
A global initiative, the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women MPTF aims to accelerate progress towards securing the livelihoods, rights and resilience of rural women by building on the comparative advantages of partners to improve socioeconomic opportunities for women in rural areas. Initiatives help rural women enhance food security status, leadership opportunities, community participation, access to social protection, legal, and economic services, and boosting their productive potential.
Status: Active
Latest reports:
Fund established:
The work of the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women is possible thanks to the efforts of . These resources are pooled and channelled to participating organizations to promote joint action and multi-stakeholder partnerships, making a difference on the ground.
Implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the World Food Programme (WFP), the Joint Programme Accelerating Progress Towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE) is forged from a unique UN partnership to tackles the barriers facing rural women. A holistic approach is applied encompassing social, economic and political domains of empowerment to create the enabling environment necessary for rural women’s economic empowerment.
JP RWEE draws on the complementary knowledge and gender expertise of four agencies: technical knowledge and policy assistance of FAO in food security, nutrition and climate-smart agriculture; experience of IFAD in co-financing rural investment programmes and addressing gender inequalities at the household, organization and community levels; WFP technical knowledge, experience and innovations in delivering food security and nutrition programming along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and the technical knowledge, expertise and partnerships of UN Women with global, regional and national mechanisms for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The overarching goal of the programme is to secure rural women’s livelihoods, rights and resilience in the context of sustainable development, Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. The programme has four interrelated outcome areas:
The first phase of the programme was implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda from 2014 to 2021, reaching 79,626 rural women and men (64,447 women and 15,382 men) and 407,667 household members. The second phase of the programme is now being implemented in Nepal, Niger, Tanzania, Tunisia and the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga) from 2022 to 2027, with a view to further scale up to additional countries.
Oversees the activities of the Fund and decides on its strategic direction; oversees the allocation of funds and sets priorities regarding implementation modalities, results-based reporting, and donor visibility. The Committee is composed of senior officials from participating UN organizations, representatives of each contributing donor to the RWEE Fund and representatives from national governments involved in the programme.
Provides technical support to steering committees and Participating UN Organizations. It is comprised of technical/advisor level representatives of FAO, IFAD, UN Women and WFP and contributes to ensuring harmonization of programme approaches and implementation.
Exists in all programme countries and are co-chaired by designated government officials and the leading stakeholder organization. Members include a representative from all participating entities, a representative from the ministries of agriculture/rural development, gender/women’s affairs, economy and finance, community/local development, youth and environment, and from main donors.
A Global Secretariat is hosted by WFP and is responsible for the overall coordination of the programme, the implementation of M&E systems, the consolidation of narrative reports, communications, knowledge management and resource mobilization.
Exists in all programme countries and are co-chaired by designated government officials and the leading stakeholder organization. Members include a representative from all participating entities, a representative from the ministries of agriculture/rural development and other ministries as determined at country level (e.g. gender/women’s affairs). The committee oversees the allocation of ISC approved funds and ensures that the programme is line with national priorities.
At country level, a Programme Management Unit (PMU) is hosted by the lead agency and staffed by a National Coordinator and MEAL Coordinator. The PMU is responsible for overall programme coordination and implementation at country level, ensuring strong coordination mechanisms are in place and that synergies are built between the agencies.
Participating Organizations receive funds through the Administrative Agent, the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office. The Administrative Agent is responsible for the receipt, administration and management of contributions from donors, disbursement of funds to Participating Organizations, and dissemination of progress reports to donors.
The work of is possible thanks to the efforts of contributors. Since together they have contributed . In the annual contributions amounted to .
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Economic Empowerment of Rural Women is currently supporting count_projects ongoing projectscount_globalInterregional and count_countries country-specific. This table shows the most recently approved ongoing projects.
All project financial information can be found in the Financials section, including delivery analysis by organization, theme and project; project financial status by country and by theme.
Economic Empowerment of Rural Women
Contributions to trust funds administered by the MPTF Office are pooled with other partner resources to achieve greater impact and leverage the SDGs. This map provides a geographical breakdown of all investments.
* The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations or UNDP concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
> $55M
$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
Budget amounts in US$
Jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the World Food Programme (WFP) and local partners, the Joint Programme on ‘Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women’ (JP RWEE) builds on each agency’s comparative advantage and strengths to improve the status of women in rural areas.
JP RWEE-supported childcare centres in #Zanzibar are giving #WomenFarmers the freedom to work, earn, and dream bigger.
— UN JP Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (@JPRWEE) March 16, 2026
Read full story here: https://t.co/M1kJSB4WZa pic.twitter.com/w4neMmKyzz
On this #InternationalDayOfPersonswithDisabilities JP RWEE is sharing a story of unbreakable spirit of Agnes from Rwanda.
— UN JP Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (@JPRWEE) December 3, 2025
With JP RWEE, she gained financial independence, confidence and now is a recognized leader in her community.
Read the story: https://t.co/JjB0RCUxyi pic.twitter.com/OmXEfN3cYI
Aligned with #RuralWomensDay and #BeijingPlus30, the Provincial Policy Dialogue in Madhesh brought together local gov’t, partners & rural women to advance discussion on gender-responsive policies for food security.
— UN JP Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (@JPRWEE) November 13, 2025
Led by the Provincial Gov’t with @UN_Women @FAO @IFAD @WFP pic.twitter.com/GFsKYq1kPX
Celebrating the strength and leadership of #WomenFarmers this #InternationalWomensDay 🌾💜⁰The JP RWEE totem at FAO HQ highlights the voices and impact of women across JP RWEE Phase II countries — driving transformation from the ground up. pic.twitter.com/xjzaAeEXeX
— UN JP Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (@JPRWEE) March 5, 2026
Elena Ganan, Policy and Programme, Email: elena.ganan@wfp.org
Dolly Kenga, Portfolio Manager (DA), Email: dolly.kenga@undp.org
Yousif Almasri, Fund Portfolio Associate, Email: yousif.almasri@undp.org
Dawit Ghebremichael, Finance Associate, Email: dawit.ghebremichael@undp.org