Ensuring a Focus on Women and Girls in the Global Food Crisis Response

As the world scrambles to address the global food crisis, proposed measures may fail to meet the specific needs of women and girls and might worsen existing gender inequalities. Crisis responses, such as the provision of fertilizer subsidies or vouchers, are more likely to reach male heads of household. Other measures may add to the already high labor burdens of women and girls. Governments may shift spending away from social programs that support vulnerable women and children. The current crisis is hitting many women and girls at a time when they are already experiencing considerable hardship, following the pandemic and amid intensifying climate change.

Yet this crisis presents an opportunity to design gender-responsive programs that buffer women and girls in the short term and tackle entrenched gender inequalities while building resilience to future shocks over the long term. The International Food Policy Research Institute’s Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN), with support from USAID, recently convened a roundtable of concerned donors, academics, and practitioners and the recommendations were published in a Nature Comment. 

Please join us for a discussion on how to chart a course toward more resilient and equitable food systems that create more opportunities for women and girls, leading to greater gender equality and greater prosperity for all.

Opening Remarks

• Dina Esposito, Acting Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau of Resilience and Food Security, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Recommendations from the Roundtable on Addressing the Gendered Impacts of the Global Food Crisis

• Elizabeth Bryan, Senior Scientist, IFPRI

Perspective from the Ground

• Hannah Wachira, Champion Farmer, GROOTS, Kenya

Panel: Responding to the Gendered Impacts

• Sahar Alnouri, Senior Director for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, Mercy Corps
• Chiara Kovarik, Program Officer for Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) (invited)
• Nicole Lefore, Director, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture in College Station, Texas A&M University
• Reema Nanavaty, Director, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)

Reflections

• Nicoline de Haan, Platform Director, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform

Moderator

• Vivian Atakos, Global Engagement and Policy Specialist, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform, International Potato Center (CIP)