Gender in Agriculture Policy (GiAP).

The Sierra Leone Gender in Agriculture Policy (GiAP) is a guiding document with a strategic framework in order to support the integration of gender issues in agriculture through specific projects and programmes. It aligns with Sierra Leone commitment to prioritise agriculture as the engine of the socio-economic growth of the country, to demonstrate women’s empowerment through agriculture, to strengthen sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security. According to the vision of the Policy women and men in Sierra Leone have fair and equal opportunities in their participation to the improvement of agricultural production, and in supporting smallholders to exit subsistence farming. The mission of the Policy aims at: ensuring equitable opportunities for men and women through proper measures and interventions; improving the well-being of the rural communities; increasing sustainable and diversified production of food; ensuring food sufficiency and preservation of the environment.
The Policy provides for an overview of the gender issue in agriculture, focusing on: increasing economic growth through agricultural development and gender equality; improving women’s access to productive resources and to the control of resources; developing investment in agri-business; addressing gender inequalities in land tenure security and eliminating restrictions on women’s rights to land, including manage, access, transfer, lease and use; improving access to gender-responsive technologies, in order to overcome time and labour constraints and increase access to income; development of skills of both men and women farmers, employees, and entrepreneurs, in order to increase the quantity and quality of the agricultural products. The Policy defines three goals: increased opportunities for women’s and men’s participation in the agriculture sector, eliminating gender inequalities; increased benefits and incentives for women’s and men’s participation in the agriculture sector; making strategic choices to enhance women performance in agriculture, improve their well-being and increase their empowerment. The strategic framework and the related actions include: collection of data and development of gender-sensitive indicators to understand and overcome differences between youth and older adults; improvement of infrastructure, such as rural electrification, water for both domestic and agricultural services, in order to allow both men and women to become catalysts for agribusiness development; encouraging women’s and men’s attendances in trainings on crops and livestock, in order to improve the quality and quantity products and meet certification standards.