Statement on the Occasion of
the Opening Session of the First Summit of Africa First
Ladies on Peace and Humanitarian Issues
Abuja, Nigeria, 5 - 7 May 1997
Madam Chairperson, Her Excellency Mrs
Maryam Abacha, the Nigerian First Lady,
Your Excellency, General Sani Abacha, Head of State and
Commander-in-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Your Excellency, Mr Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General
of OAU,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
As I take the floor, I would like to
thank all the organizers of this Summit, for the kind
invitation to attend this important "First Summit of
African Ladies on Peace". Let me first express my
gratitude to Mrs. Maryam Sani Abacha, the First Lady of
Nigeria, for having invited me to attend this
distinguished gathering in the heart of
motherAfrica.
How an Organization devoted to
attaining food security and sustainable development can
contribute to peace? This question was addressed in the
outcome of one of the major international fora: "The
World Food Summit" held in Rome in November 1996, and
attended by 112 Heads of State and Government which laid
the foundation for diverse paths to a common objective -
food security - at individual, household, national,
regional and global levels.
The Rome Declaration on World Food
Security, "a peaceful, stable and enabling political,
social and economic environment is the essential
foundation which will enable States to give adequate
priority to food security and poverty eradication". It
also stresses that "the full and equal participation of
men and women are essential for achieving sustainable
food security for all".
The Kigali Declaration of 3 March
1997, which emerged from the Pan African Conference on
Peace, Gender and Development, also recognized that
poverty and ignorance are major sources of conflicts, and
that women and children were the disproportionate victims
of conflicts.
I wish therefore to assure this
gathering of FAO's full commitment, cooperation and
support to promote food, agriculture, fisheries and
forestry policies and programmes that will foster peace,
support disaster prevention, and contribute to
post-crisis rehabilitation.
A peaceful and stable environment in
every country is a fundamental condition for the
attainment of sustainable food security. I am confident
that this first Summit of African First Ladies will play
a key role in promoting equality, development and
peace.
On my part, I have been committed to
promoting the economic advancement of rural women. My
very first speech, a month after I took up my position as
the Director-General of FAO, was devoted to rural women.
This was in the Meeting of the International Steering
Committee on the Economic Advancement of Rural Women in
Brussels. Since the Geneva Summit of First Ladies, FAO
has actively supported the various Regional and
International Meetings of the First Ladies, and
recognized their advocacy roles in support of rural women
along the road to equity, sustainable development and
peace.
Since I joined in 1994 the proportion
of women in the Director category has almost doubled as
part of a move to broaden geographic representation among
professional staff and significantly improve the gender
balance.
Empowerment of women in FAO and
mainstreaming gender concerns in the policies and
programmes of the Organization, continue to be top
priorities. This was explicitly, recognized in Commitment
One in the World Food Summit Plan of Action which states:
"We will ensure an enabling political, social and
economic environment designed to createthe best
conditions for the eradication of poverty and for durable
peace, based on full and equal participation of women and
men, which is most conducive to achieving sustainable
food security for all".
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
As this meeting takes place in Abuja,
let me recall the historical Abuja Declaration of 1989 on
"Participatory Development: The Role of Women in Africa
in the 1990s". The Abuja Meeting was one of the first
follow-up meetings after the United Nations Women's
Conference in Nairobi, initiated by African women
leaders. They were instrumental in recommending the
design of specific training programmes for women in rural
areas to develop their technical skills in agriculture
and other fields including environment, water and energy.
This was done within the global framework of the
improvement of women's access to higher education in the
field of science and technology. I can see a similar
importance for this Summit on Peace, as African women
take a lead in the peace-building process.
There can be no doubt that food
insecurity is a contributing factor in conflicts.
Therefore, the fight against hunger and food insecurity
should become a long-term commitment.
Let me now highlight some of the key
issues.
Rural Women and Food
Security
Rural women play a key role in
household food security, which is a multisectoral issue.
Therefore, it is important to use a "gender lens", when
looking at the critical areas of concern, such as rural
poverty, agricultural and rural economy, management of
environmental and natural resources, and maintenance of
biodiversity and genetic resources.
Feminization of Poverty and
Agriculture
According to the "Human Development
Report 1995", the number of rural women living in poverty
in the developing countries is estimated at 565 million,
and in Africa alone: 130 million. The data further reveal
that since the 1970s, the percentage of rural women below
the poverty line has increased by 50 percent, whereas
that of men: 30 percent. This is what we call
"feminization of poverty".
Poverty and lack of opportunities have
contributed to the unbalanced distribution of population
between rural and urban areas. Rural out-migration,
especially of men looking for employment and other
income-earning opportunities, has contributed to the
"feminization of agriculture". Wars and conflicts,
breakdown of traditional family structures, rising
mortality due to HIV/AIDS and the increasing numberof
refugees have further contributed to the feminization of
poverty.
Ways and means to reduce the
constraints of female-headed households and women farmers
are therefore being sought. FAO has initiated and
implemented various projects to support advisory
services, technical training, legal reforms on property
rights and ownership, access to land, water and tree
tenure and so forth.
Recognition of Women as Farmers in
Their Own Right
Women's work in agriculture needs to
be recognized in the public and policy fora. If they are
invisible in national statistics and have no access to
decision-making structures how can they be empowered as
agricultural producers in their own right?
According to FAO's 1989 global survey,
rural women have a very reduced access to agricultural
extension services worldwide compared to men, and
technology is rarely designed specifically to address
their gender-based needs. In Africa, only 7 percent of
all agricultural extension resources were allocated to
women farmers, and only one percent to home economic
extension.
During the past years FAO has
increasingly emphasized the importance of training more
women extension workers, reorienting the curricula, and
training male advisors to work with women farmers, and
strengthening participatory methodologies and approaches
to rural extension work.
Acknowledgement of Rural Women as
Environmental Managers
Women play a key role as
conservationists and sustainers of the environment.
Traditionally they have an extensive knowledge of plants
and animals in their living environment. They can
identify and use a variety of indigenous plant and tree
species that have economic value as fodder, food and
medicines. They know the fresh water sources and the
quality of water for household and agricultural use. They
have a wealth of knowledge about crop association,
weeding, soil conservation and pest control.
Therefore, gender issues are important
in biodiversity and management of natural
resources.
Reorientation of Agricultural
Policies and Services
What is needed is a reorientation of
agricultural programmes to become people-centered and
gender-responsive and so contribute toward the
advancement of rural women, food security and sustainable
resource use.
FAO's WID Programmes of
Action
Last but not least, as a follow-up to
the Beijing Conference, FAO has adopted a Plan of Action
for Women in Development to the year 2001. The four main
objectives of the Plan of Action are: equality,
empowerment, efficiency and economic
advancement.
Conclusion
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The initiative of African First Ladies
in support of peace should be commended as an important
step toward servicing the enabling environment for
national and regional food security.
Unfortunately, it is in the African
continent, that the population is the hardest hit by
hunger and malnutrition in particular the vulnerable
groups - women and children.
I hope that this meeting will help to
improve this situation.
Thank you for your kind
attention.
