The United States Increases Commitment to Resilience and Opportunities for Women in Food Systems

The United States, through USAID, announced today an additional $114 million commitment to tackle urgent challenges women face in agrifood and water systems, including climate change - bringing the total dedicated in Fiscal Year 2023 to $449 million for Generating Resilience and Opportunities for Women(link is external) (GROW). The announcement - made at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natons (FAO) Commit to Grow Equality Action Event during high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly - reconfirms USAID's dedication to ending discriminatory social norms and laws across agrifood and water systems.

Today's announcement reinforces USAID's role at the forefront of advancing gender equality and women's empowerment in the agricultural sector, which lifts whole economies. Women's contributions are critical to building inclusive, resilient food systems and achieving global food security goals. The FAO estimates that if just half of small-scale producers benefited from development interventions that empower women, it would significantly raise incomes for 58 million people and increase the resilience of an additional 235 million people. In addition, closing the gender gap in farm productivity and the wage gap in agrifood-system employment would increase global gross domestic product by nearly $1 trillion and reduce the number of food insecure people by 45 million.

In April 2023, USAID launched GROW to advance gender priorities in USAID's agrifood and water systems and climate adaptation programs - a significant portion of which is provided through Feed the Future(link is external), the U.S. government's global hunger and poverty initiative. As global levels of conflict and instability rise, gender-based violence, child marriage, hunger, and poverty can prevent women and girls from fully engaging in and benefitting from agrifood systems. Through GROW, USAID is supporting women to have access to tools and resources to build resilience and thrive amidst these challenges, benefiting their families, communities, and societies through improved food security, resilience, and economic growth.