The Executive Director of the Southern Africa - Eswatini Kingdom Women Farmers Fund, Sonia Paiva, and a representative from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Eswatini, Sebile Amanda Nhlabatsi, held a meeting with the Board of Directors of the Azerbaijan Rural Women’s Association in Baku. The guests shared information about the development needs of women farmers in the Kingdom of Eswatini, as well as the challenges and activities of the Women Farmers Fund, the first and only women’s organization in the country, operating since 2010. They expressed interest in learning about collective women agro-businesses and the activities of women cooperatives in Azerbaijan. Ms. Sonia Paiva, expressing her concern that despite 70% of the Eswatini population living in rural areas, women and youth show little interest in agricultural work, noted that she is always in search of solutions and is proactive in implementing successful development mechanisms in her country.

The Chairwoman of the Azerbaijan Rural Women’s Association, Gulbaniz Ganbarova, spoke about the Women’s Self-Help Group model introduced in the country since 2018, the successes of collective women businesses in the agricultural sector, the organization of women farmers through Women Cooperatives, and the ability of women farmers to work together in collective farms to produce more, sell more, and earn more. She invited Eswatini women farmers to benefit from mutual experiences. The Chairwoman also emphasized the importance of increasing women farmers’ digital skills to keep pace with the development of digitalized agriculture, mentioning that since 2021, the “Digital Empowerment of Rural Women” campaign has been launched in the country, and that the women farmers and entrepreneurs participating in this platform have gained greater access to e-commerce.

The businesswomen from the Kingdom of Eswatini expressed their interest in collaborating with the Azerbaijan Rural Women’s Association and stated that they would prepare exchange mechanisms to benefit from experiences related to collective women businesses and the digital development of women farmers, which they would then present to the Association.

The guests were presented with the Association’s publications, “From Whispers to Voices…” and “100 Women DIM Leaders from the Regions of Azerbaijan.”