CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.4
English
Page 4
10. In 1994, the Division on Women and People’s Participation in Development
produced a guide for member States to reorient curricula entitled Rural
households and sustainability: Integrating environment and gender concerns into
home economics curricula, and in 1995 released new versions of two major
publications - the Extension reference manual and the Extension training guide,
drawing on experiences of the Division in a five-nation (Kenya, Malawi, Sierra
Leone, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe) project to improve
extension work with women. A FAO manual on Improving Agricultural Extension
Work with Rural Women is being adapted by the Subregional Office for
Southern/East Africa with the University of Ghana (Faculty of Agriculture and
the Department of Home Science) to specific training needs in Ghana. Assistance
is being provided by the Division to projects designed to reach rural women in
remote areas including the ongoing project in Mali funded by the Belgian
Government, "Assistance aux groupements des femmes de la zone encadrée de Kayes
Nord" to increase and diversify food production and to increase nutritional
status, introduce income-generating activities, to improve access to water and
consequently to extend the period of cultivation and, finally, to assist farmers
in establishing local markets.
11. FAO began to elaborate a series of case-studies in Africa and Asia on
female enrolment trends in agricultural colleges and universities in developing
countries. This complements the preparation of directories of such institutions
that present the numbers of male and female students and faculty members. The
directories for Africa and Central and Eastern Europe were printed in 1995.
During the biennium, the Division held eight regional round tables on
agricultural education, highlighting the need to increase female enrolment in
agricultural programmes. Summary reports of each were published in all official
languages of the United Nations in 1994.
12. The Agricultural Services Division revised its training manual on Farming
systems research and extension to make it more gender-responsive. In 1994, FAO
published a case-study entitled "Extension ’woman to woman’ - Training peasant
women liaisons to reach peasant women". It summarizes lessons learned from FAO
field projects in Honduras between 1986 and 1992 in providing training and
extension services for and through rural women and extension staff. Based on
experiences gained in various African countries, the Agricultural Services
Division and the Division on Women and People’s Participation in Development
also published "Managing income-generating rural activities: Village group
training" for use by trainers and extensionists.
2.
Sustainable development, natural resource management
and environment
13. A large number of FAO activities aim at enhancing women’s roles in
sustainable development. A more specific body of efforts centres on researching
and raising awareness about the links among environment, poverty, population and
rural women.
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