NRI in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), and other collaborators, recently held a pivotal consultation for the forthcoming regional report, The status of women in agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Following the FAO 2023 The status of women in agrifood systems global report, the sub-Saharan Africa report will provide the most up-to-date data and analysis and a focus on priorities and trends in the region. This report, due to be released in early 2025, represents a dedicated effort to understand and amplify the roles and contributions of women in agrifood systems across sub-Saharan Africa. This report is prepared by a Consortium led by AWARD, FAO, NRI, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), with other consortium members, the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform and CARE International.

The consultation, held virtually on 5-6 November, convened civil society organisations, researchers, and decision-makers to discuss key findings and insights from the initial draft of the report. The report’s focus is on emerging issues related to women’s work, food security and nutrition, natural resource rights in the context of climate and environmental change, innovation, and women’s agency and collective action. Stemming from these insights, the team presented potential 'building blocks' for gender and environmentally-just agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa, which are intended to guide the transformation of agrifood systems across the region.

In a statement about the report, one of NRI's lead authors and leader of the writing team, Dr Lora Forsythe, highlighted its significance: 'This report - which is specifically focused on trends in sub-Saharan Africa – is important. In this region, women comprise over half of agrifood systems workers. Their work is incredibly diverse and vital for households’ and regional food supply. However, it is also work characterised by precarity and often combined with care work that is under-recognised and unsupported. In addition, growing food security and nutrition challenges, rising food costs and changing diets on the continent, along with broader challenges of climate change and displacement, are exacerbating intersectional gender inequalities. These inequalities then contribute to further dysfunction in these systems.’

The lead authors led presentations and discussions on the report's chapters throughout the two-day consultation. Key themes included:

• Women and work in agrifood systems
• Understanding the food security and nutrition outcomes of agrifood systems from a gender perspective
• Gender, rights to natural resources, climate and environmental change
• Gender and innovation in agrifood systems
• Women's agency, collective action and social movements for new directions in agrifood systems

NRI team members helped guide structured breakout sessions, where participants provided targeted feedback on the key messages, evidence and recommendations to inform the final report.

Lora further explained that their approach to the report is to ‘emphasise the rich diversity of women's work and everyday experiences, the importance of ecological health in conjunction with women's rights to nature, and the impact of women's leadership, collective action and social movements on positive change in food systems, which demonstrates their ingenuity and resilience.'

The final report, once released, is anticipated to serve as a foundational document for policymakers, civil society organisations, and researchers across the continent, supporting evidence-based policy and targeted initiatives that uplift women and transform agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa.