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Bridging the prevailing gender gap by giving women in rural Pakistan the tools to become entrepreneurs.
Danida
Unilever
JazzCash
RSPN
Marketing and Distribution
Inclusive Business
Finance
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Pakistan
2019 to 2021
Pakistan’s ranking for gender equality remains one of the lowest in the world, according to the World Economic Forum. Just 25% of women participate in the labor force, compared with 85% of men in Pakistan.
The Empowering Pakistani Women Partnership is working to break down these barriers by equipping rural women with entrepreneurship skills, coaching and a basket of health, hygiene and digital financial services that they can sell in their communities. As a result women increase their income and provide much-needed products and financial services to other women in their community.
Setting up a distribution network in rural areas is expensive and requires strong relationships and trust. To overcome these challenges, we are testing a partnership with Unilever, JazzCash and RSPN that leverages each of their capabilities, knowledge and resources. Our aim is to create a scalable business model that delivers social impact, beyond the life of the project.
Insights to understand the context of rural female entrepreneurs
Develop and test pilot model with 1,500 female entrepreneurs
Learn from pilot, iterate and recruit 1,500 more female entrepreneurs
Partners commit to scale up partnership post-project
Our project manager in this article highlights rural women’s resilience in the wake of the pandemic
Danida announces the partnership to empower Pakistani women through financial inclusion and economic growth
Guddi Baji, literally meaning “The Good Sister” – functions as a female community influencer program, which helps women open the door to economic empowerment.