Dou Touloma - Woman Pillar of the Family

This project seeks to enhance the well-being and socio-economic empowerment of women farmers in the Koulikoro Mopti Ségou and Sikasso regions of Mali. Project activities include: (1) training women farmers on climate-smart agricultural processing and production leadership association-based entrepreneurship and their fundamental rights including the right to land; (2) integrating women farmers into existing literacy and financial literacy initiatives; (3) providing positive masculinity training to men and traditional leaders including youths; (4) providing elected officials from cooperatives and agricultural unions with training on inclusive governance and financial management practices as well as on gender equality; (5) providing cooperatives and unions with support to develop business models and fund agricultural projects that promote climate change adaptation in predominantly female value chains; (6) providing regional women’s organizations with support to advocate for women’s economic rights among officials and conduct awareness campaigns; and (7) building the operational capacity of the Fédération nationale des femmes rurales. This project is being implemented by the Alliance agricole internationale a platform for agricultural engagement and action formed by the Société de coopération pour le développement international (SOCODEVI) the Centre d’étude et de coopération internationale (CECI) and the Union des producteurs agricoles - Développement international (UPA-DI).

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) women farmers have an enhanced capacity to access use manage and control the economic and productive resources of their agricultural business in a climate change context; (2) predominantly female agricultural cooperatives and their unions enjoy more inclusive governance and a range of products and services that are better adapted to the specific needs of women farmers and environmental challenges; and (3) the capacities of regional associations and the Fédération nationale des femmes rurales are enhanced so that women farmers are more empowered and can exercise their social and economic rights.