UN Women: Boosting digital inclusion of rural women in Liberia

Rural women in Liberia face limited access to markets, finance, and land. A project by UN Women and partners shows a sustainable model for women’s economic advancement.

UN Women’s Digital Inclusion for Women’s Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) project in Liberia demonstrates the transformative power of digital inclusion and strategic partnerships in driving economic empowerment for rural women.

Spearheaded by UN Women and supported by the Orange Foundation Liberia and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, the initiative leverages technology to improve women’s financial inclusion and entrepreneurship opportunities.

By connecting women to markets, enhancing their access to finance, and promoting renewable energy solutions, the project has created a sustainable model for women’s economic advancement.

The lessons learned and successes achieved offer valuable insights for replicating this innovative approach in other regions, particularly in West and Central Africa.

The challenges for rural women in Liberia

Rural women in Liberia are often facing substantial barriers to participate in the economy. Their challenges include limited access to markets, financial services, and land. These are exacerbated by high levels of poverty (estimated to be around 44 per cent), gender inequality (Liberia’s Gender Inequality Index (GII) value is 0.648), and lack of infrastructure.

Most rural women are engaged in subsistence farming with minimal opportunities for scaling their businesses or accessing broader markets.

Market access and financial literacy for women

The D4WEE project addresses women’s challenges by leveraging digital technology to:

• Connect women to markets: The “Buy from Women” digital platform connects women farmers to broader markets, enabling secure transactions via mobile money and generating significant revenue.
• Increase women’s access to finance: A partnership with the Central Bank of Liberia enhancing the financial literacy and skills of rural women and supporting the formalization and digitalization of their village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), increasing security and facilitating linkages with formal financial institutions. Policy dialogue with the Central Bank has been key to support regulation to enable secure mobile money platforms for VSLAs.
• Enhance agricultural productivity: Providing capacity building trainings and renewable energy-powered equipment, such as solar mills and solar dryers, to women-led cooperatives enhances their productivity, value addition, and income diversification.
• Improve resilience to natural disasters: Training women on community-based disaster risk reduction and preparedness, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Disaster Management Agency, to reduce losses and damages in case of floods and other natural disasters.
• Foster an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs: A project advocating for supportive national policies on the digital economy, financial inclusion, and renewable energy creates an enabling environment for women’s access to green entrepreneurship opportunities through digital solutions.

Economic independence

Since the D4WEE project was launched in 2022, women in Liberia have increased their income through improved access to markets and increased agricultural productivity.

Over 3,000 women have increased their income by gaining better access to markets through the use of the Buy from Women digital platform, as well as through capacity building in climate-smart agriculture.

Women have also been trained to become mobile money agents and Orange Energy Agents, creating income diversification and employment opportunities for women in green finance in rural areas, and enabling women to play an active role in the promotion of sustainable energy solutions.

Resilience

Disaster preparedness and financial inclusion have made over 1,000 women in 17 rural communities in Liberia more resilient to economic shocks.

Over 1,000 women have benefited from UN Women’s “Next Level” Programme and adult literacy programmes and have been equipped with disaster prevention skills and resources. “Next Level” empowers market women, traders, and entrepreneurs by offering financial literacy training, which includes skills in reading, writing numbers, and managing money. It also provides business skills training for starting and managing businesses, access to finance through savings and loan groups, and the integration of digital tools to enhance their businesses.

Partnership with Orange

A partnership with mobile network operator Orange has helped to provide rural women with comprehensive digital literacy training and access to mobile technology.

Women have been able to effectively leverage digital financial services for secure transactions and broader market access.

Furthermore, by addressing connectivity and infrastructure challenges in remote areas, the partnership supports the expansion of digital solutions for women.

Infographics duplicated in text form here for translation purposes

Key results

Digital inclusion for access to markets

• 3434 women with increased capacity to access information, finance, and markets reached through trainings and equipment in 2022‑2023.
• 2734 women accessing markets through the “Buy from Women” platform.
• Over 1000 rural women farmers trained on platform use, business development, and financial literacy.
• Targeted rural women farmers have generated over 33 million Liberian dollars (approximately 174,193.61 United States Dollars (USD)) through secure transactions participation.

Digital inclusion for access to finance

• 17 women-focused VSLAs established and accessing formal financial services using Orange Money for saving, borrowing, and investment.
• 17 mobile phones with 17 VSLAs facilitated digital transactions, while National ID registration of women VSLA members ensured their active participation.
• USD 46,800 in basket funds provided as seed funding to start business activities.

Digital for access to energy and green jobs

• Clean energy access 

  Solar-powered equipment distributed to 17 women-led farming cooperatives, enhancing productivity, reducing time poverty, and contributing to economic independence.

• Green jobs 

  At least 17 rural women from the 17 targeted cooperatives have been trained to use and managed Orange Energy equipment to boost climate-smart agricultural production. They will also serve as mobile money agents and Orange Energy Agents, creating income diversification and employment opportunities in green finance in rural areas, and enabling women to play an active role in the promotion of sustainable energy solutions.

The UN Women’s Digital Inclusion for Women’s Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) project in Liberia is featured at SDG Digital in New York on 20‑21 September.