Insights and experiences from Ghana and Rwanda: hidden intersections on women’s rights and climate resilient sustainable agriculture

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded ActionAid International to implement the Women’s Rights to Sustainable Livelihoods project in Ghana and Rwanda between 2012 and 2015. The purpose of the project is to pilot practical solutions to reduce the unpaid care work of women smallholder farmers, increase their access to, and control over, food and resources, and improve the environment in which they farm.

The project aims to help women smallholder farmers to organise, gain knowledge and skills on climate-resilient sustainable agriculture, challenge their existing and disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work, and make their demands heard by decision makers. Ultimately, it is expected that the state will take responsibility for providing resources to support women’s unpaid care work, just as donors and development agencies will concretely address unpaid care work in interventions aimed at improving women smallholder farmers’ agriculture, and poverty reduction.