Environmental and Social Standard (ESS) 6: Gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence

FAO

Environmental and Social Standard (ESS) 6: Gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence

Framework for Environmental and Social Management guidance note

Year of publication 2025

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 23 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Booklet

Full item page

To cite or share https://doi.org/10.4060/cd3700en

Synopsis (short abstract) Environmental and Social Standard (ESS) 6 focuses on promoting gender equality and preventing gender-based violence (GBV) in projects supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The standard ensures that FAO projects are designed and implemented in a way that addresses gender disparities and supports the achievement of gender equality goals outlined in FAO’s Policy on Gender Equality. ESS 6 emphasizes the need for gender-responsive project design and implementation, with specific attention to preventing the exacerbation of gender-based inequalities or discrimination, particularly in rural agricultural contexts.The standard provides guidance on how to assess and address gender-related risks, ensuring both women and men have equal access to agricultural resources, services, and decision-making processes. ESS 6 aims to support women’s participation in leadership, enhance their access to productive resources, and reduce their workload burdens. It also includes measures to prevent and respond to GBV, such as sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH), in FAO-supported activities. By embedding gender mainstreaming throughout the project cycle, ESS 6 aims to promote inclusive development while mitigating the risk of reinforcing harmful gender norms and inequities.

Cite this content as:

FAO. 2025. Environmental and Social Standard (ESS) 6: Gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence – Framework for Environmental and Social Management guidance note. Rome.

https://doi.org/10.4060/cd3700en

Language English

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Gender-based violence is a pervasive, persistent and global reality. Increasingly, it affects the environments where the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) operates, with impacts on agricultural and rural development, food security and nutrition, and rural poverty. Humanitarian emergencies, hunger, malnutrition and poverty tend to increase the prevalence of gender-based violence, which, in turn, undermines households, communities, and national food security and nutrition by impacting people’s livelihoods, health, skills and knowledge. This significantly reduces the resilience of survivors and weakens their capacity to be productive workers, earners and carers for the next generation, setting off a terrible circle of violence. With the new emerging global challenges and cries, including the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts and climate change – poverty, food insecurity and gender-based violence are exacerbating. This called for a new updated guidance that addresses the new and intertwined challenges the world is now facing. This guidance is meant to support country offices, FAO staff and strategic partners in the fight against any form of gender-based violence, facilitate the integration of protection issues in an FAO project cycle, and support the collection and analysis of data disaggregated by sex and other social variables for generating the evidence for policy-making and planning of gender-responsive and gender-transformative interventions. The guide provides the needed tools and promising approaches and experiences of the last decade used successfully to address GBV and eliminate protection risks in the field. It is a continuing project that will evolve as FAO accumulates experiences and lessons learned in an ever-changing working environment.
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