Featured Programme · Youth Development & Agri-preneurship
RAYEE II (Resilient and Empowered Young Women via Rural Agri-preneurship)
Implementing Partner: Professional Alliance for Development (PADet)
A transformative 5-year initiative funded by the Mastercard Foundation in partnership with SNV, empowering financially disadvantaged rural young women through agribusiness opportunities, enhanced resilience, voice, agency, and quality of life.
Project Summary & Goal
Driving rural economic growth and women empowerment.
RAYEE-II is designed to enable 103,600 financially disadvantaged Rural Young Women (RYW) through agribusiness opportunities, supporting SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), agriculture, women empowerment, and rural value chain development.
Operating across 25 woredas in the East Amhara Cluster (covering South Wollo, North Wollo, North Shewa, and Oromo Special Zone), the project runs from August 15, 2025, to August 14, 2030.
Consortium & Partners
Collaborative implementation for sustainable impact
Delivered by PADet in partnership with key consortium members and supporters:
Geographic coverage
Zone distribution in East Amhara Cluster
- South Wollo — 10 Woredas44,000 Youth Target (42.5%)
- North Shewa — 8 Woredas26,600 Youth Target (25.7%)
- North Wollo — 6 Woredas22,000 Youth Target (21.2%)
- Oromo Special Zone — 5 Woredas11,000 Youth Target (10.6%)
Strategic Pillars
Five pillars guiding all project activities
Skills Development
Skills to grow through technology, enterprise development, Business Development Services (BDS), and digital services.
Empowering Young Women
Focusing on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC).
Inclusive Financial Services
Facilitating finance through digital solutions, savings groups (VSLA), and financial linkage.
Stronger Markets for Youth
Markets that work through input/output market linkages, value addition, and aggregation.
Influencing the Ecosystem
An enabled environment fostering ecosystem changes, addressing policy gaps, youth advocacy, voice, and youth advisory groups.
Pathways & Value Chains
Employment strategies and sectoral targets
Pathway 1: New Micro-enterprise Incubation
Targeting 41,440 individuals through self-employment and startup support across micro-enterprises.
Pathway 2: Enterprise Acceleration
Supporting 36,260 youth through mapping and scaling existing young women and youth-led enterprises.
Pathway 3: Inclusive Market Actors
Generating 25,900 wage and specialized employment opportunities via lead firms and labor matching.
Project Duration: 2025 – 2030
Transforming the agri-food system through Market Systems Development (MSD) and Transformative Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI).