The intersection of gender-based violence, food security and innovation
The linkages between food insecurity and gender-based violence are complex; tackling them is even more so. Innovation may help us get closer to both.
By Lucy Bloxham
While gender-based violence and food insecurity may seem like separate crises, in reality, they reinforce each other. Gender-based violence directly impacts food security, especially for women, girls and marginalized communities. Violence or the threat of it can restrict women’s access to jobs, education and vital agricultural roles. This not only limits household food supplies but ripples out to weaken community-wide food systems. In conflict zones and regions hit hardest by climate change, the risks of both gender-based violence and food insecurity grow exponentially, making it even harder for women and girls in all their diversity and others facing protection risks to survive, let alone thrive.
How gender-based violence and food insecurity intersect
Economic vulnerability
Food insecurity exacerbates poverty, which heightens economic vulnerabilities, particularly for women. Limited resources and unequal power dynamics increase the risk of exploitation, forced labour, child, early and forced marriages (CEFM) and other forms of gender-based violence.
Nutrition and health outcomes
Gender-based violence also directly affects health and nutrition. Studies show that women experiencing intimate partner violence are less likely to access essential healthcare, such as antenatal care. This impacts not only their well-being but also that of their children, who face higher risks of malnutrition, stunted growth and mortality.
Harmful survival strategies and risk factors
In the face of food insecurity, people may resort to harmful coping strategies. For women and girls, this can mean transactional sex, early marriage or other exploitative practices in order to secure basic needs, including accessing food. Even routine activities like fetching water or firewood can expose women and girls to violence, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Food insecurity is also a risk factor for intimate partner violence as it often leads to increased stress and tension within households.
Tackling the dual crisis
At the root of gender-based violence lies systemic gender inequality, reinforced by deeply entrenched cultural norms and power imbalances. The World Food Programme (WFP) works to address, challenge and transform these dynamics, and create a life free from violence for all, particularly for women and girls in all their diversity. From designing targeted actions to supporting female-headed households with capacity-strengthening initiatives, safe, equitable and inclusive assistance is at the center of WFP’s operations.
Practical measures include proactively identifying gender-based violence risks and mitigating them, ensuring food distribution points are designed with safety in mind — well-lit, with separate queues for women — and gender-balanced teams at the frontline, who are equipped with the skills to respond to the disclosures of gender-based violence.
Reducing food insecurity
By addressing food insecurity holistically, WFP tackles one of the key drivers of gender-based violence. Initiatives like cash-based transfers enable families to purchase food and essential services locally, reducing the need for potentially risky travel to distribution sites where women and girls may face heightened risks of gender-based violence. Alongside cash transfers, innovations supported by the WFP Innovation Accelerator provide tangible solutions to improve food access while fostering safer, sustainable livelihoods for women and girls.
© WFP/Andy Higgins
Responding to the needs of survivors
A survivor-centred approach is at the heart of WFP’s interactions with people affected by gender-based violence. Community feedback mechanisms provide the ability to report gender-based violence concerns safely and discreetly, while referral systems connect survivors to medical care, psychosocial support and other critical services. Collaboration with local women-led and women’s rights organizations ensures responses are timely, culturally sensitive and comprehensive.
The role of innovation
Innovation is pivotal in addressing the intertwined challenges of gender-based violence and food insecurity, equipping WFP with targeted, scalable solutions. The WFP Innovation Accelerator, supported by regional hubs and country office teams, fosters initiatives that disrupt cycles of hunger, gender inequality and social vulnerabilities.
SheCan
SheCan, a WFP-initiated programme, works on transforming financial inclusion to promote gender equality and reduce vulnerability to GBV, particularly in relation to the denial of resources, opportunities or services. SheCan combats these issues in two ways. Firstly, the programme incentivizes financial service providers to offer affordable, gender-responsive loans to smallholder farmers and micro-entrepreneurs, creating economic opportunities for women. Secondly, the programme provides tailored financial literacy training, focusing particularly on using productive loans and digital literacy, as well as engaging project participants and communities for buy-in and to promote social norm change. These can involve empowerment training for women or gender equality training and dialogues for husbands and communities.
SheCan Rwanda
The SheCan pilot in Rwanda showcases how addressing structural inequalities can help prevent gender-based violence. Cultural norms around land ownership and limited financial literacy often exclude women from financial systems, leaving them economically dependent and vulnerable to exploitation — key drivers of gender-based violence. By eliminating collateral requirements and tackling high loan servicing costs, SheCan made financial services accessible, even in rural areas.
“Before the SheCan project started, after cultivating our land, I used to stay at home waiting for the next season. With the start of the SheCan project, I was selected among participants in the training on entrepreneurship and gender equality. The training assisted me in getting rid of fear, the fear of requesting loans.” — SheCan participant.
Through training on rights to natural resources, including land, women gained greater control over productive assets, reducing economic dependence on male family members. Additionally, 33 percent of farmer support groups are now led by women, challenging traditional power dynamics that often underpin gender-based violence.
In all SheCan countries, access to loans enabled women to embark on income-generating activities, enhancing their financial independence and ability to navigate crises without resorting to harmful survival strategies. These gains are particularly critical in contexts where economic dependency is leveraged to perpetuate gender-based violence. By targeting the root causes of economic and psychological gender-based violence, SheCan has benefited over 50,000 people across Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Iraq and Peru, with women comprising 72 percent of direct participants. Moreover, the programme’s remarkable default rate of just 0.1 percent highlights the potential of gender-responsive financing to deliver sustainable economic results.
This approach also addresses broader systemic risks. Women disproportionately bear the impacts of climate change, facing heightened vulnerability due to limited land rights and financial resources. As climate shocks further strain agricultural incomes, women’s economic precarity increases, heightening their exposure to exploitation. By equipping women with tools, training and access to resources, SheCan not only strengthens their resilience but also mitigates gender-based violence risks tied to economic vulnerability.
Beyond SheCan
SheCan is just one example of the WFP Innovation Accelerator’s commitment to tackling gender-based violence. Complementary initiatives like Nilus use technology to connect women to food markets via digital platforms, reducing food waste while enhancing women’s economic security and addressing the underlying drivers of gender-based violence.
Other innovations focus on reducing exposure to violence. Safe cooking fuel alternatives limit the need for women to travel long distances for firewood — a task fraught with gender-based violence risks due to isolation, contested resources in conflict zones and insecure routes. Others, like Solar 4 Resilience (S4R), empower women by providing solar-powered food preservation and processing tools. S4R enables entrepreneurs to transform produce at the farm gate into sustainable food ingredients without relying on coal, wood or electricity. This reduces food waste and CO2 emissions while empowering women to double their household income, helping them escape poverty and decreasing their vulnerability.
The path to resilience
Innovation is more than a tool. It is a catalyst for breaking cycles of inequality, protecting vulnerable communities and enabling women to overcome systemic barriers. Tackling food insecurity and gender-based violence as interconnected issues is vital to creating sustainable, dignified access to food for all. By leveraging innovation, partnerships and technology and upholding a steadfast commitment to gender equality, WFP is not only addressing immediate needs but also enabling communities to build stronger, safer and more resilient futures.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an annual campaign and key international moment calling for an end to violence against women and girls. Learn more.
