ROME: Four United Nations agencies today announced the forthcoming launch of a new phase of a joint program that aims to secure rural women’s livelihoods, rights and resilience to advance sustainable development.

The “Joint Programme: Accelerating Progress Towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment” (JP RWEE) is a partnership between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, UN Women, and the three Rome-based agencies: the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The program which began in 2014 seeks to expand its funding base and further scale up to additional countries.

This new five-year phase of the programme will  initially focus on Nepal, Niger, the Pacific Islands, Tanzania and Tunisia, thanks to the generous support of Norway and Sweden who have committed approximately $25 million towards the program.

“This partnership builds on previous success and demonstrates the impact of combining expertise to achieve significant results for rural women. These results include increased agricultural productivity, economic autonomy and leadership roles. We are grateful to Norway and Sweden for the opportunity to scale up the program in both existing and new countries, keeping the rights and needs of rural women firmly at the center,” said Sima Bahous, UN Women executive director.

Rural women face structural barriers including discriminatory policies, legislation and social norms which hinder their access to services, resources and opportunities. They carry the disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work and are often excluded from participation and leadership in rural public life.

“This program with its holistic approach is a great vehicle to improve rural women’s livelihoods. Lessons learned from the first phase show that it is crucial to secure funding from the onset of the program and we encourage other donors to join us in this important effort to empower rural women,” said  Astrid T. Tveteraas, head of section for food, Department for Climate and Environment, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

“This program has shown that rural women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development. Sweden is pleased to support the second phase in new countries. Equally, Sweden is eager to support approaches and lessons from the program that can push the overall global development of women’s economic empowerment further,” said Lotta Sylwander, lead policy specialist gender, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

The program builds on the comparative advantages and strengths of FAO, IFAD, UN Women and the U.N. World Food Programme to address the multi-faceted dimensions of rural women’s economic empowerment, which includes access to opportunities, resources and services including land, credit and technology. The program works with national governments to advance policy change, with local governments to ensure policy implementation, and with local communities and households to tackle unequal power dynamics and discriminatory social norms in order to achieve deep rooted and lasting change.

The first phase of the program was implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda from 2014 to 2021 and reached approximately 80,000 rural women. The participants achieved, on average, an 82% increase in agricultural production, generated over $3,600,000 from on-farm and off-farm sales and almost $2 million through savings and loan schemes. Program results also showed greater economic autonomy for rural women, more gender equitable household relations and increased numbers of women in leadership positions.

The new phase of the Programme will be formally launched at a side event during the 66th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on March 23rd, 2022.

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Johannesburg – Women and girls, especially in rural communities, continue to face the brunt of the climate crisis that exacerbates preexisting inequalities, jeopardizes their food security and feeds instability and migration, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day 2022 focuses on “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” recognizing the contribution of women and girls around the world who play a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Women and girls often lack appropriate access to disaster information, financial services and participation in community decision-making and resource allocation. Such inequalities undermine the ability of women to prepare for, cope with and recover from climate shocks and stresses.

Currently, the U.N. World Food Programme is providing variations of microinsurance and other small-scale farmer support targeting female producers in  Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Madagascar, among others.

“Women are the bedrock of food security and yet are hardest hit by climate shocks and food insecurity,” said the U.N. World Food Programme’s Assistant Executive Director Valerie Guarnieri. “A sustainable future is only possible when women and girls have what they need to adapt to the changing climate.”

Evidence suggests that southern Africa is being hurt more than other regions by climate change – and that women and girls are bearing the brunt. Its temperatures are rising at twice the global average, triggering more frequent and severe storms, and longer droughts, deepening already widespread hunger.

Much of that hunger is in rural areas among subsistence farming families, many of them headed by women.

Women and children make up most of the climate refugees who have fled southern Angola’s worst drought in 40 years, hoping neighboring Namibia offers a better chance of survival.

“The U.N. World Food Programme works hard to enable vulnerable communities across southern Africa withstand the impacts of climate change, by investing water conservation, reforestation and other adaptation measures”, said Regional Director Haile Menghestab. “Improving the lives of women and girls is central to those efforts.”

In a year when humanitarian needs are on an upward trend and aid agencies are stretched thin, supporting communities vulnerable to the harsh realities of the climate crisis is the need of the hour.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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ROME – As climate extremes become more frequent and intense, women and girls – who are at a higher risk than men and boys of experiencing the devastating effects of the climate crisis – including hunger, need to be front and center when planning and implementing climate change adaptation solutions, said three United Nations’ food agencies at their joint International Women’s Day event today.

Organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the event recognized the contribution of women and girls around the world who play a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. It also highlighted the need for women’s meaningful participation in decision-making processes related to climate resilience and adaptation.

Women and girls’ disproportionate dependence on climate-sensitive work like farming as well as their limited access to economic and production resources increase their susceptibility to the devastating impacts of cyclones, floods and droughts, which in turn impacts their livelihoods and food security.

Globally, 80% of the people displaced due to climate-related disasters are women. When homes are destroyed by climatic shocks, such as hurricanes, cyclones and earthquakes, women and girls are forced to flee to displacement camps where they are often exposed to increased violence.

“To have any meaningful and long-lasting impact, women and girls cannot be left out – they must be at the center of solutions and at the table designing those solutions,” said Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy director-general and chair of the FAO Women’s Committee at the closing of the event.

