For rural women in Liberia, digital and economic empowerment go hand-in-hand
With the help of UN Women and the Orange Foundation, women like Ma Nowai Kaine are gaining the necessary skills – and confidence – to manage their money in the digital era.
Ma Nowai Kaine has always worked hard to provide for her family.
A widow, mother of five, and caregiver to six grandchildren, the 61-year-old farmer from Sargent Kollie Town in Bong County, Liberia has built her livelihood through determination and resilience. As a member of the Margbeh Farmers Cooperative, she grows rice and vegetables to support her household.
But as digital financial services – mobile money, digital wallets, and online banking – became increasingly common in her community, Kaine faced a new challenge: “I didn’t know how to use a phone”, she tells UN Women.
Economic empowerment requires technological empowerment
Although mobile money services offered new possibilities for managing income, Kaine had to rely on others for help – and could not always monitor her finances or understand what was happening with her money.
“My grandchildren or the money changer boys would help me [complete transactions], but sometimes the money would not come back the same way”, she says.
Without the confidence to use digital financial tools, Kaine often kept her earnings in cash hidden under her mattress, worried about losing the money she had worked so hard to save.
How UN Women and partners help rural women strengthen their digital and financial literacy
According to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 data from Liberia, less than half of women had a bank or mobile-money account, compared to nearly 60 percent of men.
Kaine’s situation began to change when she joined UN Women’s Digital for Women’s Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) Project, with funding support from the Orange Foundation.
Through the initiative, she received a basic mobile phone and practical training on how to use Orange Money safely, protect her PIN, and complete transactions independently.
With new skills came greater confidence. Today, Kaine manages her own mobile money account. She can save, send, and receive money without depending on others.
Now nobody can confuse me. I know how to use my Orange Money. My money is safe with me.
For Kaine, learning how to use a phone was not only about accessing a new technology. It was about having greater control over the income she earns and the decisions that affect her daily life.
Her experience reflects the challenges faced by many rural women who have limited access to digital tools and financial services. By strengthening women’s digital and financial literacy, the D4WEE Project is helping women farmers participate more safely in Liberia’s growing digital economy.
Since its launch in 2022, the project has supported rural women farmers through training on digital platform use, business development, and financial literacy. Women participating in the project have generated around USD 338,394 worth of sales through the Buy from Women platform, a UN Women digital marketplace for women farmers and entrepreneurs to advertise and sell rice, cassava, potatoes, peppers, and other products – with payments handled through mobile money. The women can expand their markets, securely manage income, and reduce dependence on intermediaries.
“This phone has helped me a lot. Now I can be anywhere, pay for my goods, and save my money without fear.”
Today, Ma Nowai no longer keeps her earnings hidden away or relies on others to manage her transactions. She carries with her a new confidence: the ability to use technology independently, protect her income, and continue building a more secure future for herself and her family.
