It is greatly encouraging to see former Irish president Mary Robinson championing issues affecting women in Africa. She was in Uganda last week to address a consultative meeting on gender that took place on the fringes of the 15th African Union Summit, being held in Kampala.

The former Irish president recognises that gender inequality is a huge challenge and a huge obstacle to progress across Africa. She will be aware, too, that it is a problem that exists from the very top down – as just a single woman head of state can be counted amongst the 53 African leaders who are meeting in Uganda.

It is now widely accepted that women must be given a more central role, if millions of rural poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa are to be lifted from a life of poverty, hunger, and aid dependence.

Women are the backbone of most African rural economies, farming small plots, selling fruits and vegetables, collecting wood and water, and tending to the young, the old, and the sick.

Yet they have limited access to land, have difficulty accessing credit, and are frequently overlooked for training opportunities and farming support services. I have just returned from Uganda, where Self Help Africa is seeing at first hand how equal access for women to farming support is having a transformational effect.

And hundreds of women in Kayunga District have started small income-generating businesses with micro-finance loans, providing their families with a route out of extreme poverty. The profit made by these women is re-invested – in the education, health and welfare of their children.

Since long before she was elected Ireland's first woman president, Mary Robinson has shown leadership on gender equality. For the Irish who are working in international development it is heartening that she continues to do so with the same resolve today – on a continent where the issue so desperately needs to be tackled.

Ray Jordan,

Chief Executive,

Self Help Africa,

www.selfhelpafrica.org