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About Us
TASO Foundation (TF) is the national women's fund transformed from the Women's Program of Open Society Georgia Foundation (1998-2006). Since 2007, TF operates independently with the mission Women's and Girls' Empowerment for Human Rights, Equality, Social Justice and Peace in Georgia. We see the problem of social and political passiveness in the majority of the population, especially in rural areas, which allows for the pretence of superficial democracy against the background of poverty of the majority, ethnically coloured conflicts and high unemployment. This impacts mainly rurally based people who suffer from the many unsolved bloody conflicts of the 1990's and the war with Russia in 2008. The official number of internally displaced people is 258,595 but unofficially is estimated to be up to 500,000. This figure is included in 70% of the conflict - affected population of Georgia (the official figure of 3,729,500 still experience vulnerability of different kinds while 10% live in extreme poverty.

Working in rural Georgia since 2004, and focused on the conflict affected villages and settlements of internally displaced people since 2008, we know the huge distance between the state legislation on Human Rights/WHRs and its implementation in poor environments where people (mostly women as always and everywhere) struggle for survival. Every violation of HR's, ranging from direct and severe violence to inefficiency of spending of the Village Program funds, is going on locally and it is only local people themselves that can make changes for the better. Therefore, TF invests in people, in women and girls, but also welcome to our programs men who are honest and motivated. We strengthen communities with knowledge and education, skills development, grant-giving and continuous consulting and coaching, but all starts with confidence building. Once people are mobilized, they see the complexity of the problems they face, they are able to analyse and respond with appropriate social activism.

TF believes in steady, continuous work and we build the programs on the results already achieved and have trust in the abilities of our grantee partners. TF practices different types of activities suitable for individual and complex circumstances: competition-based grant making; negotiation grants for experienced and trustworthy partners; operational activities; mixed activities. The library and archives of the Memory Research Centre at Taso Foundation are open for researchers, students and women's movement activists. We act as a documentary maker (since 2001) and publisher (since 2004). In the years from 2007 to 2016 (by January, 2016) TF made 352 grants; total amount of grants made: which is the equivalent of US$ 600,526.
Main Programmes and Activities:
Social Justice and Philanthropy, since 2011
Youth groups of volunteers: total 24 rurally based groups of volunteers (total around 200 girls and boys) based in rural/ conflict affected and IDP communities are associated with community foundations and community resource centres established and developed by participants of TF projects. This is the growing space of educating and guiding youth in creativity and skills development as well as the self-confidence, dignity and worthy voluntary contributions in development of respective communities and wider regions: Women's HRs campaigns with main accent on the problem of early marriages; cultural, educational and athletic events and environmental activism/campaigns; creation of community histories through preserving women's narratives, organizing exhibitions of photos from family albums etc.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/YoungGeorgianVolunteers/

Community Philanthropy
11 members of the growing Network of Community Foundations, initiated by TF in 2012, are active in 156 communities and, since 2013, have made total 103 small grant (total amount: equivalent of 48 262 USD). 36 organized groups of women and 19 groups of young volunteers are associated with CFs. Community Philanthropy is the program which makes "the big impact with small money," the program in which the "good money finds good people"; this is said also about grantees of CFs, the network members. Motivated villagers, women mostly, but men as well, and the youth groups of volunteers are active for welfare of their communities and better future for themselves. They are gaining the recognition and appreciation of communities and local governments and create the opportunities of funding from local municipality budgets, as well as of institutionalization of what they have done (we already have cases of 4 community libraries, music school and the kindergarten, as well as the peace festival, recognized/co-financed from municipality budgets). CFs widen geography of their philanthropy continuously.

A Culture of voluntarism is promoted and exercised successfully through voluntary social activism of the women's groups and groups of young volunteers, including those who partner community foundations in their philanthropic activism. This is the necessary background for social movement as it was demonstrated by TF partners in 2014 and 2015: more than 3000 community members were involved in the campaigns of 16 day's activism against GBV and International women's day for rights and equality.

National legislation for philanthropy
In 2016 TF made its 3rd attempt (after 2013 and 2014 submissions) at lobbying for the philanthropy draft-law in Parliament of Georgia.

Social mobilization of rural, IDP, conflict affected and ethnic minority women, since 2010
Through partnership with UN Women, TF received support and adjusted to Georgian rural context, practiced and widely shared the applying methodology of social mobilization. In 2011, while designing the Social Justice and Peace Philanthropy Program, we linked the community philanthropy to the process of social mobilization as its sustainability strategy. Thus we could sustain outcomes of both work directions and could ensure further replications, developments and geographic widening together with reliable and experienced partners. TF interacts with 64 Self-Help groups (SHGs) of rural, conflict affected, internally displaced and ethnic minority women active in 36 communities of 12 municipalities of 8 regions of Georgia and 3 villages of Gali district, situated beyond the administrative border with Abkhazia.

Evidence of the cost efficiency of the results of TF partners' activism is clear - it is seen in the rehabilitation of outpatient clinics, village roads, kindergartens, community clubs, libraries etc. and the motivating of local-government for investing in grassroots organizations; to create the background for improvements in the national legislation on local governance; Along with growing recognition of the SHGs and community foundations among the respective communities and local self-governments. TF partners continuously accumulate power for advocacy, political participation and resultant dialogue with local government for gender justice planning and budgeting; accordingly, the level of citizen' democratic participation is growing and quality of the self-governance, as democratic institutions is rising. Below is the TF's video on social mobilization of rural, IDP, conflict affected and ethnic minority women.
Find us: (Belfast Office)

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About Us TASO Foundation (TF) is the national women's fund transformed from the Women's Program of Open Society Georgia Foundation (1998-2006). Since 2007, TF operates independently with the mission Women's and Girls' Empowerment for Human Rights, Equality, Social Justice and Peace in Georgia.

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SOU Center For Sustainability Presents - Seed Sovereignty, Food Security and Climate Resilience with Vandana Shiva

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SOU Center For Sustainability Presents: Seed Sovereignty, Food Security and Climate ResilienceVandana Shiva Author and activist Dr. Vandana Shiva addresses a sold-out crowd at the SOU Music Recital Hall on the connections between feminism, sustainability and genetic pollution. Sponsored by the Southern Oregon University Center for Sustainability and the Ashland Food Co-Op.

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Newsroom historic archives | New FAO newsroom

Planting hopes in refugee camps in Tanzania

Click for a larger map

A project FAO proposed within the 2000 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Tanzania has helped more than 50 000 refugees improve family nutrition by learning to grow food.
The refugees have been in Tanzania since 1993, when war and civil unrest forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to safety from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) operates ten settlement camps in Tanzania for more than 300 000 refugees, and the World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered food aid to prevent widespread famine. But when declining budget forced WFP to reduce its emergency rations severely in the late 1990s, improving access to food within the camps became imperative. Many refugees started gardens to grow food as a survival tactic. However, some of these gardens were poorly managed and unproductive. In 1999, FAO joined the international relief operation by introducing a programme to improve nutrition standards among the most vulnerable households. In collaboration with UNHCR, FAO provided 15 000 families in six of the refugee camps with seeds and hand tools to plant household and community vegetable gardens.

