5 April 2013: The Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program (CCAFS) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has released a strategy that provides a framework for considering gender within low emissions agricultural development.

The paper acknowledges that transforming gender dynamics takes time and requires efforts from men and women. It identifies three challenges related to gender equity in mitigation projects, based on: burdens placed on women from mitigation activities; the fact that economic and agricultural models that drive mitigation analysis rarely recognize gender issues; and top-down planning that reinforces inequitable power dynamics.

The paper stresses the need to focus on: supporting collective action, alliances and inclusive decision making; promoting research related to institutional inequalities and their relationship to greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions; analyzing women’s innovations related to low emissions agriculture; and undertaking gender disaggregated research. [Publication: A Gender Strategy for Pro-poor Climate Change Mitigation] [CCAFS Press Release]