“A growing body of evidence supports the notion that investing in the rights and empowerment of women and girls is one of the most effective ways to improve food security and nutrition outcomes. Sweden is firmly committed to gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment and proudly funds the JP RWEE.”Dan Ericsson
State Secretary to the Minister for Rural Affairs, Kingdom of Sweden
[O4] Support synergies between global dialogue and in-country programming through our efforts to strengthen resilience and women's economic empowerment, e.g. through continued support to the Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP RWEE).
Spanning seven countries, phase one of the programme reached nearly 80 000 beneficiaries, impacting 400 000 household members – 91 percent of them women.
In its second phase, the JP RWEE aims to reach more than 45 000 direct beneficiaries and 348 000 household members across Nepal, the Niger, the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga), Tunisia and the United Republic of Tanzania, expanding the programme’s outreach to two additional regions (Asia and the Pacific, and the Near East and North Africa).
Bridging the gap between global policy commitments and country-level implementation is critical to ensuring that financial investments in climate resilience and gender equality lead to tangible improvements in women’s lives. While gender-responsive frameworks on resilience and climate adaptation exist at the global level, many rural women still face systemic barriers to accessing resources, financial services and decision-making spaces that would allow them to fully benefit from these investments. The challenge lies not only in mobilizing funds but also in ensuring that they are effectively channelled into programmes that empower women as economic agents and leaders in climate adaptation and resilience-building efforts.
Recognizing this, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has committed to strengthening the linkages between global dialogue, gender-responsive financial commitments and in-country programming. As a longstanding advocate for integrating gender equality into resilience-building efforts, Sida supports women’s livelihoods, strengthening their adaptive capacities and advancing economic empowerment at the local level.
Sida is a founding donor of the Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP RWEE), contributing to its launch and sustained implementation. This programme is a global initiative designed to boost rural women’s livelihoods, rights and resilience through an integrated approach that promotes their social, economic and political empowerment. While strengthening gender-responsive legal frameworks, policies and institutions, it improves rural women’s food security and nutrition and increases their leadership, economic empowerment and participation. Together with Sida, the programme is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Government of Ireland and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The JP RWEE is the result of the collaborative efforts between FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women). The joint implementation has allowed the programme to benefit from and leverage each organization's unique expertise to advance gender equality in rural areas. In line with the CGE’s overarching objectives to scale up partnerships and catalyse increased commitments to improve gender equality in agrifood systems, the JP RWEE represents a great example of strengthened collaboration and upscaled efforts to this end.
Sida’s continued support to the JP RWEE has contributed to expanding women’s access to economic opportunities, strengthening social protection mechanisms and embedding gender-responsive approaches in rural development initiatives. By joining the CGE initiative, the agency is scaling up these efforts. Sida’s commitment will ultimately increase the effectiveness of resilience-building efforts within agrifood systems, ensuring that women’s leadership in climate adaptation and rural economies is recognized, supported and sustained, thus shaping a more inclusive, sustainable future for women in agrifood systems.
Required citation:
FAO. 2025. Commit to Grow Equality: investing in the future of women in agrifood systems – Progress report 2025. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd4123en
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