Blog

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) launches for the first time, on International Women's Day, an introductory course on entrepreneurship for rural women in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, which aims to promote in those groups their management and leadership skills.

The initiative responds to a request from the II Forum of Ministers, Vice Ministers and Senior Officials of Agriculture of the Americas, who in July 2022, at an event convened by IICA, stated that only with greater participation of women can security be achieved nations and asked to explore the possibility of training women entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector.

In response to that request, IICA presented a design for the course at the third forum, held in November, which is now open to receive applications. It consists of five learning units that will last 2 months.

Participants will receive training in entrepreneurial culture and community leadership, marketing, business scaling, and how to access business credit. They will also be offered financing and marketing tools for their entrepreneurial ideas.

The Forum of Ministers, Vice Ministers and Senior Officials of Agriculture of the Americas had been installed in 2021 by IICA, following the request of its member countries to institutionalize a space that makes visible, reinforces and prioritizes the relevance of the contributions of rural women and serve as a boost to policies that reduce gender gaps and inequalities.

Around 58 million women live in rural areas of the Americas, who face difficulties in accessing credit and technical assistance and whose work is often under-registered.

"The entrepreneurship course for rural women seeks to contribute to the processes of agricultural and rural development in conditions of equity, tending to change paradigms in our fields and that these are areas of progress, opportunities and well-being for all," said the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero.

“We launched a training proposal to provide rural women in the Americas with practical tools, contribute to their empowerment, and strengthen their leadership as entrepreneurs. With the course, we seek to increase their capacities and thus improve their quality of life and economic level,” commented Priscila Zúñiga Villalobos, manager of IICA's Gender Equity and Youth program.

Women interested in the IICA virtual course must have Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian or Venezuelan nationality or residence, belong to a rural area, have basic schooling and have an entrepreneurial idea or be in the most incipient phases of one.