Goal Setting and Governance: Examining the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition with a Gender Lens

Building on recent discussions of the role of public-private partnerships in governance, this article argues that we must be more critical of the goals set by PPPs, and pay closer attention to the ways in which gender-based inequalities are obscured or overlooked in the construction of global policy strategies. In particular, the Group of 8's New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition pledges to "act upon the critical role" played by women. Yet this article reveals that the New Alliance partnerships offer little in terms of substantive goals that address the gender inequalities experienced in rural land and labor markets, and instead appear to favor the expansion of trade without reference to the implications for rural food security.