In April of this year the RUAF Foundation, in cooperation with CGIAR-Urban Harvest programme, the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada, started with the preparation of 2 publications on Gender and Urban Agriculture.

Although many researchers and practitioners are familiar nowadays with the conceptual gender framework, the question ‘how to go about’ ensuring proper attention to gender issues in all other phases of the (research- or action-) project cycle, is still often raised. Also one often asks how certain gender analysis and planning tools, which were developed in rural agriculture, have to be adapted for use in the urban agriculture. This project aims to contribute to answering this question, on the one hand by developing in-depth case studies on gender in urban agriculture projects, and on the other hand by testing tools and guidelines for the integration of gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture research and action projects.

In: Irrigated Urban Vegetable Production in Ghana - Characteristics, Benefits and Risks by Emmanuel Obuobie, Bernard Keraita, George Danso, Philip Amoah, Olufunke O. Cofie, Liqa Raschid-Sally and Pay

Alice J. Hovorka and Diana Lee-Smith

In: Cities Farming for the Future - Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive Cities

Urban agriculture has been embraced and promoted by the international development community as a means for urban dwellers to achieve sustainable livelihoods and socio-economic advancement. Many low-income households who farm in the cities gain a more consistent source of food and better nutrition. They can also earn or free up cash for non-food items. Advocacy for urban agriculture was initially focused on the policy agenda, but has moved recently into the realm of municipal development. Now that municipal authorities increasingly recognise this pivotal activity, it is easier for urban agriculture practitioners to integrate it into planning and decisionmaking mechanisms at the city level. This chapter seeks to make clear why this trajectory must be conceptualised along gender lines, since
gender dynamics are central to the form, function, organisation and structure of urban farming.

René van Veenhuizen

In: Cities Farming for the Future - Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive Cities

Attention to urban agriculture has increased markedly during the last couple of decades. The number of activities to promote urban agriculture at international, national and local level has grown, but urban farmers in many cities in the world still struggle to get their main survival strategy recognised by city authorities. The demand of policy makers and local practitioners for inspiring examples of successful policies and actions in cities is therefore growing. Urban agriculture contributes to a wide variety of urban issues and is increasingly being accepted and used as a tool in sustainable city development. Currently the challenge is its integration into city planning and facilitation of its multiple benefits for urban inhabitants. This book seeks to present the current state of affairs regarding urban agriculture and sustainable urban development.

De Zeeuw, H. & J. Wilbers (2004) unpublished

This second discussion paper was developed to further strengthen the RUAF strategies regarding mainstreaming gender in urban agriculture as well as to begin the development of guidelines regarding the integration of gender in research, policies and action planning on urban agriculture.

Gender aspects, introduced by: Alice Hovorka (Clark University, Worcester, United States)

In: Annotated Bibliography on Urban Agriculture

Community Development, introduced by: Henk de Zeeuw (ETC-RUAF, Leusden, the Netherlands)

In: Annotated Bibliography on Urban Agriculture

Gender and Urban Agriculture: Emerging Trends and Areas for Future Research

Alice J. Hovorka (Assistant Professor - Department of Geography - University of Guelph, Canada)

This paper was published in the Annotated Bibliography on Urban Agriculture, that was produced by ETC-RUAF and published by CTA, Wageningen, the Netherlands in 2001. At that time the author was still with the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester MA, USA