Global Human Rights Centre

Register for the Webinar in Collaboration with (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ): The International Year of the Woman Farmer Event

THEME: Making the Invisible Visible – Economic Empowerment for Rural Women in Agrifood Systems

The Chisomejé Rural Women Rising Project (CRWRP), is pleased to host a United Nations FAO webinar in recognition of the International Year of the Woman Farmer.

As the world marks this important year, the conversation turns to the critical yet often overlooked role of rural women in agrifood systems. From production to processing and trade, women are at the heart of food systems, yet their labour remains undervalued, underpaid, and frequently invisible.

This webinar will bring together research, field insights, and community voices to examine the structural barriers limiting rural women’s economic participation and leadership, while exploring practical solutions to advance gender equality and resilience in agrifood systems.

What to Expect:
Insights on the role of rural women in food systems and sustainable development
Conversations with women in the agrifood systems
Community-driven perspectives from women in local markets
Discussions on economic empowerment and financial inclusion
Exploration of climate resilience and sustainable agrifood practices
Actionable solutions for inclusive and equitable food systems

Webinar Details:
Date: 30 May 2026
Time: 17:00 UK Time
Format: Virtual - Open to all
Engage + Certificate of Participation

Register:https://www.fao.org/woman-farmer-2026/events-and-outreach-activities/detail/making-the-invisible-visible-economic-empowerment-for-rural-women-in-agrifood-systemsb82fcee5-e3aa-43ba-9386-ee9bf494c259/en

GenderEquality SustainableDevelopment HumanRights GHRC iywf2026 iywf ruralwomen woman

Happy International Mother Earth Day🌏🌱

On this International Mother Earth Day, we celebrate the quiet strength and resilience of women farmers around the world.

They are the backbone of rural communities—growing food, protecting biodiversity, and sustaining families in the face of climate challenges. When women farmers are supported with equal access to resources, entire communities thrive.

Caring for the Earth and empowering women go hand in hand.

Strong women. Strong farms. Strong planet.

The Corporate Sustainability and Environmental Rights in Asia Conference (CSERA), held in Kuala Lumpur under the theme “De-Risking Industry through Rights-Based Resilience,” convened businesses, investors, regulators, civil society, and participants from the Global Human Rights Centre (GHRC) to explore the intersection of corporate activity, environmental sustainability, and human rights across Asia.

Discussions highlighted the accelerating shift from voluntary ESG frameworks toward mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD), emphasising the role of rights-based approaches in strengthening corporate resilience, accountability, and long-term sustainability.

Key themes included:

* Evolving regulatory expectations across Asia
* The limitations of ESG disclosures
* Embedding due diligence into core business operations

Participants engaged in practical sessions on net-zero transitions, biodiversity protection, and responsible supply chains, alongside interactive action labs and the NextGenBHR Hackathon, showcasing youth-driven innovation in responsible business practices.

A central takeaway was the importance of integrating community voices and environmental justice into corporate decision-making, particularly in addressing plastic pollution, agribusiness sustainability, and the environmental impacts of emerging technologies.



EnvironmentalJustice ResponsibleBusiness Asia NetZero SupplyChains Biodiversity CorporateAccountability

GENEVA | The UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent

The UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent is a vital platform driving global action for justice, equity, and inclusion.

From advancing racial justice to shaping policy, promoting reparatory justice, and ensuring no one is left behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, its impact is both urgent and transformative.

At its core, this work is about recognition, accountability, and real change for people of African descent worldwide.

Swipe to explore key impacts.

WE SALUTE the Invisible Women Who Feed the World 🌍

Across rural farms, informal markets, and climate-affected regions, women cultivate, process, trade, and sustain our food systems under conditions that are often unequal and unforgiving. Yet, these incredible women continue to lead with courage, innovation, unwavering care and resilience.

Today, we honour:

🌾 The smallholder farmers feeding nations against all odds

🧺 The market women sustaining local economies and ensuring food access

🌍 The climate frontline defenders adapting daily to environmental shocks

👩🏾‍🌾 The invisible labour force whose contributions remain too often unrecognised

Their resilience feeds the world. Their strength sustains communities. Their voices must be heard.

