FAO and AOAD advance women’s empowerment and access to finance for circular agriculture in the Arab Region

5–6 November 2025, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) and the Women Development Organization (WDO), convened a High-Level Regional Dialogue on Women’s Empowerment and Access to Finance for Advancing Circular Agriculture in the Arab Region, under the patronage of H.E. Prof. Saeb Khraisat, Minister of Agriculture of Jordan. The event brought together five ministers and high-level representatives from Ministries of Agriculture across the region, along with policymakers, development partners, financial institutions, private sector representatives, and women entrepreneurs from different countries to explore gender-responsive financing solutions that promote women’s leadership in sustainable and circular agriculture.

In his remarks, AbdulHakim Elwaer, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, stressed that empowering women through access to finance is vital to achieving food security, climate resilience, and social equity. He called for policy reforms and innovative financing mechanisms that enable women to become active drivers of green transformation, highlighting the upcoming International Year of the Woman Farmer in 2026 as a key opportunity to advance gender equality across agrifood systems.

Discussions underscored women’s pivotal role as agents of value addition, circularity, and enterprise, leading efforts in processing, composting, and reuse of byproducts that drive resource efficiency and sustainability. Yet despite their central role, women in the region face persistent barriers to economic participation. While women constitute over 60 percent of the agricultural labor force in the Middle East and North Africa, rising to nearly 70 to 80 percent in areas such as Egypt’s Nile Valley and rural Morocco, their contributions are often underreported and frequently classified as unpaid family labor. Access to finance remains a critical constraint, as only 42 percent of women in MENA hold a formal financial account compared to 54 percent of men, and more than half rate their investment knowledge as low, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen financial literacy and inclusion. Enhancing women’s access to finance, land rights, and green skills can significantly boost their autonomy, income generation, and participation in emerging circular economies, where waste becomes a resource and sustainable practices restore land, conserve water, and create greener livelihoods across the region.

FAO shared examples from its regional work, including support to women’s cooperatives in Lebanon, where more than 2,100 women received financial grants to expand agrifood enterprises, and the Saudi REEF Programme, which empowers women entrepreneurs in the leather value chain through ecofriendly tanning and biomaterial innovation. These initiatives demonstrate how gender responsive financing and circular business models contribute to economic independence, local job creation, and environmental sustainability. To further improve women’s access to finance, particularly within the context of the circular economy, there is a need to establish simplified and clearly oriented financing mechanisms that minimize bureaucratic barriers and ensure fair access. Financial processes should be gender responsive, combining funding with training, technical guidance, and mentoring to help women strengthen their enterprises and reach new markets. Promoting the social economy as an inclusive channel to agricultural services also ensures coordination among multiple stakeholders, including ministries, development partners, and civil society organizations, linking the social dimension of the circular economy to empowerment and sustainability. In parallel, developing tailored insurance schemes can help enhance the resilience of rural women, providing compensation in cases such as natural disasters. Together, these measures create a more enabling and inclusive financial environment that supports women as key actors in advancing a green and circular economy.

As the region prepares for the International Year of the Woman Farmer in 2026, the workshop’s outcomes come at a timely moment. Participants reaffirmed the need to design innovative and inclusive financial mechanisms that strengthen women’s leadership across agriculture and the bioeconomy, from soil restoration to biomass based innovation. Investing in women farmers and entrepreneurs, and integrating them into circular and regenerative agriculture, is key to building resilient rural livelihoods and sustainable food systems. The dialogue closed with a shared vision to advance gender responsive financing that empowers women led innovation, drives green growth, and ensures that no one is left behind.