Beans for Women for Empowerment (B4WE)

The B4WE Project aims to strengthen gender equality, decision-making, and resource rights for women and girls in the bean sector across conflict-prone areas of eastern DRC (North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tanganyika). The project seeks to improve food security by enhancing bean value chains, increasing incomes for smallholder women, and boosting their livelihoods. Key activities include promoting gender equity in bean value chains, empowering women and girls in leadership roles, increasing agricultural productivity through research and training, and reducing vulnerability to climate change by promoting climate-smart technologies. The expected outcomes are enhanced income opportunities, greater women’s leadership, and improved access to productive resources and nutritious food for women and girls. The project will directly benefit at least two million individuals, including 300 women-led enterprises, 25,000 women leaders, and 15,000 women farmer couples, with the goal of empowering women and girls within the region’s bean economy. 

• Promoting Gender Equity in Bean Value Chains: Addressing women’s rights and access to productive resources, including land, by brokering business opportunities for women-led bean enterprises and female entrepreneurs. 

• Empowering Women and Girls in Leadership: Strengthening the voices and leadership roles of women and girls in decision-making within the bean economy. 

• Increasing Agricultural Productivity: Disseminating research products on beans, improving the skills of women producers and cooperatives, and delivering education on nutrition and bean product development. 

• Capacity Building and Policy Advocacy: Strengthening the public and private sectors’ ability to deliver gender-responsive programs and policies. 

• Promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture: Accelerating the adoption of climate-smart technologies by women bean producers to reduce vulnerability to climate change. 

• Outreach and Education on Nutrition: Conducting outreach and educational activities aimed at influencing nutrition behaviors and attitudes among women, girls, and bean producers. 

• Supporting Women’s Access to Resources: Facilitating greater access for women and girls to means of production and nutritious food, enhancing income opportunities through climate-smart practices.