Despite increasing interest and effort to support women's empowerment globally, women remain a severely disadvantaged group in nearly every country throughout the globe. In the current study, we examine the relationship between women's participation in financial markets and different indices of empowerment. Questionnaires were administered to three groups of Maasai women (N = 224) living in rural, northern Tanzania: women who were members of cooperatively owned business groups, women who owned businesses independently via microcredit loans, and women who did not own businesses. Group difference tests revealed that cooperative business owners reported higher levels of agency than independent owners, and lower levels of partner control and greater involvement in financial decision making than nonbusiness owners. Independent owners reported greater involvement in financial decision making, and lower levels of agency than nonowners. Additionally, results from structural equation models demonstrated that participation in cooperatives, versus independent or nonbusiness ownership, was associated with fewer experiences of domestic violence and enhanced psychological well-being via the effects of partner control, agency, and financial decision making. Policy implications regarding the importance of considering

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Portugal has a high diversity of agroforestry systems like other Mediterranean countries. This is the result of the Mediterranean climate, great variability of bioclimatic conditions, a long history of land use, and a marked variation in land tenure between north and south of the country. Four major silvopastoral systems are described: two classically Mediterranean -montado and Olive tree system, and two typically of the transitional environment between Mediterranean and Temperate conditions -Pyrenean oak and Chestnut systems. Some products of traditional agroforestry systems such as charcoal, organic manure, livestock production and others have become less valuable with the socio-economic transformation of the 1960s. These systems have been declining from approximately 1950 onwards. Currently, the focus on sustainable agriculture, with greater emphasis on nature and landscape conservation, has meant that environmental values now represent new opportunities for income generation from these systems. A better understanding of traditional agroforestry systems is needed for the formulation of a specific European policy that will preserve European landscapes. This paper looks at the future potential for silvopastoral systems in Portugal based on current status.

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Silvopasture is the deliberate integration of a woody component with grazed pastures as understorey. It is one of the most extended agroforestry practices all over the world. Silvopasture use is key to increase the sustainability of livestock farming systems as silvopasture reduces the use of concentrates since the woody component provides feed for animals. However, it is not an extensively used practice in Europe. This paper aims at evaluating, from Eurostat, LUCAS database and the 118 rural development programs, the current situation of permanent grasslands in the Mediterranean area of Europe as well as the rural development programmes fostering silvopasture to better understand how sustainable land use systems are promoted and provide insights to foster silvopasture across Europe. The results of this study show that most of the policy measures related to silvopasture are adapted to the local necessity. The already existing agroforestry managed land (dehesas/montado) are related to measures supporting regeneration and maintenance while in those areas where agroforestry does not exist the measures are related to forest fire prevention.