MountainHER : Empowering women associations as drivers for agro-ecological transformation to generate income for Mountain farming communities

Context Rural communities in mountainous areas of the Mediterranean region are relatively isolated from markets and services and endure harsh climatic and social conditions. Farming practices have not evolved at the same pace as lowland agriculture, and soil erosion is a significant threat. The escalating effects of climate change further exacerbate the low productivity. Agricultural products from these zones are sold in distant urban areas, preventing the farmers from accessing their due profits. A substantial male out-migration often characterises these communities to urban centres, which has led to an increased feminisation of labour and agriculture. Yet these women face constraints in accessing knowledge, resources, and marketing opportunities with negative implications on local food security, community resilience and the economy more broadly. These gender biases continue to hinder the chances for success of women and youth in agriculture. The establishment of associations for the local production of traditional foods and malt products represent opportunities for employment and integration. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the mindset of many consumers, generating more robust demand for locally grown and traditional food products, which could represent an ideal market opportunity for mountain communities. The pandemic has also led to job losses in the city and the return migration of men to rural areas. Hence only interventions capable of restoring farm productivity, diversifying income opportunities, raising social inclusion and closing the gender gap can invert these trends. Objective and contents MountainHER aims at taking advantage of these developing marketing opportunities in an agroecological food system approach "from farm to fork" to empower rural women associations to become proper drivers for social and economic change. Implementing a holistic intervention in six pilot mountain communities shall be used to revise the continuum from farm-to-fork by promoting agroecological production solutions and income opportunities via short-value chains and circular economies. Farmers' fields will be used as living labs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Croatia, and Italy. Participatory research approaches will be deployed to define the best durum wheat and barley varieties derived from ancient grains adapted agroecological production. Identifying locally adapted varieties will foster the establishment of community-based seed enterprises. At the same time, novel fertilisation and crop management practices will promote circular economy opportunities for local businesses to produce non-synthetic organic fertilisers starting from farm waste. The governance of female associations will be revised to enable decent work and improve their roles as income generators for the community. The ultimate transformation of the harvests into traditional foods and malt products sold via digital marketplace approaches shall encourage entrepreneurship, raise rural incomes and ensure a more equitable distribution of profits. Expected impact and results MountainHER sets the ground-breaking objective of changing remote mountain communities' social and economic status through agroecological interventions and revision of governances of rural cooperatives using gender-transformative approaches. The targeted interventions along the value chain will re-shape the organisational models to ensure a fairer power balance among stakeholders. MountainHER utilises state-of-the-art scientific approaches and novel digital market drives in integration with retailers and consumers to promote the continuum from "seed-to-table truly". It is envisioned that by project end, the participating farmers will increase their profit margins by 50%, and new employment opportunities will be generated within the communities, ensuring stable jobs for more than 200 people. The one proposed are carbon-neutral practices that should reduce the net carbon cost by 30% while raising by 10% the productivity and further reducing by 10% the use of synthetic inputs. Because the promoted food products have a long shelf life, it is expected that our interventions will decrease by 10% the post-harvest losses. A total of 182 communication events have been planned with the scope of influencing policymakers and other communities to uptake and out-scale the project outcomes and strategies