Dr. Jemimah Njuki is Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank Group. Here she discusses the Bank’s commitment to gender equality, its results in supporting rural women, and how this work advances President Sidi Ould Tah’s Four Cardinal Points.
Why is the International Day of Rural Women important to the African Development Bank Group?
The United Nations International Day of Rural Women reminds us that women are key drivers of change across Africa. They are farmers, traders, entrepreneurs, and innovators, feeding families, driving rural economies, and preserving the environment. Yet too many continue to face barriers to land, finance, infrastructure, technology, and decision-making power.
For the African Development Bank Group, this day is far more than symbolic. It reaffirms our mission to make gender equality central to Africa’s growth story. Supporting rural women is one of the most effective ways to accelerate Africa’s transformation strengthening communities and building resilience. This work directly supports Dr Sidi Ould Tah’s Four Cardinal Points: mobilizing financial resources that reach women, reforming Africa’s financial systems to work for them, harnessing demographic potential, and building resilient infrastructure that improves lives and opportunities across the continent.
How does the Bank’s gender agenda reflect this commitment?
Gender equality is embedded in everything we do. Through our Gender Strategy (2021–2025), we focus on three pillars - empower, accelerate, and transform - ensuring that women are at the centre of every development program.
These pillars align perfectly with Dr Ould Tah’s Four Cardinal Points - from expanding women’s access to finance and markets, to reforming systems that better serve them, unlocking their demographic potential, and ensuring infrastructure investments respond to their daily realities.
Across the Bank’s portfolio, programs are helping rural women access finance, own land, and participate fully in economic life.
What progress has the Bank made in advancing gender equality, particularly for rural women?
We’ve seen tremendous progress in recent years - from women-owned enterprises to resilience in agriculture, climate, and trade.
Take Djibouti, for example. Through the “Land Is Life” Regional Project, rural women in drought-prone areas now have access to land, water systems, and training in climate-smart agriculture. The project has restored livelihoods, strengthened women’s participation in local governance, and improved resilience in communities where every drop of water counts.
In Côte d’Ivoire, under the Government Social Program Support Project, women who once depended on charcoal trading have turned to market gardening. With inputs and training provided through Bank support, they now grow chili, tomatoes, and cabbage - earning between 800,000 and 1,000,000 CFA francs per month (approximately $1,300 - $1,600). The project also installed over 100 boreholes, 2,300 hand pumps, and built fish ponds and poultry houses, creating jobs and new income sources for entire communities.
Beyond agriculture, the Bank is also transforming access to finance for women entrepreneurs and breaking systemic barriers with women. The Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative remains one of our boldest programs. It tackles the $42 billion gender-finance gap by partnering with financial institutions to expand women’s access to credit. AFAWA now operates in 45 countries, partners with 185 financial institutions, and has mobilized over $2.5 billion for women-led businesses.
In Côte d’Ivoire, “Les Moissonneurs” cooperative in Toumodi shows this impact. With AFAWA support, its president Brouz Jeannette Coffi, has been able to formalize its business. This repositioning, along with 26 other cooperatives, has opened the door to new opportunities, including formal contracts to supply cassava to large companies and access to credit from financial institutions.
A digital literacy component has also trained 500 rural women to read, write, and manage their own mobile-money accounts - skills they now share with others.
Rural women face time and infrastructure constraints. How is the Bank helping to change this?
Across Africa, women and girls spend hours every day on unpaid work - fetching water, caring for families, managing farms - unpaid work that limits education and business opportunities.
The Bank is tackling these challenges through gender-responsive infrastructure and social innovations. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Project for the Reinforcement of Socioeconomic Infrastructure in the Central Region brought safe water points closer to homes, reducing women’s workload and improving community well-being.
In South Sudan, through the Program to Build Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security and Crisis Response for Women and Affected Communities programs, the Bank has supported more than 483,000 people, including 288,000 women, by improving access to clean water, health facilities, and financial services. These initiatives empower women to manage resources and shape community decisions while saving time and strengthening livelihoods.
How does the Bank’s work help harness Africa’s demographic potential?
Africa’s greatest strength is its people - and empowering women and youth is the key to unlocking that potential. When women and girls in rural areas have access to education, finance, and technology, they become powerful agents of transformation.
Through flagship programs such as Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation and Enable Youth, the Bank is equipping women and young people with modern technologies, business skills, and climate-smart practices. In Nigeria, women-led cooperatives using the flagship’s rice-parboiling technology generated more than ₦65 million ($181,800) in sales from 218 metric tons of high-quality domestic rice in a single year - a clear example of how innovation translates into economic empowerment.
Looking ahead, how will the Bank continue supporting rural women?
Our vision is simple: every rural woman - no matter where she lives - should have the tools, opportunities, and voice she needs to thrive.
Under the leadership of Dr Ould Tah, and guided by the Four Cardinal Points, the Bank will continue to mobilize capital that works for women, reform systems that hold them back, invest in education and digital access, and build infrastructure that saves time and supports livelihoods.
On this International Day of Rural Women, we reaffirm a simple truth: rural women are not just part of Africa’s development story, they are shaping its future.
Source: AfDB