Empowering Women Agribusinesses in Uganda

Barriers holding women back

In Uganda, women form the backbone of the agricultural workforce. However, they continue to face barriers that limit their potential. Women agribusiness owners, particularly in rice production, struggle with access to high value markets due to weak linkages, poor bargaining power, and restricted access to financial services; often lacking the necessary collateral to obtain loans crucial for growth. Cultural norms furthermore exacerbate gender inequalities, limiting women’s ownership of resources (only 8% of rice mills are owned by women) and their involvement in decision-making roles. These systemic obstacles hinder their economic empowerment. EWAU was launched to change this reality and help women agripreneurs take their place as key actors in Uganda’s rice sector.

How the project addresses this

EWAU promotes women’s economic empowerment by:

• Providing tailored financial services for women agribusinesses; in partnership with financial institutions
• provide direct market linkages and increase the competitiveness of women agribusinesses through the formation of agribusiness clusters and proactive partnership facilitation
• Training and coaching Agri-Business Development Service Providers (Ag-BDSPs) and cluster coaches to deliver gender-responsive and context-sensitive assistance to women agribusinesses
• Strengthening cooperatives and district multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) to advocate for inclusive and sustainable rice value chains

iCRA’s contribution

Within the EWAU consortium, iCRA leads the cluster formation process and training and coaching of the Ag-BDS providers and cluster coaches that play a key role in this. In addition, together with the African Management Institute (AMI) and the National Alliance of Agricultural Cooperatives in Uganda (NAAC), 5 Agricultural Business Development Service Providers (Ag-BDSPs) and 8 cluster coaches are supported to become skilled facilitators of trust-based agribusiness partnerships.  Over the next two years, these facilitators will set up eight agribusiness clusters around Bunambutye ACE and DIFACOS cooperatives, with the aim to aim strengthen market linkages for 2,000 farmers (at least 600 women) and support 150 women agribusinesses in securing new business deals. By the end of this 2-years project, EWAU aims to see more women agripreneurs leading profitable, bankable businesses, connected to stable markets and finance.