NCG is currently working on a mid-term evaluation of the Sida funded Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Project in Zambia. The project is implemented by We Effect from from November 2019 to July 2023.

WEE project

The overall objective of WEE is to foster women’s economic empowerment to  participate in, contribute to and benefit from agricultural value chains and processes in manners that affirm the value of their contributions, respect their dignity, and promote equality. The project is implemented in eight districts of Eastern, Western, Southern and Central Provinces of Zambia.

Specifically, the project strives to:

1. i) Expand women’s agency and decision-making power at household and, community levels to address barriers to women’s economic empowerment.
2. ii) Reduce institutional barriers that limit women’s economic development in agricultural value and market chains and

iii)        Strengthen women’s voice and collective power at community level to increase access to, control of and ownership over productive (e.g., physical assets, land) and financial assets among women through women-led cooperatives, land tenure and financial inclusion.

Gender perspective

The project is gender transformative and is both women-centered and women-led. The primary target groups and rightsholders are women at community level, especially in the District Women’s Development Associations (DWDAs). The transformative approach adopted by the project ensures the involvement of young women, female-headed households, married women, widows, elderly women, women living with HIV and AIDS, women living with disabilities and other disadvantaged women who are involved in the agricultural chain of value.

The project is led by a team consisting of Carsten Schwensen as Team Leader and Louise Scheibel Smed.