Empowering Women in Small-Scale Fisheries for Sustainable Aquatic Food Systems in the African Great Lakes Region

During the Virtual Ocean Dialogues by the World Economic Forum 1-5 June 2020, FAO hosted a session called Empowering Women in Small-Scale Fisheries for Sustainable Aquatic Food Systems in the African Great Lakes Region on June 3rd,18:30 - 19:30 CET.

The session presented initiatives to reduce poverty and improve food security and nutrition in small-scale fisheries in the African Great Lakes region by empowering women in the post-harvest sector, building equitable and effective food systems and promoting value-chain development.

Session description:

This session is hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Small-scale fisheries – encompassing all activities along the value chain, in both marine and inland waters – play an important role in food security and nutrition and provide an opportunity for poverty eradication, equitable development and sustainable resource utilization. Small-scale fisheries tend to be inadequately addressed, both with regard to resource management and from a broader social and economic development perspective.

Despite their considerable contribution to the post-harvest sector, women are often excluded from decision-making processes, and their empowerment is often hampered by limited organizational capacity and unequal access to usable assets, technology, finance, education and services. The SSF Guidelines were developed to address this situation. While marine fisheries are increasingly recognized for supplying important micronutrients, there has been less attention given to inland and freshwater fisheries, which provide essential nutrients to many, such as communities around the African Great Lakes.

 

Watch the video recording of the session.

Learn more about the Virtual Ocean Dialogues on the event website.