Ensuring That Rural Advisory Services Are Responsive To Women Good Practices From Fao Experiences In Europe And Central Asia

This report builds upon FAO’s work promoting gender mainstreaming in extension and advisory services, cataloguing challenges and suggesting strategies for increasing the gender responsiveness of rural advisory services globally. [Author] The purpose of this review is to apply FAO’s accumulated knowledge about gender equality in the context of rural advisory services to assess the situation in the Europe and Central Asia region. [Author] The report provides a snapshot of the extent to which gender considerations are currently integrated into rural advisory services in the region and highlights good practices that are in line with FAO’s gender equality strategies. [Author] The report concludes with recommendations for FAO, partner organizations and stakeholders in the fields of agricultural extension and rural advisory services, on how to further improve such services to extend their reach to rural women and men who have previously had limited or no access. [Author] This process requires moving away from gender‑neutral service provision, which often results in the exclusion of women, towards transformative extension and rural advisory services that challenge unequal gender relations and address underlying discriminatory norms and practices. [Author]

This resource guide aims to support decision-makers, development practitioners, trainers and civil society organizations representing both farmers and rural women in designing and implementing climate investment projects and programmes in the Europe and Central Asia Region. It features a practical conceptual framework to enhance gender mainstreaming in climate investment programming with a particular emphasis on the Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility modalities. The resource guide highlights practical examples and lessons learned relating to gender mainstreaming from the FAO regional climate investment portfolio by featuring six gender mainstreaming experiences (Armenia, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Kosovo, Tajikistan and the region of Central Asia) delivering “better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life” as described in the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–2031. The case studies demonstrate how key results contribute to women’s empowerment, by increasing their access to decision-making mechanisms and realizing women’s pivotal role in taking forward climate change adaptation and mitigation work at the three levels of intervention (policy, institutional and beneficiary). The resource guide includes appendices providing tools and further resources, as well as a glossary.

FAO’s Gender and Rural Advisory Services Assessment Tool (GRAST) is designed to support providers of rural advisory services in their efforts to develop gender-sensitive programmes. By undertaking a gender assessment of rural advisory services at policy, organizational and individual levels, GRAST provides entry points for improving the gender-responsiveness of the design and delivery of advisory services in a truly transformative manner. Its ultimate objective is to ensure that rural advisory services respond to the needs and priorities of both rural women and men and that, as a consequence, they can equally access to and benefit from these services.

Amidst the challenges confronting agriculture in Europe and Central Asia, this casebook unfolds the stories of 25 farmers and agripreneurs who have successfully embraced digital technologies. [Author] The accounts presented here reveal that, despite the effects of climate change, the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the enduring impact of COVID-19, opportunities for innovation and resilience can still be found. [Author] The case studies presented here, grouped into five distinct use cases, illustrate the transformative power of digitalization in agriculture, and serve as tangible examples of the successes and lessons learned on the path to sustainable development. [Author] By harnessing the power of digital technologies in agriculture, we can prepare ourselves for the digital transformation of agrifood systems, which are at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with effects on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. [Author]

This illustrated volume identifies the challenges and opportunities facing food and agriculture in the context of the 2030 Agenda, presents solutions for a more sustainable world and shows how FAO has been working in recent years to support its Member Nations in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

This decision guide is intended to help extension professionals and their organizations make informed decisions on methods and approaches for providing information, technologies and services to rural producers and to facilitate interactions and knowledge flow. Expected users include field-based rural advisors, extension managers and programme planners.

The Compendium is a product of the Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security and Nutrition implemented by FAO, IFAD and WFP and funded by the European Union. The compendium of 15 good practices of gender transformative approaches (GTAs) includes the individual templates of the 15 good practices, provides a synthesis of the main features of the 15 GTAs presenting the core characteristics of 15 GTAs and describing the implementation arrangements, implementation cycle, the potential results of GTAs and their key success factors and challenges. It also includes ideas as to how GTAs could be taken to scale. The purpose of the Compendium is fourfold: (i) to take stock and draw lessons from experiences from existing practices of GTAs; (ii) to be a resource for agencies already working with GTAs to identify opportunities for strengthening their GTA work or to link up with complementary interventions; (iii) to provide guidance on how to apply GTAs in any organization or institution working for enhanced food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture; and (iv) to raise awareness of and advocate for GTAs by showcasing examples of good practices or successful approaches that contribute to positive gender-related and non-gender-related changes towards food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture and rural development.

In recent years, several major drivers have put the world off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The challenges have grown with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. This report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 and offers some indication of what hunger might look like by 2030 in a scenario further complicated by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes new estimates of the cost and affordability of healthy diets, which provide an important link between the food security and nutrition indicators and the analysis of their trends. Altogether, the report highlights the need for a deeper reflection on how to better address the global food security and nutrition situation. To understand how hunger and malnutrition have reached these critical levels, this report draws on the analyses of the past four editions, which have produced a vast, evidence-based body of knowledge of the major drivers behind the recent changes in food security and nutrition. These drivers, which are increasing in frequency and intensity, include conflicts, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns – all exacerbated by the underlying causes of poverty and very high and persistent levels of inequality. In addition, millions of people around the world suffer from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition because they cannot afford the cost of healthy diets. From a synthesized understanding of this knowledge, updates and additional analyses are generated to create a holistic view of the combined effects of these drivers, both on each other and on food systems, and how they negatively affect food security and nutrition around the world. In turn, the evidence informs an in-depth look at how to move from silo solutions to integrated food systems solutions. In this regard, the report proposes transformative pathways that specifically address the challenges posed by the major drivers, also highlighting the types of policy and investment portfolios required to transform food systems for food security, improved nutrition, and affordable healthy diets for all. The report observes that, while the pandemic has caused major setbacks, there is much to be learned from the vulnerabilities and inequalities it has laid bare. If taken to heart, these new insights and wisdom can help get the world back on track towards the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms.