Policy Papers

World Bank Agriculture for Development Policy Brief. The design of many development policies continues to assume wrongly that farmers and rural workers are men. The important role of women in agriculture in many parts of the world calls for urgent attention to gender-specific constraints in agricultural production and marketing. Mainstreaming gender in agricultural policies and programs is essential for development success.

This Poverty in Focus reviews the experience of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to date and asks what we can do to accelerate MDG progress in the years 2010–2015 and beyond. These debates acquire greater significance as we enter 2010 and embark on the discussions leading up to and beyond the UN review of the MDGs. The global economic crisis has changed the context within which MDG debates will happen.

Peoples`s Food Sovereignity now! Declaration from Social Movements/NGOs/CSOs Parallel Forum to the World Food Summit on Food Security (Rome, November 13-17, 2009)

About three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Among those, women constitute a particularly vulnerable, yet crucially important group for social and economic development. Investing in rural women is thus not only a moral imperative; it can also be a promising strategy to effectively fight poverty and hunger.

IUCN power point presentation in French

This material was produced from a public policy institute for women in agriculture in Kentucky funded with a Southern SARE Sustainable Community Innovation Program grant.

This Action Aid paper finds that rural women are not only among those most vulnerable to food shortages, but more importantly, they are the driving force behind African agriculture. Traditional forms of food aid have largely failed to recognise and enhance the productive capacity of women, and this in turn means that food aid has been ineffective in contributing to lasting solutions to hunger. While short-term emergency food aid is often essential, it must be balanced with longer-term assistance and more comprehensive programs for agricultural development that are designed to support women’s crucial contributions to agricultural production and their commitment to feed their families.

Los sistemas agrícolas, y los roles, derechos y responsabilidades de los hombres y las mujeres campesinas(os), difi eren de acuerdo a los contextos culturales y geográfi cos. El reconocido estudio de Ester Boserup en 1970, hizo un aporte importante al visibilizar el papel que las mujeres desempeñan en el desarrollo, al reconocer a las mismas como importantes actores económicos. Boserup fue la primera en defi nir los sistemas femeninos de cultivo (cultivos rotativos y producción de alimentos) y los sistemas masculinos de plantación (permanentes, cultivos con arado y la tenencia privada de la tierra). Su infl uencia tiene un efecto importante aún en nuestros días, mediante el reconocimiento ampliamente difundido sobre la diversidad de los sistemas agrícolas y su diversidad genérica.

Agricultural systems, and the roles, rights and responsibilities of men and women who farm, differ according to geographic and cultural context. Ester Boserup’s classic study of 1970 made a great contribution to understanding women’s role in development by recognizing women as important economic actors. Boserup was the first to define female farming systems (shifting cultivation and food production) and male farming systems (settled, plow-based cultivation and private land tenure), and her influence is still seen today through the widespread recognition of the complexity of agricultural systems and their gendered variations.

A pesar de que un mayor número de experiencias están destacando la manera sostenible en que las mujeres utilizan la diversidad biológica, también es verdad que las mujeres asumen esta responsabilidad sin participar de forma equitativa en el acceso y control de los recursos. Hay una tendencia a ignorar los espacios de las mujeres en favor de los utilizados por los hombres, y los espacios no comerciales de la producción (mayoritariamente responsabilidad femenina), en favor de los espacios comerciales de la producción (sobre todo competencia masculina).

In spite of the fact that an increasing number of experiences are highlighting the sustainable manner in which women use biological diversity, it is often true that women do so without equitable participation in the access and control of such resources. There is a tendency to ignore the natural spaces predominantly used by women in favor of those used by men, and to undervalue non-commercial (mostly female) production spaces in favor of commercial (mostly male) production spaces.

