It is universally accepted the fact that agriculture sector is incapable of creating sufficient gainful employment, food security and spurring economic growth in rural areas of developing countries. Even if our country Ethiopia practice agriculture for a long period, expected outcomeis not attained on sustainable basis to the livelihood of the households and food insecurityuntil now a day due to limited attention for the high potential of the non-farm sector in the government policies and strategies.Having this rationale, very little is known about women’s participation in non-farm activities in the rural economy of Ethiopia.Hence, the general objective of this study was to assess women’s participation in non-farm activity in Shebel Berenta Woreda. Mixed research method with concurrent parallel research design was employedfor data collection and data analysis. The interview schedulewas collected from 267 systematically selected women from randomlyselected four rural Kebelles in the study area. Qualitative data was collected from seven key informants, 28 focus group discussants and observation and the dataanalyzed via thematically. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the collected quantitative data.Binary logistic regression modelwas employed to identify the factors that determine women’s participation in NFA in the study area.The result showed that more than half (51 %) of respondents participate in NFA andtheir employment status showed high in self-employment while limited saying in wage employment. Their extent in NFA revealed thatmany of the respondents (25%) regularly participate in trade, (16%) in sale of local drinks and (14%) in daily laboring in NFA. The result of binary logistic regression model showed that women’s age, marital status, educational status, land size, credit, non-farm training, and having triple gender roles were the major determinants of women’s participation in NFA in the study area. The result also revealed that negative outlook to handicrafts, shortage of working capital, limited market demands, absence of institutional support, lack of skilltraining, absence of technology, and laws and regulation were challenges women faced to participate in NFA. While, the presence of family support, natural resources, business planpreparation andmutual support in their own association were the opportunities for women to participate in NFA. In line with the problems identified, the local government should work on awareness creation and education, provision of support, built local infrastructure, provision of credit and training. Keywords:Activity,Non-farm activity,Participation,ShebelBerentaWoreda,Women. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1Background of the Study