Closing statement by Ms Mona Bishay, Director, Near East and North Africa region

We have met here during the past three days to shape a clear, shared vision for achieving gender equality as an essential prelude to economic and rural development and poverty reduction. We have all participated in the various discussions and working groups with an enthusiasm and effectiveness that make it clear that the provision of equitable opportunities for men and women is now a fundamental component of our development efforts. Your discussions have yielded a series of clear priorities, which are reflected in the recommendations made in the various working groups.

During our deliberations we discussed three questions posed at the start of the workshop:

• What are the resources and services on which we must focus to achieve equitable development, gender equality and empowerment of women?
• What are the pivotal institutions in which women's participation must be strengthened?
• What policies are needed to ensure equitable development, gender equality and empowerment of women?

Regarding which resources and services require our focus, the discussions highlighted the need to continue supporting women's access to natural resources such as land and water and the importance of financial and marketing services, education and health care as prerequisites for developing women's capabilities and enabling them to have access to equal opportunities with men. Rural finance is still a growing field in the Near East and North Africa region, where various experiments have been undertaken. It is a highly promising area for meeting the needs of the poor and their investment requirements, particularly rural women's need for small, income-generating projects to improve their families' standard of living.

IFAD's Near East and North Africa Division will develop a new approach to provide rural financing services based on the expertise of institutions active in this area and financial intermediaries. It will aim at providing financial services to rural women and eliminate the obstacles posed by traditional loan collaterals. The division also will seek to build an effective partnership with all players in this field, including agricultural development banks, rural financing institutions, NGOs, and donor parties with relevant expertise.

Marketing is key to the success of rural financing services. We therefore support your recommendations on marketing and the development of rural markets. This requires support for income-generating production activities and the development of marketing organizations and marketing chains.

Regarding social services, IFAD is committed to the continued support of human development through adult education and the education of rural communities to enhance the knowledge of men and women of their economic and social rights and obligations. IFAD supports the recommendations presented by the working groups on technical assistance for women and the expansion of the extension services concept to include economic and developmental aspects. We will work to apply this concept in our programmes by seeking new partnerships with NGOs and the private sector.

Regarding the second question on the pivotal institutions in which women's participation must be strengthened, the participants agreed that we must focus on strengthening women's participation at local, community level institutions.

IFAD's Near East and North Africa Division will support these institutions and work to raise women's representation and active participation in them. We will also, as you recommended, increase local women awareness to assume leadership roles and train them in the necessary skills.

In addition to supporting institutions of local communities, IFAD will continue to strengthen partners government agencies and their departments concerned with rural women to develop their capabilities and mainstream gender equality perspective in their operating mechanisms. In this regard, we will cooperate with all partners with expertise in these areas to improve resource use and avoid duplication.

Regarding the third question on the policies needed, the Near East and North Africa Division will focus, interalia, on natural resources and rural finance policies. It will support government policymaking in these areas to ensure gender equity in the distribution of these resources and their efficient and sustainable use.

We agree with the participants that policies of decentralization play a key role in efficient decision-making and implementation, promotion of women's participation, and facilitation of women's access to services and development resources.

In this regard, IFAD will continue to support decentralization policies in the countries of the region.

Finally, your discussion brought to light a number of issues of common interest at all levels, which should receive special attention. One such issue is how to improve coordination among entities involved in the development of rural women so as to enhance the effectiveness of the partnership. Coordination among all of these entities – which include government agencies, NGOs, local community organizations, regional and international donors, and the private sector – poses a major challenge. We must all work to meet this challenge to use our limited resources more efficiently. Another key issue is improving IFAD's monitoring of its programmes in different countries through a direct or indirect field presence. IFAD is now implementing a pilot programme initiative involving the establishment of a direct field presence in three countries in the region. If this pilot succeeds, IFAD may decide to apply it elsewhere.

I hope that this closing statement reflects the main features of your detailed recommendations, which will be included in the final report of this workshop. They will serve as key inputs in the process of formulation of a new IFAD regional strategy that the Near East and North Africa Division will initiate during 2006. This strategy will provide a general framework for defining our operating programme in the various countries.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you for your enthusiastic and earnest participation in this workshop. I especially want to again thank the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, the Minister for Agriculture, His Excellency Adel Safar and his deputy ministers, and the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria (FIRDOS) for their effective contribution to the success of this workshop. I would also like to thank my colleagues Fatimah Sbaity Kasim of ESCWA, Fatiha Bousalah of FAO, and Annina Lubbock of IFAD for their valuable inputs. I am also grateful to the facilitators who ran this workshop and the interpreters for their patience in following those who spoke here.

I would also like to personally thank the IFAD team for its efforts to ensure the success of this workshop, particularly Rasha Omar – the programme coordinator and the true dynamo of the workshop – and Samar Abdulhadi, for their superb organizational skills, as well as Ericka Sorensen, Simone Zein and Bettina Prato for their respective contributions. All of them worked long hours together with the counterpart FIRDOS team of Nawar Al-Shara, Dana Deirani and Maisa Awa. They worked with great efficiency, remarkable patience and effective cooperation, without ever loosing their cheerfulness and constant smile.

Finally, thank you for listening and I hope that you will all have a safe trip back to your countries.