A new partnership program to strengthen the professional capacities, incomes and access to finance of thousands of smallholder women farmers in the staple food sector in Côte d'Ivoire. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank's Affirmative Action in Finance for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program announced on June 17 the launch of its implementation.

The IFC - African Development Bank advisory program for women-led staple food cooperatives aims to help these organizations, which are mainly in the informal economy sector, and smallholder women farmers to succeed in their process of integration into the formal economy. This project will offer training in various professional activities leading in particular to qualifications in the technical, commercial, financial and contractual fields. Implemented over three years, it will provide assistance to 200 women-led agricultural organizations in this West African country.

The US$3 million project will be implemented with the support of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) whose objective is to demonstrate the viability, potential , profitability and business capacity of women-owned small and medium enterprises in emerging and developing markets. The project will also benefit from the support of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), with specific funding from the United Kingdom aimed at fostering synergies between the public and private sector windows.