FAO proposed the project within the 2000 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Tanzania and received a US$122 000 contribution from the Government of Sweden. It is an extension of a project funded by Sweden as part of the 1999 Appeal. A recent evaluation found impressive results and suggested the project should be extended further.

Learning for a lifetime
Many of the refugees had fled urban areas and had no farming experience, so training was essential. Women with some experience received training in simple garden management techniques from agricultural experts and then passed on their knowledge to larger groups.

"After dividing the garden into parts we must plant on the lines," explains Beatrice Simbakwira. The thirty-five-year-old refugee and mother of three likes to demonstrate this newly learned agricultural concept, teaching it to the other members of her women's group. Each of the 15 000 targeted families received seeds for cabbage, okra and two types of spinach, and the rows of vegetables growing on the plot tended by Ms Simbakwira's group are perfect.

Spinach and cabbage were familiar to most people, but okra was new to many. Putting skepticism aside, half of them chose to give the new vegetable a try. Leaders in the camp plan to provide cooking demonstrations to show how to prepare the food to maximize nutrition and taste.

The farmers in the project have also been taught the importance of natural fertilizers. "Before transplanting from the seed bed, we put fertilizer around our plots -- compost," explains Ms Simbakwira. "The grasses and the ash from cooking fires, we put in a hole in the ground. After two or three months it is compost and we put it on the soil before planting."

In addition, the farmers have learned the importance of intercropping -- planting two or more different crops together -- to limit destructive insect infestations. They have also been taught how to utilize simple remedies such as water and soap to discourage pests.

Although the project's goal is to provide more food immediately, the skills the beneficiaries have learned can be of great value once they return to their home villages.

"We have to expect that access to food will be a constant concern for many of these families even after they are able to return to their homes," says Guiseppe Debac, an FAO consultant who has provided technical assistance in implementing the project."By teaching them the skills they needed to grow their own vegetables on small plots of land, we have helped them become less vulnerable to hunger over the long term."

50 000 beneficiaries
Tonnes of seeds and thousands of hand handles, watering cans and spouts have been handed out to the garden groups and individual farmers. And posters, leaflets and flip charts have been developed to introduce farming concepts, with help from some of the educated refugees, who have translated the materials into easily understood terms and language.

FAO estimates that more than 50 000 people have benefited directly from the project. Although a complete assessment of the refugees' nutritional status is not completed yet, consultants who visited the camps have reported that symptoms of malnutrition have declined noticeably among families involved in the project.

The greatest production of vegetables came in two camps at Mtabila, which are located in a valley and enjoy the most reliable access to water, a crucial factor in the success of the community gardens. A total of 118 garden groups plus 46 individual farmers were established in Mtabila, totaling 1908 participants, 1210 of whom were women. Production for 83 of the garden groups totaled 2.5 metric tonnes of vegetables on 18 hectares. Families ate most of this produce, but some was sold at local markets.

This is the first time FAO has participated in a refugee-camp project in Africa. Based on the lessons learned during this pilot project, the Organization has prepared a set of guidelines for vegetable production in refugee camps.

27 November 2000

A television crew from the Television Trust for the Environment went to some of the refugee camps in Tanzania to film a short documentary about the FAO/UNHCR project. This was broadcast on TVE's Earth Report's on BBC World in relation to World Food Day 16 October 2000. For an article about the programme, click here .

Related links

Comments?: [email protected]

© FAO, 2000

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Newsroom historic archives | New FAO newsroom Planting hopes in refugee camps in Tanzania Click for a larger map A project FAO proposed within the 2000 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Tanzania has helped more than 50 000 refugees improve family nutrition by learning to grow food.

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Goal 2 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

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End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

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Roles of women in agriculture: Case Study  of Pakistan

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Roles of women in agriculture: Case Study  of Pakistan

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What is SIGI?

The OECD Development Centre's Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) measures discrimination against women in social institutions across 180 countries. By taking into account laws, social norms and practices, the SIGI captures the underlying drivers of gender inequality with the aim to provide the data necessary for transformative policy-change. The SIGI is also one of the official data sources for monitoring SDG 5.1.1 "Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor gender equality and women's empowerment."

Read the Global Report for the fourth edition of the SIGI.

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The OECD Development Centre's Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) measures discrimination against women in social institutions across 180 countries. By taking into account laws, social norms and practices, the SIGI captures the underlying drivers of gender inequality with the aim to provide the data necessary for transformative policy-change.

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The media review presents every month a selection of articles from different media sources on "gender and development" issues. the list of articles is regularly updated during the current month. October 1-7 October The Brave Female Activists Who Fought to Lift Saudi Arabia's Driving Ban (News Deeply) Hostility Toward Women in the Tech World (The New [...]

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Handout
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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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About us Director-General Leadership Organizational chart Worldwide offices Governing Body documents Oversight Advisory Committee FAO and the UN Meetings Visit us

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The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or delopment status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

ISBN 978-92-5-105336-2

All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to:

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VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security

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The objective of the Voluntary Guidelines is to provide practical guidance to States in their implementation of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, in order to achieve the goals of the World Food Summit Plan of Action.

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Event

Considerable progress has been made in the promotion and protection of the right to food since 2004, when states adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food by consensus. Geneva-based institutions played a catalytic role in this progress, notably through the work of the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, who review the realization of this right in UN member states.

Other key actors based in Geneva include the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social movements.

At this conference, panelists will share good practices and challenges faced by these actors in supporting the use of the Voluntary Guidelines at national and global levels.

Introduction

Thomas Heimgartner, Global Programme Food Security, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Moderator

Dr Christophe Golay, Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the Geneva Academy

Panelists

Professor Olivier De Schutter, Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

Kaia Engesveen, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development, WHO

Dr Ana Maria Suarez Franco, Geneva Representative of FIAN International

Sue Longley, General Secretary of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

Dr Elvis Beytullayev, Rural Economy Specialist, ILO

Livestream

This conference will be livestreamed on the Geneva Academy YouTube Channel.

Cocktail

The conference will be followed by a cocktail offered by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Video

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THE FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO FOOD: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? - The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

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Event Considerable progress has been made in the promotion and protection of the right to food since 2004, when states adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food by consensus.

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Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

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The Fight For The Right to Food: What Have We Learned?

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The past decade, particularly 2020 with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, has shone a light on the full extent of existing inequalities in the world.

Ahead of this International Women's Day, we would like to draw attention to ways that women - whether Indigenous, rural workers or those enduring an occupation - resist and mobilise in the face of multiple, long-term crises. Existing patriarchal systems, structural inequalities and discriminatory laws have long stalled meaningful progress towards gender equality and women's rights. For women living in crises such as conflicts, facing recurrent environmental disasters and cyclical financial shocks, the Covid-19 pandemic has come as an additional blow, severely impacting their right to adequate food.

Conflict is a key and persistent driver of food system breakdown: more than half of undernourished people live in countries experiencing conflict. Extreme weather, economic shocks and climate change are also prevalent drivers of food crises and greatly affect food systems. Funding requirements for food security in humanitarian appeals rose to US$9 billion in 2020, up from US$5 billion in 2015.

