Transcript Women in Agriculture: Investment, Leadership, and Human

“Women in Agriculture: a Voice and
Vision for Food Security”
Alexandra Spieldoch
Human Rights Council 16th Session
March 9, 2011
"People often ask: What can be done to defeat
hunger? My answer is simple: empower women,
because women are the secret weapon to fight
hunger." -- Josette Sheeran, Executive Director,
World Food Programme (WFP).
Overview of WOCAN
Women-led INGO –over 700 professional women in 93
countries; country associates; coordinators
• Training and capacity building for rural women’s
leadership
• Mainstreaming gender for organizational change in
agriculture and NRM
• New markets for rural women women
• Advocacy for policy change at regional and global level
Women Bear the Burden
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Food
Water
Fuel
Household
Healthcare
Education
Ongoing challenges
• Poverty and
unemployment
• Lack of voice, resources
and access to markets
• Policy takers, not policy
makers
• Overall discrimination
within development
What are rural women saying?
• WOCAN - Huairou – FAO Partnership in
preparation for UN CSW – 54 Beijing + 15
 Consultation with grassroots women in Africa, Asia
and Latin America on food security concerns and
coping strategies
 24 organizations in 23 countries
Africa, Asia and Latin America
Over 656 grassroots women and men in nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
participated in 28 focus group discussions – Oct 2009- January 2010.
In Asia, Bangladesh (hosted by Participatory Development Action Project);
The Philippines (hosted by the Asian Farmers’ Association); Pakistan (hosted
by the NGO Himawanti), Nepal (hosted by Lumanti);Two regions of India
(Swayam Shikshan Prayog in Maharashtra and Covenant Center for
Development in Tamil Nadu).
In Latin America, Nine organizations: Jamaica; Nicaragua, Honduras, Brazil,
Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador
Women’s Perceptions
• More time spent trying to find markets
• Employment constraints
• Low purchasing power and increase in debt in the midst
of crisis
• Breakdown of social structures
• Negative impacts of climate change
• Agricultural trade not benefiting the rural women
Women’s resiliency
Survival strategies include traditional
knowledge, water harvesting, crop
diversification, collective farming, seed saving,
food banks and food reserves as well as training
on agricultural techniques and crop
management.
Women’s cooperatives and Self-help groups
(Nepal and Brazil)
Network of Women Ministers and
Leaders in Agriculture
1. Improving food and agricultural policy,
programs and resource flows to invest in
rural women
2. A space for collective action
3. Leadership broadly defined
4. Strengthened advocacy
NWMLA Meeting at World Food Summit 2009
Developing advocacy
• Mapping of leaders
• Mapping of strategic processes
• Mapping of legal frameworks (CEDAW, BPFA,
ICAARD, Africa Protocol on Women’s Rights)
• Identifying best practices
• Developing an advocacy platform/s for global
and regional food security strategies
• Multi-stakeholder dialogues
Investing in Women
• Information that makes rural women’s
contribution visible : data collection and
knowledge sharing
• Investment in programs that are designed
and implemented to prioritize their needs:
earmarked budgets; risk management, food
stocks)
Agro-ecology
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integrated, diversified farming,
organic farming,
bio-composting,
use of local and select seeds,
herbal pesticides,
crop diversification,
terracing,
systematic crop intensification, and community based
irrigation
People-centered approaches
• Comprehensive strategies for empowerment
• Voice and participation – rural women as agents of change:
examples: IFAD Farmers’ Forum 2010
“As long as women are seen as submissive and restricted to the role of
recipient and beneficiary, agriculture will continue to have a large
gap… When women sit at the table, the process takes a different
shape.” Neriede Segala Coelho, a grassroots leader, and a farmer from
Brazil.
Science, Technology and Innovation
• Women Scientists – example: AWARD through
CGIAR Gender and Diversity Program
• Support for women’s traditional knowledge
and organic farming
• Participatory seed selection
• Women in Business
• Agriculture is the vehicle for women – given the
necessary support and resources women can drive
the process of development to a higher level.”-- Linda
Nghatsane, Farmers Union of South Africa and
member of Women in Agriculture and Rural
Development (WARD) led by the Congress of Rural
Women in Durban, speaking at the Commission on
the Status of Women (CSW-17) meeting on May 10,
2009.
• We have talked about the need to empower
women and to strive for gender equality for
far too long. It is still possible for us to act.
Hopefully the time is now. Florence
Chenoweth, Minister of Agriculture,
Government of Liberia, speaking at 2010
ECOSOC Substantive Session High-Level
Segment on June 28, 2010.
• THANK YOU
“Women in Agriculture: Investment,
Leadership, and Human Rights”
Alexandra Spieldoch
Human Rights Council 16th Session
March 9, 2011