Education – Key to Development and Success
Ia Mirazanashvili has worked with FAO since 2011 on programme-related matters, serving as the Gender Focal Point since 2014. She holds PhD in Political Discourse from Tbilisi State University. She has taken a number of FAO and UNSSC professional development trainings and courses related to gender equality, monitoring and evaluation, programming, leadership and management. In 2020 she was granted the FAO employee recognition award by FAO Director General.
How has being a woman shaped your work with FAO?
The fundamental principle of FAO in Georgia is to treat each employee with respect and dignity. Equal opportunities are offered to both women and men employees. The gender equality approach is equally enjoyed by the FAO staff in the country office as well as by the beneficiaries of the organization. Although there are not many women in managerial positions in FAO Georgia, the number of women employees is 51%. FAO Georgia recognizes the importance of gender equality in achieving sustainable agriculture and rural development, building inclusive and resilient agri-food systems and in accomplishing the goals under the FAO Strategic Framework and Agenda 2030.
As a woman, I am well-positioned to understand the underlying reasons which limit women’s access to equal opportunities. Personal experience motivates me to adopt the gender-transformative approaches that challenge social norms which govern discriminatory behavior and drive inequality and integrate them into my work. Gender-transformative work is especially important for rural communities, where, due to the traditional division of labor, women perform numerous agricultural operations which are often unrecognized, and unpaid.
Personally, a positive and harmonious working environment is crucial for me to perform at my best. This is what I always strive for ensure for my team, as today life is full of stress caused by different persisting crises – health, social, economic, political, energy, environmental, food, etc. Team spirit is incredibly important in building a successful organization where each individual is valued for the work they perform. I always o express my respect and gratitude to my colleagues, whether I supervise them or not, for their work and commitment to the organization.
In addition, it is very important to find a balance between the work and personal life. Indeed, there are times when I am overloaded with work, urgent commitments, and deadlines, but I make it a priority to dedicate time to my kids and family, spending quality time with them over the weekends.
What is that you are most proud of at your current work?
I am proud I have been leading the FAO Georgia Programme Team’s work on elaboration, implementation and monitoring of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2021-2025, under the leadership of the UNRCO and partnership with sister agencies, whose ambition is to Deliver as One for achieving transformative change with greater transparency and accountability. FAO Country Programme Framework (CPF) for 2021-2025 is a support mechanism designed alongside with the country priorities and needs to achieve the objectives stipulated in the Cooperation Framework and other hand FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031. I have coordinated the joint work of development of the FAO CPF 2021-2025 for Georgia, and I am proud that in this cycle there is more focus on addressing existed gender inequalities in rural areas of Georgia that were earlier identified by FAO Country Gender Assessment. Gender mainstreaming and women-targeted interventions have been adopted as the key tools to achieve the corporate commitments with respect to gender equality.
Women have an indispensable role in the household, community and society but their work is often not recognized. The current challenges in agriculture and rural development in Georgia cannot be solved until and unless women and men are treated equally, gender disparities are tackled, and they have equal access to productive and economic resources. Social and economic inequalities between men and women undermine food security and hold back advances in agriculture and economic growth in general. It is only by closing the gender gap that the strategies on sustainable agriculture and rural development can reach their full potential for both men and women. Therefore, it is important to put more efforts in accelerating the economic empowerment of rural women. That is why FAO puts a lot of effort into rural women’s empowerment.
Who is a women that inspires you?
At various stages of my life, I was inspired by many different strong women. Amongst them are the King Tamar, Olga Guramishvili, Kato Mikeladze, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Thatcher, and Rosa Parks. However, the biggest inspiration in my life, is my mother, who is a role model for me. As a mother of two girls, she worked at several jobs as a historian. She is a history professor and the author of several books. Both my parents work in the field of education and highly prioritize it. “Education is the key to development and success” was a philosophy I was raised with from early childhood. I remember well my mother taking me and my sister to different museums, archives, and libraries, which nurtured our interest as of the young girls. She showcased that education was pivotal to pursue our dreams. I convey these messages now to my daughters, telling them they should discover an interest in life that would make them happy. Their sex cannot be the barrier to set their dreams. It is very unfortunate that there are many gender stereotypes and rigid division of gender roles in the country that still need to be broken down. Inclusive and equitable quality education is the key to break these persisting stereotypes and inequalities. For example, rural households have less interest in investing in girls because the potential economic returns are perceived to be significantly lower than that of boys given the social existing patriarchal form of marriage. This has the long-term implications on young women’s status and life opportunities, limiting their abilities to have access to decent jobs and other productive resources.
The beneficiaries of our projects are yet another source of inspiration for me. Despite numerous challenges that rural women face at individual, domestic, community and societal levels, their resilience, strength, intelligence and motivation for growth and development is incredible. It is very encouraging to see that despite the household chores and tremendous responsibilities to provide care to their families, women find strength and put efforts to personal growth and development, as well as to participate in decision-making including in local governance and achieve economic independence and self-resilience.
Share your ways of coping with stress and relaxation:
I love animals, especially dogs, I have a poodle Bingo who is like the third kid in a family. While children growing in the cities have many opportunities or privileges, they are deprived of close contact with nature and animals in comparison with kids living in the rural areas. That is why I try to give my kids exposure to nature so they may also come to love it. The whole family was absolutely happy when we introduced some new family members - a little poodle dog and the parrots. For the last several years, we used to jointly take care of a duckling, frog, fish, turtle and some other animals. We all have very sad memories of the pandemic, but I want to share some funny moments, a proof that even in darker moments, humor and lightness are available to us. During the COVID-19 pandemic when we all worked from home and had many online meetings every day, my colleagues would hear my dog barking or see my parrots flying around and resting on my head.