Green Cooperatives: A Strategic Approach Developing Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Asian and Pacific Region

The Asian and Pacific region is home for over 60 percent of the world’s population and more than 70 percent of the region’s population lives in rural areas and primarily involved in agriculture. Integrating and empowering rural women by promoting women’s entrepreneurship in green cooperatives has been recognized as an important approach to alleviate rural poverty and enhancing sustainable rural development. The promotion of women’s entrepreneurship in the area of green cooperatives is a vital approach where women can play pioneering role for income generating activities, employment opportunities and improve quality of life for sustainable development. Furthermore, many reside in rural areas and agricultural employment comprises primary source of income for women. Women’s development in the region depends on improving the situation of rural communities. The results from this paper show that, the sales volume of womenlink in South Korea has increased 24 times, from 267, 329,000 Korean won in 1990 to 6, 652, 929, 000 Korean won in 2005. However, women lack access to land credit, or production inputs, inadequate knowledge and business experience of cooperatives is limited. In conclusion, women’s entrepreneurship through green cooperatives, capacity building and information can enable them to produce and market their green products.