This short 10-page paper summarises the work of The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in implementing a sustainable agriculture development project across the pacific region (DSAP) since 2003. The key success factors of the project in promoting gender-equality, improving food security and livelihoods, whilst also addressing climate change related production problems, are emphasised. Central to the success of the project is the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach used at every key decision making point at regional, national and community levels. This approach incorporates a strong gender analysis component to identify agricultural production problems and solutions from the perspectives of women, men and youth in the communities.

This report presents the findings from four case studies of development assistance in the Pacific region, which illustrate how a focus on gender equality has fared in the context of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Additionally, the authors have drawn upon contemporary literature and their collective Pacific-based aid and development experiences to inform these findings and to make recommendations about how aid and gender effectiveness can be enhanced. The strengthening of existing development policies and practices as well as the introduction of new gendered practices by the commissioning agencies - NZAID and AusAID - can facilitate the vital outcome of aid and gender effectiveness for citizens.

Mbo’o-Tchouawou, M. and Colverson, K.E. 2014. Increasing access to agricultural extension and advisory services: How effective are new approaches in reaching women farmers in rural areas? ILRI Discussion Paper. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI In many developing countries, rural populations are heavily dependent on agriculture as well as different social services for their livelihoods. Yet access to adequate knowledge, improved technologies, financial services and other relevant social services remains a critical issue. This paper reviews selected approaches to agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) and particularly discusses the effectiveness of EAS delivery processes for reaching poor women and men farmers on an equal basis. A wide range of traditional and reformed EAS delivery systems have been tried in many developing countries, but very little has been achieved in systematically considering a gender perspective in the provision of agricultural advisory services...

 

This brief explains the concept of gender equality in advisory services and discusses the opportunities that gender equality in rural advisory services can create for global and local food production, women’s economic empowerment, household food security, and nutrition. It summarises experiences of how gender equality can be pursued in advisory services and provides some practical examples.

This publication is reviewed on Twitter. Follow #genderinras

 

This book makes the bold claim that empowered women and men are better, more successful farmers who can make the most of the opportunities around them. We argue that there is a causal relation between more equal gender relations in the household and in the community, and better agricultural outcomes. The one underpins the other. This is a radical thing to say, because it means that the standard development interventions – more extension services, better information, more fertilizer, better machinery – will not fully achieve their goals unless women and men are on equal footing, able to make rational economic decisions unhindered by gender norms that limit what is “appropriate” for women or for men to do, or to be.
Empowering women as decision-makers in all areas of their lives is challenging and exciting. It is a key to poverty reduction. Transforming gender relations will help to make smallholder agriculture and associated development efforts more effective and efficient, with knock-on effects for a variety of development outcomes.

This case study explores the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Ghana’s women extension volunteer (WEV) model. The WEV model is a peer-to-peer extension approach that uses community-based female volunteers to increase agricultural information dissemination in rural northern Ghana. The model is part of a national volunteering flagship program of VSO Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO). It was initiated in 2009 as a joint effort with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). The case study is based on fieldwork performed from August through November 2012 in nine districts across the three northern regions of Ghana. The study specifically explores what the volunteer model has been able to achieve and in what ways it effectively increases extension services for female farmers. The primary benefits of the model are identified as strengthening farmer groups and enhancing the liaison between farmers and public sector extension agents and NGOs. The study also covers factors that can determine the sustainability of this model, such as recruitment, program development and support from MoFA. The study concludes that, although the volunteers perform some extension duties, they currently have limited abilities in providing technical agricultural information or introducing farmers to agricultural innovations or new technologies. As it stands, their role is complementary to that of public extension agents in that they can expand gender-specific extension services by liaising between service providers and women farmers in areas already being served and helping facilitate dissemination of information in their communities, but they cannot be expected to replace agricultural extension personnel.

A review of land reforms in fifteen countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. The report examines the role of Development coperation in land reforms and the extent to which donor organisations have addressed cocerns related to gender equality

Key note presented at International Day of Rural Women, organised by the World Farmers’ Organization (WFO) and The Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU). Presented under the theme: Investing in Rural Women to Achieve Sustainable Food Systems

This paper defines and explains the concept of gender equality in advisory services and discusses the oppor-tunities that gender equality in RAS would potentially create for global and local food production, women’s economic empowerment, household food security and nutrition as well as the challenges in achieving this. Based on the current knowledge in the working group and its environment of documented experiences, the paper summarises the existing experiences of how gender equality can be pursued in RAS and finally concludes with providing recommendations and suggestions for policy makers and RAS providers for planning and implementing RAS with equal access for men and women.

Evidence from several African countries suggests that female farmers are as efficient as male farmers, but are less productive because they are denied equal access to productive inputs and human capital. If their access to these inputs were at par with men’s access, total agricultural output in these countries could increase by up to 30% and
increase agricultural output by up to 4%.

Integrating gender in programs, policies and projects thus aims to reduce gender disparities and enhance women’s participation in the economic development and their empowerment.

In 2012, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) adopted a gender strategy to guide the integration of gender in its work. The purpose of this manual is to provide operational guidance to ILRI staff and partners on how to integrate gender into the project cycle in accordance with the gender strategy.

The Brundtland Report (1987) still provides the most quoted definition of sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Acknowledging the importance of gender equality for sustainable development, it also highlights the varied interactions between social, economic and ecological dimensions of development. Nevertheless, sustainable development is still often seen primarily as environmental sustainablility, with gender concerns often taking a backseat.
Currently the international community is discussing the elaboration of a new framework of development goals, possibly called sustainable development goals (SDG’s), which are supposed to replace the Millenium Development Goals in 2015. This is a good time to discuss and conceptualize what sustainable development actually means in the current context of crises on many fronts (economic crises, climate change, rising inequalities, poverty etc.).

This case study explores the Voluntary Service Overseas
(VSO) Ghana’s women extension volunteer (WEV) model.
The WEV model is a peer-to-peer extension approach that
uses community-based female volunteers to increase
agricultural information dissemination in rural northern
Ghana. The model is part of a national volunteering flagship
program of VSO Ghana, a non-governmental organization
(NGO).