8 March, International Women’s- Day IICA launches third edition of the “Introduction to Entrepreneurship for Rural Women” course

San Jose, 8 March 2024- (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) launched the third edition of its course “Introduction to Entrepreneurship for Rural Women” on International Women’s Day, in a bid to strengthen this population group’s capacities to develop their own businesses, while also reducing the gaps in the agriculture sector.

This edition, targeted at rural women throughout the Americas, seeks to improve their management capacities, equipping them with tools and knowledge to strengthen their businesses and to improve their skills in an inclusive, integrated and sustainable manner.

Participants must be 18 years or older, having completed high school. They must be either operators of a start-up business (between one to six months) or at least have an idea of a business they would like to start.

The course is an online, self-paced course, available on IICA’s e-learning platform and it is being taught in Spanish.

The course was created in response to a request for the development of training opportunities for rural women, which was made at the II Forum of Female Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Senior Officials of the Americas in July 2022.

According to Priscila Zúñiga, Manager of IICA’s Hemispheric Program on Gender Equality and Youth, the course provides an excellent opportunity to develop management skills in rural businesses and offers a combination of theory and practice. It is designed to train women how to create and develop their own small- and medium-scale businesses.

For this third edition, we hope to build on the success and positive results of previous editions. We will continue to provide a solid theoretical and practical base so that female entrepreneurs in rural areas of the Americas can continue to develop themselves, equipped with what they need to effectively manage their businesses. This edition incorporates feedback and lessons learned from previous editions, therefore improving the quality and relevance of the training”, she added.

Thirty-five women from Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico and the Dominican Republic received training in the first two editions in 2023.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int