Outcome MWI_D_2.1

By 2028, more people, especially the most vulnerable groups, including women, youths, and people with disability, participate in and benefit from food and nutrition security and a more diversified, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth resilient to shocks.

UN Women, through the Accelerating Employment Creation and Social Protection Through Integrated Agriculture Value Chain Development project has enhanced participation of vulnerable groups, particularly women, youth, in food and nutrition security and inclusive economic growth. During the reporting year, 117 households improved equitable decision-making and resource control following mentorship under the Household Approach (HHA). For example during monitoring visits, couples explained how they work together on decision making for market access and seed varieties including crops and investment to make as a household, with the seasonal calendar that the households developed in mind..s (including 127 women and 71 youths) shifted from subsistence farming to agribusiness after gaining skills in market price data collection, buyer identification, and negotiation through the Smallholder Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) Approach. Additionally, 1,400 farmers have been trained in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and business management, while Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) demonstrations introduced sustainable practices such as manure making and pit planting, strengthening resilience to climate shocks. Through the project, UN Women provided financial and technical support to the Department of Agricultural Extension Services to implement these interventions. This included training local facilitators and farmers, delivering CSA demonstrations, and building capacity for agribusiness and market-oriented production, ensuring that women, youth, and persons with disabilities are empowered as active contributors to economic growth.

By 2028, more people, especially the most vulnerable groups, including women, youths, and people with disability, participate in and benefit from food and nutrition security and a more diversified, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth resilient to shocks.

Women Malawi Country office, through the WRD project, has equipped 4,475 women and girls to cope with adversity to adapt to unexpected events through provision of business knowledge and access to loans for small scale businesses. 292 of these women are using clean energy; 782 women are engaged in solar powered irrigation agriculture; 250 women are championing homestead farming; and 300 women and girls from 15 groups and involved in apiary enterprises. About 56 % of the registered women and girls have accessed loans to venture in small scale businesses and 10 % accessed loans to scaleup their businesses. This followed the capacity building sessions of 44 Village Agents (VAs) (27 M, 17F) which was primarily aimed at empowering the VAs with knowledge on the integration of gender and resilience into VSLA activities. In Zomba, the project targeted some of the VA who have been previously trained on VSLA methodology under the RSFA -Titukulane. Cumulatively, 125 WRD VSLA groups have saved MK 135,523,300.00 (79,720.88 USD) with MK 75,095,365 (44,173.74 USD) out in loans and MK 42,351,315.00 (24,912.53 USD) total interest . The shares have grown for the past month due to increase in number of women and girls who are selling excess vegetables from their homestead gardens and the money realized are being used to buy shares. UN Women in collaboration with the Ministries of Agriculture and Gender have contributed to increased production of produce for Farmers organized in Cooperatives through knowledge building in a Gender Transformative approach, called Gender makes business sense. The Gender makes Business Sense is an approach which is delivered through a training to equips leaners with practical business management skills, financial know-how and an understanding of the socio-economic impact of gender dynamics in business. The roll-out of GmBS capacity development programme leverages on a learning programme inclusive of an agribusiness development training measure called ‘Power of Three’ (P³). This programme weaves together Agri-processing skills, financial literacy, Gender Transformative Change and women’s empowerment in agriculture. The P³ is focused on agri-processing to maximize the potential for employment creation, improved income and new markets. The approach has empowered participants to unlock their potential, resulting in significant growth and impact within their cooperative. Through GmBs, groupings like Madzumbi Aggregators, Jemakapanje Cooperative, Chisumbu Cooperative and Yinula Cooperative have experienced remarkable progress following the training. Armed with new knowledge, the cooperative has expanded its market reach. This growth has been accompanied by a surge in production, with the cooperatives producing more high-quality crops. Beyond their own achievements, the members have taken the initiative to train other community members on the principles of Gender Makes Business Sense, spreading the benefits of the program in their community. The budget for the outcome was USD1,222,160.