Tag Archives: FAO

Yemaya highlights how changes in fish trade affect the lives and labour of women

Posted on October 3, 2015 | Leave a comment
The Boring Road Crossing fish market in Patna, India. The number of women fish vendors has declined substantially. Photo: Bibha Kumar, from Yemaya 49 p. 5.

The Boring Road Crossing fish market in Patna, India. The number of women fish vendors has declined substantially. Photo: Bibha Kumar, from Yemaya 49 p. 5.

The July 2015 issue of Yemaya (from the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers) highlights the experiences of women in fish trade and support industries.  The editor, Nilanjana Biswas, concludes that the evidence is that women are being ‘ousted from local markets’, typically ending up in more dangerous, less lucrative substandard sites.

Read the Editorial and stories.

  • Perched on the brink of survival by Modesta Medard (Tanzania)
  • Receding waters, vanishing trades by Bibha Kumar (India)
  • Banking on closure by Lorna Slade (Tanzania)
  • Guatemala’s comprehensive policy on gender equality by Ramya Rajagopalan
  • A couple of champions! by Cornelia Quist (Netherlands)
  • Profile: Fisher of the year – Anna Ramirez (Bolivia)
  • Making women matter by Nilanjana Biswas
  • Q & A Interview with Lakshmi Murthy, seaweed harvester Tamil Nadu
  • Yemaya recommends: Globefish report “Role of Women in the Seafood Industry”
  • Plus Yemaya Mama (cartoon, What’s new Webby?

Download the whole issue or any individial article at here.

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Posted in Bolivia, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fish post-harvest, ICSF, India, Seaweed, Tamil Nadu, Tanzania

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Asian women – finding additional income, improving fish quality

Posted on February 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

Women sewing, Linay, Philippines. Photo: RFLP

The February Newsletter of the FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihood Program (RFLP) has stories of women’s  contribuitons to improving fish quality and of finding additional income earning opportunities outside the fisheries supply chain.

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Posted in FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Women

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Turning points in modern aquaculture

Posted on February 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Photo: FAO

Click here to view video

We recommend you check out this new comprehensive  FAO aquaculture video that, among others, highlights the role of women in aquacutlure. Good to see women highlighted in a mainstream aquaculture presentation.

Turning Points in Modern Aquaculture

Short Description:
“This 15-min video was produced by the Aquaculture Service of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department for the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 and the Fifth session of the COFI Sub-Committtee on Aquaculture held in Phuket, Thailand in October 2010. With film clips taken from various countries and photos contributed by… many – depicting the range of people, species, environments, systems, practices as well as opportunities and challenges facing aquaculture, this video takes viewers to a historical journey to the major turning points in aquaculture development since the early and first aquaculture practice by a Chinese named Fan Li two millennia ago. These four watersheds span 25 years from the Kyoto Strategy on Aquaculture Development (1976), to the establishment of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (1995) through to The Bangkok Declaration and Strategy for Aquaculture (2000) and immediately followed by the creation of the Committee on Fisheries Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (2001) – enough to nourish its development through the next 25 so that aquaculture, now the fastest growing food producing sector can serve the people better, and communities and nations continue to prosper.”

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Posted in Aquaculture, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Global, Men, Research, communication resources, Women

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RFLP: news on projects involving women

Posted on January 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Woman fish seller, Sri Lanka. Source: RFLPThe December 2011 RFLP Newsletter (FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme) features several articles on projects that reach out to women, such as vocational training, skills enhancement in processing, and a case study gender analysis for Negombo and Puttalam Districts in Sri Lanka.

To download the Newletter: Dec 2011 RFLP Newsletter

Sri Lanka gender analysis report:  Gender_Analysis_Puttalam_Negombo

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Posted in Asia, Country, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, Gender, Gendered labor studies, Geography, Regional, Sri Lanka, Women

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Fish consumption risks and benefits – new FAO, WHO review

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Download: http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/ba0136e/ba0136e00.pdf

Here are excerpts from the abstract of this interesting new review of the scientific evidence on fish consumption and health, including gender-based distinctions in advice.

