Duration: January 2021 – January 2026
Total Funding: $2.6 million

OVERVIEW

Through a public-private partnership, USAID is working with ExxonMobil, ENI and Grupo Simples to increase economic opportunities for rural women in Angola, allowing them more fully participate in the economy as active citizens. With a focus on women farmers, many of whom face economic and cultural barriers, the project assists participants in obtaining the basic tools needed to access employment, education, loans, and property. This includes learning how to secure land rights, improve literacy skills, increase agricultural productivity, and develop networks to tackle gender-based violence.

Women in Angola Farming is implemented by Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo (ADPP), in close collaboration with the Government of Angola’s Ministries of Social Affairs, Education, Agriculture, and Justice and Human Rights. Covering six provinces (Malanje, Cuanza-Norte, Cuanza-Sul, Luanda, Huíla, and Namibe), this project is supported through USAID’s Economic Empowerment Fund, which was created to advance workforce development and vocational education; promote women’s entrepreneurship; and remove legal, regulatory and cultural barriers.

ACTIVITIES

  • Training for women farmers in conservation farming techniques to increase agricultural production
  • Literacy training via Farmers’ Clubs
  • Training in the Participatory Land Delimitation (PLD) methodology, facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
  • Providing technical assistance on PLD to provincial and municipal authorities
  • Establishing 113 Farmers’ Clubs, providing technical assistance in management and finance
  • Assisting women with the registration processes to obtain identification (ID) cards and birth certificates for their children
  • Establishing Women’s Advocates networks in 120 communities, composed of both women and men, to promote an enabling environment for women’s empowerment
  • Developing radio programs on gender issues to better promote women’s empowerment

EXPECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN NUMBERS

  • 30,000 farmers, including 24,000 women, will benefit (directly or indirectly) from new, improved agricultural techniques, which will increase production
  • 6,000 Farmers’ Club members will participate in literacy programs
  • 12,00 farmers from 120 different communities will be trained on land rights, assisting their communities to better understand their rights
  • 6,000 farmers, of which 4,800 will be women, will receive IDs, including birth certificates for their children. These women, in turn, will mobilize nearly 18,000 neighbors to secure legal documents needed to access credit, and to register to vote in upcoming elections
  • 600 men and women will be trained as mentors on key women’s issues. Mentors will engage up to 60,000 individuals in their own communities
  • Over 1.5 million people will be reached via Women’s Advocates community radio programs