Interviews

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, the world’s attention will focus on young rural women -those who face immense obstacles, but also those who have enormous untapped potential to feed the world. They are the future nurturers, leaders, farmers, businesswomen, teachers and mothers. 

Empowering rural women by providing them with the skills and confidence to improve their own situations is at the heart of IFAD’s work, and has been for more than 30 years.

To draw attention of the world to the most pressing problems faced by rural women in developing countries, as early as in 1992, IFAD sponsored a Summit on the Economic Advancement of Rural Women that brought together a powerful advocacy group led by Queen Fabiola of Belgium. 

The same year, ECOSOC unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the Geneva Declaration in support of rural women and called on all UN agencies and its member states to implement its objectives.

This resolution was also adopted in December 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly in New York. 

Clare Bishop-Sambrook, Senior Technical Advisor on Gender, and Carlos Seré, IFAD’s Chief Development Strategist, provide a background brief on our work with rural women and girls today.