This proposal contains 2 main activities: a. Three micro projects focussing on strengthening of economic activities of women through their organisations (members of ACWW) and b. A women leadership training as a follow up on the in 2006 organised workshop for women leaders in Asia (organised in Malaysia) and also being a follow up on the IFAP organised gender Workshop in Armenia (2008). The training modules will be developed by Agriterra , being supported by otehrs (a.o. ACWW, see WA 14 project 5288). As there are many casestudies frrom previous workshops focus will be less on exchange of experiences and more on translation into actions. The training will include leadership training as well as how to empower rural women, in which examples of economic activities will be used. The ACWW micro project expereinces will this alos be used in the trainings. It is envisaged that ACWW will organise and conduct the training for the first time (testing the modules etc. ) in Asia, as Agriterra has good experineces with ACWW in Asia. Details will be worked out while preparing the trainingm module. Its is expected that 10 asain POs (Agriterra supported) will participate in the training, being able to replicate what thye have leraned in their own organisation. Therefore, of each organisation 2 persons will be invited. Exact ToR, content and place of the training still has to be decided, but it is important to built upon the previous experiences of ACWW and IFAP and Agiterra. It is expected that similar trainings will be conducted in Africa and Asia , most likely in 2010 only, after testing and adjusting the modules. Micro projects: ACWW has prioritized and submitted for this first experience 3 micro project proposals for local women organisations in Tanzania, India and Cameroon. All projects promote development of economic activities for women at grass root level (directly aiming at poverty reduction). Agriterra supports ACWW since several years with the organisation and implementation of regional women empowerment workshops. However, besides the interest to work on strengthening of leadership, ACWW also works on strengthening of economic empowerment of women. Within the Farmer’s Fighting Poverty program it is planned to increase the contribution at local level, and specifically directed to women economic empowerment. Therefore it was discussed with ACWW to support them in implementing few grass root level economic empowerment projects due to their lifelong experience in this field. Lessons learned and real life experiences will accordingly be used as input for a workshop on economic activities and women empowerment, possibly a joint initiative of Agriterra, ACWW and IFAP in which various member organisations can participate. This workshop idea still needs to be further developed. Based on the past experiences with ACWW in Asia (2006) it is suggested that ACWW organises a regional workshop in Asia being a follow up on the previously organised workshops by ACWW (2006) and IFAP (2008), with the advisory and financial support of Agriterra. (2) Project objectives, expected results, main activities… The 3 proposed micro projects Cameroon: Teze Women Initiative: 500 members of which 472 are women. Activities: promote small scale entrepreneurship through skill training and capacity building on production, processing and marketing of palm oil, medicated soap and rubbing oil. 50% of the realized income will be re-invested in the project, 50% will be invested into a credit system for members. Initially 50 women and 5 men will be involved in this project, but via the credit component all members will ultimately benefit from this project. Budget € 5.000 (investment and revenue costs) own contribution is about € 1.800 to purchase materials, training costs. Tanzania: The Daughters of Mary Immaculate & collaborators (DMI) A total of 120 women (representing 3 cooperatives) will directly participate in the project. DMI has 400 SHG as members with 5.200 individual members, all women. Only the founder is male. Proposed activities: 120 poor women being member of 3 women agricultural cooperatives will collectively improve their vegetable production and collectively sell this on the nearby market. Land is available with the cooperatives. It is expected that the women will earn 3 times more as compared to what they earn with labour. Project includes investment (tools, inputs etc.), technical skill and marketing training. Requested budget to ACWW/Agriterra is € 5.000; own contribution is € 1.875 India: Integrated education and Development Society (IEDS), Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu State. Total members: 4035 women Project: alternative income generating programme for marginalized coastal women. This will directly benefit 258 women of 7 coastal villages. Proposed activities: train and provide support services to target group to undertake collective and individual income generating programmes (entrepreneurship development) on seashell products and mushroom farming (local market is big, tourism area). Surplus income will partially be invested in a savings and credit cooperative. IEDS will do its own internal monitoring. Budget: request to ACWW/Agriterra € 5000 own contribution: € 1660 Budget breakdown: investment costs for economic activities: € 5000 (75%) overhead/salary: € 660 (10%) training costs € 1000 (15%) (3) Tentative budget and funding, sources of funding Micro projects budget: € 15,000 (3 projects) Own contribution of the 3 local groups is about € 1.670 each for the projects. M&E will be done by the area presidents of ACWW and ACWW is responsible for the related costs. Training budget: based on the budget estimated of the workshop of 2006 we expect a total costs of about € 20,000. Travel costs etc. will be paid separately (see special services). (4) Monitoring and evaluation: measurable indicators, sources of data collection Micro projects: in the 3 project descriptions it has been described how monitoring will be done and expected results have been identified with concrete indicators. The ACWW area presidents will monitor the projects. (5) On sustainability and cost efficiency: discuss sustainability after project period, project replicability, and link to the PO overall development strategy, relation between costs of production, yields and profit. All 3 micro projects have included a description on how to make sustainable use of the income generated in the future (savings and credit systems, establishment of cooperatives). ACWW will further distribute/publish the experiences with these 3 micro projects as a learning case to other members as well as the input will be used during the proposed workshop.