Book Description
The Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) programme – a global partnership between FAO, the UN Development Programme, the UNEnvironment Programme, Conservation International, the World Bank and the World Wide Fund for Nature – has developed three legacy Global Knowledge Products to consolidate experience and lessons learned and to make its successful approaches and tangible impacts sustainable beyond the end of its five-year cycle. This e-book is the second of the series and is aimed at national and international policymakers, practitioners and development agencies. A key element of the CFI is the promotion of gender equity and equality in small-scale fisheries (SSF) given that these value chains employ 45 million women globally. However, their arduous work is often informal, underpaid and overlooked in policymaking. Addressing inequalities in women’s influence over coastal fisheries governance is essential. They have a fundamental right to take part in decisions about sustainability, conservation and the management of resources that directly affect their lives. Women also have a critical contribution to make to improve fisheries practices because their decisions and choices can affect how fishing is carried out, what and how much fish is caught, and how that fish is converted into food or income. This e-book describes successful CFI activities and approaches to empowering women in SSF to become leaders and entrepreneurs and to better their lives and livelihoods and those of their communities, while also promoting an enabling environment for gender equity and equality in SSF through participatory legal and policy reform.