In response to growing public concern in recent years regarding the presence of chemical contaminants in fish as well as emerging evidence on the multiple nutritional benefits of including fish in the diet, FAO and WHO convened a Joint Expert Consultation on the Risks and Benefits of Fish Consumption in January 2010. The tasks of the Expert Consultation were to review data on levels of nutrients (long-chain omega-3 fatty acids) and specific chemical contaminants (methylmercury and dioxins) in a range of fish species and to compare the health benefits of fish consumption and nutrient intake with the health risks associated with contaminants present in fish.

Consumption of fish provides energy, protein and a range of other important nutrients, including the long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCn3PUFAs).

Among the general adult population, consumption of fish, particularly fatty fish, lowers the risk of mortality from coronary heart disease. There is an absence of probable or convincing evidence of risk of coronary heart disease associated with methylmercury. Potential cancer risks associated with dioxins are well below established coronary heart disease benefits from fish consumption. When comparing the benefits of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids with the risks of methylmercury among women of childbearing age, maternal fish consumption lowers the risk of suboptimal neurodevelopment in their offspring compared with the offspring of women not eating fish in most circumstances evaluated. At levels of maternal exposure to dioxins (from fish and other dietary sources) that do not exceed the provisional tolerable monthly intake  of 70 pg/kg body weight. Neurodevelopmental risk for the fetus is negligible. At levels of maternal exposure to dioxins (from fish and other dietary sources) that exceed the provisional tolerable montly intake, neurodevelopmental risk for the fetus may no longer be negligible.

Among infants, young children and adolescents, the available data are currently insufficient to derive a quantitative framework of the health risks and health benefits of eating fish. However, healthy dietary patterns that include fish consumption and are established early in life influence dietary habits and health during adult life.

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Posted in FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Global, Research, communication resources

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New global beach seine fishing review

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

This new FAO Technical Paper gives a global overview of beach seine fisheries, studies the operations in several countries in depth and identifies key issues in the responsible use of beach seines and the sustainable livelihoods of beach seine fishers including women and children.

It examines women’s roles in 9 country case studies – Benin, Ghana, Togo, The Gambia, India (Andra Pradesh and Orissa), Kenya, Mozambique, Peru and Sri Lanka. Women’s roles include financing and managing the operations (Ghana), owning shares of the beach seine (Sri Lanka), helping with hauling the net (several countries), sorting the catch (several countries) and processing and marketing the catch (most countries).

http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2117e/i2117e.pdf

Tietze, U.; Lee, R.; Siar, S.; Moth-Poulsen, T.; Båge, H.E., eds. Fishing with beach seines. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 562. Rome, FAO. 2011. 149p.

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Posted in Benin, Country, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, Gender, Geography, Global, India, Kenya, Men, Mozambique, Peru, Sri Lanka, The Gambia, Togo, Women

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FROM REPORTS TO ACTION ON GENDER EQUALITY IN FOOD SECURITY

Posted on October 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Following the 2010-11 FAO State of Food and Agriculture highlighting the gender gap in agriculture (including fish) productivity, and the 2012 World Development Report on gender and development, the global agencies continue to highlight the huge gap between rhetoric and action on gender in the food production sectors.

Gender equality was discussed as a prominent factor of food security at FAO’s celebration of World Food Day (16 October) 2011 and throughout the 37th session of the United Nations Committee on Global Food Security (CFS), held at FAO headquarters 17-22 October.

At a panel discussion on the World Development Report, Ana Revenga, World Bank Poverty Reduction Group Director explained that: “the cost of gender inequality to societies is getting larger, and economic growth will not solve the problem. We need actors and initiatives.” She added that implementing gender equality was rarely a question of increasing resources, but of redistributing them more equally among men and women, and that the relatively low costs incurred in doing so would be amply covered by the long-term benefits.

