Join us in celebrating the International Day of Rural Women

October 15 is the UN International Day of Rural Women. It recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

Rural women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for inclusive and sustainable development. Yet, unequal power relations between women and men in the household and society, discriminatory gender norms and practices, and their disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work, hamper the efforts of rural women to improve their lives, as well as those of others around them.

UNIDO is committed to supporting rural women, ensuring its development interventions are even more transformative. One example is Mashrou3i (“my project” in Arabic), a joint project of UNIDO, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the HP Foundation. Through entrepreneurship skills, technical training and business coaching the Mashrou3i project is empowering women and generating employment opportunities in rural Tunisia. Find out more in this in-focus article and video report.

To mark International Day of Rural Women, UNIDO will also take part in an expert panel organized on Sunday, 17 October 10.21 at 11:00 AM (CET). UNIDO project implementation experiences will be shared, highlighting the critical role rural women play in enhancing food security and agricultural-rural development.

Register for the digital event here.

For more information contact Petra Wenitzky (P.Wenitzky [at] unido.org (P[dot]Wenitzky[at]unido[dot]org))