Ethiopia is one of the seven countries where the other six countries are Guatemala, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Niger and Liberia which are all considered as pilot countries under the implementation of the Rural Women Economic Empowerment Joint Programme. UN Women in collaboration with participating UN agencies and government ministries adapted the global joint programme to its context, identifying Ethiopia’s priorities for a proposed joint rural women economic empowerment programme for the UN participating agencies and national stakeholders.

The programme priorities emanate from the national policy priorities set out in the GTP 2011-2015 and the currently being developed for the next GTP (2016-2020), and also in close consultation with relevant Ministries and regions, as follows: increased agricultural productivity and production, sustainable conservation and utilization of natural resources (food availability), increased smallholder farmer income, strengthened access to financial and non-financial resources, and participation of women in all development processes and benefiting of it.

Objectives

The JP RWEE aims at accelerating rural women economic empowerment in the context of the country national policy priorities on food security, economic growth and sustainable development as defined by Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan 2011-2015, and in contributing to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as, to the emerging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The JP RWEE will target directly 2,000 agrarian and pastoralist women in the regions of Oromiya and Afar, and indirectly 12,000 household members, as well as over 14,000 community members, 80 rural women run producers’ cooperatives, 3,000 women members of rural savings and credit cooperative and 5,000 women members of producers’ cooperatives over the two years of program implementation.

The JP RWEE is articulated around four interrelated outcomes:

1. Rural women improve their food security and nutrition.  

1. Rural women increase their incomes to sustain their livelihoods
2. Rural women strengthen their voice in decisions that affect their lives.
3. Gender responsive policy and institutional environment for women's economic empowerment.

The Year 1 preparatory phase of JP RWEE in Ethiopia will pave a way for the 2 year evidence-based Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment Joint Programme (JP RWEE) which targets the economic and social empowerment of Ethiopian rural women. The programme will be implemented based on the consolidation of research, evidence-based practices and lessons learned from the field in similar interventions, and ownership from local, national and regional stakeholders.

Strategic objectives for Year 1 programming include:

• Establishing comprehensive baseline data and putting in place evidence based intervention  strategies
• Transformative and inclusive leadership introduced in Federal Cooperative Agency
• Rural women's capacity on control management over local food household reserves enhanced
• RUSACCOs capacitated in gender sensitive  financial and non-financial product development and supported with revolving fund