New CGIAR `GENDER` Platform and investment announced to build more inclusive agricultural benefits and greater food security in developing countries

CGIAR GENDER Platform – Dec 19, 2019

Nairobi, Kenya, 18 December 2019 — CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, announced a substantial new investment in a platform designed to put gender equality at the forefront of global agricultural research for development. The CGIAR GENDER (Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results) Platform will transform the way gender research is done, both within and beyond CGIAR, to kick-start a process of genuine change toward greater gender equality and better lives for smallholder farmers everywhere. 

Jimmy Smith, Director General of ILRI, stated, “GENDER is well positioned to produce far-reaching and enduring impacts because it will aim to give a voice to the millions of women who today are mostly excluded from the extremely urgent efforts to produce enough, and good enough, food under the climate crisis. Only when both women and men are empowered to transform food systems can they successfully nourish families, communities, and entire nations, today and in the future.”

GENDER aims to create a ‘new normal’—a world in which greater gender equality drives more equitable, sustainable, productive and climate-resilient food systems. The Platform will provide high-quality evidence on what works for women’s empowerment in agriculture so that science leaders and decision-makers can prioritize collective action on technologies and solutions that make a difference. 

“Transformation of our food systems is essential to sustainably defeat hunger and enhance nutrition – it is also a tremendous opportunity to invest in gender equality and inclusion. The CGIAR GENDER Platform is a concerted effort that we and our funder partners are making to step up our longstanding gender research agenda, to provide real data and rigorous evidence to policymakers and development partners on gender equity, to empower women and men in food systems everywhere, and to contribute to the achievement of SDG 5 on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls,” said Claudia Sadoff, Gender Champion, CGIAR System Management Board.

See https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/new-cgiar-gender-platform-and-investment/

Photo: World Bank/Chhor Sokunthea.