Selected programmes in support of women in agriculture, forestry and fisheries
Policy Planning and Research
· Efforts to promote gender awareness and sensitivity among government planners and policymakers include an initiative to train staff in key Ministries, including MAWRD and the
National Planning Commission (NPC) in gender sensitive planning.
· The NPC's Central Statistics Office has devised a strategy to generate, analyze, present and disseminate gender-specific statistics.
· A new Gender Research Unit at the University of Namibia Research Centre will promote ongoing research and policy discussions on gender issues.
· An initiative to integrate women into agricultural development programmes includes the development of gender-sensitive data collection and training extension staff in socio-economic and gender analysis.
Legal and Policy Reform
The Co-operative Act provides that cooperatives in which more than one-third of the total members are women must have at least one woman on each Management Committee and Subcommittee.
Access to Credit
NGOs such as the Rural People's Institute for Social Empowerment (RISE) and the Namibia Credit Union League, are supporting local groups to manage and administer group savings and credit programmes. Many of the credit unions have helped women to mobilize and invest their savings.