Crises manifest in different ways and take different forms. They can affect only particular groups in a population or bring destruction to entire nations.

Marginalised communities, and specifically Indigenous peoples, have long faced a crisis of food insecurity, and in many parts of the world women and girls face a crisis of long-standing discriminatory practices that directly impact their food security. Women agricultural workers can face unjust working conditions that offer little job security, lower wages than male counterparts and no benefits for illness or maternity, all while being exposed to an often unsafe work environment.

Even in wealthy countries in the Global North, Indigenous peoples often face extremely high levels of food insecurity. This is largely due to the impacts of colonisation, which include land theft, severely diminished access to hunting, fishing, and wild food gathering grounds, and the arrival and dominance of an entirely new colonial food system. In many parts of the world Indigenous women whose access to traditional foods has been severely limited must rely on expensive and often unhealthy, ultra-processed foods to feed their families.

Caught in the quagmire of these multiple crises, women and girls continue to be the group distinctly and often disproportionately affected.

In armed conflicts, for example, adolescent girls are 90 per cent more likely to be pulled out of school, and 70 per cent of women in humanitarian settings are more likely to experience gender-based violence (GBV). Quarantine measures during the pandemic have exacerbated domestic violence globally, and many women have been forced to prioritise unpaid care work and gendered domestic responsibilities.

The rights of women are embedded in, and strengthened through several policy and international legal instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA) addresses the inequalities and vulnerabilities often faced by women and girls in crises that affect their food and nutrition security. The United Nations Security Council's Resolution 1325 recognises and reaffirms women's role in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace-building, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. Additionally, adopted in 2019, the International Labour Organization's Convention 190 is the first international labour standard to address the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment.

Routinely, these policies and laws are poorly implemented - if at all. In many regions, women and girls are evicted repeatedly throughout their lifetime, and are systemically prevented from claiming rights to land for subsistence and livelihood. Even where domestic law aligns with CEDAW, local customary practices that deny women's rights to land can in practice take precedence.

Supporting women's resourcefulness and resilience

Despite these challenges, women and girls in crises are, by necessity, resilient and resourceful, and have a sea of knowledge that boosts peace-building and humanitarian efforts. Experience and research show that when women are included in humanitarian action their entire community benefits. Women are often the first responders to a crisis and play a key role in the survival and rebuilding of communities.

In Palestine, women who have been dispossessed from their lands since 1947 have become agricultural entrepreneurs, building resilience and resistance to the ongoing occupation, closure, and apartheid system implemented by the Israeli state.

This includes the saving, sharing and cultivation of traditional seed varieties. One Palestinian woman in the West Bank spearheaded the first and only Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, preserving and making traditional seeds widely available, while the Urban Women Agripreneurs Forum in the Gaza Strip save and share seeds to grow on rooftops and home gardens in Gaza's densely populated cities and refugee camps. These activities not only help provide access to fresh, healthy foods, but is also a form of resistance against Israeli actions that threaten Palestinian farming culture.

In many parts of Uganda, women have been able to survive financial shocks by becoming resourceful workers in the informal sector: as street food vendors, agricultural or fishing workers, and in any other capacity that allows them to have an income. As a result of their survival abilities and growing self-sufficiency, they have been accused of witchcraft and have been a target of 'witch-hunting'. Such accusations have stripped them of their lands, homes, sources of livelihood and exposed them to acute social banishment. Against all odds, these women have mobilised and gathered support from local organisations, and are working to challenge these practices with advocacy and legal tools.

Affected women and local women's rights groups are also increasingly fighting the ongoing inheritance-loss crisis through legal and advocacy avenues. In India and several countries in Africa, training is being provided to measure the true cost of the losses that women endure through these discriminatory practices.

Crises present the most unimaginable, unconducive living conditions and take a much bigger toll on women. We have seen how women continue to mobilise and become meaningful leaders of change and resistance, even during crises.

Ahead of International Women's Day, we remind governments, and all actors in humanitarian and crisis contexts, that aligning domestic law and policy to international standards is simply not enough. The rights that women have on paper must be reflected in their everyday lives.

This can be best achieved by consistently monitoring on-the-ground outcomes in crisis response using a strengthened gender lens. It is also important that affected women are provided the opportunity to equally participate in decision-making, including for crisis response and ways to address root causes of crises. While the primary responsibility to ensure human rights lies with our governments, civil society and ordinary citizens can play a valuable role as eyes and ears throughout these crises. It is up to all of us to transition to a just, equal and sustainable world.
This OpEd was first published in "Equal Times"

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Women lead, resist and thrive - even in the midst of crises

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The past decade, particularly 2020 with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, has shone a light on the full extent of existing inequalities in the world. Ahead of this International Women's Day, we would like to draw attention to ways that women - whether Indigenous, rural workers or those enduring an occupation - resist and mobilise in the face of multiple, long-term crises.

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Through research, advocacy and campaigning, we work to eradicate the root causes of hunger and malnutrition. We fight against human rights violations. We support affected communities in their food struggles. Change unjust laws. Hold governments to account. Track and fight corporate abuse.

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Example: When some organism should to protect you and reinforce the security but instead promote the insecurities and sometimes more GBV abuses.

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Marie* was 14 years old and enrolled in a Christian school when she met and became involved with Miguel, a Brazilian soldier working in Haiti as a UN peacekeeper. When she told him that she was pregnant with his baby, Miguel said he would help her with the child. But instead, he returned to Brazil. Marie wrote to him on Facebook but he never responded.

After learning that she was pregnant, Marie's father forced her to leave the family home and she went to live with her sister. Her child is now four and Marie has yet to receive any support from the Brazilian military, an NGO, the UN or the Haitian state. Marie provides what she can for her son but she cannot afford to send him to school. She works for an hourly wage of 25 gourde (around 26 US cents or 20 UK pence) so that she and her son can eat. But she needs help with housing and paying for school fees.

Sadly, Marie's experience is far from unique. In the summer of 2017, our research team interviewed approximately 2,500 Haitians about the experiences of local women and girls living in communities that host peace support operations. Of those, 265 told stories that featured children fathered by UN personnel. That 10% of those interviewed mentioned such children highlights just how common such stories really are.

The narratives reveal how girls as young as 11 were sexually abused and impregnated by peacekeepers and then, as one man put it, "left in misery" to raise their children alone, often because the fathers are repatriated once the pregnancy becomes known. Mothers such as Marie are then left to raise the children in settings of extreme poverty and disadvantage, with most receiving no assistance.

Sylvie Corriveau/Shutterstock

Mired in controversy

The UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) - the longest running mission by the organisation in the country (2004-2017) - was originally mandated to assist local Haitian institutions in a context of political instability and organised crime. Its mandate was then extended due to natural disasters, most notably an earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, both of which added to the volatility of the political situation in the country. After 13 years of operation, MINUSTAH closed in October 2017, transitioning to the smaller UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH).

