Parliamentarian Action #5 | Alternative Approaches to Collateral to Increase Women’s Access to Rural and Agricultural Finance
Agricultural lending is considered "high risk" by formal financial institutions, as farmers are more vulnerable to changes in weather, rainfall levels, pests, and infestations, as well as price fluctuations. As a result of these perceived and actual risks, loans for smallholder farmers require high rates of collateral. This situation is exacerbated for rural women, who often do not inherit and possess assets or properties that can be accepted by formal financial institutions as conventional forms of collateral.
This virtual dialogue of the Parliamentarians Actions for Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems in Response to Covid-19 series brought together parliamentarians, financial institutions, and other main stakeholders to discuss the importance of developing alternative approaches for risk sharing and management that can increase women’s access to finance through alternative collateral requirements.
This dialogue sought to:
1) Raise awareness on the specific constraints and challenges faced by rural women in accessing finance along with their interlinkages with rural poverty and food insecurity, as well as potential opportunities to ensure women’s financial inclusion.
2) Share existing public policies and strategies in the African region to develop nonconventional collateral approaches targeting rural areas, in order to enhance the capacity of parliamentarians to engage with financial institutions and other stakeholders to strengthen national financial markets through the promotion and adoption of regulatory and legislative frameworks.
3) Promote an exchange of knowledge, experiences, and good practices among parliamentarians, international organizations, financial institutions, women's organizations and other relevant stakeholders on specific measures and approaches to promote rural women’s access to finance.
This was the fifth virtual dialogue in the Parliamentarians' Actions for Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems in Response to COVID-19 series. It was held on June 29, 2021, from 15.30 to 18.00 CEST.
It was part of a series of dialogues organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Women in Law & Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and Oxfam as part of their policy support to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Network of Parliamentarians on Gender Equality and Investments in Agriculture and Food Security. The objective of the series is to enhance the role of African parliamentarians in mitigating the gender-differentiated impacts of COVID-19 on food systems.
Watch the virtual dialogue's full recording
Assista à íntegra do diálogo virtual em língua portuguesa
Related resources
Women and Finance: Enabling Women’s Economic Empowerment
Women's Financial Inclusion: Closing the Gender Gap
Upcoming events
Parliamentarians Action #4 |Engaging young women and men in rural and agriculture development and resilience building in the face of COVID-19 and beyond
The fourth virtual dialogue in the Parliamentarians’ Action for Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems in Response to COVID-19 series was held on November 12, 2020, from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. CEST
Parliamentarians Action #3 | Protecting and Promoting Women’s Land Rights in the Face of COVID-19 and Beyond
The third virtual dialogue in the Parliamentarians' Actions for Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems in Response to COVID-19 series was held on September 17, 2020, from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM (CEST).
Parliamentarian Action #2 | Advancing gender equality in the context of family farming
The second virtual dialogue in the Parliamentarians' Actions for Gender Equality and Resilient Food Systems in Response to COVID-19 series was held on July 22, 2020, from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (CEST).
Parliamentarians' Action for Gender Equality and Food Security as a Response to COVID-19
During this webinar, parliamentarians from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean adopted a call for action in response to the impacts of Covid-19 on gender equality, food secutiry and nutrition. The declaration is available at the bottom of this page in English and in French.