FAO supports countries to develop gender-responsive climate policies and actions in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and livestock. A specially designed program aims to strengthen women’s leadership and negotiation skills so they can become climate change negotiators. FAO also promotes parliamentary actions for targeted gender-budgeting and investments in agri-food systems in the context of climate change and COVID-19 response. It also assists members to adopt gender-responsive good practices to support climate-smart agriculture and is a leading implementing agency of the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund.

“The 1.7 billion women and girls living in the world’s rural areas are far more likely to be affected by climate shocks and conflicts – by an order of magnitude. Yet they are the ones that disproportionately contribute to the long-term resilience of our communities, nutrition and livelihoods. IFAD is working with rural women to strengthen adaptation to climate change in rural areas and preserve the natural resources on which we all rely,” said Dr. Jyotsna Puri, IFAD associate vice president. “With the right type of investments and recognition, they can help build a better future for all of us.”

Through its Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), IFAD prioritizes women’s empowerment. It promotes women’s participation in community planning and decision-making on adaptation and ensures women access trainings and equipment such as drip irrigation and solar pumps. In Gambia, for example, through access to suitable water management systems and trainings in soil fertilization and transplanting, women have diversified and increased food production, earned higher incomes and have strengthened their community’s resilience to climate change.

“Vulnerable communities including women and girls on the frontlines of the climate crisis need urgent support to adapt and build resilience,” said U.N. World Food Programme Assistant Executive Director Valerie Guarnieri. “The U.N. World Food Programme provides climate solutions that empower women with access to early warning information and forecast-based financing before a disaster strikes and trains women on climate resilient agricultural practices.”

In Guatemala, where frequent and intense droughts, as well as excessive rains, severe flooding and landslides have led to chronic hunger in recent years, the U.N. World Food Programme has launched parametric insurance that offers women small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs coverage against droughts and excess rain to protect their livelihoods in the event of a climatic shock. The insurance guarantees pay-outs of up to $300 and ensures that they are able to meet their basic needs even in the face of a disaster.  The project targets indigenous women in the community, recognizing their particular vulnerabilities.

Women have been severely underrepresented in important decision-making processes regarding climate change solutions. The lack of fair representation of women in climate change adaptation frameworks results in the creation of solutions that do not accurately respond to the different needs of the diverse groups of people affected by the threats of climate change.

Empowering women to ensure their full participation in climate change adaptation decisions and frameworks is crucial for achieving a more sustainable world.

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Grantees — all focused on elevating Afghan girls’ education — include Lamia Afghan Foundation, Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation and School of Leadership Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, DC (March 8, 2022)—World Food Program USA announces three new grantees for The Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education: Lamia Afghan Foundation, Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation and School of Leadership Afghanistan. With women and girls disproportionately impacted by hunger, the Bertini Fund works to empower them with the knowledge, training, and leadership skills necessary to achieve food security and reach their full potential.

The Lamia Afghan Foundation is an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to helping the children and disadvantaged people of Afghanistan by providing humanitarian aid, educational opportunities, and vocational training that will create opportunities for the next generation of Afghans that were unavailable or out of reach for their parents.

“This generous grant will allow us to have ten schools for girls in a protected and safe environment. They will be able to study beyond the sixth grade even though the Taliban has said that is the limit for public schooling for girls,” said President and CEO of the Lamia Afghan Foundation John Bradley, Lieutenant General, U.S. Air Force (Retired). “We have educated tens of thousands of girls in the fourteen years of our foundation work. The Taliban may be in control of the government now, but the education they received cannot be taken from these girls.”

Founded in 2007 by humanitarian, social innovator and Afghan native Razia Jan, Razia’s Ray of Hope is supported by a global team of women leaders and visionaries committed to peace. The Foundation knows that community-based, culturally aware education is a critical pathway toward meaningful change for future generations. Founded on the knowledge that education is key to positive, peaceful change for current and future generations, Razia’s Ray of Hope provides young Afghans with the opportunity to learn in a safe, nurturing environment.

“The Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education’s investment in our teacher training program helps to ensure the sustainability of Afghan girls’ education, and we could not be more grateful. Educated girls show the world the value of a dowry is nothing compared to that of a diploma,” said Razia Jan, Founder of Razia’s Ray of Hope.

The School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA)’s mission is to provide Afghan girls with an environment where they can focus on their education and reach their potential in a way that is unprecedented in Afghanistan. SOLA can provide a safe and nurturing space in which to learn, where students can go from believing their role in society is to raise a family to navigating the world as critical thinkers and leaders who understand that they have the power to shape their nation’s future.

“The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has imperiled the educations of millions of Afghan girls–not only girls still living in Afghanistan, but also those now dispersed worldwide in refugee camps. We’ve recently launched our 2022 admissions season at SOLA, and this grant will broaden our ability to specifically reach out to Afghan girls in these camps and to ultimately bring dozens of them to our Rwanda campus to continue their schooling this fall, ” said SOLA founder Shabana Basij-Rasikh.

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About World Food Program USA

World Food Program USA, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC, proudly supports the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme by mobilizing American policymakers, businesses and individuals to advance the global movement to end hunger. Our leadership and support help to bolster an enduring American legacy of feeding families in need around the world. To learn more about World Food Program USA’s mission, please visit  wfpusa.org/mission-history.

About the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education

After winning the World Food Prize in 2003, Catherine Bertini, the former executive director for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), recognized an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for women’s empowerment. Bertini used her winnings to establish the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education, a fund that supports innovative grassroots initiatives around the globe that boost access to training and educational opportunities for girls.

Media Contact:  
Toula Athas
World Food Program USA
tathas@wfpusa.org