Zoila Esperanza Morán never learned how to read or write. As the eldest girl in a family of two sisters and a brother, she never had a chance to go to school. “Education is not important for women,” her mother would say. And so Zoila spent her childhood h

Across Liberia’s Montserrado County, a special programme is enabling market women to take their businesses — and their lives — to the next level.

A new e-learning course from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides specific guidance for ensuring that the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security

For the first time in its history, Guatemala's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food has a comprehensive Policy on Gender Equality.

In April, high-level authorities from 15 countries pledged to collaborate on a global plan to wipe out 'Peste des petits ruminants' (PPR), a deadly viral disease of sheep and goats that affects the livelihoods of smallholders and pastoralists in over 70 c

This week, FAO unveiled the new and improved Gender and Land Rights Database (GLRD). Consisting of three main sections – country profiles, gender and land-related statistics, and the all-new Legislation Assessment Tool – the site aims to serve as a hub of

Working with women's associations in the Gambia to establish a modern, competitive, and commercially vibrant food processing sector.

Salma Yasmine lives with her family in a village in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh. When she first came here nine years ago she had nothing. Like many in the country, where almost a third of the population lives below the poverty line, he

Research suggests that kitchen gardens can supply up to half of all non-staple food needs, as well as a significant number of vitamins and minerals. This makes them an invaluable tool for food security in vulnerable communities.

In the past 20 years, malnutrition in mothers and children has decreased by almost half. But despite this progress, child undernutrition is still the greatest nutrition-related health burden in the world.

FAO's new e-learning course aims to strengthen capacity in member countries for designing, developing, implementing and evaluating truly gender-responsive policies, programmes and projects in food and nutrition security.

Ninety-nine years of secure access to good-quality land. To a rural women's group in Banizoumbou, Niger, this isn't just a fairy-tale. It represents the kind of happy ending you can have when everyone in and around a rural community – from the village chi

Empowering women is essential to achieving a world without hunger. This is the message highlighted by the Rome-based UN agencies and partners during this year’s commemoration of International Women’s Day.

The phrase “unity gives joy” sums up the first Dimitra Community Listeners’ Clubs Forum for the Tshopo District, held in the town of Isangi, in the Orientale Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Forum, held from 9–10 August 2013, brough

Though progress has been made in promoting and protecting women’s rights, women and girls continue to face discrimination in many facets of their lives. In agriculture, for example, discrimination causes female farmers to have less access than their male

Family farming and smallholder farming are an important basis for sustainable food production throughout the world. While family farms tend to be highly efficient in terms of agricultural productivity per unit of land, those that produce on a small or med

More than 129 million child labourers in the world work in the agriculture sector, which includes fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and livestock. These girls and boys, between the ages of 5 and 17, are performing work that interferes with their education

Land-related investments in agriculture can greatly impact rural people’s lives. One of the main conclusions drawn from four FAO studies is that women’s livelihoods were improved when private investors took measures to increase women’s participation in ag

Securing water is critical to achieve food security and improve rural livelihoods, especially for the women and men living in arid and semi-arid areas. But accessing this scarce resource can be difficult for those engaged in rural agriculture, women in pa

Compared to men, women are frequently disadvantaged in their access to and control over forest resources and in their ability to take advantage of economic opportunities, according to an FAO paper that calls for action on gender disparities in the forestr