The Equality in the Field Tour

From September 20 to 30, 2024, Inter Pares accompanied a West African delegation to meet with farming communities and feminist activists in Quebec and Canada—the Equality in the Field Tour.

The delegation consisted of seven counterparts from Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, currently implementing the project Gender Equality through Women-led Agroecology in West Africa (WLA). The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada. In West Africa, rural
women face patriarchal discrimination and the climate crisis, which limits their rights and makes them more vulnerable. This project, launched in 2022, has improved the lives of rural women in Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Togo by building their capacities, supporting sustainable agricultural systems and facilitating access to local markets.

The Equality in the Field Tour aimed to share the realities of rural women, promote gender equality and learn about agroecological practices. The tour raised awareness of feminist and agro-ecological approaches among the Quebec public, forged new bonds of solidarity and discussed current challenges such as inequality, the climate crisis and gender-based violence.
Conversations throughout the tour highlighted the efforts of rural women to transform their communities despite the obstacles and underlined the importance of international solidarity in the struggle for food sovereignty and gender equality.

This report presents some of the major highlights of the tour.

Click here to read the report: