Co-Creating a Gender and Social Inclusion Learning Agenda for Food, Land, and Water Systems in Middle East and North Africa Region

Abstract

This report synthesizes the outcomes of the Regional Workshop on Co-Creating a Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) Learning Agenda for Food, Land, and Water Systems (FLWS) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, convened under the CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator. The workshop brought together researchers, policymakers, civil society actors, and development partners to assess existing evidence, identify persistent gaps, and co-design a regional learning agenda to inform gender-responsive research, policy, and practice. Discussions were framed by the MENA region’s intersecting challenges of climate change, water scarcity, land degradation, conflict, displacement, and widening inequality. Participants discussed a defining contradiction shaping gender outcomes in the region, specifically the MENA paradox, whereby women’s relatively strong achievements in education and health have not translated into commensurate economic participation, leadership, or decision-making power. Female labour force participation remains among the lowest globally, particularly within agriculture and rural livelihoods, despite women’s substantial and growing contributions.