MINUSTAH is one of the most controversial UN missions ever. It has been the focus of extensive allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. A shocking number of uniformed and non-uniformed peacekeeping personnel have been linked to human rights abuses including sexual exploitation, rape, and even unlawful deaths. (For the purposes of this article, we use MINUSTAH personnel, agents, and peacekeepers interchangeably to refer to uniformed and non-uniformed foreign staff associated with MINUSTAH.)

This article is part of Conversation Insights
The Insights team generates long-form journalism derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.

With regard to public health, it is undisputed, and now officially recognised by the UN, that peacekeepers also inadvertently introduced cholera to Haiti. More than 800,000 Haitians are known to have sought medical attention for cholera and at least 10,000 died from the disease.

Various media organisations have reported that minors were offered food and small amounts of cash to have sex with UN personnel, and MINUSTAH was linked to a sex ring that operated in Haiti with seeming impunity: allegedly, at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers exploited nine children in a sex ring from 2004 to 2007. As a result of this story, reported by the Associated Press in 2017, MINUSTAH became a classic example of lack of appropriate response to allegations of sexual abuse. In the wake of this report, 114 peacekeepers were returned to Sri Lanka, but none were ever prosecuted or charged after repatriation.

Junior Emmanuel/EPA

Extensive research has demonstrated that children born of war are often raised in single-parent families in precarious economic post-conflict settings. The association with the (absent) foreign father, along with birth out of wedlock, often result in stigma and discrimination for the children.

Yet little is known about the impact of being a mixed-race child fathered by peacekeepers. Even less is known about the experiences of the so-called "Petit MINUSTAH", or Haitian-born children of foreign UN peacekeepers. This is one of the reasons we set out to bring to light the stories of those affected by the UN mission.

Our study

We collected stories by asking participants to tell us what it's like to be a woman or girl living in a community that hosts a peacekeeping mission. We audio-recorded the resulting stories, and then participants interpreted their experiences by responding to a series of pre-defined questions. This allowed us to better understand the circumstances and consequences of their interactions with peacekeepers.

Participants could share any story they chose, about anyone, and were not prompted in any way to talk about sexual abuse or exploitation. Narratives were captured by trained Haitian research assistants in the communities surrounding ten UN bases in Haiti in the summer of 2017. About 2,500 Haitians were asked about the experiences of local women and girls living in communities that host peace support operations. A variety of positive and negative experiences were captured, but 265 (10%) of all stories were about peacekeeper-fathered children. This is particularly noteworthy since the survey did not ask about sexual relations with peacekeepers or about children conceived through such relations.

This would suggest not only that sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeeping personnel is not rare, but also, as one Port-Salut research participant said in her own words: "There are many young women who have children with the MINUSTAH." This was echoed by a man in Saint Marc who told us: "MINUSTAH gave us many children without fathers."

© Sabine Lee/Susan Bartels, Author provided

Some stories were first person, shared by those who had given birth to children fathered by UN personnel, while other stories were told by family members, friends or neighbours about women and girls raising children fathered by peacekeepers. To the best of our knowledge, these stories make up the first empirical research to bring forth the voices of families affected by sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers.

Sex for one meal

Some sexual encounters between local women and girls and UN peacekeeping personnel were described as sexual violence. For instance, a male community member in Cité Soleil recounted:

All day, I heard women who are complaining about the sexual violence that MINUSTAH did to them. And they had given them AIDS through sexual violence. There are also some of them who are pregnant.

There were not only stories of women and girls being sexually assaulted by MINUSTAH but also of men and boys being similarly abused. But in our research, sexual assault was in the minority of reported sexual encounters. Instead, our data highlighted a much more pervasive problem, albeit one that has been reported less in the media - transactional sex with UN personnel.

One married man from Cité Soleil described a common pattern in which women received small amounts of money in exchange for sex: "They come, they sleep with the women, they take their pleasures with them, they leave children in their hands, give them 500 gourdes."

In other cases of transactional sex, women and girls received food in exchange for having sex with members of MINUSTAH, highlighting the extreme poverty that contributes to these sexual encounters. One male community member in Port Salut reported: "They had sex with the girls not even for money, it's just for food, for one meal."

Evolving relationships

Another narrative that has received far less attention in previous reports is how consensual sexual relations between members of MINUSTAH and local women evolve. In some instances, these were casual dating relationships that resulted in a pregnancy, as was the case in this story, shared by a man in Port Salut:

I had a sister who was dating a MINUSTAH soldier. My whole family knew about it, my mother as well as other people. She became pregnant ... Ever since, my sister's life is a mess.

Other relationships were described as being more committed and loving, such as in this story shared by a woman in Cité Soleil, who said: "I was living in Cité Soleil and I was in a love relationship with a MINUSTAH. I became pregnant from him."

We found that intimate relations with fair-skinned peacekeepers and having fair-skinned children were sometimes perceived as desirable. A woman in Leogane described "rumours" about girls having relationships with MINUSTAH and having their children because they "wanted these children to be beautiful".

Regardless of whether the relationship was consensual or transactional in nature, particular patterns were noted in how and where the interactions took place. For instance, meeting on the beach or in a hotel was common, as in this story shared by a woman in Cité Soleil, about a friend of hers: "He used to go to the beach with her, now the white man paid for a hotel for her, the white man goes to the hotel with her, he comes to have sex with her."

© Chantel Cole, Author provided

Also of great concern is that many of the mothers giving birth to and raising children fathered by UN peacekeepers were themselves adolescents and not old enough to give consent for sex. One woman in Cité Soleil told us:

I see a series of females 12 and 13 years old here. MINUSTAH impregnated and left them in misery with babies in their hands. The person has already had to manage a stressful, miserable life.

Abandonment

After learning of a resultant pregnancy, most shared stories indicated that the MINUSTAH personnel were repatriated by the UN. One woman in Port-Salut told us:

One of my sisters gave birth to a child of the MINUSTAH. My sister had a baby with him because she met him, fell in love with him, he took care of her, but you know, they were sent away. That is why he stopped sending her things.

A male participant in Hinche described a similar experience for a girl he knew, saying: "She was pregnant from a soldier of the MINUSTAH ... [He] was moved from his station and left his post and was never seen again."

After the departure of the peacekeeper fathers, most young women were left alone trying to raise the children in extreme poverty. Some described being fortunate enough to receive support from their families, although certainly not all.

Michelle D. Milliman/Shutterstock.com

In almost all cases, access to education was beyond the mother's or the family's means, as described by one woman in Port Salut:

I started to talk to him, then he told me he loved me and I agreed to date him. Three months later, I was pregnant, and in September he was sent to his country ... The child is growing up, and it's myself and my family that are struggling with him. I now have to send him to school. They put him out because I'm unable to pay for it.

A man in Cap Haitian said:

The soldiers destroy these young girls' futures by getting them pregnant with a couple of babies and abandoning them. Basically, these actions of the soldiers can have a negative impact on the society and on the country in general because these young girls could have been lawyers, doctors or anything that would have helped Haiti tomorrow ... Now some of them are walking in the street, or in the flea market and other places with a basket over their head selling oranges, peppers, and other goods in order to raise children they have with the MINUSTAH soldiers.

