The USAID has partnered with the Zimbabwe Agricultural Income and Employment Development and the Zimbabwe Agricultural Competitiveness Programme to host the workshop which seeks to identify practical solutions to addressing gender disparity within the rural agricultural sector.
The workshop, being held under the theme, "Women in Agriculture," will explore strategies to implement gender equality in agricultural development.
The United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton, Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister, Olivia Muchena, are set to join other guests who will be in attendance at the workshop.
In a statement, the Mission Director for USAID in Zimbabwe, Melissa Williams, said: "This is a particularly exciting workshop because it demonstrates a strong Zimbabwe-U.S. partnership to support and actively invest in empowering women in agriculture.
"This workshop will highlight some of the successes and challenges that women encounter when they try to increase their capacity to generate income through agriculture. That is a critical first step to improving gender awareness and equity in the sector."
The Zimbabwe Agricultural Income and Employment Development Program provides training and technical assistance to improve the food security and increase household incomes of 180,000 small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Agricultural Competitiveness Program (Zim-ACP) supports and facilitates the farming and agribusiness sectors, through their representative bodies, to dialogue, advocate, and lobby for an improved agribusiness environment.
The "Women in Agriculture" event follows the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development validation workshop for the draft National Gender Policy.
In 2004, Zimbabwe adopted a National Gender Policy to provide guidelines and an institutional framework to promote gender activities in its sectorial policies and programs at all levels of society and the economy
"The Women in Agriculture workshop is dealing with the issues that the new draft of the National Gender Policy is expected to address, namely the shortcomings of the 2004 policy and the emerging issues prevailing under the changing political, economic, and social contexts at local, regional, and global levels," read a statement from the United States Embassy.
The U.S.A has since 2002, contributed more than $1 billion to humanitarian operations in Zimbabwe.