Gender-responsive Sustainable Land Management

Direct and indirect gender-related barriers prevent women from adopting SLM practices. These barriers include land tenure insecurity; land availability; education or literacy levels; access to seeds, fertilizers, or extension services; and access to technologies and financing. As a result, women adopt SLM technologies at a rate that is typically lower and slower than that of men.

In line with the UNCCD Gender Action Plan (GAP) and guided by the idea to build back better, the aim of this UNCCD-WOCAT project is to:

• add a gender lens to SLM Technologies and Approaches and assess their gender-responsiveness; and
  
• evaluate how gender-responsiveness of SLM Technologies and Approaches can be improved, stepping up adoption and dissemination, making SLM beneficial for women and men alike.
  

This will support project planners, designers and implementers to identify, realize and scale gender-responsive SLM Technologies and Approaches within the framework of LD/SLM and LDN projects and programmes as well as promote the implementation of gender-responsive SLM practices in the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

WOCAT and UNCCD designed a tool to assess the gender-responsiveness of SLM Technologies and Approaches and to identify areas of improvement. This tool supports project planners, designers, and implementers in their effort to scale up SLM Technologies and Approaches for women and men equally.

The gender-responsive SLM tool was reviewed during a UNCCD-WOCAT consultation  workshop with experts from different organizations and regions, resulting in the fine-tuning of the tool. Currently, the tool is being tested with WOCAT network partners in more than 10 countries around the globe, supporting it further refinement and facilitating a first round of data collection.

The data from testing the tool showed clearly, that equal access to SLM Technologies and Approaches is both context- and technology-specific. Therefore, we have developed five technology groups specific profiles to show the need for action.

According to Decision 24/COP.15 the Parties encourage the UNCCD secretariat to continue collaboration with WOCAT to enhance the implementation of the Gender Action Plan and its road map, including to generate gender-disaggregated data, to inform gender-responsive policy design for achieving land degradation neutrality.

In Phase 2 of the project the new gender-responsive SLM tool is added to the WOCAT Database.

This will allow:

• An online assessment of the gender-responsiveness of SLM practices;
• the search for gender-responsive SLM solutions;
• the collection of gender-disaggregated data through a harmonized system;
• the possibility to analyse and share gender-disaggregated data to support informed decision-making for gender equality in land management, particularly in relation to drought resilience;
• a platform to discuss gender and land management related issues within communities.

Interested partners and institutions, including UNCCD Parties and CSOs, will be trained in its application to gain country-specific gender-disaggregated data on SLM practices. Results will support the design and implementation of gender-responsive SLM projects and programmes and inform decision-makers. During UNCCD COP16, partners will present results and country insights.