In a few extreme cases, community members described women and girls who were left with little option other than to engage in further sex with peacekeepers in order to provide for the MINUSTAH children they were already raising. A man in Port-au-Prince shared one example:

He left her in misery because when he used to have sex with her it was for little money, now his term reaches its end, he goes and leaves her in misery, and then now she has to redo the same process so she can provide meals to her child, can't you understand.

There were many requests in the stories we collected for MINUSTAH and the Haitian authorities to help support these children. One man in Port-Salut stated his request very clearly: "I would like to ask the head of MINUSTAH to take responsibility for the children of MINUSTAH members ... We are just doing what we can but you cannot raise children like this..."

Andres Martinez Casares/EPA

Power and exploitation

Our research has underlined what is implied in much of the academic literature on peacekeeping economies - namely that poverty is a key underlying factor contributing to sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeeping forces.

In many cases, the power differential between foreign peacekeepers and local populations allows foreigners, knowingly or unknowingly, to exploit local women and girls. The prevalence of transactional sex in our data underscores the significance of the structural imbalances - peacekeepers have access to some of the resources that are desired or needed by the local population and so they are in a strong position to exchange those for sex.

While many of the stories cited above were collected in Port Salut and Cité Soleil, similar narratives were shared across all interview sites in Haiti and the phenomena described are not unique to the Haitian context. Our preliminary work in the Democratic Republic of Congo suggests a comparable situation.

In its zero-tolerance policy, the UN acknowledges the existence of socioeconomic and other power imbalances and their potential to render "intimacies" between peacekeepers and local women exploitative. In essence, the policy bans almost all sexual relations between peacekeepers and local women. In addition to suggesting that this blanket ban is ineffective, our data indicates that a more nuanced approach with targeted training of UN personnel is required alongside tackling the impunity that still surrounds peacekeeper wrongdoing.

Another key finding is the need for more effective mechanisms allowing victims of sexual exploitation and abuse and their children (as well as children of consensual and non-exploitative relations) to access support. This could potentially break the socioeconomic downward spiral that traps victims - and in particular children - in circumstances of extreme economic hardship, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

© Chantel Cole, Author provided

Child support

In January 2018, the Haitian-based Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) filed paternity suits in Haitian courts on behalf of ten children fathered by UN Peacekeepers, with the aim of lobbying the UN to secure child support payments for those children. A year later, an open letter from the bureau to UN Victims' Rights Advocate Jane Connors betrays their frustration with the UN's lack of responsiveness and co-operation in the paternity suits, which "has made it nearly impossible for our clients to obtain justice".

Evidencing the UN's refusal to furnish results of DNA paternity tests that are vital to the mothers' cases despite a Haitian court order compelling it to do so, the letter concluded that the UN was sending "an alarming message of lack of respect for the Haitian judicial system and the rule of law".

This raises questions regarding the UN's rhetoric about supporting the dignity and rights of those affected by sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by UN peacekeepers. It also calls into question the effectiveness of interventions of the Office of the UN Victims' Rights Advocate, which exists to advocate for the rights of victims and to bring their needs to the forefront of the UN's fight against sexual exploitation and abuse.

Recommendations

The findings from our research have led us to make three key recommendations.

1) Training of UN personnel must include a cultural awareness aspect to enhance understanding of the impact of power differentials in fragile peacekeeping economies, the perceived desirability of having a child fathered by a peacekeeper, and the socio-economic consequences for a vulnerable woman being left with a peacekeeper-fathered child.

2) The UN practice of repatriating any UN personnel implicated in sexual exploitation or abuse must stop as it has a double-negative consequence. First, it removes the alleged offender from any effective prosecution in the cases of alleged wrongdoing, and second, it removes them from any jurisdiction within which the victim/child/mother of a child would have any chance of securing the appropriate financial support for the child.

3) The recent appointment of a Victims' Rights Advocate for those affected by sexual abuse and exploitation must be followed by a policy that will allow the advocate to tackle some of the injustices created by the exploitation and abuse at a structural level. At the same time, they must be allowed to become a powerful voice of the victims, speaking and working on their behalf within the UN and in collaboration with the host countries and the troop contributing countries.

Many of the participants interviewed expressed similar sentiments around the need for recognition of and support for children fathered by UN peacekeepers in Haiti. One man said:

I know a lot of young women, young girls, children, who are living with MINUSTAH children in their care... I would like for them [the UN] to take responsibility, to take the initiative to look for and rejoin those young girls so that they can help them with the children.

* Names have been changed to protect participants' anonymity.

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'They put a few coins in your hands to drop a baby in you' - 265 stories of Haitian children abandoned by UN fathers

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Marie* was 14 years old and enrolled in a Christian school when she met and became involved with Miguel, a Brazilian soldier working in Haiti as a UN peacekeeper. When she told him that she was pregnant with his baby, Miguel said he would help her with the child.

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Employees prepare bread dough for baking in the Jenishkul Bakery in the village of Kara Koo, Kyrgyzstan. (Photo: UN Women/David Snyder)

Food security is defined as having four main components: availability, access, utilization, and stability. Women play key roles in maintaining all four pillars of food security: as food producers and agricultural entrepreneurs; "gatekeepers" who dedicate their own time, income and decision-making to maintain food and nutritional security of their households and communities; and "managers" of the stability of food supplies in times of economic hardship.

In many countries women supply most of the labour needed to produce food crops and often control the use and sale of food produce grown on plots they manage. However, the gender disparities in ownership of, access to, and control of livelihood assets (such as land, water, energy, credit, knowledge, and labour) negatively affect women's food production. For instance, compromised land access often means that women obtain lower yields than would otherwise be possible if household resources were allocated more equitably. Insecurity of tenure for women thus compromises their production potential and increases food insecurity. Greater food security would be achieved if women had access to needed assets and resources and had a voice in the decisions that have an impact on the lives of their households and communities.

A significant proportion of women work in informal non-agricultural sectors, such as trading and small-scale processing, which both contributes to the food value chain and generates income for them to purchase food. However, rural women often face constraints to market engagement due to factors such as lack of mobility, capacity, and technical skills. Likewise, women food crop entrepreneurs can play important economic roles that have positive effects beyond the micro level (e.g. supplying food products and employment opportunities), but are often hindered by discriminatory practices and stereotypical attitudes from accessing opportunities to expand their businesses. Improving women farmers' participation in marketing chains and entrepreneurial activities - e.g., by investment in transport and infrastructure, improved provision of training and information, or changes in policy and regulatory frameworks - would mean giving a boost to aggregate food security.

FAO supports rural women's involvement in global governance for food security through the Committee on Food Security and its work on the right to food. Other notable FAO initiatives include policy and technical assistance to stimulate gender equitable food security and agricultural policies, productive employment and decent work opportunities for rural women; support to initiatives designed to strengthen rural women's capacity to organize themselves, form associations and act collectively for their common interests; and a range of research and policy initiatives geared towards making rural development interventions - including food security and agricultural intensification programmes, agricultural extension schemes, technology and infrastructure innovations, agriculture-related investments, and trade and market regulations - work better for rural women.

