Reach Us

About

GROW Workshop: Exploring Mushrooms, Gender, and Conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Gender, Rights, and Opportunities for Women – through Fungi: The GROW workshop
November 3-4, 2025

The Fungal Use Group (FUse) of the IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Group (SULi) is pleased to host a two-day workshop on fungal conservation and gender (GROW) as part of this year’s ISFC4 meeting in Cotonou, Benin.

The workshop will consist of a mix of presentations, round-table discussions, and brainstorming sessions.

Our aim is to bring together researchers and practitioners working at a range of career stages on topics including fungal resource use, ethnomycology, gender equality, public health, women’s reproductive health care, and development issues. While the focus of the workshop will be on Sub-Saharan Africa, attendees from other regions are also very welcome.

Gender, rights, and opportunities for women - through fungi

  • We will discuss opportunities, risks, threats and assumptions regarding fungal sustainable use and women’s livelihoods.
  • We will identify genera for which source data on harvest methods and scales of harvesting need to be prioritized.
  • We will examine the link between fungal livelihoods, gender and public health.
  • We will consider various strategies for sharing scientific data, ethnobiological data, and traditional ecological knowledge, to improve mushroom conservation practices while following and supporting fair practices regarding the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage and intellectual property rights of indigenous and local communities.
  • Finally, we will introduce the Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) framework developed to bridge health, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods as a foundation for developing and planning future work at the intersection of fungal conservation and public health.

This is a closed workshop by invitation only.

For any questions about the workshop, please email Dr Elizabeth Barron: elizabeth.barron@ntnu.no

G.r.o.w

Gender, Rights and Opportunities for Women – through Fungi

Facebook-f Icon-instagram-1 X-twitter