Liberia is one of the seven countries namely Ethiopia, Guatemala, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Niger considered as a pilot country under the implementation of the RWEE Joint Programme. UN Women in collaboration with participating U.N. agencies and government ministries adapted the global joint programme to its context, identifying Liberia’s priorities for a proposed joint implementation plan for the UN participating agencies and national stakeholders. The entire process was consultative and definitely draws from the global joint programme document and Liberia’s Agenda for Transformation (AFT).

Objectives

The Year 1 preparatory phase of JP RWEE in Liberia will design and launch the 5 year evidence-based Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment Joint Programme (JP RWEE) targeting the economic and social empowerment of Liberian rural women based on the consolidation of research, evidence-based practices and lessons learned from the field, and ownership from critical, local, national and regional stakeholders.

Strategic objectives for Year 1 programming include:

• To launch JP RWEE at the national level across all sectors through the hosting of a National Rural Women’s Conference with the Liberia Rural Women’s Structure including targeted training in leadership and democratic representation, consultations on governance reforms (Constitutional Review and Decentralization), and consultations for the adoption of a roadmap for the JP RWEE and expanded support for women’s agricultural production through the Rural Women’s Structure
• To conduct a strategic mapping and assessment of women’s farming groups in 3 counties for securing data on the needs of existing women’s farming groups in targeted counties (by agricultural production area, geographic distribution, size and gender of farming groups, and prioritization of capacity building needs); and
• To conduct an initial Organizational Development (OD) and Leadership trainings to support leadership structures and development of by-laws for targeted women’s farming groups identified from the mapping and assessment in 3 counties.