On July 17-20, Kigali is hosting the world’s largest gathering on gender equality, the Women Deliver conference, taking place for the first time on African soil. Women Deliver (WD) is a prominent global advocate that supports gender equality and promotes the health and rights of girls and women in all their transecting identities. The four-day conference has attracted more than 6,000 delegates from around the world.

To leverage this high-level gathering, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Women, built on their collaborative initiatives in empowering women in agrifood systems to organize a side event to present and discuss the Status of Women in the Agrifood Systems, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.. It will be held at M-Hotel in Kiyovu on July 18, 2023.

During this forum, we will present the data, evidence, messages, and policy recommendations from the Global Report, recently launched by FAO, on the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems, and reflect on our work on what has been done to support women in Agrifood systems and value chains. We will share innovative practices to empowering women in Agrifood systems that participants may wish to learn from.

High-level policymakers, including experts from the Government of Rwanda, FAO, USAID, UN Women, Civil Society, and Private Sector International Financial Institutions, are invited to discuss the best ways forward for women in Agrifood systems.

According to the FAO Report on the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems, closing the gender gap in farm productivity could boost nations' global gross domestic product (GDP) countries by nearly 1 US trillion US dollars, or almost a third of Africa’s GDP, and reduce the number of food-insecure people by 45 million.

We know that tackling gender inequalities in agrifood systems and empowering women reduces hunger, boosts the economy, and reinforces resilience to shocks like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, the report also indicated that when economies shrink, women’s jobs go first, stating that globally, twenty-two percent (22%) of women in the ‘off-farm’ segments of Agrifood systems lost their jobs in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to two percent (2%) of men.

It is confirmed that women were more vulnerable to climate shocks and natural disasters, as resource constraints and discriminatory gender norms make it harder for them to adapt and recover from different types of shocks.

For example, "women’s work burdens, including hours worked in agriculture, tend to decline less than men’s during climate shocks such as heat stress,” the report stated.

Moreover, inequalities in agrifood systems hold women back at all levels and roles. Women limited access to training, credit, and fundamental tools – including land, fertilizers, and irrigation systems – that could empower them to make equal contribution to agrifood systems. These bottlenecks are constraints to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG2 on Zero Hunger and SDG5 on Gender Equality.

The FAO Report on the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems underscored that gender inequality in Agrifood systems persists partly because policies, institutions, and discriminatory social norms still constrain equal opportunities and rights to resources. Amidst all these challenges, however, we note that Rwanda has made significant strides in addressing issues limiting women’s involvement in the Agrifood systems, including ensuring gender-responsive access to land certification and bridging the digital divide gap.

Women’s access to land, inputs, services, finance, and digital technology, which is key and vital to working in Agrifood systems, continues to lag behind men’s in many countries. There is much to do to ensure that women have their full land rights and that legal frameworks protect them.

In Rwanda, for example, land-titling programs that include women’s names and shares led to increased rural land investment that was nearly twice as large in households. Further to that, half of the positions within the government-backed Digital Ambassadors Program are reserved for women to enable them to be advocates within their communities and networks to encourage other women and girls to go online.

As of December 2019, the program had provided digital skills training to 41,980 women, youth, and rural people across 12 districts. An impact assessment reported that 87 percent of said trained reported increased incomes and use of e-government services.

In Rwanda, these strides do not happen by accident; Incentives for progress emanate from the top leadership. Rwanda is globally praised for women’s representation in governance, with a high proportion of women in Parliament (61.3% female members) and ranked 6th globally (WEF/Global Gender Gap Report, 2022) in closing gender gaps. This high representation plays a significant role in formulating policies that favor women’s access to land, inputs, and participation in Agrifood systems.

The United Nations in Rwanda is engaged with all specialized Agencies to support the efforts of the Government of Rwanda to strengthening the resilience of women to economic and climate shocks and their empowerment in Agrifood systems.

Since 2014, UN Women, FAO, IFAD, and WFP have collaborated to formulate and implement a program titled "Accelerating progress towards the economic empowerment of rural women," thus advancing gender equality and women's empowerment in agriculture. The second phase of this program, to be implemented in Rwanda from 2023 to 2027, aims to enhance food security, improve income generation, promote leadership, and foster a supportive environment through gender-responsive laws, policies, and programs.

The full FAO Report on the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems can be viewed here.

By the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the UN Women Representatives in Rwanda, respectively.

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