This report serves as a final report for the three year IFAD funded project: ‘Capacity Building for Women’s Leadership in Farmer Producer Organizations in Asia and the Pacific Region Project’. The purpose of this project is to improve the performance and impact of IFAD projects with respect to gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment by seeking to improve the enabling environment through capacity building efforts targeted at partners and stakeholders to heighten leadership skills, in civil society and Government. The target group includes project stakeholders and representatives of beneficiaries in seven IFAD projects supporting rural livelihoods agribusiness, irrigation and agriculture in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Lao PDR.
The strategy of this grant is to improve the enabling environment surrounding projects by working with men and women to build awareness of rights and leadership amongst farmers, staff of agricultural support organizations, and local government. The enabling environment was developed by developing the capacity of IFAD supported project staff in three countries to roll out trainings in gender-integrated planning for producer groups in their projects. WOCAN organized five capacity development workshops for 16 IFAD project staff and selected members of their national counterpart organizations, and provided on-site support for them to roll out trainings to producer groups in Lao PDR, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
In the Lao PDR, a total of 133 farmers and development workers (108 women and 26 men) were trained and three action plans were developed and implemented; in the Maldives, 74 farmers and development workers (59 women and 15 men) were trained and nine action plans were developed and implemented; in Sri Lanka, 177 farmers and development workers (132 women and 45 men) were trained and 30 action plans developed and implemented.
