Brief on Gender and Social Inclusion: East and Southern Africa

High rates of poverty continue to prevail in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region, and countries are far from achieving the targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals.

Three out of four people in the region, about 260 million people, live in rural areas, and more than half of them live in extreme poverty on less than US$1.90 per day. About 85 per cent of these extremely poor people depend on agriculture, particularly smallholder farming, for their livelihoods.

Within this context, this report presents an in-depth exploration of gender and social inclusion within the ESA region.

The report begins with a description of the key gender- and social inclusion-related issues in the region. It then describes current trends in gender-inclusive action, then sets out some possible future scenarios and their associated risks. A series of illustrative case studies are then presented, followed by a discussion of lessons learned and good practices as well as some ongoing challenges and opportunities for further work. The report concludes with an extensive list of current statistics on the region.