Women Leading Change

The document examines the role of women's associations in Rwanda's coffee sector, focusing on three dimensions of economic empowerment: access to skills and resources, market benefits, and decision-making agency. It highlights how collective action allows women to bypass traditional gender biases, access high-value international markets, and reinvest premiums into community projects. The study identifies challenges such as climate change, gender bias, and low youth engagement, offering specific policy and business recommendations to the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), voluntary sustainability standards setting organizations (VSSSOs), and coffee buyers.

• Women's associations in Rwanda's coffee sector empower members by providing access to sustainable agricultural training and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, which improves farm productivity and creates new income streams from by-products like cascara and organic compost.
• Collective action through women-only associations enables farmers to access high-value international markets and secure price premiums by marketing their produce specifically as women-grown and women-processed coffee.
• Membership in these associations increases women's agency and leadership, allowing them to make independent investment decisions and fund community well-being projects, such as providing reusable sanitary pads to combat period poverty.
• Women's associations face significant structural and environmental barriers, including deep-rooted gender biases regarding cash-generating activities, a lack of engagement from women under 35, and the impacts of climate change such as landslides and soil erosion.
• There is a gap in structured communication between women's associations and the Rwandan government, as official communication typically flows through broader cooperatives, often marginalizing the specific voices of women's groups.
• The study recommends that the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) establish formal engagement channels, such as a national coffee gender platform, and integrate gender-disaggregated traceability tools to increase the visibility of women producers.

APA

Luna, E., Cornaro, E., & Elder, S. (2025). Women Leading Change. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-06/rwanda-women-cooperative-associations.pdf

Chicago

Luna, Erika, Elena Cornaro, and Sara Elder. Women Leading Change. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2025. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-06/rwanda-women-cooperative-associations.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Luna |first1=Erika |last2=Cornaro |first2=Elena |last3=Elder |first3=Sara |title=Women Leading Change |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2025 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-06/rwanda-women-cooperative-associations.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{luna2025women, author = {Luna, Erika and Cornaro, Elena and Elder, Sara}, title = {{Women Leading Change}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-06/rwanda-women-cooperative-associations.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }