Project 442941

Haiti is one of the most food insecure countries in the world: 80% of rural dwellers are food insecure; and although women play a central role in agriculture, they disproportionately suffer from food insecurity, and health vulnerability. The good news is that Haiti's food landscape is changing. In 2019, the Haitian government set a food security agenda that includes food sovereignty, a vision that prioritizes democratic control over food, healthy populations alongside healthy ecosystems, and gender inclusive food systems. With this new wave of agro-food planning in Haiti, we want to be sure that food security is gender-inclusive. Our research is guided by two questions: How can we integrate context-specific community knowledges with gender inequity and food security assessment tools to identify contextually, and gender-specific food and health needs? How can we utilize a new gender-inclusive food security and health assessment tools to mobilize gender-inclusive programming in food security and health? Our researchers have extensive experience in food security, and community health, in Haiti, and the Université d'État d'Haiti, Limonade (UEH-L) offers a local partner already supporting agrarian development and food security. In June 2019, a team of Canadian researchers met with over 25 Haitian community-based organizations to identify prospects of gender-inclusive food security, and health planning in Haiti. That group articulated a need for a gendered Integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) approach to understand how food security and health challenges in Haiti are gendered. In response, this project will develop and pilot a gender-inclusive food security and health (GFSH) assessment tool.