Women in Agribusiness Leadership Track
Building business and cooperative leadership skills for women-led farming groups with finance, mentorship, and enterprise development tools.
Programme photo
Programme Objectives
- Strengthen women's participation in cooperative governance and decision-making structures
- Provide targeted financial literacy and savings group facilitation for women members
- Connect women-led enterprises to market opportunities and input procurement systems
- Establish a peer mentorship network linking experienced women leaders with emerging ones
The Women in Agribusiness Leadership Track recognises that women make up the majority of NASFAM's farming membership yet remain significantly underrepresented in leadership structures and commercial value chains. The programme takes a structured approach to addressing these gaps, combining governance reform support at the association level with direct enterprise development support for women-led groups.
Financial literacy training delivered through a series of facilitated workshops has helped participating women understand savings principles, credit use, and seasonal budgeting. Over 280 village savings and loan groups have been established under the programme, creating a self-sustaining financial inclusion platform that operates independently of formal banking requirements while building women's financial assets over successive seasons.
Mentorship matching has connected 340 women in advanced stages of enterprise development with established women leaders who provide guidance on scaling operations, negotiating buyer relationships, and managing group dynamics. Mentees report that peer learning from women with real commercial experience in similar contexts is more actionable than formal training alone.
Association governance reform components have worked with 35 district associations to review their constitutions and leadership structures, with many adopting explicit gender quotas and reserved positions for women in executive committees. Early data suggests that associations with higher women's leadership representation make more inclusive decisions about programme resource allocation.
Programme Partners