Social Watch News

Most farms in developing and least developed countries are small, generally plots of less than two hectares of land. Smallholder farmers manage over 80% of the world’s estimated 500 million small farms and provide over 80% of the food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, contributing significantly to poverty reduction and food security. As much as 75% of global seed diversity in staple food crops is held and actively used by smallholder farms. However, despite their vital role in the global agricultural community, the participation and priorities of smallholder farmers – most of whom are women – are often neglected. Effective mechanisms giving smallholder farmers a voice in policymaking are imperative to address their needs and interests, to promote the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and more broadly, to ensure food security.

On February 14, 2018, UN Women released its SDG Monitoring Report, Turning Promises Into Action, which assesses what is needed to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular in regards to gender equality.

In line with the report’s focus, the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) addresses the challenges rural women and girls face in achieving gender equality and empowerment. Despite a number of advances globally, progress for women and girls remains slow, and even where it has been made it is often highly uneven. While issues such as stagnant economic growth, rapid environmental degradation, unsustainable land use practices, and the dynamics of migration and urbanization impact women in both the global North and South, they affect rural women in particular.

"Civil society organizations are natural allies of the United Nations, but the partnership modality is not the primary way for civil society to engage with the UN" argued Barbara Adams at a panel discussion on "Strengthening partnerships and stakeholder engagement" that took place in the framework of the ECOSOC Operational Activities for Development on 27 February 2018. From a CSO perspective, she added, the primary way of leveraging resources for the Sustainable Development Goals is fair and progressive taxation.

Morocco is planning to build Africa's tallest building and a bullet train between its main cities, but local Social Watch groups argue that the people need instead basic infrastructure for clean water, health services and education.