On July 7th, the agricultural research community and the GREAT Community of Practice lost a dear colleague and friend, Dr. Geneviève Fliedel. Geneviève joined the CoP as a member of our first course in 2016 / 2017, and stayed active, with the group, coauthoring at least ten papers since then with GREAT CoP colleagues including Tessy Madu, Lora Forsythe, Hale Tufan, Abolore Bello, Durodola Owoade, Netsayi Mudege, Sarah Mayanja, Jolien Swanckaert, Tawanda Muzhingi, Sounkoura Adetonah, and her close colleague Dominque Dufour. Geneviève's work as a social scientist with the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) covered a variety of crops, foods, and geographic regions, including yam, sweetpotato, bananas, fonio, cassava, and hibiscus.

And in August, we learned of the tragic passing of Lungile Mhlanga, a Fellow from our recently completed Theme 5 course. Stationed at Eswatini's Malkerns Research Station, where she had served as an agricultural socioeconomist, Lungile was driven by a passion to create opportunities for girls, and challenge male-dominated work cultures, where women are often treated with less dignity. In her own career path, Lungile was a lifelong learner, working on her master's of science degree in agricultural economics since, while working full time.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, colleagues and loved ones for both Geneviève and Lungile, and their memories will stay with us.

In 2013, when team members for the NextGen Cassava project set out to find a gender training program for crop breeding teams, they came up empty handed. Yet from this initial frustration grew an ambitious effort to create an intensive, applied and personal gender training model for agricultural researchers, Gender-responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) project, a collaborative effort between Cornell and Makerere University, in Uganda. Adapting this training model to a Covid-19 virtual world, however, was no easy task – but yielded unexpected results. Here we share some early lessons learned from our first effort at delivering an online course. Read more on the Cornell University website.

Makerere University (Uganda) and Cornell University (USA), in partnership with the Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results (GENDER Platform) of the CGIAR, have designed an Advanced Gender-Responsive Plant breeding course targeting GREAT Fellows, both biophysical and social scientists in the NARs and CGIAR. The purpose of the course is to build on previous GREAT courses attended to deepen skills and theory in gender-responsive agricultural research.

Like other GREAT courses, this advanced course is designed to balance the depth of theory needed to internalize concepts with practical tools to apply in the field. The course will be divided into two parts. Part 1 (Oct. 18-28) targets both biophysical and social scientists, while Part 2 (Nov. 1-3) targets only social scientists, and is optional for biophysical scientists.

Applications are due by September 10th; the course is open to GREAT Fellows only. For details on the Level 2 course see the course advert; to apply, fill out this online form.

This year, the UN Food Systems Summit calls for “bold actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food” to advance the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Gender equality is a pre-condition for achieving these goals and generating sustainable and resilient agricultural and food systems. The online conference ‘Cultivating Equality: Advancing Gender Research in Agriculture and Food Systems’ focusses on research that helps understand and advance positive synergies among sustainable and resilient agricultural, rural and food systems, and equality in societies globally. It addresses how marginalization and social exclusion are shaped at the intersection of gender with other social dimensions, such as socio-economic status, age or generation, ethnicity, or religion and belief systems, and the catalytic role gender research can play to help overcome such exclusions.

For those attending the Cultivating Equality conference, please be sure to join GREAT for a special panel discussion on gender training, ‘Before they thought these are theoretical stories of women:’ Exploring tensions between conformation and critique of gender training for agricultural research teams, featuring Josephine Ahikire (Dean, School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, Uganda), Carolina Camacho Villa (University of Lincoln, UK), Carolyn Sachs (Penn State University, USA), and Krista Jacobs (Landesa, USA), moderated by Hale Tufan (GREAT Co-PI, Cornell University, USA), on Tuesday, 7:30-9pm East Africa Time.

For conference details and registration visit the conference website.

2^nd African Plant Breeders Association (APBA) Conference

For those attending the APBA conference, please be sure to join GREAT for a special panel discussion on gender and crop breeding, Gender in plant breeding: From training to transformation, featuring GREAT Fellows Martha Businge (Makerere University, Uganda) and Gaudiose Mujawamariya (AfricaRice), along with Béla Teeken (IITA, Nigeria) and Eileen Nchanji (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Kenya), and hosted by Elisabeth Garner (GREAT PMT, Cornell University, United States), on Friday, October 29th, 12pm Central Africa Time.

For conference details and registration visit the conference website.

Empowered women make their own life choices. About family, finances, farming—and much more. Many development projects say they want to contribute to women’s empowerment. But important questions remain: How do we know that what we’re doing works? How can we ensure our good intentions translate into good results? These questions guided the development of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), launched in 2012. WEAI has now been used in 56 countries by 108 organizations. Given this rapid uptake and the overwhelming demand for technical support, IFPRI has developed the pro-WEAI Foundations Module, the first in the pro-WEAI Distance Learning Course. The module’s aim is to train researchers and practitioners on the pro-WEAI tool, from its background to its practical application within the project context. If that sounds like it might be useful to you and/or your project, consider taking this module. It provides conceptual frameworks, tools and resources, and approaches to integrating the index tools into your project, based on real-world experiences from the team that developed it. Read more on the IFPRI website.

