Gender Alliance for Innovation in Agriculture (GAIA) launch
The official launch of the Gender Alliance for Innovation in Agriculture (GAIA) took place today in the European Parliament, hosted by MEP Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe). As a founding partner of the alliance, Schuttelaar & Partners led the organisation of the event.
Women play a vital role in agriculture, but often face barriers to equal participation and opportunities. GAIA aims to address these challenges through a variety of programs and initiatives, including education and training, access to resources and technologies, and leadership development. Our network builds on the great work started with the Gender Taskforce of the Horizon 2020 project SmartAgriHubs.
At Schuttelaar & Partners, we actively support gender equality both internally and externally. In one of our key impact areas- agriculture- last year we proudly launched GAIA, forming the core team implementing its activities. During the launch event, Lorena van de Kolk, S&P managing partner and founder of GAIA, presented GAIA’s mission and plans for the upcoming year.
The event showcased the diversity of the GAIA network, which brings together universities, research centers, Digital Innovation Hubs, farmer organizations, trade unions and European projects. Presentations from GAIA partners included Grigoris Chatzikostas from Data4Food2030, Enrica Belfiori from CEMA – European Agricutural Machinery Association, Anneleen De Visscher from ILVO – Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Gonneke Gerkema from Grodan, and Cheryl Nolan from Vista Milk.
Partners highlighted the importance of gender equality in their sectors: Grigoris Chatzikostas brought up the importance of including women in big data, and how their underrepresentation would lead to skewed tools and solutions. Enrica Belfiori shared on the importance of adapted tools, which ease physical labor and can open more agricultural tasks to women. Anneleen De Visscher gave an insightful presentation on the history of women farmers in Flanders, while Gonneke Gerkema from Grodan and Cheryl Nolan from VistaMilk shared on the gender equality plans within their organisations.
GAIA is now looking forward to launching its first actions, which will include training, communication, a European parliament manifesto and best practices.
Interested in joining GAIA?
Contact Lorena van de Kolk.