The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Government of Japan has partnered with the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) to implement ‘Capacity Building Project for Farmer’s Organizations to support the development of Food Value Chain in Asia and Africa for three years starting 2020. The project comprises of four parts:

• Training-1: Strengthening Management and Development of Agricultural Cooperatives and Farmers’ Organizations in Asia and Africa.
• Training-2: Empowering of Rural Women for Improvement of their Leadership and Business and Management in Asia and Africa.
• Training-3: Strengthening of Marketing through Improvement of Quality of Farm Produce and Expansion of Marketing Channels.
• Follow-up Guidance and Survey of Ex-participants

The training course on “Empowerment of Rural Women for improvement of their leadership and Business Management in Asia and Africa-2022” began on 01 August 2022. 12 participants have been selected for the training course from India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda. 10 participants represent the ICA member network and the remaining two are from the World Farmers' Organisations' network from Asia and Africa.

The training is divided into two parts, the first, from 01 to 10 August 2022 in collaboration with the Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM, Pune, India); and the second, from 22 August to 15 September 2022, with the Institute for the Development of Agricultural Cooperation in Asia (IDACA-Japan). The objective of the training course is to assist the capacity building of rural women and enhance their business management abilities for more organized activities and participation in agribusiness in Asia and Africa. The program is offered by ICA to its member organisations in Asian and African countries with the active support and collaboration of IDACA.  

The inaugural ceremony was attended by Mr. Hirofumi Kobayashi, Executive Director, IDACA; Ms. Eiko Oshita, Course Coordinator, IDACA; Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP; Mr. Ashok Taneja, Advisor, ICA-AP; Ms. Simren Singh, Lead Gender and Education and Course Coordinator, ICA-AP; Dr. Hema Yadav, Director, VAMNICOM and CICTAB; Dr. Anshu Singh, Programme Director and Associate Professor, VAMNICOM; and participants of the training course.

After the inaugural ceremony, two lectures were held on 'Women and Social Entrepreneurship' by Ms. Mirai Chatterjee, Director of Social Security Unit at Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA); and 'Gender Empowerment and Leadership- Insights from India' by Ms. Preeti Patel, Vice-Chairperson Gujarat Mahila Credit Cooperative; Member, National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) Women's Committee and Member, ICA-AP Women's Committee. The participants found the lectures informative and actively interacted with the resource persons.

The participants, as well as organizers, are excited for the rest of the training course with VAMNICOM as there is an interesting line-up of resource persons and themes like financial management, digital literacy, agribusiness and food processing- opportunities for women entrepreneurship, women's leadership in business, sustainable agriculture and environmental management, among others.