Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues,

First, I would like to thank each and every one of you for being here today. Your backing for this important new initiative to speed up the pace of economic empowerment for poor rural women is crucial.
You may say that “economic empowerment” is “development speak”. Allow me to translate it. “Economic empowerment” means three things to poor rural women: more money, more status and more decision-making power.

Together, those three things can drive sustainable, transformational change in the lives of rural women, their communities and their countries. And this is what we are aiming to achieve through the new Joint Programme – real, lasting change.

My special thanks are extended to the Member States that have given support so far. I would also particularly like to thank the panellists and members of the audience for sharing their perspectives, their knowledge and their conviction. My special thanks to Her Excellency Zenebu Tadesse from Ethiopia for bringing her experience and insights to this discussion.
IFAD will be coordinating the Joint Programme’s work in Ethiopia – together with UN Women – and we look forward to a fruitful and productive collaboration.

We celebrate Rural Women’s Day every year in Rome on 15 October. But this year’s launch of the new Joint Programme makes today’s celebration particularly special.

After a year of preparations, and launches in New York and Rome, now the real work starts.

The consultative workshops in the seven countries – scheduled from now until the end of the year – are a vital first step. Work to engage partners and stakeholders has already begun. In Ethiopia, in particular, I know that the agencies are already cooperating and sharing best practices.
The most important participants at the planning workshops will of course be poor rural women themselves, their organizations and their representatives.

Each country’s work plan for the Joint Programme must be rooted in local realities and focused on the challenges that rural women face in their daily lives.

At the workshops and during the planning process, we must ensure that we do not listen only to the voices of those women who are easy to hear, those who say what we expect, those who speak our language and use familiar words.

We must also listen to the voices of women who have been excluded or marginalized – by race, by age, by caste or disability. We must listen to the voiceless, those whose stories are harder to hear – for whatever reason – and to those whose stories are not what we expected, and not on our agenda.

This will not be easy. But real change is inclusive change and that is what we must aim for.

The last group of people I would like to thank are not here today. In the short video that closes this event, Fate, Edna, Ina and Shewaye share their stories, their hopes and their ambitions. 

I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation of these inspirational women. They may be worlds away from us, but they – and many millions like them – are at the heart of today’s event.  Their aspirations are an inspiration to others.

If you take one thing away with you from this short occasion, let it be their needs, their courage and their dignity.

I would like to close by expressing the hope that we can count on your continuing support. If we are to succeed, we must stand together and work together in this ambitious drive to reach rural women around the globe with the tools for lasting change.

Finally, I would like to invite my fellow heads of agency to come up to the podium and sign the joint programme document, which I understand Ms Bachelet has already signed.

Thank you for your attention.