Developing gender-sensitive value chains - Guidelines for practitioners

What efforts need to be made to effectively mainstream gender in agrifood value chain projects and programmes? When can a value chain intervention be considered ‘gender-sensitive’? What actions can be implemented to address gender inequalities along the chain?

These guidelines aim to respond to these questions and support practitioners in translating the Gender-Sensitive Value Chain Framework, developed by the FAO into action. Building on FAO’s comparative advantage on gender in agriculture and food security, these guidelines are primarily intended to assist practitioners in designing and implementing interventions that provide women and men with equal opportunities to benefit from agrifood value chain development. They offer practical tools and examples of successful approaches to foster a more systematic integration of gender equality dimensions in value chain interventions in the agricultural sector and enhance the social impact of these interventions.

The guidelines are targeted to practitioners in a wide range of organizations and institutions, including national governments, international and NGOs, research institutes and the private sector, in particular:

• Value chain practitioners who want to ensure that their interventions are inclusive and socially sustainable, and seek support on how best to address gender issues in their work on agrifood value chains;
• Gender experts who are tasked with supporting the integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment objectives in agrifood value chain interventions