Over the last few weeks, South-east Asia has been the focus of FAO’s work targeting the achievement of gender equality in small-scale fisheries. As part of the project “Implementing the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines for gender equitable and climate resilient food systems and livelihoods”, the Philippines and Indonesia had the opportunity to hold two different trainings on the use of gender transformative approaches in the context of small-scale fisheries.

These trainings have been designed to fit the strategic needs of both countries with regards to the integration of a gender perspective in all the technical work impacting small-scale fisheries at national level; at the same time, the trainings are supporting the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines).

According to the SSF Guidelines, “All parties should recognize that achieving gender equality requires concerted efforts by all and that gender mainstreaming should be an integral part of all small-scale fisheries development strategies. These strategies to achieve gender equality require different approaches in different cultural contexts and should challenge practices that are discriminatory against women.” §8.1, SSF Guidelines