From the 2015 G7 Declarations

Food Security
Good governance, economic growth and better functioning markets, and investment in research and technology, together with increased domestic and private sector investment and development assistance have collectively contributed to increases in food security and improved nutrition.

As part of a broad effort involving our partner countries, and international actors, and as a significant contribution to the Post 2015 Development Agenda, we aim to lift 500 million people in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030. The G7 Broad Food Security and Nutrition Development Approach, as set out in the annex, will make substantial contributions to these goals. We will strengthen efforts to support dynamic rural transformations, promote responsible investment and sustainable agriculture and foster multisectoral approaches to nutrition, and we aim to safeguard food security and nutrition in conflicts and crisis. We will continue to align with partner countries strategies, improve development effectiveness and strengthen the transparent monitoring of our progress. We will ensure our actions continue to empower women, smallholders and family farmers as well as advancing and supporting sustainable agriculture and food value chains. We welcome the 2015 Expo in Milan (“Feeding the Planet - Energy for Life”) and its impact on sustainable agriculture and the eradication of global hunger and malnutrition.

Women’s Economic Empowerment
Women’s economic participation reduces poverty and inequality, promotes growth and benefits all. Yet women regularly face discrimination which impedes economic potential, jeopardizes investment in development, and constitutes a violation of their human rights. We will support our partners in developing countries and within our own countries to overcome discrimination, sexual harassment, violence against women and girls and other cultural, social, economic and legal barriers to women’s economic participation.

We recognise that being equipped with relevant skills for decent work, especially through technical and vocational education and training (TVET) via formal and non-formal learning, is key to the economic empowerment of women and girls, including those who face multiple sources of discrimination (e.g. women and girls with disabilities), and to improving their employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. We commit to increasing the number of women and girls technically and vocationally educated and trained in developing countries through G7 measures by one third (compared to “business as usual”) by 2030. We will also work to increase career training and education for women and girls within G7 countries.

We will continue to take steps to foster access to quality jobs for women and to reduce the gender gap in workforce participation within our own countries by 25% by 2025, taking into account national circumstances including by improving the framework conditions to enable women and men to balance family life and employment, including access to parental leave and childcare. The private sector also has a vital role in creating an environment in which women can more meaningfully participate in the economy. We therefore support the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and call on companies worldwide to integrate them into their activities. We will coordinate our efforts through a new G7 working group on women.

Women’s Entrepreneurship
Women’s entrepreneurship is a key driver of innovation, growth and jobs. However, across G7 countries and around the world far fewer women than men run their own businesses often due to additional barriers that women face in starting and growing businesses. We agree on common principles to boost women’s entrepreneurship, as set out in the annex, and invite other interested countries to join us in this effort. In particular, we will make girls and women aware of the possibility of becoming entrepreneurs. We will address the specific needs of women entrepreneurs, e.g. by promoting their access to finance, markets, skills, leadership opportunities and networks. We ask the OECD to monitor progress on promoting women’s entrepreneurship. We welcome the G7 Forum for Dialogue with Women to be hosted by the Presidency on 16 and 17 September 2015. We also reaffirm our commitment to continue our work to promote gender equality as well as full participation and empowerment for all women and girls. We welcome the “World Assembly for Women: WAW!” to be hosted by Japan, G7 Presidency in 2016.

AT THE LAUNCH OF BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION NUTRITION STRATEGY
Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pledged $776M over the next 6 years to fight malnutrition this week.

‘“I know of no other problem in the world that does so much damage yet receives so little attention,” Gates said. . . . Undernutrition is responsible for more than one-third of global child deaths. One in 4 children are stunted due to malnutrition, which means their bodies and cognitive functions never fully develop. . . . Still, according to Gates, less than 1 percent of global foreign aid spending goes toward nutrition. . . . “We have been no different from most other funders. We never paid enough attention to nutrition. That is changing today,” Gates said [last] Wednesday. . . . Within the Gates Foundation’s own organizational structure, nutrition programs previously worked “opportunistically” at the intersections of other programmatic priorities. . . . “Malnutrition is a quiet catastrophe. You can’t see it in the same way you can see diarrhea or malaria or pneumonia, or the other health problems that poor children face,” Gates said. . . . “One thing we’re particularly excited about is much more purposeful collaboration with our agricultural colleagues,” [Shawn] Baker said, describing a joint body of work on improving food systems, to make food production more intentionally oriented to better nutrition.’