The Country Gender Assessment of Agriculture and the Rural Sector report provides a gender perspective of the agricultural and rural sector of Papua New Guinea. The analysis provides an overview of the gender-based gaps and inequalities in access to and control over critical productive resources and opportunities. The methods used involved a two-tier approach where there was the review of literature related to women’s engagement in agriculture and the rural sector as well as, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with selected groups. The findings recognizes that agriculture is key for the country’s economy. However, there remains to be persisting challenges in creating an enabling environment for enhancing women’s participation in food value chains. Additionally, the disparities are obvious in access to and control over key agricultural resources. The rural women even though are major contributors to the economy, their rights are not properly recognized hence, are excluded systematically from access to decision-making. It is thereby concluded that the lack of influential gender sensitive leadership and coordination of the agricultural sector impede the empowerment of rural women and girls in the country. The recommendation include a gender and workplace policy developed for the agricultural sector. Importantly, this publication is a tool for FAO, the Government of Papua New Guinea and other development partners to mainstream gender into programming towards gender equality and the empowerment of rural women in Papua New Guinea.

The objective of the Assessment is to analyse the agriculture and rural sectors from a gender perspective at the macro level (policy), meso level (institutional) and micro level (community and household). The Assessment seeks to identify gender inequalities in access to critical productive resources, assets, services and opportunities. The assessment looks at the priorities, needs and constraints of both women and men in agricultural and rural communities, and the gaps that exist in responding to these issues. It also provides recommendations and guidance to promote gender sensitivity in future programmes and projects, and identifies possible partners for gender-related activities. This Assessment is also intended to raise awareness about gender issues among policy-makers, FAO officers, NGOs and community-based organizations (CBOs) in Fiji. It provides background and gender-related information, and can be used as a tool to mainstream gender perspectives in future policies, projects and programmes in ways that empower rural women.

The objective of the Assessment is to analyse the agriculture and rural sectors from a gender perspective at the macro level (policy), meso level (institutional) and micro level (community and household). The Assessment seeks to identify gender inequalities in access to critical productive resources, assets, services and opportunities. The assessment looks at the priorities, needs and constraints of both women and men in agricultural and rural communities, and the gaps that exist in responding to these issues. It also provides recommendations and guidance to promote gender sensitivity in future programmes and projects, and identifies possible partners for gender-related activities. This Assessment is also intended to raise awareness about gender issues among policy-makers, FAO officers, NGOs and community-based organizations in Vanuatu. It provides background and gender-related information, and can be used as a tool to mainstream gender perspectives in future policies, projects and programmes in ways that empower rural women.

The Country Gender Assessment (CGA) was commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from October 2017 to February 2018 as a way to gauge Viet Nam’s progress in achieving gender equality in agriculture and the rural sector and as a mechanism to guide FAO’s strategic mission in Viet Nam. Its objective is to inform FAO country-level planning and programming in line with national development priorities and FAO’s mandate and strategic framework. The Assessment is also aimed at facilitating FAO’s contribution to the UN Country Team report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with up-to date and objective information on the situation of rural women in the country. The methodology of the CGA included a desk review of policies and programmes on agriculture, food and nutrition security and gender equality, a quantitative analysis of national statistics, in-depth interviews with FAO Viet Nam partners and qualitative surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted in two provinces (Ninh Thuan and Lao Cai).

The objective of the assessment is to analyse the agriculture and rural sectors from a gender perspective at the macro level (policy), meso level (institutional) and micro level (community and household). The Assessment seeks to identify gender inequalities in access to critical productive resources, assets, services and opportunities. The assessment looks at the priorities, needs and constraints of both women and men in agricultural and rural communities, and the gaps that exist in responding to these issues. It also provides recommendations and guidance to promote gender sensitivity in future programmes and projects, and identifies possible partners for gender-related activities. This Assessment is also intended to raise awareness about gender issues among policy-makers, FAO officers, NGOs and community-based organizations (CBOs) in Tonga. It provides background and gender-related information and can be used as a tool to mainstream gender perspectives in future policies, projects and programmes in ways that empower rural women.

