Operationalizing Gender Integration for Food Security Programming

Presented by: Elizabeth Arlotti Parish, ACDI VOCA, Doris Bartel from CARE, Heather Danton from Save the Children and Grace Funnell from Mercy Corps

There is a growing realization that gender equality and empowerment of women and girls are key to attaining food and nutrition security. It is also increasingly clear that better understanding the roles of women, men, girls and boys in farming and marketing systems, in health systems, and in household and community decision-making can often serve to make food security and nutrition programs more cost efficient and impactful. During this session they discussed how to better integrate gender considerations into their programming. Attendees heard panelists from CARE, Save the Children, ACDI/VOCA and Mercy Corps recount their current and past experiences and strategies for operationalizing gender in food security programs. Afterwards, Sylvia Cabus of USAID's Bureau for Food Security gave an update on the agency's evolving gender strategies and policies. Participants then shared, in a highly animated and interactive exchange, their own personal and organizational challenges and successes. Finally, they mapped a way forward for the FSN Network, with support from the FFP-funded TOPS Program, to build the capacity of food security and nutrition practitioners in this critical area.