Human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Tawakkol Karman headed for the Italian capital Rome to participate in a high-level conference on the rural women’s rights.

The High-level Event held on 16 December at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, under title “Step It Up Together with Rural Women to End Hunger and Poverty” will shed light on the essential role of rural women and their contribution to enhancing the food security and eradicating poverty through agricultural and rural development.  

The conference will provide an interactive platform to discuss the structural causes and consequences of gender inequality in rural areas and to identify the main challenges, gaps, opportunities and cooperative measures in order to unleash the latent powers of rural women and girls to eradicate hunger and poverty.

Additionally, the conference focuses on what should be done differently and seeks to strengthen partnerships among members, United Nations bodies, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders. All of these are essential elements for achieving gender equality in the context of sustainable development agenda for 2030.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Slovak Presidency of the Council of EU and the European Commission, in close cooperation with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Food Programme and UN women, jointly organized the conference.