Description
As part of the ITC W&T Programme Phase II, the purpose of the project is to contribute to women farmers’ increased participation in trade (at local, regional or international level) and, thus, increased income leading to poverty reduction in household farms. To achieve this goal, project activities will cover the following three areas: • Women farmers take over important functions along the cotton value chain in Zambia through mentoring of CAZ as well as identified women business leaders on gender mainstreaming. • Increased business opportunities for women farmers that produce cotton as well as other rotation crops by improving the management and sales of their products and providing guidance on how it is reinvested into value addition and other business. As a result of the project it is expected that out of the initially targeted 200 women farmers, over 150 will benefit from higher incomes leading to improved livelihoods and to potential opportunities to grow the women farmer’s business, including in cotton value-addition. Furthermore, it is expected that a small proportion of the additional income will translate into new savings for women farmers that are members of CAZ self-financing groups. This investment into small business activities will lead to a multiplication of the expected impact. CAZ will be instrumental in multiplying the experiences made and results achieved to all cotton-based women farmers that are members of the association in Zambia