Women have a special role to play in ensuring the food security of their families, said FAO’s Director-General Elect José Graziano da Silva at a panel discussion hosted by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Dimitra and its partner in Niger, ONG VIE Kande ni Bayra created the “listener’s clubs” project in 2009 to give rural men and women better access to information and means of communication. ONG VIE Coordinator Ali Abdoulaye explains the reasons for the project’s success.

The findings of FAO’s recently launched State of Food and Agriculture report 2010-11 (SOFA): “Women in Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development,” were the focus of a high-level roundtable debate organized by the three Rome-based UN agencies - FAO, IFAD and WFP - and of presentations in FAO’s Country Offices, on March 8, the centenary of International Women’s Day.

As the 55th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) unfolds in New York, FAO urges world leaders to ensure that rural women are fully included in the design, testing and use of agricultural technologies and innovations.

Access to decent employment is one of the most effective ways for rural people to lift themselves out of poverty. This article presents a number of facts taken from the new UN interagency report: "Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty".