Gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in many agri-food systems (AFS), limiting the potential of women—especially those from agriculture-dependent communities—to be empowered and to build social and economic resilience to climate change challenges. The Harnessing Gender and Social Equality for Resilience in Agri-food Systems (HER+) initiative will generate learning and evidence on where and how to intervene at a deeper level to disrupt the foundations of inequality in AFS. This effort requires high-quality data.

Maize is recognized as the queen of cereals, with an ability to adapt to diverse agroecologies (from 58oN to 55oS latitude) and the highest genetic yield potential among cereals. Under contemporary conditions of global climate change, C4 maize crops offer resilience and sustainability to ensure food, nutritional security, and farmer livelihood. In the northwestern plains of India, maize is an important alternative to paddy for crop diversification in the wake of depleting water resources, reduced farm diversity, nutrient mining, and environmental pollution due to paddy straw burning.

Kenya grapples with climate change challenges, experiencing erratic weather patterns, prolonged droughts, and floods that significantly limit agricultural productivity and natural resources availability. This not only exacerbates food insecurity but also heightens the potential for conflicts. The Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), especially in northern counties like Turkana, are particularly vulnerable, experiencing a surge in climate-induced food shortages compounded by escalating conflict risks.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is
extremely vulnerable to climate change and is also the
most gender unequal region in the world. According to the
Global Gender Gap report, the gender gap is highest in the
MENA region (60.9 percent progress toward parity), and “at
the current relative pace, it would take an estimated 142.4
years to close” (World Economic Forum, 2021: 26).
Agriculture in the MENA region is becoming increasingly
feminized, with women representing more than 50 percent

Intersectionality provides a powerful framework for understanding the intricate connections between different dimensions of social identity and their influence on individual experiences of discrimination and privilege. When applied to gender-transformative approaches (GTAs) in agri-food systems, intersectionality becomes critical for unraveling inequalities, including how existing inequalities are exacerbated by shocks and long-term stressors such as malnutrition, conflict, and climate change.

As climate change relentlessly threatens the livelihoods of smallholder farmers regionally and globally, persistent gender disparities in the use of climate change adaptation strategies continuously impede achievement of resilience efforts. This study explored one research question: what specific strategies can be implemented to improve the inclusivity of bean value-chain innovations in Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi and enhance climate resilience?

Extreme climate events such as flood, drought, and high temperature are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change. Mapping and characterization of food production areas at risk can help in better targeting innovations and in enhancing the resilience of affected communities.

The project Reaching Smallholder Women with Information Services and Resilience Strategies to Respond to Climate Change aimed to increase the climate resilience of poor women and men farmers in Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia — especially those in Kenya, Uganda, and India — by overcoming the gendered information gap on accessing climate-smart agricultural (CSA) approaches. The project did this through piloting participatory video-based extension on CSA approaches with more than 30,000 farmers in the three countries.

This one-pager provides details on the LAND-at-scale project in Egypt. This project is implemented by GIZ Egypt, and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Netherlands Enterprise & Development Agency (RVO). 

This guide is intended to support smallholder farmers, and advocates working closely with them, in exercising more agency and living more independently according to their own priorities. It aims to assist smallholders in making free choices in relation to farm production, markets and trade. Farmers with agency can negotiate with, and challenge, the people and institutions that affect their lives.

The Climate Risk Planning and Managing Tool for Development Programmes in the Agriculture and Food Sector (CRISP) project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)/ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), aims to address the shortfall in climate risk screening tools. The project is a collaboration between Eurac Research (Italy) and the Alliance of Bioversity and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).