Productivity is the result of the nexus between capital and labour. Infrastructure investments therefore have the power to hasten women’seconomic empowerment, especially when approached in a gender-sensitive manner. The United Nations Environment Programme emphasizesthat effective infrastructure is the backbone of the global economy and plays a fundamental role in societies by enhancing the quality of life andincreasing productivity. In Africa, however, one of the major developmental challenges continues to be the shortage of physical infrastructure.These arguments are endorsed by NEPAD, where it is believed that infrastructural development is the key to all aspects of social and economictransformation in Africa. The women of Africa often bear the burden of inadequate infrastructure and lack of equipment - “Every time we see awoman incapacitated by the vulnerability of infrastructure, they are foregoing very important activities that they should otherwise beapplying themselves to, like going to school or income-earning activities that would improve their lives and those of their families”. (Ezekwesili,World Bank, 2008).

A total of 29 of the NEPAD Spanish Fund for African Women Empowerment projects invested in infrastructure and equipment to facilitate the economic empowerment of women on the continent and more than 52,000 women directly benefitted from these initiatives.The investments ininfrastructure and equipment have had a substantial effect on the female beneficiaries by reducing the time they dedicate to labour-intensivetasks such as water collection and the processing of agricultural produce, which are often the preserve of women due to socio-patriarchal norms.

Examples of investments in infrastructure and equipment undertaken by the NEPAD Spanish Fund for African Women Empowerment include,inter alia: the construction of a farm house; the sinking of wells and irrigation systems for farming; the construction of livestock pens and poultrysheds; the construction of two youth hostels for girls attending vocational schools; the purchase and installation of agro-processing equipment;the establishment of seed banks; the provision of mechanical and manual farming equipment; the construction of storage facilities foragricultural output; the establishment of indigenous and plant nurseries; the construction of six safe houses for GBV victims; the building of areferral family counselling centre and a counselling centre for GBV victims; investments in vehicles; the construction of a bakery, reprographystudio and a refrigeration network; the repair and refurbishment of an operating theatre and the provision of specialist equipment to treatobstetric fistula; the creation of a biotechnology unit for vaccine production; the provision of ICT equipment; the purchase of machinery for theproduction of goods and services; the construction of shops and markets to facilitate the sale of women’s agricultural produce and theinstallation of generators