Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential factors in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition, as women make a significant contribution to agricultural production and food security.
However, women and girls in rural areas suffer disproportionately from multidimensional poverty. Compared to their male counterparts, they have less access to land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets and quality agri-food chains, and receive lower prices for their crops. In addition, structural barriers and discriminatory social norms continue to limit women’s decision-making power and political participation in rural households and communities.
In Burkina Faso, HOPE’87 has implemented a project aimed at reducing chronic child malnutrition and building the capacity of state and civil society actors for greater resilience to food insecurity in the Hauts-Bassins region, with financial support from YOU Stiftung – Bildung für Kinder in Not and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project was implemented over a period of 18 months, ending in May 2024. On the one hand, it helped to significantly reduce chronic malnutrition and strengthen the resilience of state actors and civil society in the fight against food insecurity. On the other hand, thanks to the development of two sustainable market gardening perimeters, the project has increased the income of over 200 women organized in women’s groups in Koloko and Kagnabougou!