CECI has been supporting and contributing for many years to different projects for empowering women. Sometimes, this involves specific projects targeting women’s and girls’ access to education (PADENF and PRODENF in Niger), women’s rights (the regional DCF and PDPF in Senegal, ACIPA in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo), violence against women (Great Lakes region), and gender equality (PROJES in Mali); sometimes, these efforts are integrated into projects seeking to develop income generating activities and/or increase women’s incomes (FSA in Niger, microcredit for women in Nepal, PROSOL in Guatemala, etc.). However, few projects have the economic empowerment of women as their essential aim, as is the case with the shea sub-sector projects that have enjoyed continuing support from CECI programming for many years.