Sheila de Lima, AVRDC East and Southeast Asia Admin and Training Officer and Jiawen Zhou, intern from Mc Gill University, represented AVRDC during the recent Asia and the Pacific Regional High-level Consultation on Gender, Food Security and Nutrition: Ensuring the other half equal opportunities, held in Bangkok, Thailand from 24-26 July 2013.

The meeting was co-organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in collaboration with Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (WOCAN) to raise awareness of the gender dimensions of food and nutrition insecurity and the implications for rural poverty, agriculture productivity, and national development. It also provided a platform for government, development partners, civil society organizations and private sectors in Asia and the Pacific to exchange information on lessons learned and good practices, and to identify areas for collaboration. More than 70 representatives from 18 countries attended the event.

Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, gave the keynote address and launched ADB/FAO report he authored, entitled Gender Equality and Food Security – Women’s Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger. The report presents evidence that gender equality needs to be improved if hunger is to be reduced. Three concerns must be addressed to assure gender equality: 1) recognize the time and mobility constraints of women; 2) provide services that can relieve women from their reproductive and productive work; and 3) redistribute gender roles, and involve men in the change.

Plenary sessions focused on sharing good practices and the breakout sessions explored policies and concrete actions. The third day focused on country-specific interventions. AVRDC provided case studies from the Philippines and its work in Bangladesh, which will be included in a report on best practices to ensure gender equality for better food and nutrition security in Asia and the Pacific.

Gender Equality and Food Security – Women’s Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger
http://www.adb.org/publications/gender-equality-and-food-security-womens-empowerment-tool-against-hunger