Many IFAD-supported activities working with poorer households recognise and address their core need to improve household food and nutrition security, by stimulating smallholder production and improving post-harvest handling.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UN Women supports rural women in the development of businesses to serve school canteens that can contribute to the improvement of health and nutrition of school children.

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Employees prepare bread dough for baking in the Jenishkul Bakery in the village of Kara Koo, Kyrgyzstan. (Photo: UN Women/David Snyder) Food security is defined as having four main components: availability, access, utilization, and stability.

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"If women in rural areas had the same access to productive activities as men, agricultural and farming production would increase and we could feed approximately 150 million more people." (FAO, 2011).
This demonstrates that the role of women is key in agricultural production and in food security. Women are the primary farmers and producers in a large part of the world; however, their work continues to go largely unrecognized. In fact, in developing countries women comprise approximately 43% of the agricultural work force.

There are many voices defending the promotion of the rights of women and their participation in the rural world, arguing that these should be understood within the context of sustainable development.

In spite of this, women's position has barely advanced; they continue to be in charge of field work and housework in rural areas. Furthermore, due to women's limited access to training and the rapid technological changes in the sector, coupled with the devastating effects of climate change, natural disasters, or violent conflicts pose an even greater challenge with respect to leveling the playing field for women in agriculture.

Why should we invest in agriculture with a focus on gender? For two principal reasons: efficiency and equity.

Efficiency: Gender is crucial form the point of view of economic efficiency. In the agricultural sector, inequalities in areas of control of and access to resources between men and women generate massive inefficiencies in production, which, if resolved, could improve food production on a worldwide level. An suggests that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, the production of their farms would increase by 20-30%. This, in turn, would increase agricultural production in developing countries by 2.5-4% and decrease the number of hungry people by 12%.

Women in rural areas have less access to financial services, production activities, technologies, and education compared to men (FAO). A focus on gender can help us reduce inequity in resource distribution, which has historically been negatively influenced by differing social roles of men and women. According to the , it is poverty and not the availability of food that is the principal factor in food insecurity. In other words, although there is plenty of food, people don't have sufficient financial resources to access it.

Nevertheless, food security isn't just a question of availability of food, nor of the financial resources to access it. People must also have consistent access to quality, nutritious foods in order to ensure food security. Evidence shows that gender inequalities both in and outside the home endanger not only the ability to obtain food, but also the nutritional security of that food, which is so central to the health of women and children.

Unfortunately, in the agriculture sector, there is gender inequality with respect to control and access to productive resources, which limits the sector's development enormously. Furthermore, the social roles of men and women also generate disparities in the distribution of goods within the home have a powerful impact on food security and the well-being of families.

For this reason, the growth of the agriculture and livestock sector in Latin America and the Caribbean must be inclusive of women in order to achieve sustainable development and nutritional and food security. It's estimated that women produce approximately 60-80% of food in the world and they represent 20% of the agricultural labor force in the region. Furthermore, they produce, process and prepare the majority of available foods, and are thus key with respect to food security in their families and communities. Nevertheless, their contribution to food production is unrecognized and, as a consequence, women benefit less from outreach and training services.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately ¼ of the current adult population is considered obese, and it's estimated that chronic malnutrition, anemia, obesity, and overweight are costing Latin American countries some 3% of their GDP. Thus, in addition to shouldering the responsibilities of the home, it's crucial to improve and recognize the role of women as agricultural producers, since they are key to impacting agricultural development and food and nutritional security.

And how can we achieve this?

Empowering women via participatory spaces that allow them to identify specific actions to promote and recognize their roles in agriculture.

Improving access to productive activities for women, mainly via land access. This can be achieved through projects that incentivize extending land titles to women and implementing awareness campaigns directed at women to inform them about their rights and responsibilities with respect to land ownership.

Developing best practices with respect to gender in agriculture and farming, and identifying schedules and specific actions so that women can actively participate in trainings and other spaces.

Incentivizing the adoption of advanced technologies >among female producers.

Identifying lines of action with respect to agricultural innovation that benefit women and reduce the burden of labor.

Enabling the participation of women in government settings, agricultural production associations, and commissions.

Collecting data regarding access to productive resources and use of time that are filtered by gender in order to better understand the role of women in agriculture and to quantify their work.

The Inter-American Development Bank works actively in the implementation of projects in the agriculture and farming sector that promote equitable access to technologies, studies that benefit women directly, that increase their participation and access to and provision of services from the agricultural extension, and which decrease the gender gap with respect to access to land ownership rights.

As an example, the program PRONAREC in Bolivia seeks to increase agricultural productivity via financing of irrigation infrastructure. The program managed -as a condition of its existence - to convene a board of directors whose membership is 30% female. In addition, they included other activities such as technical assistance with a gender focus, contracting a gender specialist for the executive board, and measuring product indicators and results by gender. Also in Bolivia, the program seeks to increase the adoption of agriculture and farming technologies among women via training and technical programs that have a gender focus.

In Haiti, the IDB is promoting the adoption of farming and agricultural technologies among women, along with studies that are specifically focused on benefiting this segment of the population. These studies are dedicated specifically to developing new technologies that reduce climate change vulnerability and increase productivity of crops, which are mainly grown by women.

Género y Agricultura from el BID - the IDB on Vimeo.

If you are interested in natural capital and biodiversity, follow us on Twitter @BIDecosistemas .

In a few weeks, this blog will transform into a new blog that will tackle themes of agriculture and food security, climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity, infrastructure and sustainable countries, and responsible production and consumption: "Let's talk about sustainability and climate change."

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What Is the Role of Women in Food Security? - Sostenibilidad

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"If women in rural areas had the same access to productive activities as men, agricultural and farming production would increase and we could feed approximately 150 million more people." (FAO, 2011). This demonstrates that the role of women is key in agricultural production and in food security.

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Description/achievement of initiative

The 10YFP Sustainable Food Systems Programme (SFS Programme) is a global multi-stakeholder initiative to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable food systems, all along the food value chain, from farm to fork. Among its focus themes are the promotion of sustainable diets; the reduction of food losses and waste; and strengthening resilient and diverse food production systems. The SFS Programme promotes activities that fall under these topics, in the areas of awareness raising, capacity development as well as facilitating access to knowledge, information and tools. The SFS Programme is one of six initiatives of the 10YFP.

Implementation methodologies

The Programme brings together existing initiatives and partnerships working in related areas, highlighting good practices and success stories, and builds synergies as well as cooperation among stakeholders to leverage resources towards mutual objectives and minimize duplication of ongoing efforts. The Work Areas of the SFS Programme are:- Raising awareness on the need to adopt SCP patterns in food systems- Building enabling environments for sustainable food systems- Increasing the access to and fostering the application of actionable knowledge, information and tools to mainstream SCP in food systems- Strengthening collaboration among food system stakeholders to increase the sector's SCP performanceWith the following focus themes:- Sustainable diets (addressing together sustainability, food security and nutrition by linking consumption and production with food and nutrient requirements);- Sustainability along all food value chains;- Reduction of food losses and waste;- Local, national, regional multi-stakeholder platforms for the shift towards more sustainable food systems; and- Resilient, inclusive, diverse food production systems to enhance their sustainability.The Programme members develop and implement projects and joint initiatives within the above Work Areas and focus themes, at global, regional, national and local level.

