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From April 25 to 28, 2023, CORAF organized a gender training workshop for institutions and actors involved in the implementation of the CAADP-XP4 project and the West African Food System Resilience Program (PRSA/FSRP). The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the importance of the gender and youth dimensions among the actors and institutions involved in these two regional projects, and to train them in the strategies and tools needed to integrate them effectively.

The training was led by a team from the FAO-ROME Gender Office, in collaboration with CORAF's Regional Gender Advisor. " These two regional projects must be gender-sensitive, taking into account the specific needs of disadvantaged groups such as women and young people, as well as other marginalized groups such as people living with disabilities, widows, orphans, the elderly, etc. " said Dr Mariame Maïga, Regional Gender Advisor at CORAF.

Capacity building for gender mainstreaming

50 participants attended training sessions covering topics such as gender analysis tools to inform the development of action plans, gender mainstreaming in food systems, promoting gender equality in policies, and more. Participants included representatives from ECOWAS, CILSS, National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), national coordinators and gender specialists from countries involved in the FSRP, as well as coordinators from National Centers of Specialization (NCOs), Regional Centers of Excellence (RCEs), women's and youth agricultural associations, and agricultural research and development experts.

" Women and young people are not taking sufficient advantage of the potential of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fisheries value chains to escape from precariousness. If women had the same access as men to productive resources, they could increase their farm yields by 20-30%," said Dr Mariame Maïga.

Regional collaboration for lasting impact

Workshop organizers stressed the need to integrate the gender dimension into both projects, as in West Africa, women and young people represent the majority of the agricultural workforce. Unfortunately, women suffer post-harvest losses estimated at 40% due to lack of access to processing technologies and equipment.

" We believe that ensuring equal access to resources and opportunities would be a smart shortcut to achieving zero hunger, increasing production and increasing women's access to resources and income," said Ms. Tacko Ndiaye.

" 25.2% of women are affected by food insecurity, compared with 23.7% of men. By reducing gender inequalities in the agricultural sector, it would be possible to reduce poverty by 13%, as shown by the results of a modeling study carried out in three sub-Saharan countries ", stressed Ms. Ndiaye.

Thanks to this training, all teams will be able to define priority actions aimed at reducing inequalities between women and men in both programs, giving them equal opportunities for participation and equitable access to the resources and benefits offered by the programs in order to strengthen their influence and social empowerment.

A roadmap for implementing the gender aspect

Participants were also called upon to review the Gender Action Plan of the West African Food System Resilience Program (FASSRP) and to draw up a roadmap to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Gender Action Plans of FASSRP countries.

" At the end of this training, all teams will be able to define priority actions aimed at reducing inequalities between women and men in the PRSA, in order to strengthen their influence and social empowerment," said Ms Maty Ba Diao, PRSA/FSRP regional coordinator.

This training was an important step in raising awareness and training institutions and actors involved in the implementation of CAADP-XP4 and PRSA/FSRP on gender and youth dimensions. By strengthening their understanding and capacity to integrate these dimensions, it is hoped that these regional agricultural projects will be able to contribute effectively to bridging gender inequalities in the agricultural sector in West and Central Africa.