The Maldives Country Gender Assessment of Agriculture and the Rural Sector (CGA-ARS, or CGA) report was prepared to inform the country-level planning of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in line with the national development priorities of Maldives and FAO’s corporate Country Programme Framework (CPF) guidelines1 and as mandated by FAO’s Policy on Gender Equality. The objective of the report is to highlight existing gender inequalities in agriculture and the rural sector in Maldives. The CGA was commissioned by FAO Sri Lanka under the overall supervision of Nina Brandstrup, FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and Maldives. The report was drafted by Aminath Latheefa, National Consultant, under the direct guidance and with close engagement of Shafia Aminath, FAO National Correspondent in Maldives. The technical review was carried out by Tina Jayaratnam, Liaison Officer and Gender Focal Point of FAO Sri Lanka and Clara Mi Young Park, Regional Gender Officer, with Bettina Gatt of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. This comprehensive gender analysis of the agriculture and rural sectors was made possible thanks to the cooperation and response of the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture in Maldives, state service providers, non-governmental and civil society organizations, and farmers who shared their experiences and provided valuable input on gender dynamics in the fisheries and agriculture sectors.

This Country Gender Assessment (CGA) was commissioned by FAO as part of the regional programme ‘Promoting gender equality through knowledge generation and awareness raising.’ This programme aims to support the review and formulation of gender-responsive sectoral policies and strategy.

The objective of the Assessment is to analyse the agriculture and rural sectors from a gender perspective at the macro level (policy), meso level (institutional) and micro level (community and household). The Assessment seeks to identify gender inequalities in access to critical productive resources, assets, services and opportunities. The assessment looks at the priorities, needs and constraints of both women and men in agricultural and rural communities, and the gaps that exist in responding to these issues. It also provides recommendations and guidance to promote gender sensitivity in future programmes and projects, and identifies possible partners for gender-related activities. This Assessment is also intended to raise awareness about gender issues among policy-makers, FAO officers, NGOs and community-based organizations (CBOs) in Samoa. It provides background and gender-related information, and can be used as a tool to mainstream gender perspectives in future policies, projects and programmes in ways that empower rural women.

This Country gender assessment of agriculture and the rural sector provides in-depth insights into the gendered dimensions of agriculture and rural development in Fiji. The policy environment in rural sector ministries is supportive of gender mainstreaming, with clear paths to link policy direction on gender equality to programmes. Recommendations are formulated to progressively advance gender equality and support the empowerment of rural women through policy. In the short term, recommendations are oriented toward community programming that is more equitable, practical and beneficial for women. Developing infrastructure to reduce women’s workloads and facilitate their ability to engage in the cash economy could enhance women’s economic opportunities and contribute to improved family welfare. Promoting the use of radio, texts and social media to allow women to share information on weather, prices, economic opportunities and savings and banking can empower women to make more informed decisions about their activities. Building the gender analysis capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) working in rural sectors on climate change, disaster management and sustainable development will support the engagement of women in community-based decision making. To address gender inequalities in the rural sector and support the empowerment of rural women, a set of concrete recommendations is given. These range from promotion of policy research and analysis to inform policies and strategic planning on gender equality and rural women’s empowerment in ARD to putting in place concrete measures for the improvement of rural women’s access to services, technology, finance, markets and resources.

This abstract outlines the objectives of an assessment conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nation in Palau. The assessment identified three main challenges: firstly, the need to acknowledge and reflect the contributions of women to household and rural economies in policies, strategies, plans and programs. Secondly, gender inequalities limit the capacity of women in Palau to develop their potential. Finally, the recognition of gender equality as a driver to sustainable development is beginning to be incorporated into public policies, strategies, plans and programs. These findings highlight the importance of addressing these challenges in order to achieve greater gender equality and empowerment for rural women in Palau.