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

Enhancing the development of skills and capacities to promote sustainable consumption and production in food systems among all relevant stakeholder groups is a sub-Work Area, and thus one of the priorities, of the SFS Programme.

Coordination mechanisms/governance structure

South Africa, Switzerland, WWF and Hivos are the Co-Leads of the SFS Programme, supported by a 23 member Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee (MAC). Furthermore, the Programme currently has more than 70 partners worldwide.

Co-Lead organizations: Switzerland, South Africa, WWF, Hivos Members of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, France, Honduras, Netherlands, United States, Biovision Foundation, IISD, IFOAM - Organics International, Global Nature Fund, German Development Institute, Hebrew University, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, ENEA, CIHEAM, FAO, UNEP, UNSCN, Barilla, FoodDrinkEurope, Nestlé, Smaackmakers Programme Partners: 72 from all UN regions.

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10YFP Sustainable Food Systems Programme - United Nations Partnerships for SDGs platform

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Description/achievement of initiative The 10YFP Sustainable Food Systems Programme (SFS Programme) is a global multi-stakeholder initiative to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable food systems, all along the food value chain, from farm to fork.

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545 White Hall Nutrition & Food Studies
Food Studies Program

Syracuse, New York 13244

315.443.4228
acbellow@syr.edu

CV (PDF)

Ph.D.
Professor
Education

Anne C. Bellows joined the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies as Professor of Food Studies and Graduate Program Director in January 2013. She additionally holds Affiliated Faculty Positions with Geography and Women's Studies Departments at SU. Previously, she was University Professor (2007-2012) at Hohenheim University where she was Chair of the Department of Gender and Nutrition and Deputy Director of the Institute for Social Sciences in Agriculture in the Faculty of Agriculture. She was also the Director of the Research Center for Gender and Nutrition, a think tank for the university.

With an extensive portfolio of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and presentations, her research interests include food and nutrition systems and economies; linkages between sustainable agriculture, development and livelihoods; human rights and the right to adequate food and nutrition, including food and nutrition security; civil society, social movements, and food sovereignty; community public health; urban-rural food linkages in terms of production for trade and household consumption, migration, nutritional health, biodiversity, food safety, food practices and praxis, cultural integrity and identity, social justice, gender, and children. She has been recognized for teaching and research excellence, receiving funding support for her work from diverse agencies and foundations including the American Council of Learned Societies, the International Research and Exchanges Board, Open Society Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, U.S. Agency for International Development, Johnson and Johnson Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, Foundation fiat panis, Misereor, Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the European Union-supported EcoFair Trade Dialogue Projects.

Ph.D. in Geography, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

M.A. in Liberal Studies with a focus on women's studies and environmental psychology, City University of New York, New York, NY

M.U.P. in Urban Planning, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

B.A. in German Literature from Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Recent Publications

Bellows AC, Valente FSL, Lemke S, Núñez Burbano de Lara MD (eds.). 2016." Gender, Nutrition, and the Human Right to Adequate Food: toward an inclusive framework." Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Bellows AC, Lemke S, Jenderedjian A, Scherbaum V. 2015. "A rights-based analysis of gender, nutrition, and structural exclusion: case studies from Georgia and South Africa." Journal Violence Against Women. 21(9).

Bellows AC, Nunez MDBdL. 2015. "The Human Right to Adequate Food." in Albala K (Ed.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Food Issues. Sage Publications.

Viana RdSG, Bellows AC, 2014. "'Teacher, we are hungry'. The violation of Quilombola students' right to adequate food: a case study." International Journal of Human Rights. 18(7-8): 774-794.

Bellows AC, Neuenroth C. 2013. "Confronting Structural Violence, Changing Policy: Women's Organizational Strategies for Overcoming Discrimination and Hunger." Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2013. Brot fuer die Welt, FIAN International, ICCO Cooperation. Pp. 33-46.

Gao H, Stiller CK, Scherbaum V, Biesalski HK, Wang Q, Hormann E, Bellows AC. 2013. "Dietary Intake and Food Habits of Pregnant Women residing in urban and rural areas of Deyang City, Sichuan Province, China." Nutrients. Special issue: Infant Nutrition. 5(8), 2933-2954.

Purwestri RC, Scherbaum V, Inayati DA, Wirawan N, Suryantan J, Bloem MA, Pangaribuan RV, Hoffmann V, Qaim M, Biesalski HK, Bellows AC. 2013. "Impact of daily versus weekly supply of locally produced Ready-To-Use Food on growth of moderately wasted children on Nias Island, Indonesia" ISRN Nutrition. 2013(ID-412145):10 pages.

Anderson M, Bellows AC. 2012. Guest Editors. Special Issue: "Food Sovereignty" in Agriculture and Human Values. 2012, Issue 2.

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545 White Hall Nutrition & Food Studies Food Studies Program Syracuse, New York 13244 315.443.4228 acbellow@syr.edu CV (PDF) Ph.D. Professor Anne C. Bellows joined the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies as Professor of Food Studies and Graduate Program Director in January 2013. She additionally holds Affiliated Faculty Positions with Geography and Women's Studies Departments at SU.

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A.BELLOWS

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Bellows_Violence as an Under-Recognized Barrier to Women's Realization of Their Right to Adequate Food and Nurtition

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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Closing the gap between men and women in agriculture

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Women and sustainable food security THE GENDER DIVISION OF LABOR
The major constraint to the effective recognition of women's actual roles and responsibilities in agriculture is the scarcity of gender desegregated data available to technicians, planners, and policy-makers

Therefore, the first step towards women's empowerment and full participation in rural development and food security strategies is the collection and analysis of gender desegregated data to understand role differences in food and cash crop production as well as men's and women's differential managerial and financial control over production, storage and marketing of agricultural products.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, micro-level studies have shown that women play a crucial role in many aspects of crop production. While men are often responsible for land clearing, burning and polishing, women specialise in weeding, transplanting, post-harvest work and, in some areas, land preparation and both take part in seeding and harvesting.
FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS
Moreover, Sub-Saharan and near Eastern women play a major role in household animal-production enterprises, where they tend to have the primary responsibility for the husbandry of small animals and ruminants, but also take care of large-animal systems, herding, providing water and feed, cleaning stalls and milking. In all types of animal-production systems, women have a predominant role in processing, particularly milk products and are commonly responsible for their marketing.

In many countries women are also responsible for fishing in shallow waters and in coastal lagoons, producing secondary crops, gathering food and firewood, processing, storing and preparing family food and for fetching water for the family.

