This paper examined rural women empowerment programmes and poverty reduction in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The study adopted a survey approach with an estimated population of 12,000 rural women in 8 Local Government Area in Bayelsa State. A sample of 387 respondents were used for the study. The random sampling technique was employed to draw respondents for the study. Three research questions were answered. The research instrument for this study is a questionnaire titled: Rural Women Empowerment Programme Scale (RWEPS) and Poverty Reduction Scale (PRS). The reliability of the instruments was established through the Cronbach alpha method; which produced reliability coefficients of 0.81 and 0.87 for RWEPS and PRS respectively. The data obtained were analysed using percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The findings of the study showed that the respondents (i.e. rural women) agreed to the fact that most of the empowerment programmes discussed in the study are the types available for rural women in Bayelsa State. Also, the respondents agreed to the fact that there are several obstacles hindering rural women participation in empowerment programmes for poverty reduction in Bayelsa State. Some include; limited access to education and training, structural and cultural factors, female illiteracy, lack of fund and collateral to access credit from formal financial institutions, lack of infrastructure in the communities, exploitative and discriminatory working conditions, etc. Lastly, there is a high positive and significant relationship between rural women empowerment programmes and poverty reduction. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that government, NGOs and other relevant agencies should assist the rural women, by providing them loan schemes, education, vocational trainings/skills, access to credit, social protection and many other empowerment programmes so as to bring about poverty reduction at the rural level.