Read more at: http://www.fao.org/gender/gender-home/…..

New e-platfrom on Gender in Agriculture launching 2 November 2011

Look out for the new World Bank, FAO, IFAD Gender in Agriculture e-platform: https://www.genderinag.org/ginag/

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Posted in Agriculture, rural, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Gender, Gender and development, Gender research resources, Geography, Global, Research, communication resources, Theme

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Essential new tool for projects: Mainstreaming gender into project cycle management in the fisheries sector

Posted on October 12, 2011 | 3 comments

New from the Spain-FAO-RFLP!

‘Women play a significant role in fisheries, yet lack of attention to gender roles and relations can result in policies or programmes failing to improve livelihoods or reduce vulnerability of fishing communities. The largely ‘invisible’ role of women in small-scale fisheries must be addressed if actions aimed at improving the livelihoods of small-scale fishers and their families are to be successful.

‘As part of its efforts to promote gender equity to improve fisheries livelihoods, the Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia (RFLP) which is funded by Spain and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has developed a field handbook that gives guidance on taking gender into account in all phases of small-scale fisheries development projects.

‘The handbook provides:

  • An overview of the rationale, concepts and approaches concerning mainstreaming gender equality in development cooperation;
  • An overview of the role of women in the fisheries sector, the problems they face and possible empowerment opportunities;
  • Tools for gender analysis in fisheries development projects and guidance on how to integrate gender aspects at various stages in the project cycle.

‘To download the handbook or to browse a magazine-style electronic version please visit gender mainstreaming manual

The RFLP would love to receive your feedback or comments on the new handbook. Please visit the above link to make contact.

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Posted in Asia, Cambodia, FAO, Fisheries, Gender, Gender and development, Gender research resources, Geography, Philippines, research, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam

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Communicating Gender and Rural Development

Posted on September 21, 2011 | 2 comments

FAO has just released a new handbook, “Communicating Gender for Rural Development.” This  handbook contains good materials and clarifies some concepts. “Gender is at once a sociological concept, a development approach, an operational strategy and an analytical method”. Have a look especially at the schematic on page 16.

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Posted in FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Gender, Gender and development, Geography, Global, Men, Research, communication resources, Theme, Women

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Rural Women’s Empowerment

Posted on September 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

This Expert Paper by Christine Okali of University of the University of Sussex is well worth reading. It was prepared for the UN Women Expert Group Meeting on  Enabling rural women’s economic empowerment: institutions, opportunities and participation that is now being held in Accra, Ghana, in cooperation with FAO, IFAD and WFP.

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/egm/Okali-EP-8-EGM-RW-Sep-2011.pdf

Achieving Transformative Change for Rural Women’s Empowerment 

Here is the paper’s conclusion:

“In terms of who can do what, organisations at different levels each have roles to play. UN agencies and other macro-level organisations have a key role to play in changing the way in which women are portrayed, narratives about gender relations, and even more basic understandings about who does what (that has been made central to planning). This may be one of the biggest challenges given the way in which this information has been used to date to promote a feminist agenda. However, a shift is already evident in the 2010 FAO SOFA. Meso-level organisations have a similar role to play but in addition they need to build capacity in the gender analysis that goes beyond comparisons between men and women on roles played and assets owned. What little information there is suggests that agricultural research organisations at this level need to incorporate a gender relations understanding within their participatory strategies, and to contribute insights into the understanding of the role of spouses and others in individual decision-making on say technical change. In terms of highlighting change pathways for achieving women’s economic empowerment, there are gaps in information, especially about supportive environments for change. A starting point for this work would be to identify existing formal and informal institutions that enable women’s agency, voice, claims and opportunities.”

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Posted in Christine Okali, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Gender, Geography, Global, Men, Research, communication resources, Theme, Women

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