Photo: ©FAO

Ankara, Türkiye – Between 30 November and 1 December 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and FAO jointly organized a workshop and training course on “Gender Analysis and Gender Mainstreaming in Agriculture and Forestry”. The purpose of the workshop, which took place in Antalya, was to increase awareness and basic skills in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming practices among Ministry staff at the local and rural level. Including FAO staff, 38 people participated in the training of which 20 were men and 18 were women.

The workshop and the training form part of the project “Leaving No One Behind: Greater Involvement and Empowerment of Rural Women in Türkiye and Central Asia”, which aims to strengthen ministerial knowledge and capacity at the provincial level. The project focuses in particular on increasing awareness of issues linked to women’s empowerment and gender equality, particularly in rural areas. Twenty-four trained Ministry experts will work within newly established Gender Units of the Ministry in Burdur, Kahramanmaraş and Ordu provinces.

The gender workshop and training introduced key concepts related of gender-based discrimination, gendered division of labour and basic gender concepts, and the following session focused on women’s involvement in economic life and gender analysis. The training was supported by interactive discussions and group work among the participants. The final session of the workshop aimed to identify gender responsive activities in the agriculture and forestry sectors and to create initial work plans for the Gender Units in Burdur, Kahramanmaraş and Ordu provinces.

The event was opened by speeches given by Dono Abdurazakova, Senior Gender and Social Protection Advisor and Project Technical Leader at the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, and Müslüm Kayhan, Head of Publication and Education at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Project Manager Senem Elçin Berber then briefed the participants on the activities of the project. Senior Gender Expert Ayşe Güneş Ayata and her research team emphasized the importance of collecting gender data in rural areas and implementing gender based socio-economic activities and profiling in the project provinces. FAO Gender Expert Neşe Çakır Sayran also introduced key concepts and themes around gender equality, gender analysis, women’s empowerment and sustainable development.

About “Leaving No One Behind: Greater Involvement and Empowerment of Rural Women in Türkiye and Central Asia”

The three-year project, “Leaving No One Behind: Greater Involvement and Empowerment of Rural Women in Türkiye and Central Asia”, aims to improve the socio-economic status of rural women by supporting inclusive agricultural and forestry policies and programmes in Türkiye, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Under the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP II), this new initiative will work towards the elimination of gender-based discrimination and exclusion in rural areas of Türkiye, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, by providing learning and income-generating opportunities. In Türkiye, working in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, the project will support the establishment of three pilot gender equality units at districts in at least three provinces. In Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the focus will be on building the knowledge of decision-makers to formulate and implement policies and projects based on evidence and sound gender analysis. The project will also bring together beneficiaries of all three countries to share good practices and lessons learned on socially inclusive agrifood systems and women’s empowerment in rural areas.

About the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programmes

The objectives of the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programmes are to provide support to ensure food security, rural poverty reduction and sustainable forest management; combat desertification; and preserve ecosystems in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and other countries of mutual interest.

Established in 2007, the first phase of the FAO Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP) has benefited from trust fund contributions totalling USD 10 million, financed by the Government of Türkiye and represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. During the first phase of the programme, 28 projects were implemented in 16 countries between 2009 and 2015.

In 2014, Türkiye and FAO commenced the second phase of the FTPP along with the first phase of the FAO-Türkiye Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP) with additional funding of USD 20 million, bringing Türkiye’s total contribution to USD 30 million.