Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) has been implementing USAID’s Restoring Efficiency to Agriculture Production (REAP) activity since 2013. The REAP activity supports agribusinesses in rural areas through technical assistance and financial investment, raising income and employment levels. REAP project staff contracted Cultural Practice, LLC (CP) to review their gender integration efforts.
CP explored the challenges REAP participants faced in Georgia’s agribusiness sector, with special attention to discussing the gender-related constraints facing women business owners, using desk-based research and fieldwork. During a field visit to Georgia in late July-early August 2018, the field researcher interviewed REAP staff and interns and REAP beneficiaries, including those who received grants and those who did not, but who received trainings and/or who participated in other REAP activities. CP analyzed the field data, supplemented by additional research into approaches for strengthening opportunities for women agri-entrepreneurs. CP wrote a review based on the research and analysis which demonstrated that the project had met their targets. The report documents REAP’s gender integration efforts over the life of the project and provides recommendations for future efforts to support women’s entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector.
