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There are 476 million indigenous peoples around the world, constituting 6.2 percent of the global population and, according to different sources, representing more than 19% of the extreme poor (ILO, 2019) of the world. Half of this population are women (approximately 240 million).Even though indigenous peoples represent 19 percent of the global poor population (ILO, 2019), it is important to highlight that indigenous peoples and indigenous women are not vulnerable populations per se.For thousands of years, indigenous women have played a fundamental role in preserving their livelihoods, languages, culture, cosmogony and territory. However, the systemic lack of recognition of their [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every rural household, with particularly serious effects on the most vulnerable. Mobility restrictions have disrupted livelihoods, while the economic downturn has pushed disadvantaged and vulnerable groups deeper into poverty, creating “new poor” and exacerbating gender and social inequalities. Women and girls have been disproportionally affected, due to existing gender inequalities, including inequitable access to and control over resources and services. School closures, elderly care and overwhelmed health services have increased the demands on women for unpaid care work. Across Europe and Central Asia, the time women spend on unpaid care and domestic work has [...]

The analysis made of the effectiveness of national fishery and aquaculture policies and strategies in ECOWAS Member States and Mauritania has shown overall that their implementation faces with problems related to the low level of domestic funding allocated. This is compounded by their heavy dependence on external financing through TFP programmes and projects in which the objectives are not always aligned with those of national policies. Thus, the attractiveness of the sector will have to be improved by establishing a much more favourable environment for private sector investment in fisheries and aquaculture, given the substantial investment gaps highlighted by the [...]

FAO and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have been providing support to the Western Balkans region to promote progress on gender equality, with a focus on measuring the proportion of countries where the legal framework guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control.Last updated date 24/07/2020 Also available in Macedonian Serbian Montenegrin Albanian Bosnian

Why land rights matter: Tenure is essential to the livelihoods of billions of people where access to land and natural resources can mean the difference between having food and going hungry. People with weak, insecure tenure rights risk losing their means to self-support without access to land, fisheries and forests. When women have weaker tenure rights caused by discrimination in laws and customs, tenure rights can help promote, support and document fair and transparent processes aimed at ensuring improved access to natural resources for all concerned.

The development of sustainable food systems is a key component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This course discussed why eliminating gender inequalities is pivotal to achieving the necessary transformations. It proposes FAO’s gender-sensitive value chain framework as an approach for the analysis of value chains, and for guiding interventions to address gender-based constraints. Released May 2020.1 h 30 m of learning System RequirementsThe online version of this course runs on the latest versions of Chrome and Safari. In order to access this course on Internet Explorer or Firefox, you must install and enable Adobe Flash player.The downloadable version only runs [...]

For almost four decades, the partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) has generated advanced knowledge and expertise in support of achieving food security, sustainable agriculture, and rural development in the Mediterranean. Driven by these shared goals, FAO and CIHEAM have jointly contributed to policy dialogue, the implementation of programs and projects, awareness-raising, and the capacity development of different actors in the region. FAO- CIHEAM collaboration has helped to build important knowledge resources and technical networks, strengthen the focus on gender and youth in agriculture, and [...]

The purpose of this study was to analyse the position of women in the maize and bean value chains in Rwanda, as well as the current and potential role of financial service providers (FSPs) in strengthening the positioning of women in these chains. The study used the women’s economic empowerment framework for the conceptual analysis, while similarly looking at overall financial inclusion indicators. This was all done within the context of a value chain analysis. The value chain concept provided a framework for analysis and explained the different functions in the value chains for bean and for maize, including the roles [...]

Explore our wide variety of free, multilingual courses in the areas of food and nutrition security, social and economic developmentand sustainable management of natural resources, all supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Tanganyika province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is among the most affected by food insecurity and malnutrition and some of its territories are in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). In addition to conflict, food insecurity is caused by a decline in agricultural production due to fall armyworm (particularly in maize-growing areas), floods and insufficient rains, and limited access to land and inputs. Intercommunal rivalries between the Bantu and the Twa—sparked in 2014 during a struggle over natural resources—have worsened since 2016. Resulting armed conflicts have wiped out the few remaining social infrastructures, leading to a climate of terror [...]