How can we empower women farmers to address climate change?
Climate change poses significant threats to the food security and livelihoods of women farmers writes Sandra Phelps, Gender Manager at CABI ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday 8 March 2025. There are an estimated 215 million women smallholders globally. They account for nearly one-third of food production worldwide. Despite this critical role, women are…
Meet CABI’s fall armyworm researcher Dora Shimbwambwa one of Bill Gates’s ‘Heroes in the Field’
Meet CABI researcher Dora Shimbwambwa who has been recognised as one of Bill Gates’s ‘Heroes in the Field’ for her efforts as part of a project focused on the village-based biological control of the potentially devastating fall armyworm pest in Zambia.
Celebrating Rural Women’s Day: Stories of empowerment, entrepreneurship and resilience from the fields
This week, we celebrated Rural Women’s Day (15 October) – an important opportunity to mark women’s valuable contribution to agriculture. The UN states that women make up, on average, over 40% of the agricultural labour force. In some countries in Africa and Asia, this figure is much higher. In Ghana, for example, women produce 70%…
Overcoming social norms to boost women farmers’ access to agricultural advisory services
On International Women’s Day, we must celebrate women’s progress in agriculture. Women are embracing agricultural services and training. They are empowering themselves and becoming skilled farmers in their own right, writes Sandra Phelps, Gender Manager, CABI.
The climate crisis disproportionately affects women and girls. We need to act on climate change and gender!
The climate crisis does not affect everyone equally. Women and girls are more likely to experience the greatest impacts of climate change. According to the UN Environment Programme, for example, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women. And in an article from 2022, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of…
“Positive youth engagement programmes empower young people to reach their full potential”
As CABI’s first Youth Engagement Manager, Deogratious Magero is leading the conceptualization and implementation of CABI’s youth engagement strategy across Africa.
Transforming agriculture with drones: empowering youths for a sustainable future
On this UN World Youth Skills Day 2023 (Saturday, 15 July), we celebrate the transformative power of skill development in shaping the lives of young individuals and creating a brighter future, writes Violet Ochieng’ – winner of the Carol Ellison Science Award 2021 and Research Officer-Drone Technology at CABI being supervised by CABI’s Dr Ivan…
Reaping the rich harvest of the kitchen garden despite devastating floods in Pakistan
Long-lasting and heavy monsoon rains since June 2022 have claimed thousands of lives in large parts of Pakistan particularly Sindh. Millions of people have had to leave their homes and are now homeless or living in emergency shelters.
Women’s empowerment through skills development – small revolutions bring big changes
CABI strongly upholds the importance of women’s empowerment for community development and to help the sustainable progress of the country where they live and Pakistan is no exception.
Women are not just farmers’ wives: overcoming stereotypes of women in agriculture
For International Women’s Day, CABI’s Gender Coordinator, Bethel Terefe, looks at why women are often not considered farmers in their own right, despite the significant contribution they make to agriculture. I was recently listening to a farmer focus group in Ghana. It became clear that few attendees saw the women as farmers, not even the…