WGD Discussion Series

The local meanings of empowerment and lessons for gender-inclusive agri-food systems’ programming in Uganda

Brenda Boonabaana is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin.

Bio: Boonabaana holds a PhD from the University of Otago in New Zealand.  Brenda’s research focuses on sustainable development and gender, specifically in the areas of agriculture, tourism, and women empowerment in Africa. She is a feminist geography scholar who pays attention to the importance of intersectionality, participatory qualitative methods, and gender justice. Sustainable food systems and environmental justice are core to Brenda’s work. She has published widely on gender, women empowerment, and development in Africa, as well as providing expertise to national (Uganda) and international agencies such as the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Cornell University.

Abstract: Several agricultural interventions that aim to empower women smallholder farmers in Africa are often top-down and disconnected from the local experiences and expectations of empowerment. This makes it difficult for well-intentioned programs to achieve the desired empowerment outcomes for women. Paying attention to the local understanding of empowerment provides utility for understanding the different local meanings but also the underlying social drivers attached to those meanings. It also creates opportunities for community co-creation of more locally acceptable and sustainable empowerment solutions. My presentation focuses on the meanings of empowerment for rural women and men farmers in Uganda, key areas of rural women’s disempowerment, and implications for their meaningful participation in, and benefits from, agricultural opportunities.

Beyond the critiques and ambitions of equity mainstreaming in restoration practice: Lessons from the Global Restoration Initiative

Kalpana Giri is a Senior Manager in the World Resources Institute.

Bio: Kalpana Giri works to expand WRI's ambitions on social equity by research and equity-integrated programming.

Kalpana is a trained forester and has demonstrated experience in mainstreaming gender and social equity considerations in technical sectors programming with a focus on forestry, clean energy, REDD+, climate adaptation, FLEGT, and restoration topics. Prior to joining WRI, she worked with RECOFTC where she managed the direction and portfolio of equity integration. She designed and implemented a regional WAVES leadership program in partnership with sectoral ministries, private sector, women, and indigenous groups to promote transformative solutions for the environment and people across forestry and climate change policies and plans. She is a thought leader on topics of gender and social equity in forestry and climate change sector, and advises several international organizations such as IUFRO to strengthen their gender strategies and portfolio.

Kalpana holds a PhD in Forest Science from University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. Her direct experience of working with diverse stakeholders, including marginalized actors have made herself more aware of the acute need and usefulness of plural knowledge systems held by marginalized actors in addressing major environmental issues.

Abstract: While the knowledge and the tension of integrating human dimensions is not new in natural resource management, the context in which land and natural resources decisions are now taken has become more nuanced and layered within the current context of globalization, migration, demographics, poverty, and lifestyle choices. Climate change demands a renewed urgency, and restoration movement shows a promise to deliver solutions across levels and scale. Yet, where do gender & social equity fit within these layers of urgency and solutions of restoration movement & climate change solutions. On one hand, higher ambitions are pledged for equality, both in terms of finance, and just transitions. On the other hand, conventional, business-as-usual approaches to gender and social mainstreaming persist, despite long-standing criticism for their failure to engender just transitions. The question then becomes if it is possible to move beyond the cycle of ambition and critiques, and if so, how to operationalize that through restoration practice. Drawing on insights from the Global Restoration Initiative led by World Resources Institute, I will shed more light on ways in which gender and social equity approaches are implemented in restoration practice and discuss its implications for navigating the complex interplay of restoration, climate change, and social justice through development practice.