Gender focal points at the workshop (Kenya)

Kenya, October 2014 --In many developing countries, women are the backbone of rural societies and play an important role in sustaining families and their communities through their contribution to agriculture. As noted in the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2011 Report dedicated to Women in Agriculture, women could contribute to raising the total agricultural output in developing countries from 2.5 to 4 percent, which could in turn reduce the number of hungry people in the world from 12 to 17 percent.

 “Investing in (women) is the smart thing to do. This means that we should increase their access to land, water, markets, credit, education, professional training, health services and so on. We should create the conditions for women to exert greater decision-making and give more money to the women”, stated FAO’s Director General, Graziano da Silva, during the 41st Session of the Committee of Food Security, in recognition of the important role rural women play in agriculture. 

In its commitment to support member countries in developing and implementing policies and programmes aimed at sustainable and equitable development, FAO is working towards a comprehensive gender-sensitive policy and investment framework for food security and nutrition as part of the Renewed Partnership on Ending Hunger.

Sharing experience and views on way forward 

In this, special attention is given to increase women’s participation in agricultural value chains, enhance their asset ownership and raise their income towards improving food security. In addition, FAO has since 2012, utilized its Policy on Gender Equality to guide its technical work in the achievement of equality between women and men in sustainable agricultural production and rural development.

Specific attention is given to sharing experiences and best practices in applying the gender policy at the country and sub-regional levels and related gender standards; as well, mainstreaming the planning and programme implementation cycle gender are considered through 

(i) the formulation and implementation reviews of the Country Programming Framework (CPF), inclusive of its linkages with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) process, and

(ii) the entry points within the projects/ programmes, irrespective of the source of funding.

Some of the specific issues that were discussed included household approaches, gender and sustainable livelihoods analysis, stakeholder analysis, gender issues in food security, agriculture and rural development in Africa, what is expected from the gender stock taking exercise and the country gender assessment and how to report the gender work at country and regional levels.

The Easter and Southern Africa workshop recommended to

(i) facilitate advancement of the gender mainstreaming in their office programmes and activities,

(ii) develop their country office action plans for gender mainstreaming over 2014-2015 and have become  familiar with available tools and approaches. 

In addition, the foundation for a vibrant community of practice at regional level to share experiences and knowledge on gender mainstreaming in the region was laid and a draft regional strategy on the implementation of the FAO Policy on Gender Equality reflecting the action plans of the GFPs was elaborated.

Contact: [email protected] (Senior Gender Officer, Regional Office for Africa, Accra)

RELATED INFORMATION

The Regional Office for Africa (RAF), Social Protection Division (ESP) and the Office of Support to Decentralization (OSD), are collaborating in organizing a series of training workshops for the Gender focal points (GFPs) and other FAO practitioners in Africa. The training workshops are a part of the capacity development efforts undertaken by FAO within the umbrella of Effective Country Programming (ECP) to promote a sustainable impact on gender equality in agriculture and food security, while keeping abreast of evolving practices in the international development community and the changing needs of Member countries and FAO staff.

In Africa, the first training held in October 2014 in Naivasha, Kenya for Eastern and Southern Africa GFPs will be followed by a workshop in November 2014 in Gabon for the GFPs in Central Africa. With the support of the FAO Representation in Kenya, the Training Workshop for GFPs in Eastern and Southern Africa was organized to provide the GFPs with adequate knowledge and tools in gender mainstreaming to allow them to effectively fulfil their role in support of the implementation of the FAO Policy on Gender Equality. It brought together 25 participants from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Subregional Emergency Offices in Southern Africa, Eastern and Central Africa, staff from RAF, OSD and ESP.