Advancing Women's Empowerment
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Feed the Future
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Did you know that women make up 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries? If women had the same access to productive resources as men do, they could increase farm yields by 20 to 30 percent! In celebration of International Women's Day, which took place on March 8, Feed the Future highlighted 10 recent examples of how our work supports women's empowerment, including:
- Promoting land and property rights, particularly for women, to help them achieve increased food security, economic empowerment, better nutrition and health outcomes, and improved agricultural productivity.
Read more about how Feed the Future is advancing the status of women.
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Women's Fishing Cooperative Increases Incomes and Community Nutrition in Rwanda
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Women in COOPAVI use fishing to improve community nutrition and economically empower local women. Credit: USADF
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In 2003, a group of women from a community living along the shores of Lake Kivu in western Rwanda started COOPAVI, the first women's cooperative to undertake fishing in the lake. But most of the women had never fished before, and they did not own any boats or supplies that would support their efforts to generate income and better feed their families.
An $85,000 capacity building grant from Feed the Future in 2011 dramatically improved the cooperative's prospects for success, helping them to acquire motor boats, heavy-duty coolers, fishing equipment, and computers to improve reporting and accountability and support additional training. Read more.
Watch a video on the COOPAVI women's fishing cooperative in Rwanda.
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Producers, traders and buyers all benefit from a modernized commodity exchange system like the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. Tizita Alemu is helping improve its services. Credit: Africa LEAD
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Capacity Building Helps Vital Commodity Exchange in Ethiopia Get Even Better
Thanks to a Feed the Future program that provides leadership training in Africa, Tizita Alemu, an inspections manager at the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, spent two months with the Cocoa Risk Management Group at Hershey Company, USA. Alemu learned best practices in commodity operations as well as insight into what it and other global companies expect from a structured marketing system. Read more.
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CELEBRATING WORLD WATER DAY
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Did you know that March 22 was World Water Day?
One in six people worldwide still lack access to improved water sources, and more than 2.8 billion people are expected to live in either water-scarce or water-stressed regions by 2025. This issue is closely linked to the related challenges of food security and global health. Read on for stories of how Feed the Future is increasing food security and fighting poverty through programs that increase smallholders' access to safe, reliable water and build their resilience to drought.
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Diara Mané draws water for her onion garden. The wells have ample water thanks to Feed the Future projects that recharge the water tables in Senegal's lowlands. Credit: USAID/Zach Taylor
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Putting Rain to Work for Agriculture in Senegal
Diara Mané fills her watering cans from a USAID-supported well. With access to sufficient water for her crops, she has been able to expand the plot she farms in Senegal where she grows onions, okra and eggplant throughout the year.
"The new well allows me to grow enough to help feed my family and supplement my income by selling the rest," she says.
But the well is only part of the story. Read more.
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Comparison of existing and potential hybrids under moderate drought (left) and well watered (right) conditions.
Credit: WEMA
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Making the Most of a Good Thing: A Public-Private Partnership to Increase Drought Resilience for Smallholder Farmers
To help smallholders become more resilient to drought and other hardships while increasing crop productivity, the Feed the Future Research Strategy places a strong emphasis on developing high-yielding, climate-resilient cereals.
But development is only one part of the equation. Success will also depend on the effective commercialization of these improved seeds. The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project aims to do both. Read more.
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 | | Chairwoman Mamlakat Abduqahorova leads her peers in maintaining irrigation canals in Khatlon, Tajikistan. Credit: USAID/Tajikistan |
In Tajikistan, Water Users Associations Help Diversify Agriculture and Build Communities
In Tajikistan, Feed the Future improves farmers' access to irrigation water in part by helping water users associations better manage and operate their own irrigation systems. This includes planning fair and efficient distribution of water and performing necessary maintenance on irrigation infrastructure.
As part of its Feed the Future activities in the country, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped form over 50 water users associations organized into four federations, benefiting over 200,000 people in Tajikistan. Read more.
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Heard on the Hill: Feed the Future Leadership Joins Conversation on Water and Food Security in Washington
On March 20, in recognition of World Water Day, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Chief Scientist, Dr. Catherine Woteki, participated in a briefing for Congressional staff hosted by the Global Harvest Initiative (GHI) called, "Too Hot, Too Wet, Too Dry: Building Resilient Agroecosystems." The panel was sponsored by Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE), and included Dr. Margaret Ziegler and Dr. Roberto Lenton of the Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska.
Dr. Woteki spoke about the importance of water conservation to agriculture, as agricultural production accounts for the largest share of water consumption in the United States. Read more.
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USAID Highlights Feed the Future in 2013 Annual Letter
"It's hard to believe, but a decade ago we essentially had no agricultural program in Tanzania, a nation where agriculture employs three-fourths of the labor force and nearly half of all children suffer from undernutrition. Tanzania wasn't alone. For more than 20 years, agriculture funding in development had been on the decline, leaving the world ill-prepared to cope with the growing challenge of food insecurity.
This changed in 2009, when President Obama launched a global food security initiative called Feed the Future and designated our Agency to lead it. At the time, no one was quite sure how many agriculture experts we had on staff, but it wasn't many. At my confirmation hearing, senator after senator expressed concerns about what a decade of attrition had done to our technical expertise. I didn't necessarily disagree, until I met our team-a small group determined to build a cutting-edge program in food security that was grounded in a new set of development principles." - USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah
Read the full USAID Annual Letter.
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GAFSP Launches Third Public Sector Window Call for Proposals
The Third Call for Proposals for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program's (GAFSP) Public Sector Window is now open and will close on June 5, 2013. GAFSP has approximately US$175 million in resources, likely to be allocated to four to five proposals. Learn more.
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Now Accepting Submissions for Feed the Future's Third Photo Contest
Do you have photos of Feed the Future in action?
We want to see them! Check out the photo contest entry guidelines and send your submissions to [email protected] after confirming that they qualify for all criteria.
We're looking for photos of how your Mission, agency or project is contributing to Feed the Future's goal of reducing global poverty, hunger and undernutrition. Submit up to five photos to the Feed the Future photo contest by March 31, 2013. All entries will be posted on social media for the public to vote on and winners will be announced in April.
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UPCOMIN G EVENTS
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April 23 - 26 (Washington, DC)
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April 29 - 30, 2013 (Washington, DC)
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NEWS & MEDIA
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News
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Op-Eds
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Blogs
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March 27, 2013, Paul Weisenfeld (Feed the Future)
March 22, 2013 (Peace Corps)
March 21, 2013 (The World Bank blogs)
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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This newsletter is intended to enhance collaboration and information-sharing
about implementation of Feed the Future. To subscribe or to find out more
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