Tadesse Desalegne/IWMI

Gender, Youth and Inclusivity

Sustainable intensification of agriculture and better natural resource management is only possible if women, youth, and ethnic or social minority groups have equal access to resources, information, and decision-making. With this access must come empowerment to enable them to make use of the resources and social capital they have.

As such, WLE’s core theme on Gender, Youth and Inclusivity ensures that the program’s research-based solutions address issues related to equitable access to resources and decision-making surrounding natural resource management and agriculture. This theme not only looks at social, financial and institutional mechanisms to address the needs of women and youth through research, it acts to empower them by working with society as a whole to create a change in attitude and practices.

Woman with cabbages in Zimbabwe
David Brazier/IWMI.

Gender-equitable pathways to achieving sustainable agricultural intensification

Women are playing an increasingly larger role in agriculture. Ensuring that they have opportunities—equal to those of men—to participate in transforming agriculture is a prerequisite for sustainable intensification. A synthesis of WLE's research on the importance of gender equity has been compiled in a brief that provides analysis of and recommendations on how to place equity and sustainability at the heart of agri-food systems. [Read more]

Nepal Women weeding paddy field
Rural women weeding a paddy field in Nepal.
Neil Palmer/IWMI