WUNRN
FAO - United Nations Food &
Agriculture Organization
Gender & Food Security:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Via Anita Fisicaro - Representative of
Women's International League for Peace & Freedom - WILPF - to FAO - Rome
PROGRESS REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FAO
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF ACTION 2002.2007
The GAD PoA constitutes FAO's main policy instrument for follow-up to the 1995
Beijing Platform for Action on Women, the Beijing +10 review, the gender
aspects of the 1996 World Food Summit Plan of Action, and the Political
Declaration adopted at the World Food Summit: Five Years Later, in June 2002.
Through these meetings and agreements, FAO Members committed to supporting the
advancement and empowerment of rural women and promoting gender equality in
agriculture and rural development. A majority of FAO Members are also party to
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) the only international legal instrument with specific provisions for
rural women (Art. 14).
The GAD PoA (2002-2007) identified four
objectives to promote gender equality. The achievement of each objective would
be reflected in equitable: access to sufficient, safe and
nutritionally adequate food; access to, control over and management of natural
resources and agricultural support services; opportunities for employment
and livelihoods in rural areas; and policy- and decision-making processes at
all levels.
To achieve these objectives, FAO
identified four priority areas upon which to focus its gender mainstreaming
efforts: food and nutrition; natural resources; agricultural support systems;
and rural development policy and planning.
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF ACTION
(2008-2013)
1.
Gender equality gains are essential to fulfil FAO's mandate of raising levels
of nutrition and standards of living and improve agricultural productivity and
livelihoods of rural populations. Gender roles and relations are of key
importance to understanding and overcoming challenges to improving livelihoods
in development and emergency contexts. Nevertheless, women and girls continue
to face limited access to, and control over, productive resources, and
agricultural responses have traditionally been neither sufficiently aware of,
nor responsive to the distinct roles, priorities, knowledge, constraints and
opportunities of women as compared to men. Thus, there is a continued need to
mainstream gender concerns into FAO projects, programmes and policies, as well
as to assist member countries to mainstream gender equality and enhance their
capacity to analyse and address gender-related development
challenges.
2.
To this end, FAOs Gender and Development Plan of Action (GAD-PoA) for 2008-2013
reflects FAOs determination to promote gender equality and mainstream gender
issues into the work of the Organization. This new Plan will constitute
FAOs main policy instrument for follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action,
the Beijing +5 review, and also contributes directly to the 1996 World Food
Summit and other international agreements. The Plan contributes to combat
poverty and hunger as expressed in the UN Millennium Declaration, and provides
a mechanism to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women through
gender mainstreaming as called for in the 2004 Triennial Comprehensive Policy
Review of Operational Activities for Development of the United Nations
System,[1] and the ECOSOC resolution of July 2007 for Mainstreaming a Gender
Perspective into all policies and Programmes in the United Nations System.[2]
It is in line with the system-wide strategy and policy on gender mainstreaming
of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality.
3.
Most importantly, the GAD-PoA 2008-2013 is fully embedded in the proposed
Programme of Work and Budget (PWB). The intended outputs are parts of specific
Programme Entities. The new GAD-PoA assembles the plans of the technical
divisions to pursue gender mainstreaming in their respective areas of expertise
and links them to the existing four strategic gender objective areas: Food and
Nutrition; Natural Resources; Rural Economies, Labour & Livelihoods; and
Policy and Planning, as endorsed by the Conference for previous plans. Finally,
the GAD PoA presented here is an abbreviated version of what would become a
full Plan of Action if endorsed by the Conference, as requested in C 2007/16.
International Conference on Agrarian Reform
and Rural Development(ICARRD) - Outcome and Follow-up
1.
The Report of the 132nd Council recalled the importance of agrarian reform and rural
development, and the significant and unique role of FAO in this matter.
It noted, in relation to the outcome and follow-up of ICARRD, that FAO's new
focal point for rural development was the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment
Division (ESW), that cross-cutting work on rural development would be
facilitated and co-ordinated through an Interdepartmental Working Group and
that the responsibility for agrarian reform and other aspects of land tenure
would continue to be with the Land Tenure and Management Unit (NRLA). The
Council endorsed the 20th Session of the Committee on Agriculture's decision in
paragraph 49 of the COAG Report. Paragraph 49, inter alia and of
relevance to this Information Document, provided as follows:
The Committee decided to: . . .
Request the Secretariat to provide an overview
of
- the existing and ongoing activities of FAO
on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development;
- the capacities of the regional offices to
deal with the issue of agrarian reform and
- cost estimates for possible implementation
by FAO of recommendations contained in Paragraph 30 of the ICARRD Declaration.
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