Report of the International workshop on empowerment of women through rural enterprises held on 20-77 March 2006, Hyderabad, India.

Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO), an autonomous inter-governmental organization, was set up in 1962 by the farsighted leaders of Africa and Asia to serve as a forum to promote cooperation among the peoples of African and Asian countries for better appreciation of each other's problems and to explore collectively the opportunities for coordination of efforts for sustainable rural development As one of its technical activities, AARDO regularly organises international workshops and seminars on topical themes in its member countries. This helps the member countries to share their experiences and explore the possibilities of replicating or adapting successful models in their own countries. The International Workshop on "Empowerment of Women through Rural Enterprises" held in Hyderabad, India in March 2006 is yet another AARDO's initiative to bring member countries together to share their experiences. The workshop was organised with the objectives to review the entrepreneurship development programmes for rural women in developing countries and develop a model that will transform a potential woman into an entrepreneur; share experiences of participating countries on approaches adopt to empower rural women through enterprise development; understand the concept of Self Help Groups -(SHGs) and its impact on rural development; critically examine the role of governmental and voluntary agencies in promoting rural entrepreneurship and develop strategies to strengthen and revitalise their role; and understand rural entrepreneurship and innovation for competitive advantage. As we know, women comprise nearly half of the national population of a country. Hence, the development of the country is inescapably linked with the status of women. Economic empowerment is one approach to enable women to realise their