VALUE4HER is AGRA’s continental initiative, with an aim of strengthening women-led agribusiness enterprises across Africa. The programme was initially developed under CTA – the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation, then transferred to AGRA. The VALUE4HER initiative is powered by VALUE4HERConnect, Africa’s first women in agribusiness digital marketplace, offering integrated business solutions to women-led companies to enable them to build visibility, form business networks, and connect more easily with buyers, financiers, and other service providers. VALUE4HERConnect leverages the power of digital tools to bridge structural and gendered gaps in access to business resources, deliver real-time information, offer relevant knowledge, and amplify women’s voices.
Image: AGRA
VALUE4HERConnect: Africa’s one-stop-shop for women’s agribusiness solutions
At a high-level webinar celebrating International Women’s Day, Sabdiyo Dido, Head of Gender and Inclusiveness at AGRA, highlighted three key areas of focus for the agenda of empowerment for African women agribusiness entrepreneurs. These are i) supporting women’s voices to call for a more enabling environment for increased productivity, ii) agency and decision-making power, and iii) access to a range of sources of capital.
Since its relaunch under AGRA’s leadership:
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The VALUE4HER platform has doubled its membership, reaching a total of 1200 members;
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Special feature programmes such as The TalkCorner have been developed and rolled out. The TalkCorner is a special segment of the VALUE4HER women’s capacity-building programmes, aiming to boost the visibility of women-led agri-enterprises. Through this segment, a total of 676 participants have been reached.
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An assessment of the impact of COVID 19 on women agri enterprises was conducted and based on key outcomes, a post-COVID-19 recovery, and resilience programme- African Resilience Investment Series for Women Executives (ARISE)was developed and implemented in partnership with RENEW LLC. Through the ARISE programme, series of executive leadership and investment seminars reaching 2000 women business leaders have been held.
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To bring the VALUE4HER initiative to the country level, AGRA and local partners held country consultations and launch events in 11 countries where AGRA has operations, these events have reached approximately 2300 participants.
On 23 June, AGRA in collaboration with IFPRI, SAFIN and other partners co-hosted an Independent African Dialogue of the UN Food Systems Summit on women’s agripreneurship and food trade.
