Samenvatting

The crucial role of women in agrifood systems in many African countries cannot be underrated. In Liberia, women contribute to over half of the food crop production. Their involvement in cash crop production remains limited, as men primarily dominate control over the major cash crops. Cassava is the second most important food crop and generally referred to as “women's crop” in the country. However, the full potential of the subsector has not been realised due to a range of factors such as gender inequality often dominant in agricultural value chains. VSLAs are the core interventions of the PARTNERS Programme aimed at improving the cassava value chain in south-eastern Liberia, including Rivercess County by Welthungerhilfe. One key gap is the absence of explicit gender mainstreaming (women empowerment) strategies in these interventions. Hence, this research explored the role of VSLAs towards women empowerment outcomes in the cassava value chain under the Programme. It formulated gender-sensitive indicators including VSLA scaling strategies for gender-sensitive chains development through a case of VSLA groups in Rivercess County. The study sought to address two main research questions: 1. What are the contributions of VSLAs towards women empowerment in the cassava value chain in Rivercess? 2. What are the performances of VSLAs towards women empowerment in the cassava value chain in Rivercess?