EnGenDER project to bring equality into GSA’s climate-smart agri programme

Students of the Guyana School of Agriculture are set to benefit from a new course which would fuse gender inclusion with climate smart agriculture.
Through collaboration with the UNDP and IICA, The UNDP’s project, Enabling Gender Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (EnGenDER), will be rolled out in partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
IICA Country Representative Wilmot Garnett shared that the course would feature climate smart agriculture and current pursuits such as the shade house, aquaponics and hydroponics projects. The course will run for about five to six weeks, and students will complete same online.
United Nations Resident Coordinator Yeşim Oruç highlighted trends which show that women are far less able to adapt or recover from climate change-induced disasters. This initiative is one step towards putting women and young people at the centre of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies.
“This project aims to integrate gender equality and human rights-based approaches in climate change adaptation environmental management frameworks of Guyana. The idea is to help countries not only respond to disaster and disaster impacts of climate change, but to recover from the many hazards in a way that leaves no one behind,” the UN Resident Coordinator has said.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), Gavin Ramnarain, recognized the need for agricultural techniques which respond to present day challenges. At the same time, there has been a growing interest of females in the field.
“We’ve noticed over the years that the female population at GSA keeps increasing. More women are interested in agriculture. We have a dorm with 184 students, and they cover all regions of Guyana. GSA encompasses a complete transect of everyone,” he said.
British High Commissioner Jane Miller also zeroed in on the need for climate adaptation to take precedence on the heels of climate change and global warming.
The diplomat directed, “With climate change, we have to adapt. We have to find new ways of doing agriculture…We have to rethink the way we do things. I am delighted that this project is partnering with [GSA] to really think through some adaptation, to experiment and trial out new ways.”
EnGenDER seeks to further integrate gender equality and human rights-based approaches into disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change (CC) adaptation, and environmental management frameworks and interventions, and identify and address some of the gaps to ensure equal access to DRR and climate change and environment.
To execute this project, several computers have been donated to both campuses of the GSA.