GrowHer is amplifying the business case for women's economic empowerment, incentivizing public and private investment into actions, practices, and policies that accelerate diversity and inclusion.
Up to 1 in 3 individuals engaged in agriculture in Southeast Asia are women, yet they face more barriers to accessing finance, extension services, land ownership, information, and inputs relative to men. ​
Research shows that empowering women in agriculture as decision-makers — as customers, farmers and business owners — drives equitable economic growth, injects more cash into rural economies and increases investments in solutions and services that help communities thrive.
PROMOTING INCLUSIVE BUSINESS MODELS
SCALING IMPACT THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
ADDRESSING SKILLS GAP
INFORMING POLICY MAKERS
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The AGREE Project
AGREE (ASEAN Green Recovery through Equity and Empowerment) is an initiative supported by the Canadian government (IDRC) in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam. The project aims to show how COVID-19 recovery can be gender and climate-responsive, by testing pilot interventions with corporate partners and informing policy-making that champions women as agents of climate action.
GrowHer:Kakao
GrowHer:Kakao is an inclusive initiative aimed at enhancing gender equality in the cacao value chain in Sulawesi, Indonesia. This project is backed by GIZ and involves four consortium members: Grow Asia, Mars, Save the Children Indonesian, and PISAgro. The aim of GrowHer:Kakao is to tackle systemic social and environmental challenges by providing context-specific and culturally sensitive training and resources. The project incorporates local governance and decision-making processes to challenge gender-based power dynamics.
Snapshot of Southeast Asia's progress on women's economic empowerment
Women are often invisible in the smallholder farming landscape in Southeast Asia, perceived as being “unproductive” compared to men while also being expected to provide unpaid farm labour and bear the burden of care and reproductive work. As a multi-stakeholder platform, Grow Asia’s approach to supporting women’s economic empowerment targets promoting deeper understanding of the value of engaging women in agriculture value chains and gender mainstreaming among our partners.
Grow Asia generates case studies demonstrating the business benefits of becoming more gender-inclusive, responsive, and transformative. This includes attracting and retaining top talent, increasing returns on inclusive spending and supplier recruitment, sustaining value chains, improving environmental and social outcomes, and generating positive reputational value.
Case studies
The GrowHer Community
Launched in 2019 by Grow Asia - alongside AGREA, Corteva Agriscience, and WOMAG - GrowHer is a community-based platform that connects women to learning events, essential resources, and best practices from other women agripreneurs, to support women's economic empowerment in the agriculture sector.
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