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Women have always had an important role in Eritrean society. During the struggle for independence they helped transform Eritrean society, and today rural women contribute substantially to the agriculture sector and provide income for their households.

Like women around the world and especially those in developing countries, the women in Eritrea’s Gash Barka region start the day’s activities bright and early. They not only do the household chores, but are also fully engaged in agricultural activities.

Photo credit: Roxanna Samii Eritrean women entrepeneurs

"We raise livestock, and we work on the farm. And recently, at a series of workshops organized by the National Eritrean Women's Association and the IFAD-funded Gash Barka Livestock and Agricultural Development project, we learned to weave palm leaves to make mats and fans," says Brri Weldemariam, a member of the women's association.

Every morning Weldemariam and Tebelsm Estfons take their livestock to graze in the region’s semi-arid highlands, walking for about an hour. After bringing the livestock back from pasture, they equip themselves with yellow jerry cans and set out for another one-hour expedition, this time with their donkey, to fetch water from the village water pump.

Back home, after attending to household chores and cooking for their families, they get together with the other women of the community and practise their newly acquired skill – weaving fans, mats and baskets out of palm leaves.

"We received training on how to work with palm leaves," says Weldemariam. "Recently we started using dye to make more attractive and marketable objects.”

Photo credit: Roxanna Samii

"On a monthly basis we make approximately 50 fans that we sell locally for 3 nafka each. We sell the mats for 30 nafka and the baskets for 10 nafka,"  Estfons explains. 

"Before, we did not have any source of income and depended entirely on our husband's income,” she says.

"Now that we are engaged in this income-generating activity we not only have an opportunity to socialize with other women but are also making money that allows us to buy food for the family and raw materials such as dye for our new activity," says Weldemariam.

"Our dream is to open a shop on the main road, which gets a lot of traffic, to sell our handmade products," she says.

"We just need a bit more training to take this newly acquired trade to the next level. This way we will be able to produce better quality products, which will allow us to sell in bigger markets such as Asmara," explains Estfons.

Rural development projects around the world have demonstrated that investing in rural women is a secure way of enabling poor rural households to overcome poverty. Rural women are resourceful and keen to make extra efforts to learn new skills and engage in income-generating activities. And Eritrean women are no exception.

Source: IFAD