Watch out for Phase II.

International Women’s Day Statement - Chisomejé Rural Women Rising Project (CRWRP)

This International Women’s Day, we honour the rural women who feed the world yet remain unseen in the global economy.

Across farms, markets, and food supply chains, millions of rural women sustain communities and national economies. Yet their labour is often uncounted, unpaid, and undervalued. Climate change, poverty, and structural inequality continue to deepen the economic exclusion of the very women who keep the world fed.

Through our Invisible Women Who Feed the World Campaign, the Chisomejé Rural Women Rising Project is shining a light on these women and demanding change. Food security cannot be achieved while the women who produce, process, and trade food remain economically invisible.

This International Women’s Day, we call for urgent action to recognise, value, and economically empower rural women in agrifood systems. Our work focuses on three priorities: advancing recognition and economic justice for rural women, providing financial support to strengthen their businesses and livelihoods, and delivering training in sustainable practices alongside access to solar powered technologies that support climate-resilient food production.

The women who feed the world must no longer be invisible.

NEW PUBLICATION 🔔

Read the peer reviewed publication in the Journal of Sustainability by Dr Cynthia C. Umezulike.

Umezulike, C. C. (2026). Gendered Food Insecurity: Achieving SDG 2 for Climate-Affected Women in Rural Economies. Journal of Sustainability, Vol. 2, No. 1.

Abstract
This article examines systemic and structural governance barriers to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) for rural women in climate-affected regions of the Global South, using Ghana and Bangladesh as focal countries. While the centrality of women’s roles in food systems is acknowledged in literature, intersecting gender inequalities, climate vulnerability, and institutional blind spots continue to marginalise rural women within food security and adaptation policies.

The study employs an integrative literature review and interpretive qualitative content analysis, grounded in an intersectional and rights-based analytical framework, to synthesise how gender, land tenure, climate exposure, economic informality, and policy recognition are addressed within SDG 2 related scholarship and policy documents. The focal countries provide illustrative reference contexts that help the analysis identify recurring patterns and omissions that constrain gender responsive food systems governance.

The review indicates that the absence of appropriate policy frameworks is not the major impediment to achieving SDG 2 goals. Rather, fragmented institutional framing including gender blind adaptation strategies, insecure land governance, undervaluation of informal labour, and weak participatory accountability are the greater impediments to success.

The study concludes by outlining governance oriented policy implications for aligning SDG 2 implementation with gender equity and climate resilience.

Link: https://journalofsustainability.net/ojs/JoS/article/view/57/64

🔔 NEW PUBLICATION ALERT

Read the peer reviewed publication in the Journal of Sustainability by Dr Cynthia C. Umezulike.

Umezulike, C. C. (2026). Gendered Food Insecurity: Achieving SDG 2 for Climate-Affected Women in Rural Economies. Journal of Sustainability, Vol. 2, No. 1.

Abstract

This article examines systemic and structural governance barriers to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) for rural women in climate-affected regions of the Global South, using Ghana and Bangladesh as focal countries. While the centrality of women’s roles in food systems is acknowledged in literature, intersecting gender inequalities, climate vulnerability, and institutional blind spots continue to marginalise rural women within food security and adaptation policies.

The study employs an integrative literature review and interpretive qualitative content analysis, grounded in an intersectional and rights-based analytical framework, to synthesise how gender, land tenure, climate exposure, economic informality, and policy recognition are addressed within SDG 2 related scholarship and policy documents. The focal countries provide illustrative reference contexts that help the analysis identify recurring patterns and omissions that constrain gender responsive food systems governance.

The review indicates that the absence of appropriate policy frameworks is not the major impediment to achieving SDG 2 goals. Rather, fragmented institutional framing including gender blind adaptation strategies, insecure land governance, undervaluation of informal labour, and weak participatory accountability are the greater impediments to success.

The study concludes by outlining governance oriented policy implications for aligning SDG 2 implementation with gender equity and climate resilience.