000 (Twelve Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars).
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) of the World Bank, on Thursday December 7th, 2023 in Dakar, launched the Empowering West African Women Small & Medium Enterprises program (EWASME).
The launching, which took place at the King Fahd Palace hotel, saw the attendance of Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka.
This initiative, spanning across Senegal, Guinea, Niger, and Sierra Leone, aims to empower over 1000 women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro-enterprises in the rice value chain.
Delivering his statement during the launch, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka spoke about President Bio’s agricultural priority to ‘feed salone’ and its five objectives.
He said under the Feed salone agenda, Sierra Leone is working to boost exports, reduce malnutrition, stop importation if rice, and create jobs for the youths. ” Of this, women play a key role in pushing the agenda forward.”
Linking up the project to the Sierra Leone situation, Dr. Kpaka made reference to the Gender Equality and. Women’s empowerment legislation passed which is not only allowed more women participation in decision making but also gave them access to loans.
This initiative launched is to empower women and strengthen local rice value chains to reduce poverty and enhance food security in Guinea, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone as well as implement a comprehensive initiative combining training, access to finance, and business linkages to strengthen the post-production capacity of at least 1000 women-owned or led enterprises in the local rice value chains.
It is also geared to elevate the economic status of women engaged in agriculture and rural enterprises over a 5-year timeframe (2022-2027). As well as conduct community outreach and dialogues to address norms limiting women’s engagement and share identified policy and customary barriers with policy makers to garner broad support for change.