The number of female-headed households is increasing significantly in rural areas in many developing countries as rural men migrate due to the lack of employment and other income-generating opportunities. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 31 per cent of rural households are headed by women, while in Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia, women head 17 per cent, and 14 per cent, respectively. While there are different types of female-headed households, in almost all countries. female-headed households are concentrated among the poorer strata of society and often have lower income than male-headed households.
ACCESS TO RESOURCES
The problems of female-headed households in rural areas vary according to their degree of access to productive resources. The FAO has identified. for example, the potential consequences of the absence of male labour both in terms of declining yields and outputs or shifts in production toward less nutritious crops requiring less labour and in terms of increased reliance on child labour which, in turn, has further implications for the family and for the human capital of the country. Therefore in these cases, women's access to labour-saving technology is of particular importance.

Women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world's food production, yet their key role as food producers and providers and their critical contribution to household food security is only recently becoming recognised.

FAO studies confirm that while women are the mainstay of small-scale agriculture, farm labour force and day-to-day family subsistence, they have more difficulties than men in gaining access to resources such as land and credit and productivity enhancing inputs and services.

Food security' in fact, has been defined by the FAO not only in terms of access to, and availability of food, but also in terms of resource distribution to produce food and purchasing power to buy food where it is not produced. Given women's crucial role in food production and provision, any set of strategies for sustainable food security must address their limited access to productive resources security must address their limited access to productive resources.

Women's limited access to resources and their insufficient purchasing power are products of a series of interrelated social, economic and cultural factors that force them into a subordinate role, to the detriment of their own development and that of society as a whole.

The international initiatives and efforts developed especially since the 1975 World Conference on Women in Mexico have contributed to a greater recognition of women's key participation in rural and other domains of development, however, much remains to be done.

Despite their role as the backbone of food production and provision for family consumption in developing countries, women remain limited in their access to critical resources and services. While in most developing countries. both men and women farmers do not have access to adequate resources, women's access is even more limited due to cultural. traditional and sociological factors. Accurate information about men's and women's relative access to. and control over, resources is crucial in the development of food security strategies.

· Access to land. Not even 2 percent of land is owned by women. while the e proportion of women heads of household continues to grow. Land reform programmes together with the break-up of communal land holdings have led to the transfer of exclusive land rights to males as heads of households which ignores both the existence of female-headed households and the rights of married women to a joint share.

· Access to credit. For the countries where information is available. only 10 per women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in cent of credit allowances is extended to women, mainly because national legislation and customary law do not allow them to share land property rights along with their husbands, or because women heads of household are excluded from land entitlement schemes and consequently cannot provide the collateral required by lending institutions.

· Access to agricultural inputs. Women's access to technological inputs such as improved seeds, fertilisers and pesticides is limited as they are frequently not reached by extension services and are rarely members of cooperatives, which often distribute government subsidised inputs to small farmers. In addition, they often lack the cash income needed to purchase inputs even when they are subsidised

· Access to education, training and extension services. Two thirds of the one billion illiterate in the world are women and girls. Available figures show that only 5 per cent of extension services has been addressed to rural women, while no more than 15 per cent of the world's extension agents are women. In addition, most of the extension services are focused on cash crops rather than food and subsistence crops, which are the primary concern of women farmers and the key to food security.

WOMEN'S NEED FOR INCOME

NATURE OF WOMEN'S WORK

In most rural areas, the two most time-consuming activities of women are fetching water and firewood. Widespread deforestation and desertification mean that these tasks are becoming more burdensome and are preventing rural women from devoting more time to their productive and income-generating tasks. In some cases, women also pass part of the burden of these activities to their children, usually female children. Relieving women from such drudgery as fetching water and firewood and food processing would allow them to have more time for productive work and would enable their children to attend school. Thus development interventions to reduce women's drudgery can significantly enhance their contribution to household food security. The provision of water supplies; the introduction of light transport facilities for the carrying of firewood, farm produce and other loads; the introduction of labour saving agricultural tools, the introduction of grinding mills and other crop processing equipment are crucial means of freeing Women's time. Such technologies not only create possibilities for women to enter into more income-generating activities, but also help in reducing their stress and in improving the health and nutrition of women and children.

FAO Women in Agricultural Development, Gender Issues in Rural Food Security in Developing Countries, Rome. 1990.

· Access to decision-making. Given the traditionally limited role of women in decision-making processes at the household, village and national levels in most cultures, their needs, interests and constraints are often not reflected in policymaking processes and laws which are important for poverty reduction, food security and environmental sustainability. The causes of women's exclusion from decision-making processes are closely linked to their additional reproductive roles and their household workload, which account for an important share of their time.

· Access to research and appropriate technology. Women have little access to the benefits of research and innovation, especially in the domain of food crops, which in spite of ensuring food security at the household and community level, have a low priority in crop improvement research. In addition, women farmers' roles and needs are often ignored when devising technology which may cause labour displacement or increased workload.

SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW ERA
Research in Africa, Asia and Latin America has found that improvements in household food security and nutrition are associated with women's access to income and their role in household decisions on expenditure as women tend to spend a significantly higher proportion of their income than men on food for the family.

Women's wage income from farm and non-farm employment and from other income-generating opportunities is of particular importance for landless and near-landless rural households. Women's purchasing power may not only be used to buy food and other basic assets for themselves and their families, but also to pay for the inputs used in food production. Since food crops are consumed, the inputs for these have to be provided from income earned in other agricultural enterprises or non-farm income generating activities. Thus, to improve food production for the household, greater priority has to be given to increasing women's participation in market production as well as other income-generating ventures.
Women and Population Division Sustainable Development Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome Italy Telephone 39 6 52251 Telephone 39 6 52253152 Telex 625852 FAO 1 Cable FOODAGRI ROME Produced by AIDOS Via dei Giubbonari 34, 00186 Roma, Italy
The understanding of food security has evolved over the years through increasingly integrated attention to the social, gender, environmental. technical and economic dimensions of the problem. The challenge for the future will be to pursue a concrete attainment of equity in access to resources by women to produce food, and purchasing power to buy food where it is not produced there enhancing their potential to generate food security Specific policy measures are required to address the constraints facing women farmers and special consideration given en to the needs of female heads of households. The FAO has recommended that such measures aim to:

· ensure that women have equal opportunities with men to own land;

· facilitate women's access to agricultural services tailoring such services to their needs;

· encourage the productions of food crops through the use of incentives;

· promote the adoption of appropriate inputs and technology to free up Women's time for income-producing activities;

· improve the nutritional status of women and children;

· provide better employment and income earning opportunities;

· promote women's organizations;

· review and re-orient government policies to ensure that the problems that constrain the role of women in food security are addressed.

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Women and sustainable food security THE GENDER DIVISION OF LABOR The major constraint to the effective recognition of women's actual roles and responsibilities in agriculture is the scarcity of gender desegregated data available to technicians, planners, and policy-makers Therefore, the first step towards women's empowerment and full participation in rural development and food security strategies is the collection and analysis of gender desegregated data to understand role differences in food and cash crop production as well as men's and women's differential managerial and financial control over production, storage and marketing of agricultural products.

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05-Did you know? The key role of women in ensuring food security