• From 10 to 12 June 2025, CIHEAM Zaragoza and UfM, in partnership with CIHEAM General Secretariat and AECID, organised an international symposium to promote women's empowerment through innovation and chart a path toward more inclusive and sustainable agro-food systems in the region.
• This scientific, technical and professional event brought together over one hundred participants from 15 countries (mainly from the Mediterranean region) and international organisations (FAO, OECD, European Commission, EESC, ICARDA, IWMI, GWP-Med), as well as actors from civil society, the business sector and the field of innovation.

The International Symposium on "Women's Empowerment through Innovation in Mediterranean Agro-food Systems" created a great opportunity for coordinated action and revealed both the critical importance of women in Mediterranean agro-food systems and the substantial potential for gender-transformative change when appropriate resources and policies are implemented. As the region approaches the International Year of the Woman Farmer in 2026, the symposium established a solid foundation for scaling transformative interventions across diverse Mediterranean contexts.

Multilateral organisations and women-led rural innovation

The first session of the symposium emphasised that women constitute 36% of global agro-food employment yet face significant structural inequalities that limit their contributions and empowerment. Despite progress in closing the mobile internet gap, women continue to encounter discriminatory social norms, limited access to technology, and unequal access to essential resources. In North Africa, only 7% of women are landowners, highlighting the severity of land access disparities that affect women's economic participation in agricultural value chains.

Multilateral organisations including FAO, OECD, the European Commission, and EESC have demonstrated effective approaches through targeted interventions across Mediterranean countries. Notable successes include FAO's Greater Empowerment of Rural Women Project in Türkiye, which supported the Samandag Women's Cooperative through equipment and skills training, and the GREAT Project in Albania, which established agribusiness incubators. The EU's commitment through its Global Gateway strategy aims to mobilise €300 billion with gender mainstreaming in 85% of actions, while legislative reforms in countries such as Tunisia and Morocco have begun addressing structural barriers to women's land and financial access.

Looking toward the International Year of the Woman Farmer in 2026, the session highlighted the need for gender-transformative approaches that challenge existing social norms while respecting local contexts and cultures. Key priorities include investing in care infrastructure, digital tools, and local value chains to retain women in rural areas and counter depopulation.

Challenges and transformative approaches

Women across the Mediterranean region are emerging as powerful environmental leaders despite facing significant challenges including discriminatory policies, cultural barriers, and difficulties accessing resources and technology. While rural women demonstrate remarkable resilience and leadership potential, continued investment in training, tools, and resources remains essential for sustainable progress.

Several innovative models and best practices were shared during the symposium showing effective approaches to women's empowerment and social inclusion. In Lebanon, the Gender Up training programme and the Pro-Women Index, provided structured approaches to gender equality advancement. ICARDA's comprehensive initiatives, emphasised inclusive innovation through mobile technology distribution and strategic youth engagement programmes. The important role of cooperatives and clusters in empowering less educated women in Tunisia was also stressed, creating supportive networks for economic participation. Additionally, the Theatre of the Oppressed emerged as a powerful methodology for challenging social norms and fostering meaningful dialogue around women's rights and empowerment.

The evidence clearly demonstrates that while targeted interventions can generate transformative change, sustained impact requires continued youth engagement and substantial investment in institutional capacity development.

Rethinking education and economic empowerment

The symposium discussion emphasised that effective empowerment requires moving beyond traditional educational models towards more participatory, experiential approaches that build both technical competencies and personal confidence. The complexity of barriers facing women necessitates multi-faceted interventions that address both technical skills development and underlying structural constraints.

The exemplary models presented offered concrete evidence that innovative approaches combining technical training with mentoring, community engagement, and sustained support systems can achieve significant impact. The Association of Upper Egypt for Education and Development's projects, funded by AECID, exemplify comprehensive support through their three-step approach encompassing product development training, inspirational visits, and continued technical support with coaching and feedback loops. The FOODTECH Agricultural Business Incubator in Tunisia further illustrates this integrated model by providing rural women innovators with comprehensive services. Additional evidence comes from regional initiatives such as the Initiative on Empowering Women in Water Diplomacy in the MENA Region and the Initiative on Gendering the WEFE Nexus, which highlight the importance of gender-transformative approaches in policy frameworks, while the Gender and Water Resources Management Community of Practice creates vital knowledge exchange platforms for practitioners. Even tourism-based initiatives such as Egypt's Holy Family Tour demonstrate how diverse sectors can provide economic empowerment opportunities for rural women through traditional handicraft production, food service, and local guiding roles, showcasing the broad applicability of integrated support approaches in a wide range of economic contexts.

Investment in education, financial literacy, and digital tools remains critical for overcoming challenges and empowering rural women to realise their full potential as leaders, innovators, and drivers of sustainable development across the Mediterranean region.

The case of Spain

Rural women worldwide face significant barriers that limit their access to resources, decision-making, and opportunities for growth. While they make up nearly half of the agricultural workforce in developing countries and play crucial roles in food security and rural economies, they often experience discrimination based on both gender and their rural location. Tackling these inequalities requires understanding rural women's real situations, supporting their organisations and collective voice, creating policies that promote their economic independence, including them in international discussions, and changing how society views rural women. When these elements work together, they create clear paths to empowerment, as shown by successful examples that provide both inspiration and practical models for change.

