Six productive projects of rural women's associations will be co-financed with 5,000 million pesos in Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Tolima and Bolívar, thanks to the agreement between the Women Emprende Fund and the Rural Development Agency (ADR).This initiative is part of the gender equality policy led by the Vice Presidency of the Republic, together with the Presidential Council for Women's Equality.“It is very gratifying to be able to reach Colombian fields with an injection of capital, as part of our purpose of economically empowering Colombian women to eradicate exclusion and stop violence.We want a country of businesswomen, and this can only be achieved by involving our rural women, who are synonymous with strength, tenacity and entrepreneurship,” said Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucía Ramírez.This alliance integrates the experience of the ADR and the resources and gender approach of the Women Emprende Fund to support the structuring, implementation and financing of productive inclusion projects for 284 rural entrepreneurs in the municipalities of Córdoba (Bolívar), Morales (Bolívar ), Chiquinquirá (Boyacá), Fúquene (Cundinamarca), Ambalema (Tolima) and Falan (Tolima).Nohora Vargas, executive director of the Women Emprende Fund, highlighted that "from the Fund we seek to provide innovative solutions to the needs of women's businesses, that is why during these first six months of operation of the Fund it has allocated 52% of the investment resources to asset financing programs for rural women, which strengthen their productive projects and extension services that allow them to improve productivity, profitability, and sustainability, as well as achieve greater well-being for themselves and their families.”For her part, the Presidential Advisor for Women's Equity, Gheidy Gallo, highlighted that "the alliance between the Women Emprende Fund and the ADR is a model of teamwork by the National Government to promote the businesses of rural women under a market vision, associativity, profitability and sustainability.It responds to the challenges identified in the Pact for Rural Women, which was signed in 2019 to provide advice and financial support to the enterprises of women in the Colombian countryside.This is how we advance in the fulfillment of the commitments made by the national government to achieve economic empowerment and the elimination of gaps in rural areas”, she said.It may interest you: In Bosa they warn about the possible overflow of the Tunjuelo RiverIn turn, Ana Cristina Moreno Palacios, president of the Rural Development Agency, explained that “there were several months of inter-institutional effort that are now bearing fruit.In the ADR we take care of structuring the projects, identifying the main needs of the beneficiary associations to make the most of the resources from the Fund.We are also doing commercial work with these organizations, to connect them with allies and allow them to harvest and sell to the landline.In short, we are happy because today the materialization of six dreams begins”.The prioritized projects passed an objective selection process for which a specialized technical committee was formed, made up of UN Women, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation, the Presidential Council for Women's Equality, the Women's Entrepreneur Fund and the Rural Development Agency.In addition, it had the collaboration of the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (UNIDO), in the structuring of the prioritization methodology.What are the initiatives?- 61 women from the municipalities of Córdoba and Morales, in Bolívar, will strengthen their dual-purpose livestock activities with an investment of more than 1,100 million pesos, which will result in the provision of breeding stock;agricultural goods and supplies;adaptation of the land and implementation of a silvopastoral system with native trees and comprehensive technical support.- In Chiquinquirá, Boyacá, 30 women will improve their blueberry production and marketing processes, with a co-financing of 279 million pesos, which will be reflected in the establishment of a semi-technified area for each beneficiary, including plants, supplies and materials for the planting and maintenance of the crop.- 28 women from the municipality of Fúquene, Cundinamarca, will have 413 million pesos to strengthen their dairy project through the provision of equipment and tools for monitoring and quality of milk, a cooling tank for storage in the center collection and a vehicle (truck) to facilitate transportation and marketing.Technical assistance will also be provided to improve practices and productivity.- 1,094 million pesos will be received by 165 women from Ambalema and Falan, in Tolima, to continue the implementation of two projects: a livestock project in which equipment and goods will be delivered for the proper functioning of the sheds and 80 hens per beneficiary (for a total of 9,920 hens);and another aquaculture in which a productive site for red tilapia will be adapted, which will contain 10 culture ponds, a reservoir and a water dewatering pond, portable storage warehouses, materials for the installation of a composting booth, productive inputs (fingerlings and feed) and comprehensive technical support.