Call for Applications: Supporting Women Farmers Program (Ukraine)

The component provides women with access to agricultural knowledge, advisory support, and financial capital to help increase productivity and income, as well as strengthen their resilience to current and future shocks.

Benefits

• Conducting a comprehensive training program in two areas:
  • development and strengthening of entrepreneurial skills from basics to advanced topics depending on the participants’ previous experience – basics of entrepreneurship, business planning, accounting, marketing and branding, state business registration, finding financing, etc.;
  • specialized agricultural training in one of the following areas: vegetable growing, berry growing, horticulture, beekeeping, poultry farming, cattle breeding, pig breeding, rabbit breeding, sheep breeding, goat breeding, etc.
• The duration of the training program is 7 weeks. Classes will be held twice a week in an online format, which will allow participants to study from anywhere. For convenience, there will also be access to video recordings of the classes.
• The curriculum is designed to meet the needs of women with different levels of education and experience, using simple language and visual materials.
• Participants who have successfully completed the training, if interested, will have the opportunity to participate in study trips to advanced farms in selected areas to acquire practical skills, with travel and related expenses covered.
• The opportunity to receive financial assistance on a competitive basis in the amount of 3,000 to 7,000 USD to start or develop your own business.
• Mentoring support:
  • For participants who receive funding, the program provides further support in the form of mentoring from experts in the field of agriculture.

Eligibility Criteria

• The program is open to local residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have suffered from the consequences of war and who:
  • live in the territories of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv regions;
  • head a household or an existing agribusiness (sole proprietorship, sole proprietorship, LLC, PE) with experience in agriculture, or seek to start a business in the field of agricultural production without previous experience and are highly motivated to acquire new knowledge and skills;
  • carry out or plan agricultural activities on a land plot with an area of ​​no more than 150 hectares.

For more information, visit Mercy Corps.