DUSHANBE, September 27, 2010, Asia-Plus — Around 60 delegates are attending the two-day regional conference on women’s economic empowerment in Central Asia that opened in Dushanbe today.
Organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the conference has brought together government officials, representatives of international agencies, civil society and beneficiaries from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, according to ADB’s Resident Mission in Tajikistan.
“ADB is strongly committed to gender equality and women”s empowerment. Our long-term strategic framework, Strategy 2020 highlights gender equity as one of five drivers of change,” said Joji Tokeshi, ADB’s Country Director for Tajikistan, in his welcome address.
The conference reviews impact of the regional technical assistance project on Promoting Rural Women’s Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies that was implemented in four pilot districts of Osh and Talas regions in Kyrgyzstan, and six pilot districts in Rasht and Sughd regions of Tajikistan.
The project aimed to analyze and address major constraints, and opportunities for rural women’s entrepreneurship in agriculture-related activities; build capacity and strengthen national women’s associations; and develop proposals for financing by development partners.
Over 800 women have been trained in business skills, agriculture production, and innovations; small agri-processing plants have been established. Over 1,000 beneficiaries got marketing consultations and information.
The conference will also present a publication summarizing the findings of the comparative analysis and achievements of the project interventions.
The $600,000 project funded by the ADB’s Gender and Development Cooperation Fund was approved in 2008. UNDP was implementing agency for the project.
