FAO Liaison Office in Geneva

Women empowerment leading the change in agrifood systems for a better tomorrow

14/10/2024

Geneva, Brussels - Kicking off the World Food Forum (WFF) Flagship Event 2024, on 14 October 2024, the FAO Liaison offices in Brussels (LOB) and Geneva (LOG) collaborated on a joint virtual side event “Women and Girls’ Empowerment Leading the Change in Agrifood Systems”, including an interactive consultation where participants contributed ideas, solutions, and initiatives to address the gender gap in the agrifood systems.

Beginning the session, Raschad ALKhafaji, LOB Director and Dominique Burgeon, LOG Director, provided an opening dialogue in which they offered insight into their real-world experience meeting the most resilient and inspiring women in agrifood systems throughout their careers. They highlighted how women are the active agents of change, noting that 36 percent of working women work in agrifood systems, demonstrating women's vital role in agriculture, food security, and sustainable solutions.

Following the opening, the first keynote speaker, Clara Park, FAO Senior Gender Officer and co-leading FAO Gender Team, provided a further in-depth analysis of the gender imbalance within the agrifood systems and the intersectionality on the various barriers women and girls face, but also pinpointing the strategic ways FAO is working toward helping women especially rural women through the initiatives referenced in the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems report.

Moving forward with the discussion of women overcoming barriers led to the second keynote speaker, Lucy Wangari, founder of Onion Doctor Limited and Kenyan agro-enterprise, who works on transforming arid regions into thriving onion production hubs through climate-smart agriculture. She provided insights into her real-world experience, the challenges she faced to start her sustainable farming practice, and ways to move forward by empowering youth and women through the onion supply chain, explicitly highlighting the Empower-Trade Initiative.

Lucy highlighted how the Onion Doctor has become a trusted brand, spearheading projects in Kenya and beyond. The Onion Doctor has impacted over 1 000 farmers and created more than 3 000 direct and indirect jobs, impacting 21 000 people. Her story set an example of women's empowerment leading agrifood systems to become more resilient.

Overall, the event provided an immersive experience where the audience could submit their thoughts, insights, and ideas on a larger scale. Questions such as “How would you describe women’s empowerment?” was asked in the interactive platform, and participants were able to get a deeper understanding of how women’s empowerment is perceived in many ways.

As a result, this event overall demonstrated the WFF Regional Action initiatives' efforts to instill the critical value of empowering youth at the local level to increase their impact on a larger magnitude. The next steps will be attributed to continue FAO works and efforts towards working in finding innovating ways to strengthen women and girl's empowerment that are leading the change for a better tomorrow.

Contact

Sebastian Chavez, Youth Specialist
FAO Liaison Office in Geneva
[email protected]

Clementine Etienne Brunon, Youth Specialist
FAO Liaison Office in Brussels
[email protected]