Invitation and Call for documents

Background

Since 2011, FAO, in close collaboration with partners from the public and private sectors and civil society, has participated in the Global Save Food Initiative – http://www.fao.org/save-food/en/ – to understand and contribute to reducing global food loss and waste. Roughly one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Study results have revealed situations where loss and waste may be greater because of specific gender issues. Reducing existing gender inequalities along the food supply chain may contribute significantly to improving the efficiency of the chain and to cutting food losses. So far, traditional food loss and waste reduction strategies have tended to focus on technical solutions while disregarding the relevance of social dimensions, which affect the division of labour and create disparities between women and men in access to productive resources. For this purpose, FAO wishes to consult with experts at large and stakeholders involved in the food supply chain on their knowledge and experience about the nexus between gender and food loss and waste. Thus this call is opened to all – from industry to research, to policy makers, to civil society, to development experts – who may have an interest and wish to share information on the gender and food loss and waste nexus.

Objective

The main objectives of this e-consultation is to identify who’s who in the domain of Gender and Food Loss and Waste and what literature and initiatives exists on the subject in order to trace the way ahead on this subject.

The goal is to collect relevant information, data and experiences to prepare background documents and presentations for an event, to be held by FAO in the first quarter of 2017.

The e-consultation will provide an opportunity for researchers, development workers, national and local authorities, representatives of the private sector and the international community at large with an interest in gender and food loss and waste, to share their knowledge and experiences.

Organization

The consultation will take place over 5 weeks and will focus on the following specific aspects each week:

1)      Gender and food loss nexus in value chains – main challenges – quantitative & qualitative data

2)      The influence of gendered roles and responsibilities of men and women and differences in access to resources, assets and services on food losses along the value chain. 

3)      Technologies that reduce food losses and waste and that are accessible to women; technology, uptake and dissemination mechanisms

4)      Participation of women and men in rural organizations / policy making – decision making – voice and agency and their role in reducing losses

5)      Roles of men and women in generating, preventing, reducing and managing food waste, all along the food supply chains, at household and waste management level - local, national, regional and global perspectives.

Participants are encouraged to send any relevant information (papers, publications, data, etc.) they wish to share throughout the duration of the consultation. This will ensure a rich and fruitful exchange of reflection, knowledge and ideas and a continuous contribution of additional relevant information. Contributors should indicate if they are willing to have the documents posted online with free access to all Internet users or if they would prefer sharing them only with other participants.

Moderated contributions will be posted and made accessible on the Dgroups platform https://dgroups.org/fao/foodloss/gender/  

Contributions can be provided in English, French and Spanish (and will be summarized in English). At the end of each week, a summary report of each aspect will be produced and distributed for additional inputs and comments. The final report of the consultation will acknowledge all contributors; it will be published electronically and serve as a background document for the 2017 event.

To subscribe

You may join the discussion by subscribing at the following link: https://dgroups.org/fao/foodloss/gender/join

Looking forward to your active participation,