Aunty Geyong, a nurse-turned-oil palm farmer, in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photo credit: Law Chu Chien
Solidaridad Asia’s fifth edition of the Affirmative Gender Actions and Inclusivity Annual Report is now out. This edition captures the outcomes and impact of the ‘Feminisation of the Supply Chain’, a concept introduced by Solidaridad in Asia in 2022.
The findings from 2023 highlight the incredible promise and potential of this concept to affect agricultural and industrial supply chains. Across Asia, we had a positive impact on the lives of 250,000 women in 2023 — supporting them through integration into formal supply chains, promoting livelihood diversification, sharing knowledge on good agricultural practices for increased incomes, ensuring market linkages, and helping them transition towards entrepreneurship.
- Commodities covered: Dairy, Fruits and Vegetables, Textile, Castor, Soy, Tea, Leather and Palm Oil
- Total number of women reached: 250,000
- Total number of entrepreneurs supported: 500
- Total number of women mobilized into farmers’ groups: 8,412
- Women connected with formal supply chain: 30,000
- Women with improved working conditions: 30,000
These achievements have revolved around three broad themes:
- Prosperity (Economic): Indicators include Collectivization, Inclusion in Formal Supply Chains, and Entrepreneurship Development.
- Inclusivity (Social Prosperity): Indicators include Household Interventions, Access to Information, Nudging Social Norms, Develop and Promote Women’s Leadership, Inclusive Market Connections, and Inclusive Service Delivery Systems.
- Production in Balance with Nature: Indicators include Certification, and Good Agricultural Practices.
On the one hand, the case studies cited in this report represent individual success stories of inspirational women who overcame numerous personal difficulties and societal barriers to achieve significant milestones. On the other hand, they also depict societies and communities on the cusp of transformative, sustainable change—a change that is paving the way forward for the emergence and widespread acceptance of gender-inclusive and gender-equitable norms in agriculture and allied sectors.