The project "Strengthening Agricultural Insurance for Women in Casamance (Resilience)," whose ultimate goal is to build the resilience of women farmers in the Casamance region, has achieved significant results after five years of implementation. These results include raising awareness and training women farmers, producer organizations, and institutional stakeholders; formalizing agricultural cooperatives; strengthening the organizational capacities of women's groups to facilitate their adoption of insurance mechanisms; developing agricultural insurance products in close collaboration with the CNAAS (National Agricultural Insurance Fund) to better meet the specific needs of women; and connecting them with financial institutions to facilitate access to agricultural inputs and equipment, among other things.

The revelation came from the chair of the project's steering committee, Sokhna Mbaye Diop Mbacké, who is also a technical advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Livestock. She was speaking on the sidelines of the closing workshop for the Resilience project, which took place this Tuesday in Dakar.

During this national meeting to present and share the results obtained and the project's performance over the five years of implementation, the chair of the steering committee maintained that these results reflect "a positive dynamic" and must be consolidated. "They illustrate the essential role of women in food security in a context marked by climate variability," Ms. Mbacké emphasized.

According to him, this Resilience project, which aims to improve the economic empowerment of women in Casamance, "offers financial education, integration of women with rural partners for access to agricultural and financial products and services including insurance, and meets the needs and expectations of women in order to provide a solution for managing natural and climate resources and access to results."

The project primarily targets 150 formalized and supported agricultural women's groups; 7,000 women trained on financial products and services, including agricultural insurance; 30 cooperatives and decentralized financial systems supported to offer products and services to women's groups; and 100,000 agricultural producers protected by agricultural insurance.

Launched in 2021, the Resilience project is currently underway. Several activities, related to results and outputs, have been carried out to meet performance indicators. It is implementing a financial literacy program and integrating women with rural partners to improve their access to agricultural and financial products and services. Agricultural insurance will be integrated into this range of products and services to provide a solution for managing natural and climate-related risks.