Statement of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to the 62nd session of the General Assembly
Agenda Item 63 (a) “Advancement of Women”
Mr. Chairman,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to address the Third Committee today on behalf of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as the Committee takes up agenda item 63 (a) on the advancement of women. As this is my first opportunity to address this Committee, please allow me to begin by offering you, Mr. Chairman, my congratulations on your election and my best wishes on guiding this Committee and its important work.
Mr. Chairman,
I will focus today’s presentation on the situation of rural women and wish to commend the Secretariat for preparing a very good report on the topic. The report shows how many initiatives are being undertaken worldwide to improve the situation of rural women.
The report also highlights key areas that impede the advancement of rural women, namely lack of infrastructure, basic services, and assets. It notes that considerable efforts have been made to integrate the concerns of rural women into policies, strategies, legislation and programmes. But stories from the field and research findings tell us that there is still a long way to go.
There is growing recognition among development practioners of the need to integrate and mainstream gender into development programmes in order to maximise their impact. Significant progress has been made in integrating gender in agricultural research. However, women’s pivotal role in food production is still not adequately reflected in national agricultural policies, or agricultural development programmes and projects.
To address this inadequacy in mainstreaming gender issues, IFAD is preparing jointly with FAO and the World Bank a “Gender in Agricultural Livelihoods (GAL) Sourcebook” to assist development practitioners in integrating gender analysis and pro-poor approaches into sector-based programmes and projects. The Sourcebook addresses rural livelihoods in specific rural subsectors, looking at assets such as land, water, forests, livestock, fisheries, natural resource management, rural infrastructure, and extension; markets (markets, rural non-farm sector, labor and rural finance), as well as risks and vulnerability (Disaster and Post-Conflict and Food Security). Political economy is captured in modules on Policy and Capacity Building and Governance and Public Administration.
The preparation of the GAL Sourcebook has revealed important knowledge gaps that require action and further attention through studies and the preparation of tools for practitioners. In rural finance, for instance, gender activities are being clustered around microfinance but there is little knowledge about women’s role in the larger rural finance sector. In infrastructure development, concerns of women are rarely taken into account when investments are made into road construction or irrigation schemes. In crop and livestock-related projects, women farmers’ tasks differ from those of male farmers. Women often do not benefit from extension services or introduction of new technologies that are intended to increase smallholder productivity but are geared only towards men. When facing natural disasters and impact of climate change, women farmers are often at a disadvantage in terms of capacity to adapt to such changes due their more limited access to information and decision-making
Mr. Chairman,
The report of the Secretary General notes that little information is available on the extent to which women in rural areas were able to participate and influence the design and implementation of development programmes and policies. Giving poor rural women a voice in decisions about their life and future is one of the key concerns of IFAD. All too often women farmers are not consulted and involved in community decisions. Yet, enabling conditions have to be created to allow women to use productive resources most effectively. This means strengthening of poor rural women’s organizations; training and education; providing access to market information and production support services such as extension. Capacity-building of poor women and men and their institutions continues to be essential in order to enable them to advocate for their rights and to counter the risks of increased vulnerability caused by extreme poverty.
Our experience in IFAD shows that projects are most successful when activities aimed at improving women’s economic status and their organizational and decision-making capacities are complemented by investments in water supply, health and functional literacy. Such investments have given women the needed time, energy and know-how to become actively involved in economic, social and political arenas. It is important that the development community seeks to work within rural women’s own agendas to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals do not become a far-away dream but a real life opportunity to reduce poverty.
Rural women’s organizations are often absent from important policy discussions at international level. Extra efforts need to be made to include rural women in deliberations at international fora. Through its grant programme, IFAD is supporting farmer’s organizations and has introduced a farmer’s forum at its Governing Board. Attention is given to equal representation of women and men in farmers’ organization. IFAD would like to recommend that the role of rural women should also be afforded explicit attention at the up-coming session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16) which will focus on agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification, and Africa.
In closing, I would like to reiterate IFAD’s commitment to work with all partners to improve the situation of women in rural areas and achieve gender equality.
Thank you.
16 October 2007
