This year the theme for International Women’s Day is “Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”.

In poor rural areas around the globe women are often among the weakest and most disadvantaged members of society. They are vulnerable to violence and exploitation, both in the home and in the community.

IFAD-supported projects empower women, improve their livelihood opportunities, their health, their living standards and their status.

In the countries in transition in Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States, trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation has recently emerged as a major problem. IFAD-supported programmes and projects in this region are addressing this issue with the assistance of the regional Gender Mainstreaming Programme.

Projects work with poor rural women and girls to identify their needs and reduce their vulnerability by enabling them to find fairly paid work or start small businesses of their own.

The Gender Mainstreaming Programme in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States addresses the trafficking of women and girls.

The trafficking of women and girls has emerged as a serious problem in many countries in transition. Trafficking has grown along with the intense migration that began in the early 1990s.

Poverty and unemployment fuel migration, together with demand for labour in richer European countries. Poor rural women are lured to the cities or abroad with the promise of a job. When they arrive, they often find themselves forced into prostitution or servitude.

No one knows how many women and girls are trafficked in this way. According to some estimates, only 35 per cent of the victims of trafficking are ever identified.

The situation is particularly critical in the Republic of Moldova. But other countries such as Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are also affected. The International Organization for Migration estimates that from 2000 to 2004, over 1,600 Moldovans returned to the country as victims of trafficking. About 80 per cent of these women were trafficked for sex.

IFAD’s Gender Mainstreaming Programme in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States region has shown that creating employment opportunities for poor rural women can make a real difference to their lives and enable them to stay in their communities.

The programme was implemented from 2002 to 2006. It was designed to strengthen the gender focus of IFAD-supported projects by boosting women’s participation in six countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova.

The programme worked with the poorest rural households. It provided rural women with skills training and financial assistance to stimulate small-scale enterprises, and encouraged them to take an active part in community development. It also invested in various women’s businesses creating job opportunities in sectors like dairy production, textiles, medicinal plant processing and horticulture.

	More jobs keep women with their families
	Larisa Cheptene is married with two children and lives in the small town of Strasheni in the Republic of Moldova. Although she has a university degree, she couldn’t find a job in her home town. She eventually went to Italy where she found work as an agricultural labourer. Her husband also left the country looking for work. When their parents migrate, the impact on small children can be devastating. Cheptene’s younger daughter became stressed and depressed with her parents away and Cheptene had to return to Moldova to look after her. The IFAD grant-financed Economic Empowerment of Rural Women Programme gave Cheptene a grant of US$3,000, which she used to open a hairdressing salon. The salon is now doing well and she has been able to employ four other women. Cheptene plans to diversify her business and open a cafeteria. “Creating employment opportunities is the only way to stop women from migrating and lessen the risk of young women being trafficked,” she says.

In Albania, for example, an IFAD grant-financed project gave vocational training to young women and men and the IFAD-supported Mountain Areas Finance Fund gave them access to credit so they could start small businesses.

In the Republic of Moldova, IFAD supported a gender-focused programme specifically designed to empower rural women and prevent trafficking. The Economic Empowerment of Rural Women Programme invested in women’s businesses and helped create more than 200 jobs specifically for rural women.

Women gained self-esteem and standing in their communities by participating in programme activities. They also became positive examples of empowerment for other poor rural women and girls.

“We know that poverty is the root cause of the trafficking of women,” says Lenyara Khayasedinova, the programme coordinator.

“When there’s no livelihood at home, no job prospects and minimal income from farming, men and women are forced to migrate. Rural women who are compelled to migrate away from their home towns and villages in search of work are women who could also fall prey to traffickers. By empowering these rural women, we have given them the opportunity to stay at home and as a result we’ve lessened the risk that they will be trafficked. This makes a real difference to the women, their families and their communities.”