The Biodiversity Foundation participated in this meeting organized by Agrarian Unions together with the Federation of Associations of Rurais Women of Galicia (FADEMUR), in which some 400 women gathered.

Ana Leiva, director of the Biodiversity Foundation, was in Pontevedra on September 18 to take part in the closing ceremony of the Congress “Women, Environment and Rural Development in Galicia”, held at the Pontevedra Conference and Exhibition Center.

This meeting of women entrepreneurs from rural areas has been developed within the framework of a project included in the Empleaverde Program of the Biodiversity Foundation, co-financed by the European Social Fund. The project seeks, through training and awareness-raising, to consolidate the growing role of rural women in new sources of employment related to the environment, in civil society, in associative networks, in agriculture; in short, in the new rural system, taking advantage of the practical experience of the different actors already consolidated and their communal capacities, with a clear gender focus, and having respect for the environment as a priority.

In this sense, the Congress organized by Agrarian Unions, together with the Federation of Associations of Rurais Women of Galicia (FADEMUR), offered a forum for reflection and exchange of experiences to about 400 working women in rural areas. The activity included keynote speeches, debates in working groups, round tables, a space for personalized attention and advice and a sample of artisanal products.

At the venue, it was also possible to visit a photographic exhibition – within the campaign ‘Women’s contribution to sustainable rural development’ – made up of images that account for the daily work in the countryside and promote the active participation of women in business initiatives, the promotion of decent work and professionalization.

The congress was inaugurated on the same day by Rosa Arcos, president of FADEMUR Galicia, Mª Teresa Casal, 1st deputy mayor of the City of Pontevedra; Marta González, Secretary General of Equality of the Xunta de Galicia, and Laura Seara, Director of the Women’s Institute of the Ministry of Equality.