Episode Introduction

Women farmers in rural communities are responsible for feeding much of the world, but they often don’t get enough to eat themselves. They struggle to access financial support that would help them earn a decent income—and the pandemic is making this situation even worse. In this episode, we discuss how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting women in rural communities and how we can support them to become the leaders and food producers our world needs. Willy Foote and Katie Naeve of Root Capital discuss this with Nico Janssen, Programme Manager for our Agricultural Livelihoods Portfolio. 

Guest Bio 

Willy Foote is the Founder and CEO of Root Capital, a nonprofit that offers credit and financial advice to small agricultural businesses, especially women, so that they can build profitable and climate smart livelihoods. Foote is a Skoll Entrepreneur and an Ashoka Global Fellow. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008, one of Forbes’ “Impact 30” in 2011, and was a 2012 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. 

Katie Naeve is the Director of Impact and Partnerships at Root Capital. She works on developing and growing strategic partnerships that present opportunities for Root Capital to scale growth and impact. Previously, she conducted evaluations of a number of international development projects around the globe with Harvard’s Center for International Development and Mathematica Policy Research. She has also worked in Colombia with children affected by armed conflict. 

Mentioned in this episode:
To know more about the IKEA Foundation’s partnership with Root Capital, read this story: https://ikeafoundation.org/story/how-root-capital-and-the-ikea-foundation-are-building-the-resilience-of-smallholder-farmers-in-east-africa/

Show credits:

Host: Altaf Makhiawala

Executive Producer: Truus Huisman

Researcher: Lotika Mehta

An Andy Clark Media Production for the IKEA Foundation

Want to contact the show? Reach out at wehearyou@ikeafoundation.org

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Learn more about the IKEA Foundation: www.ikeafoundation.org

Programming Note:

This conversation was recorded as part of the Ask An Expert series livestreamed online on 7 May 2020. This is an edited version of the conversation for the podcast. 

 Youtube link to the original video conversation.