• new! Lightening the load: Labour saving technologies for rural women
    Women are central to overcoming rural poverty. They play a critical role in poverty reduction and food security because they are responsible for both production and reproduction. Rural women in developing countries have longer working days than men because of their triple roles as farmers, caretakers of their families and cash earners through income-generating activities and microfinance. In addition, increasing drought and deforestation in many parts of the world make women’s workload even more burdensome as they have to walk ever-longer distances to find firewood and clean water.
    The multiple roles of women can act as an obstacle to development interventions, which often put additional pressure on women’s time. Women’s heavy workload reduces the time available for participation in project-related activities or affects their ability to care for their families. Ensuring women’s access to labour-saving technologies for water, energy and farm-related activities is fundamental, and the need for such technologies is greater than it has ever been before.
  • United Nations World Survey on the Role of Women in Development
    The 2009 United Nations World Survey on the Role of Women in Development was launched at a panel event on 26 October 2009. Linda Mayoux, author of latest IFAD publication on gender and rural microfinance, was invited to speak about access to financial services. The message of the World Survey that "Gender equality contributes to economic growth, but economic growth does not always contribute to gender equality" is well timed in the context of the current financial crisis.
    Press release: UN urges policies to increase women's economic empowerment
    Factsheet: Women's control over economic resources and access to financial resources
    Media coverage: Rights: Women still lidelined in economic decision-making
  • Gender and rural microfinance: Reaching and empowering women, a guide for practitioners
  • Gender in agriculture sourcebook and updates
    "The Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook" provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development.
    English | Investing in women as drivers of agricultural growth | Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook (World Bank website)

    Update #2 (15 October 2009)

  • Gender and non-timber forest products: Promoting food security and economic empowerment
    This publication takes stock of past experience and demonstrates that there are many opportunities to invest in non-timber forest products in support of rural livelihoods and to promote better methods of enabling poor rural people, and especially women, to benefit from the sector. It  highlights approaches used by IFAD and other agencies and emphasizes the multiple dimension of the challenges – in terms of division of labour, differences in access to credit and market information, and environmental issues.  It also illustrates the role of women as agents of change in this sector in knowledge of natural resources, biodiversity and conservation.
    English
  • Polishing the stone
    Polishing the stone, that shares some of IFAD's knowledge and experience in promoting gender equity in rural development projects.
    English 
  • Gender and water: securing water for improved rural livelihoods - the multiple-uses system approach
    Most of the world’s 1.2 billion poor people, two thirds of whom are women, live in waterscarce countries and do not have access to safe and reliable supplies of water for productive and domestic uses (IFAD 2001a). The bulk of these rural poor people are dependant on agriculture for their livelihoods and live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the regions which are also home to most of the world’s water poor (Molden 2007).
  • Gender and desertification: Making ends meet in drylands (2006)
    Desertification is the process of land degradation that affects dryland areas and is caused by poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change. Drylands lose their productive capacity in a spiral of destruction that twins increased land degradation with increased poverty and food insecurity. Drought and desertification threaten the livelihoods of more than 1.2 billion people in 110 countries. The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
  • Gender and desertification: Expanding roles for women to restore drylands (2006)
    In addition to caring for their families, women across the developing world spend considerable proportions of their time and energy using and preserving land for the production of food and fuel and to generate income for their families and communities. These activities include crop production, growing fruits and vegetables, raising small livestock, tending trees, processing products for food and markets, and managing and collecting water and fuel. Women are usually responsible for the plots in which food crops are grown, while men are responsible for the plots on which cash crops are grown. The latter account for a major part of the threat of soil nutrient depletion and desertification.
  • Working for Change: Implementing the Beijing Platform for Action: IFAD’s approach (2005)
    English | French | Spanish
  • Indicadores de género: Lineamientos conceptuales y metodológicos para su formulación y utilización por los proyectos FIDA de América Latina y el Caribe (2004)
  • Cerrando brecha: Manual anual para orientar a organizaciones rurales hacia la equidad de género (2003)

 

Valid CSS! Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional