Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (RWEE) is a joint programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Launched in October 2012 and currently funded by the governments of Sweden and Norway, the five-year multi-agency programme is being implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda, where it aims to empower rural women, in particular by improving their food and nutrition security, increasing their incomes, enhancing their decision-making power and encouraging policy environments that are conducive to their economic empowerment. Across all seven countries, a coordinated approach enables the RWEE programme to leverage each agency’s mandate, comparative advantage and institutional strength for more sustainable and wider-scale improvements in the livelihoods and rights of rural women.

This International Women’s Day, we take a look at some of the programme’s successes. From Guatemala to Kyrgyzstan and from food security to financial independence, here are some examples of how RWEE is enabling and empowering rural women around the world.

Click on the links below:

• FAO Gender Insight: In rural Guatemala, an indigenous woman gets to learn—and lead
• FAO Gender Insight: Flowers in Kyrgyzstan: a beautiful business
• FAO Gender Insight: Empowering Liberian market women
• FAO Gender Videos: Access to Water and Land - Dimitra Clubs in Niger
• WFP Stories: Joint UN Initiative Empowers Rural Women in Rwanda