EMPOWERING FARMER AND CONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS, WOMEN AND YOUTH

Brief session background

Collective actions by farmers and consumers are key to driving transformational change in food systems. At the same time, actions are needed to create conducive enabling environments that encourage producers, business owners, researchers, investors and policy makers to innovate in ways that promote gender equality and opportunities for youth. This theme will respond to the outcomes of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 on resilience, generating lessons from CSA implementation to build capacity and empower farmers, consumers, women and youth and their networks as part of global efforts to enhance resilience of these groups.

Objectives

Highlight the actions at grassroots level and the actions grassroots organisations are taking, and how these organisations and in particularly women, can be part of decision making to take these actions to scale especially in the Least Developed Countries.
Identify actions, approaches, initiatives that are effective to promote resilience through empowerment of women and farmers? What actions at the grassroots and policy level are key, and what actions are necessary to support organizational action at the grassroots?

Expected outcome

Identify best practices and priorities to mobilize knowledge and action oriented partnerships following up on commitments at the UN Climate Action Summit to empower farmers, consumers, women and youth.

Session leads

Women in Global Science and Technology (WISAT)
Global Resilience Partnership (GRP)
Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
NEPAD (tbc)

Tentative Program

Day 1

TIME	AGENDA
11:30 – 12:00	Deliver a 5 minute pitch for the session, Sophia Huyer, Gender and Social Inclusion Leader, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
14:00 – 14:15	Introduction to Session: Jayne Curnow, Research Program Manager, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) – Chair Framing Remarks: David Howlett. Head of Policy, Global Resilience Partnership
14:15 – 15:05	Presentations on approaches for empowerment of women and promotion of gender equality based on abstracts: Gender Transformation in Climate-Smart Agriculture: A Framework for Action – Sophia Huyer, Gender and Social Inclusion Leader, CCAFS-ILRI Accelerating Gender Equity in Agricultural Research for Development – Jayne Curnow, Research Program Manager, ACIAR Gender in Social Seed networks for climate change adaptation – John Recha, Participatory Action Research ILRI Role of women farmer-led institutions in scaling out Climate Smart Agriculture in smallholder farming systems – Nitya Chanana, Consultant, BISA-CIMMYT / CCAFS Innovative approaches to gender mainstreaming for accelerating adoption of climate smart agriculture in smallholder systems – Tripti Agarwal, Project Administrator, CIMMYT
15:05 – 15:45	Group discussion based on guiding questions: What actions, approaches and initiatives are effective to promote resilience through empowerment of women? How can these efforts be scaled to support commitments from the Climate Action Summit?
15:45 – 15:55	Summary of discussions, Sophia Huyer
15:55 – 16:00	Closing remarks for Day 1, Jayne Curnow

Day 2

TIME	AGENDA
11:30 – 11:40	Introduction, Martin Bwalya, Senior Advisor, NEPAD (Chair)
11:40 – 12:20	Presentations on organizational approaches and institutional frameworks for empowering farmers, based on abstracts: Farmer organisations shaping entrepreneurial practices for resilience: Evidence from CSA models in Malawi and Zimbabwe – Domenico Dentoni, Associate Professor, Wageningen University Can membership in farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations be a pathway to cultivate gender equality? – Maria Fay Rola-Rubzen, Associate Professor, University of Western Australia Bridging the Risk Management Information Gap for Smallholder Farmers Using Local Communities Networks – Muthithi Kinyanjui, Business Development Officer, Agriculture & Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd Empowering Farmers to Meet the Growing Consumer Needs: A Study Case of Rikolto’s Programme in Indonesia – Nana Suhartana, Rice Sector Manager, Rikolto
12:20 – 13:15	Group discussion based on guiding question: How can organizational approaches and institutional frameworks for empowering farmers be scaled out to support commitments from the Climate Action Summit?
13:15 – 13:25	Summary of discussions, David Howlett
13:25 – 13:30	Closing remarks for Day 2, Martin Bwalya

Brief session background

Objectives

Expected outcome

Session leads

Tentative Program

Organizing Partners