Second, they need to improve their opportunities for earning income and setting aside savings to take advantage of development service. This is why WFP links food aid to other development opportunities through its support to two programmes. Programme assists with the creation of assets and rural infrastructure for the poor. In a society that still follows the dowry system, poor families cannot provide adequate dowries for their daughters, resulting in high rates of marital abandonment and households headed by women. These women usually have incomes averaging 40 percent less than those headed by men and, with few exceptions, fall below the poverty line.
Cultural barriers impede women's empowerment and income-earning opportunities.
When the programme ends, participants can withdraw these savings to use as seed capital for a new business, or to buy land or livestock. People living in abject poverty need at least five to six loans to move above the poverty line. By helping disadvantaged women qualify for their first loans, WFP enables them to move out of the grip of hard-core poverty into more secure livelihoods.