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	WID ACTIVITES AT UIUC USAID GRANT AWARDED TO THE OFFICE OF WOMEN IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
	The Office of Women in International Development (WID) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has been awarded a grant from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to study rural women’s employment in agribusiness in developing countries. Kathleen Cloud, former Director of the WID Office, is the lead principal investigator for a team composed of faculty from the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Department of Journalism and the WID Office; two international post-doctoral women from Nigeria and India will also participate. The WID Office will develop model partnership agreements with selected international agribusiness firms to explore issues related to women’s employment through case studies of three companies in different developing countries. Dr. Earl Kellogg, Associate Provost for International Affairs, stated that the studies will provide much needed data for encouraging more substantial and better employment opportunities for women in countries undergoing economic transformation. “Both research and practical experience confirm that movement toward sustainable human development accelerates when women are able to increase their incomes in working environments which foster their own welfare and that of their families,” observed Dr. Gale Summerfield, Director of the WID Office. Several teams composed of one member from UIUC and at least one member from the partner companies will travel to the host countries to meet with personnel from agribusiness companies, USAID, non-governmental organizations, and the government to appraise labor market policies and institutional factors that affect the employment of women. They will collect data on the participating companies and other local and regional institutions. The project will document “best practices” that are responsive to gender-based constraints in the agribusiness sector and contribute to improvements in women’s economic status. Presentation of the results will be made to the companies, to the UIUC agribusiness community, and USAID personnel. The university will work with the companies to develop a partnership strategy for extension of the identified best practices across the agribusiness sector. For more information on the project or the WID Office please contact Kate Cloud, principal investigator (k-cloud@uiuc.edu) or Gale Summerfield, Director of the WID Office.