FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. The organisation helps developing countries and countries in transition modernise and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all. The FAO was founded in 1945; since then, focus has been placed on developing rural areas, which are home to 70 percent of the world's poor and hungry people.
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Main areas of work
The FAO has 7 departments and 7 offices. The departments range from Agriculture and Consumer Protection to Corporate Services, Human Resources and Finance, Economic and Social Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Forestry, Natural Resources Management and Environment, and Technical Cooperation; and the offices from Corporate Communications and External Relations to Evaluation, Inspector-General, Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension, Strategy Planning and Resource Management, and Support to Decentralisation.
Objectives
The main objectives of the FAO are:
- Putting information within reach
- Sharing policy expertise
- Providing a meeting place for nations
- Bringing knowledge to the field
FAO's work on gender
One of FAO’s main themes of work is gender issues in agriculture, food security and rural development.
- For an overview of FAO’s programme on gender, please check gender programme
- The FAO has just released a database on gender and land rights (March 2010): database
- A toolkit for the collection and use of sex-disaggregated agricultural data is now also available (April 2010)
- For more information on FAO’s work and gender resources, please check the website
Featured articles on FAO's Gender website
Women's empowerment is key to fortifying the forestry sector
Compared to men, women are frequently disadvantaged in their access to and control over forest resources and in their ability to take advantage of economic opportunities, according to an FAO paper that calls for action on gender disparities in the forestry sector.
Food security and gender, cornerstones to the Post-2015 agenda
With just under 1,000 days to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the same amount of time at the beginning of a human’s life to ensure adequate nutrition and food security, a new vision of sustainable development is being defined. Following the Madrid High-Level Consultation on Hunger, Food Security and Nutrition, FAO Deputy Director for Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Eve Crowley, who represents the organization in the Post-2015 Development Framework discussions, explains why food security and gender should be top priorities in the global plan that succeeds the MDGs.
International Women’s Day 2013: Women, Violence and Food Security
This year, leaders of the Rome-based agencies (FAO, WFP and IFAD), as well as IDLO, in partnership with the Government of Iceland, met at WFP headquarters to mark International Women’s Day with an event that focused on the connection between women, violence and food security.
The Gender and Land Rights database
The Gender and Land Rights database is an on-line information device that includes country-based information on relevant legal, institutional and socio-economic factors shaping individual’s land-rights because of their gender.
By providing quantitative and qualitative information, the database constitutes a practical tool for decision makers, researchers and development practitioners; allowing for in-depth analysis of the gender asymmetries in land rights at both country level and across regions.
The Country profiles offered by the Database constitutes a comprehensive set of facts and figures for driving reforms, designing gender sensitive policies and programs, and enforcing existing provisions towards equality of land rights.
The database draws attention to thematic areas that require both better policy consideration and improved awareness and thorough research for enhancing gender equity in rights to land. Read more here.
The Gender and Land Rights Database and the Land Portal
Since October 2012, the Gender and Land Rights Database is also available on the Land Portal. Read more.
FAO Dimitra Project
Dimitra is a participatory information and communication project which contributes to improving the visibility of rural populations, women in particular. The goal of Dimitra is to highlight the role of women and men as producers, so that their respective interests are better taken into consideration and they can fully participate in the rural development of their communities and countries. The project builds the capacities of rural populations, women in particular, through the dissemination of information and the exchange of experiences.
- Dimitra May 2013 Newsletter on Rural women, gender and development
- Dimitra October 2012 Newsletter on Rural women, gender and development
Featured Dimitra publications
- Community listeners’ clubs: Stepping stones for action in rural areas - This publication presents the unique experience of community listening groups implemented in Niger and the DRC by FAO-Dimitra and its partners.
- Communicating gender for rural development: Integrating gender in communication for development - More information on this publication.
Featured FAO publication
Governing land for women and men is a technical guide that aims to assist in the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, by providing guidance that supports the Guidelines’ principle of gender equality in tenure governance.
The guide focuses on equity and on how land tenure can be governed in ways that address the different needs and priorities of women and men. It moves away from long-standing debates about gender equality in access to land, towards the mainstreaming of gender issues to achieve more gender-equitable participation in the processes and institutions that underlie all decision-making about land.
Access the report directly here.
Further FAO publications
Gender
- FAO Policy on Gender Equality - 2013 also available in FR
- Understanding and integrating gender issues into livestock projects and programmes (2013)
- CEDAW - A tool for gender-sensitive agriculture and rural development policy and programme formulation (2013)
- Invisible Guardians - Women manage livestock diversity (2013)
- Gender inequalities in rural employment in Ghana: An overview
- Gender inequalities in rural employment in Ghana: Policy and legislation
- The gender and equity implications of land-related investments on land access and labour and income-generating opportunities: A case study of selected agricultural investments in Northern Tanzania
- Executive Summary - The gender and equity implications of land-related investments on land access and labour and income-generating opportunities: A case study of selected agricultural investments in Northern Tanzania
- Decent rural employment for food security: A case for action
- Passport to mainstreaming gender in water programmesalso available in FR, ES
- Training Guide for Gender and Climate Change Research in Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development
- Good practices in building innovative rural institutions to increase food security
- Rural Women and the Millennium Development Goals - 2012 also available in FR, ES, AR
- FAO at work 2010-2011: Women key to food security
- Palestinian Womens’ Associations and Agricultural Value Chains - 2011
- The Gender dimension of agricultural and rural employment - 2010
Agri-Gender Database: A statistical toolkit for the production of sex-disaggregated agricultural data - 2010
For more gender-related publications, see: FAO gender publications
Hunger
- Global hunger declining, but still unacceptably high - September 2010
- 925 million in chronic hunger worldwide - 2010
- video on hunger figures for 2010
Rural issues
- Quick reference for addressing rural employment and decent work - December 2010
- Child labour prevention in agriculture - December 2010
- Land and property rights - November 2010
- FAO policy on indigenous and tribal peoples - November 2010
- State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11 "Women in agriculture: closing the gender gap for development" (Information sheet) - Read more - Full report
For other resources, see: FAO gender resources
Featured videos
- Right to land - right of men and women: experiences with paralegals in Mozambique - The video presents an overview of the gender issues in Mozambique and the major challenges faced by rural women when it comes to access land and natural resources.
- Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure - The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security has been approved by the 38th Session of the Committee on World Food Security. One of the key principles laid out in the Guidelines is the need to ensure that women and girls have equal tenure rights and access to land, fisheries and forests independent of their civil and marital status.
- Livestock, life and livelihoods among women and men in East Africa - This film provides an overview of the contribution of livestock to livelihoods in rural communities, particularly for women. Stories from Ethiopia and Kenya show how poor men and women use and accumulate livestock to pull themselves out of poverty and food insecurity. A film by IGAD Livestock Policy Initiative.
External links
- FAO website
- The Economic and Social Development Department
- FAO gender page : Gender and Food Security
- Gender in Agriculture community of practice website - brings together the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
- Infographic - The Female face of farming