The example of Spain was showcased in the symposium as a source of inspiration and a potential roadmap for other countries, demonstrating the transformative impact of associationism and political engagement by rural women. The Spanish Association of Families and Women in Rural Areas (AFAMMER), active for over 40 years, exemplifies how sustained grassroots mobilisation can drive progress. At the institutional level, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture’s Shared Ownership of Farms Act (Law 35/2011) stands out as a milestone in promoting rural women's economic independence by facilitating access to productive resources.

These and other initiatives presented at the event reflect the pathway to empowerment identified by participants: enhanced associative action combined with strategic political involvement or local support to SMEs (CEPYME Zaragoza). This approach provides a proven framework for sustainable change, opening new spaces for rural women's participation and leadership. Spanish associations, such as FADEMUR or AFAMMER among others, are now working with other rural women’s organisations to build global momentum in addressing rural inequality.

The role of cooperatives and associations

Women's leadership in agricultural cooperatives and associations generates positive outcomes that extend beyond individual empowerment to encompass community resilience, environmental sustainability, and economic development. The models presented during the symposium included the case of the Arab Olive Oil Women’s Network (based in Jordan), the Association of Rural Women-AFUD (Algeria), Darmmess Social Enterprise (Lebanon) and the Association of Women in Agro-food cooperatives in Spain (AMCAE).

These examples showed women as agents of change in agriculture—whether through participation in value chains (Arab Olive Oil Women’s Network), training and skill-building (AFUD), overcoming gender norms in enterprise (Darmmess), or through leadership roles in cooperatives (AMCAE). The panellists emphasised mission-driven business and organisational models that prioritise transparency, traceability, environmental stewardship, cultural heritage and community reinvestment. These initiatives address both gender equity and economic resilience, demonstrating that empowering rural women leads to stronger communities.

Across all initiatives, providing access to networks and knowledge emerges as a fundamental challenge that must be addressed to ensure meaningful impact. Equally important is engaging men in the transformation process, as their involvement is essential for shifting mindsets and creating lasting behavioural change. Effective collaboration with national and regional governments at multiple levels forms another cornerstone of successful implementation. Access to both local and international markets presents opportunities for generating varying levels of revenue and economic gain for participants. Finally, the effectiveness of association work in rural contexts depends heavily on cooperatives' capacity to provide employment and build entrepreneurship frameworks that address the unique challenges rural communities face, which differ significantly from those encountered by start-ups and SMEs operating in urban environments.

Innovation in the Mediterranean food system through female entrepreneurship

The symposium ended with a workshop on social and technological innovation for women entrepreneurs in the agro-food value chain that showcased remarkable examples of how women across the Mediterranean are driving sustainable transformation in food systems. From the ground-breaking methane reduction techniques using modified clays that cut livestock emissions by up to 60%, the innovative whey-to-sourdough project that transforms cheese industry waste into high-quality bread ingredients, these initiatives demonstrate the power of practical, scalable solutions. Other inspiring examples included Lebanon's FoodSight platform revolutionising the agro-food industry, Morocco's Amal Association empowering over 400 women through culinary training, and Tunisia's Black Soldier Fly waste management model contributing to circular economy practices.

The session highlighted critical support mechanisms that enable women to thrive as food system innovators, including structured platforms and collaborative initiatives such as FoodSight and the EU GRASS CEILING project. Through its nine multi-actor Living Labs, the project, of which CIHEAM Zaragoza is a partner, supports women-led interactive innovation initiatives for socio-ecological transition, combining closed coaching sessions for women with inclusive, multi-actor engagement activities.

These programmes provide not only technical knowledge and market access but also create transformative social impact, particularly in rural and underserved communities. Despite these successes, significant barriers remain, including limited access to finance, digital literacy gaps, and policy fragmentation.

These programmes provide not only technical knowledge and market access but also create transformative social impact, particularly in rural and underserved communities. Despite these successes, significant barriers remain, including limited access to finance, digital literacy gaps, and policy fragmentation.

The path forward: from commitment to action

The symposium concluded that women's leadership in food systems is not just about equity—it represents a fundamental requirement for building resilient, sustainable food systems capable of meeting 21st-century challenges while preserving the rich cultural heritage that defines the Mediterranean region. Furthermore, the importance of engaging entire communities, including men, in gender equality efforts, underscoring that women's empowerment is not solely a women's issue but a societal transformation requiring broad-based support and commitment.

The challenge now lies in scaling up successful interventions while maintaining sensitivity to local contexts and ensuring that gender-transformative approaches challenge existing norms rather than simply accommodate them. This requires sustained commitment from multilateral organisations, national governments, and civil society actors, working together to create a more equitable and sustainable Mediterranean agro-food system.

As stated by CIHEAM’s Secretary General Teodoro Miano in his closing remarks, CIHEAM is firmly committed to promoting gender equality in Mediterranean agro-food systems, positioning women's empowerment as a central pillar of its Strategic Action Plan 2030.