Gender in Agriculture Partnership

Transforming agriculture to empower women and deliver food, nutrition and income security

Roles & Mechanisms

GAP’s initial priorities
Priorities identified at GCWA and elaborated in the second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD2, Punta del Este, October 2012) and via an e-survey, are to create:

  • The evidence and knowledge base required to give visibility to women’s contributions and the costs of neglecting their needs in agriculture
  • Inter-institutional and cross-sectoral advocacy to raise awareness of women’s needs in agriculture
  • Collective action and leadership among rural women and girls on practical programmes and international actions that directly meet their needs
  • Action on women’s rights at large and addressing gender discrimination in agricultural policies, institutions and services
  • Awareness in policy-shaping bodies on the need for women’s ownership of and access to resources, and for decision-making roles within agricultural and community organizations and the household

GAP’s initial roles

  • Facilitate dialogue and debate among committed GAP professionals on priority needs and actions to ensure gender equity in agriculture
  • Bring partners together to provide a collective voice and advocacy
  • A multi-stakeholder network for collective action to ensure gender equity in agriculture, GAP aims to:
  • Serve as a clearinghouse for GAP partners to develop programmes together
  • Share and reward the best example(s) of gender success stories
  • Help develop effective national, regional and international policies, strategies and collective actions

GAP’s working mechanisms
These comprise an inter-linked structure operating at different levels:

  • An international group of ‘GAP Catalysts’ to inspire change and foster collective actions within their own organizations and among different organizations and sectors, supported by specialized (time-bound) Working Groups, and focusing on:
  • sharing knowledge and catalyzing discussions among GAP partners to develop joint programmes and activities that bring synergies and value-addition
  • advocacy, especially at global and regional levels
  • mentoring women professionals and leaders, especially younger staff
  • Regional hubs, linked vertically and horizontally within GAP to catalyze and support region-specific gender in agriculture actions.
  • National actors from all sectors, promoting change in communities and institutions and challenging underlying social barriers and norms.
  • A group of GAP Patrons, consisting of Eminent Persons, who provide guidance and advocacy for GAP.

GAP work priorities and collective activities
These are driven by the need to demonstrate tangible and visible achievements that have a greater impact than what any one partner could do alone, embodying the efficiencies, synergies and value-addition of working through the open, collective partnership of the GAP movement.

The process of building GAP

The roles envisaged for GAP require an open dialogue and inclusive framework.  GFAR is working to foster the partnership but its leadership and actions depend on the partners working among themselves and each bringing their particular strengths and areas of focus.

The GAP concept envisages scope for delivery at different levels, with household, community and national actions, supported in turn by regional and international actors and drawing on S-S learning as well as support from international agencies, together creating a strong collective voice.

To do so effectively requires a wholesale process that creates opportunities and synergies for change.

This requires:

  1. A governance mechanism that links leading national and international actions across all agricultural sectors and enables mobilization of actions at regional and global levels;
  2. Effective and open sharing of knowledge and accessible information resources;
  3. Alignment of investment mechanisms and institutional resources;
  4. Demonstrable pilot actions in specific countries that mobilize diverse actions and capabilities together; and
  5. Measurable change in the empowerment and roles of women in agriculture.

To do so, it is proposed that:

An initial International Working Group of around 30 members is brought together through the Global Forum, physically meeting at least once per year and involving CGIAR gender focal points, FAO, WFP and IFAD, AWARD, UN Women and the World Bank, as well as national and Regional representatives identified from different regions such as South Asia (e.g. ICAR), Africa, Latin America and West Asia/North Africa, civil society representatives from NGOs, farmers’ and women’s groups, representatives from youth (YPARD) small enterprise and market-based organizations (PanAAC), advisory services (GFRAS) and  from some key donor organizations (Asian Development Bank, BMGF, CTA, Irish Aid). The Working Group will self-select a Chair and meeting basis, with GFAR providing the Secretariat. Regions are asked to consider the value of regional working groups fostering national gender equity actions.

Specific collective actions to be planned by thematic groups of interested parties self-identified from the Working Group over a 3 year basis, linked to existing programmes, stakeholder commitments and national priorities, to enable and foster collective actions and demonstrable change on the ground, using the principles developed in GCWA.