Side event at the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 10 March 2010
The vibrant discussion on women producers’ central role in maintaining household and communities and their coping strategies during times of severe food insecurity, was organized by FAO, the Huairou Commission and Women Organising for Change in Agriculture adn Natural Resources Management (WOCAN) on 10 March 2010. The event was co-chaired by H.E. Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania and Ms Marcella Villarreal, Director FAO Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division. Introductory remarks were made by Ms Lila Ratsifandrihamanana, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization Liaison Office, New York. The panelists were grassroots women from Africa, Asia and Latin America: Ms. Ruth Serech (Coordinacion de Desarrollo Integral de Mujeres Mayas (CODIMM), Guatemala); Ms. Sri Sofjan (Huairou Commission, Malaysia); Ms. Violet Shivutse (GROOTS, Kenya).
Sri Sofjan is a development specialist and she has worked on human settlement issues for the last 15 years in the Asia Pacific region. She has also served on the Executive Board and Coordinating Council of the Huiarou Commission from 2003 to 2007. Ruth Serech is a Mayan woman leader from San Juan Comalapa Chimaltenango Department in Guatemala. She is the Executive Director of the Coordinacion de Desarollo Integral de Mujeres Mayas (CODIMM). She has worked and led for over 15 years with grassroots groups on issues of health, education and productive projects on food security. She also led the consultations of the FAO/WOCAN/Huairou Commission research in Guatemala. Violet Shivutse is a grassroots woman leader from the Western region of Kenya. She is in charge of organizing her fellow grassroots women in development issues such as food security, HIV/AIDS and women rights. She is a member of GROOTS Kenya, a national movement of grassroots with over 2,000 groups of women. She led her community in Kakamega to conduct the survey on food security in collaboration with the Huairou Commission and WOCAN.
The link for the webcast of the press conference that took place after the side event is http://www.un.org/webcast/2010 (choose the March 10 webcast titled: "Press Conference: Marcela Villarreal, Director, FAO Gender, Equity and Rural Employment.")