7:30 - 8:20 p.m. Rome time

This Food Systems Pre-summit parallel session discussed a selection of cross-cutting findings and recommendations emerging from recent evaluations that were of relevance to advancing gender equality in the context of rural development and food security interventions. Dr Indran A. Naidoo, Director, IOE, opened the session.

Evaluative evidence plays a critical role in achieving Zero Hunger and the SDGs. Independent evaluations present credible evidence on what works, what does not and why. The findings and lessons learned from evaluations cut across multiple SDGs; they are crucial for decision-making, and critical to informing the final outcome of the Food Systems Summit.

The presented evidence and discussions underscored the importance of addressing the root causes of gender inequality and women’s powerlessness, in particular, their exclusion from access to resources and their limited social capital in food systems. In this context, discussions also highlighted the need for greater policy engagement on gender equality – a critical element to support transformative change in food systems.

Against this backdrop, by drawing on the latest evaluative evidence, the session made the case for development interventions aiming to break traditional gender roles and stereotypes, alongside strategies for social mobilization and leadership on those issues at the policy level.

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Speakers:

Andrea Cook, Director of Evaluation, WFP

Masahiro Igarashi, Director of Evaluation, FAO

Indran Naidoo, Director of the Independent Office of Evaluation, IFAD

Allison Grove Smith, Director of CGIAR Advisory Services Shared Secretariat (CAS Secretariat)