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, brought together both women and men representing the area’s 60 Dimitra community listeners’ clubs, to share experiences and discuss how the clubs have helped break down traditional barriers.

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 counterparts to agricultural inputs, services and opportunities, such as land, fertilizer, financial services, education and decent employment.

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 medium scale have limited bargaining power and capacity to defend their interests in food markets.

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 or damages their health or personal development.

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 agricultural land-related investments.