AWD Report 2020
The NAIP of Rwanda is notable in its commitment to the significant role of women in food production, correcting unequal access to land and credit and the importance of supporting women’s rural organisations.1953 Initiatives such as One Cow per Poor Family reflect the government’s commitment to supporting female farmers.1954 In 2010, Rwanda adopted the Agriculture Gender Strategy to guide the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, its agencies and development partners on gender-sensitive programming and interventions to transform the agriculture sector.1955 To address the challenges associated with achieving equality and equity in agriculture, the Strategy includes strategic objectives to, among others, enhance gender responsiveness in the delivery of agricultural services, promote equal participation in decision-making and develop capacities to enable gender-sensitive programming. It also includes mechanisms for the implementation and allocation of resources and the grounding of decisions on gender-disaggregated indicators.1956 In terms of addressing food security, both Djibouti and Republic of Congo have adopted institutional reforms. Djibouti’s Social Assistance Programme, established in 2016, assists the most vulnerable families with food aid and women with income-generating activities.1957 In Republic of Congo, the Parliament launched the Alliance for Food and Nutritional Security (APSCAN) with the support of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).1958 The mission of APSCAN includes promoting multi-sectoral approaches to fight hunger and malnutrition; developing an appropriate legislative framework for food and nutrition security; educating policy-makers and populations; and ensuring funding to sectors related to food and nutrition security.1959 To address the unmet needs of women, in particular rural women, in terms of banking, the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank was launched in 2018. The Bank offers funding, among others, to women engaged in agricultural businesses.1960 Some countries have established funds specifically earmarked to help women purchase land. In South Africa, the 2018/19 One Household, One Hectare Land Reform programme supported 932 female-headed households, representing 41.4% of those households subsidised.1961 In Zambia in 2014, the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection increased its quota for land reserved for women from 30% to 40%; men and women compete for the remaining 60% of available land.1962 The Integrated Programme for the Empowerment of Women in Burkina Faso 2016–2020 provides women with resources such as fertilisers, seeds and production and processing equipment.1963
6.4. Challenges and Gaps From the trends identified, some key gaps and contestations have been observed. The first concerns the right to food and the right to land. While the right to food is guaranteed in most constitutions, not all contain such provisions. The revised Constitution of Malawi does not recognise the right to food although under Article 30 (the right to development) it establishes that the State shall take all necessary measures for the full realisation of this right and provides for the “equality of opportunity for all in their access to food.”1964 Gambia and Libya have not adopted their respective draft constitutions, both of which include provisions on the right to food. Although in many countries women’s rights to access land are enshrined in law or constitutionally guaranteed, gender gaps in ownership persist and female landowners remain a minority. Approximately 80% of land in Africa is held under customary tenure systems, which often exclude women from ownership and control over land.1965 Insecure rights and land tenure leave women, especially widows and single women, vulnerable to discrimination through social practices and norms when it comes to inheritance and ownership of land and other resources. Moreover, weak implementation of existing laws and competing legal systems present obstacles to women’s land rights. Modern law on equal ownership rights of land is often not enforced. Rather, customary law tends to favour men and male children. This limits women and girls in exercising their right to land and denies them the equal inheritance of land and resources such as ploughs and livestock.1966 Insecure rights to land, property and resources contribute to poverty and food insecurity for women and girls.1967 Second, while nearly all countries have adopted NAIPs, an audit of these revealed that only a few integrate gender in their activities. Many NAIPs do not use gender-disaggregated data or include the effective participation of women’s
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