UN Women celebrates International Women’s Day in Samegrelo with Farmer Field School participants

UN Women celebrated International Women’s Day with events for local milkmaids participating in the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in the Samegrelo region.

On 8 and 9 March, a two-day branding and communication training was held for women farmers living in Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi and was led by the consultants of the consulting company Gepra, a signatory of the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). They shared valuable knowledge about product branding and communication and gave useful tips to the participants.

Then, on 10 March, the women participating in the FFS, who underwent training with the support of WEPs signatory company Liberty Bank Training Center, were presented with certificates at a special event. It should be noted that about 300 women engaged in dairy sector from different municipalities of Samegrelo underwent trainings on business start-up and development for eight months. During this period, they studied the essence of entrepreneurship, preparing investment proposals, drawing up business plans and other important issues.

With the financing of the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency, these farmer schools have been operating in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region since 2021 with the support of UN Women and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. FFS participants learn how to produce Italian cheese, and in the framework of the Liberty Bank Training Center course, they acquire knowledge about the principles of entrepreneurship, leadership and business administration. In addition, the training also raises their awareness about women’s rights and domestic violence.

“Until now, we only knew how to produce traditional cheese,” said one of the FFS participants, Aza Tsanava, who lives in the village of Anaklia and has been engaged in dairy farming for 15 years. “And now we have learned how to prepare it in the European way, which I will definitely use, especially since its production is much more profitable. We also had trainings on women’s rights and gender equality, which was very important because the project raised the awareness of the participants in this regard as well. Now women look at their role [and] at equality issues differently. As for me personally, the project inspired me not to give up but, on the contrary, to go further and to use the acquired knowledge in practice in every way.”

The celebration of International Women’s Day on 11 March in Zugdidi continued with an exhibition and sale, during which women farmers presented various types of cheese prepared in Georgian and European styles.

“The main goal of this project is to enable female farmers to expand their offerings, increase [their] income from cheese production and become economically stronger,” remarked Beka Tagauri, the coordinator of economic development projects at the Swiss Embassy. “At the same time, it should be noted that the project made the participating women even more self-confident and active. It is especially gratifying that they have been thoroughly involved in public life and community gatherings, and they already express their interests when discussing the local budget, thus making the budget gender-balanced.”

The International Women’s Day events were part of the project “Promoting the Economic Empowerment of Women Farmers by Supporting Dairy Production through Farmer Field School (FFS) Approaches” implemented by UN Women and FAO. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.