La dimensión de género no ha sido considerada en las iniciativas relacionadas con el cambio climático. La respuesta internacional a las implicaciones de este fenómeno se ha centrado en medidas para la mitigación (reducción de los gases de invernadero), y ha prestado menos atención a las estrategias de adaptación (ayuda para adaptarse al impacto adverso del cambio climático en los alimentos, el bienestar y la seguridad humana). También han mostrado poco interés por entender y atender las implicaciones sociales del cambio climático, y las amenazas que éstas plantean para los hombres y las mujeres en condiciones de pobreza, o la forma en que las condiciones políticas y económicas de las personas infl uyen en su capacidad de responder a los desafíos que plantea el cambio climático.

Gender issues have not been considered in wider climate change discourses and initiatives. The international response to the implications of climate change has largely focused on mitigation initiatives (reduction of greenhouse gases), and has directed less attention to adaptation strategies (assistance with adapting to the adverse impact of climate change on food, livelihood, and human security). They have also displayed little regard for the social implications of climate change outcomes and the threats these pose for poor men and women, or for the ways in which people’s political and economic environment influence their ability to respond to the challenges of climate change.

To address the theme of gender and energy, it is necessary to understand how social inequalities affect energy use, management and access. The ways in which people use, conserve, understand and participate in the benefits of different energy resources depends on their socioeconomic condition, gender and ethnic origin. Women and men have different productive roles, which in turn require different energy inputs. While the burden of household energy supplies and services remains largely the responsibility of women, access to modern energy carriers, such as clean fuels and electricity, affects both sexes.

This is the eighth volume of Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries published by the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank Group. As from this year's edition, the innovation relates to the presentation of a special feature article on various gender, poverty and environmental issues of interest to Africa's development agenda. The publication also provides some information on the broad de vel op ment trends relating to gender, poverty and environmental issues in the 53 African countries.

The third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) seeks “the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies”. The achievement of this goal depends on the mainstreaming of gender considerations in ABS and TK governance.

Women have a unique relationship with biodiversity and across the globe, women predominate as wild plant gatherers, home gardeners, plant domesticators, herbalists and seed custodians. There are many examples that document that women and men have different uses, knowledge, and practices concerning biodiversity. These differing relationships with biodiversity result in gender-differentiated impacts when the abundance and composition of the biodiversity changes. These alterations might limit women’s access to, and control over, natural resources (i.e. land, water, cattle and trees) and reduce their possibilities to provide their families with a proper lifestyle.

It is important that the Cartagena Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes that the impact of introducing GMOs could be gender-differentiated because men and women have different knowledges, needs and vulnerabilities. Women worldwide, and specially women from indigenous groups and local communities, need to have access to information, skills, equipment, regulatory frameworks, and procedures. This will allow them to understand the issues, make informed decisions, manage, or avoid any potential risks associated to GMOs, have the capacity to implement the Protocol, and have an arena where their needs and concerns are heard and valued.

The use and development of genetic resources, if carried out without taking into consideration the needs and practices of communities, could endanger their livelihoods.

A fundamental characteristic of the NBSAPs should be the active involvement of all social groups in their elaboration. However, in order to ensure genuine representation, it is necessary to recognize that there is diversity within social groups due to their sex, age, ethnic group, income, occupations and civil status, among others.

Sustainable, agriculture, rural development and poverty reduction depend on unleashing women’s contribution to household food security and income, improving access to resources and services and enhancing the benefits of policy reforms for their economic and social well-being and empowerment.

Article from the CGIAR Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

IFPRI Policy Brief No. 007 The brief addresses the often overlooked gender implications of and gender-appropriate responses to the global food crisis. It was co-authored by Agnes Quisumbing, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Lucy Bassett with contributions by Michael Usnick, Lauren Pandolfelli, Cheryl Morden, and Harold Alderman.

This OECD brochure examines funding issues for women’s organisations. It aims to share research findings on levels of funding and the financial sustainability of women’s organisations in the context of changing approaches to delivering aid. It illustrates innovative donor practices and approaches and identifies some future challenges for donors, partners and civil society organisations. The brochure is a useful document to help readers get acquainted with the discussions and reports that have been developed in the past years on financing for women’s organisations.