Expanding women’s entrepreneurial skills and building their capacities in microfinance and ICT will help empower women economically and take away their dependence on land, a recent forum has heard.

According to an article in Africa Science News, speakers at the ‘Empowering women for sustainable natural resource management forum’ discussed how land tenure continues to hinder women’s productivity and livelihoods.

Instead of focusing on land ownership and access, there needs to be greater effort put into women’s empowerment through opportunities in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and microfinance

“An empowered woman has the ability to purchase land,” said Annabell Waititu, the executive director of the Institute of Environment and Water Management. “What we need is to increase women’s access to income generating opportunities.”

The forum, hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, discussed how to promote gender equality in Africa and policy and institutional interventions required to enhance women’s participation in environmental management.

Read the full story: Forum calls for more action on gender parity

See also: Empower Women for a Sustainable Africa: 2015 Africa Environment Day/ Wangari Maathai Day