Pakistan Project puts a spotlight on women’s economic empowerment
15th October 2021
Overview
SAI Platform’s Pakistan Project marked
the UN International Day for Rural Women
by hosting a workshop focused on
women’s economic empowerment.
A total of 19 guests from 7 member company local teams including PepsiCo, Ingredion, Nestle, Unilever, Mars, Ebro Foods, Cargill and the Engro Foundation participated in the Women’s Economic Empowerment workshop held on 14th October. Addressing the three critical barriers to women’s economic empowerment, including farm conditions, lack of access to services and women’s status on farms, the workshop highlighted the need for a collective effort to address this systemic issue.
Guest speakers from the Engro Foundation and Ingredion shared their experience of working directly with women in their supply chains as well as the lessons learned from successful past initiatives in Pakistan.
“Women are the most vulnerable to climate change and there is a large opportunity to engage women in climate smart agriculture”
Khalid, Ingredion.
The USAID-PepsiCo Global Development Alliance shared an update on how they aim to demonstrate, as part of their ongoing partnership in Pakistan, that actively engaging women as critical drivers of sustainable sourcing strategies leads to better business results.
Recognising the importance of Pakistan as a sourcing region and the shared sustainability challenges faced there, SAI Platform members have come together and aligned on three areas of partnership to catalyse action and drive impact in the region. Collectively, they are committed to reducing GHG emissions, introducing regenerative practices and investing in women’s economic empowerment.
“Overcoming social barriers is the most important and the most difficult, women are delivering on objectives, so the focus needs to be more on the social conditions”
Favad, Engro Foundation
By facilitating this pre-competitive space for knowledge sharing and collaboration, SAI Platform is helping members to focus on areas of overlapping influence and identify tangible in-country solutions, such as skills development and training opportunities for women in Pakistan. Attention to the development of digital skills will be crucial as agri-tech accelerates.
Conducted by Resonance Global, experts in managing pre-competitive partnerships in emerging markets, the workshop was the second in a series of three workshops focused on fostering in-country collaboration and building knowledge around sustainable farming practices in Pakistan.
The first workshop, held earlier this year raised the challenge of mechanisation as an ongoing commonality among varying commodity supply chains and the third, planned for December, will focus on how to increase climate resilience in the region.
For further information on SAI Platform’s Pakistan Project and how to get involved or specific information on women’s economic empowerment in the region, please contact Ceejay Girard.