Freely access 233 full-text articles in the GREAT CoP Zotero Group library.

Authors in bold, below, are CoP members.

Asante, B. O., Koomson, I., Villano, R. A., & Wiredu, A. N. (2021). Gender, Technology and Development, 1-30.

Integrated crop-livestock management practices (ICLMPs) play a vital role in ensuring food security and improved welfare for smallholder households, however, studies that focus on ICLMP adoption in Ghana (including its gender dimension) remain scant. This paper examines gender differences in the drivers and intensity of ICLMP adoption using farm-level data from 638 smallholder farmers in Ghana. Employing Multivariate Probit, Tobit regression models and dominance analytical procedures, we find that adoption of ICLMPs is generally influenced by non-farm income, extension contacts and nativity. While age, credit access, soil fertility, distance to markets, total value of assets and research contacts influence the intensity of ICLMP adoption among the men, intensity of adoption among women farmers is influenced mainly by household size. The dominance analysis showed that being a native of the community/village where one farms had the strongest influence in intensifying ICLMP adoption, with gender differences being evident regarding the relative influence of the other variables. Policies to enhance the adoption of ICLMPs in Ghana could be designed to focus on women farmers who have large farm assets, access to extension and are engaged in non-farm income-generating activities. Access the full-text PDF in the GREAT Zotero group library.

Ewell, H. (2021). Gender, Technology and Development, 1-16.

Gender-specific preferences for traits, including cooking and processing characteristics, are often not determined until the final stages of variety evaluation or release, and even then, seldom prioritized – impacting adoption rates. Using the case study of cassava in Nigeria, this research aimed to analyze researchers’ perspectives on gender-responsive breeding, as well as the extent to which integrating women’s needs into the dissemination and marketing process can have a positive impact on empowerment pathways. The literature review and key informant interviews suggest that engaging both women and men regarding new cassava variety traits, and accounting for their differentiated needs and preferences in “product profiles”, has the potential to better meet farmers’ demands and thus, increase adoption rates of released varieties. Further research and collaboration are required to systematically develop product profiles that are gender-specific to enable inclusive agricultural transformation. Access the full-text PDF in the GREAT Zotero group library.

Njuki, J., Eissler, S., Malapit, H. J., Meinzen-Dick, R. S., Bryan, E., & Quisumbing, A. R. (2021). Food Systems Summit Brief Prepared by Research Partners of the Scientific Group for the Food Systems Summit, May 11th 2021.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems can result in greater food security and better nutrition, and in more just, resilient, and sustainable food systems for all. This paper uses a scoping review to assess the current evidence on pathways between gender equality, women’s empowerment, and food systems. The paper uses an adaptation of the food systems framework to organize the evidence and identify where evidence is strong, and where gaps remain. Results show strong evidence on women’s differing access to resources, shaped and reinforced by contextual social gender norms, and on links between women’s empowerment and maternal education and important outcomes, such as nutrition and dietary diversity. The paper recommends keys areas for investment: improving women’s leadership and decision-making in food systems, promoting equal and positive gender norms, improving access to resources, and building cross-contextual research evidence on gender and food systems. Access the full-text PDF online.

Chauhan, Dharmistha. (2021). Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok: The Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) and UN Women Regional Office for Asian and the Pacific.

This training manual on Gender and Climate Change Resilience is designed for use by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Asia working with communities on gender, climate change resilience and disaster risk reduction. The manual aims to strengthen the capacities of CSOs to mainstream gender in their practices and to actively advocate for gender mainstreaming in policies, programmes, projects and legislation. The long-term objective is to promote climate resilience action on the ground with a gender equality perspective in the forefront.

Access the full-text PDF online.

Eastin, J., and Dupuy, K. CABI. 2021.

This book applies a gendered lens to evaluate the dynamic linkages between climate change and livelihoods in developing countries. It examines how climate change affects women and men in distinct ways, and what the implications are for earning income and accessing the natural, social, economic, and political resources required to survive and thrive. The book's contributing authors analyze the gendered impact of climate change on different types of livelihoods, in distinct contexts, including urban and rural, and in diverse geographic locations, including Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It focuses on understanding how public policies and power dynamics shape gendered vulnerabilities and impacts, how gender influences coping and adaptation mechanisms, and how civil society organizations incorporate gender into their climate advocacy strategies. Find details on the publisher's website.

Diarra, F. B., Ouédraogo, M., Zougmoré, R. B., Partey, S. T., Houessionon, P., & Mensah, A. (2021). Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-17.

Understanding the gender dimension of climate change perception and choice of adaptation strategies is crucial for policy recommendations that foster the development and integration of gender-responsive climate-smart agricultural interventions into agricultural development programs. This study determined the differences in the perception and choice of adaptation strategies between men and women farmers in Cinzana in the Segou region of Mali. The study used questionnaire interviews involving 260 farmers (49% women) and focus group discussions for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logit model to understand the determinants of the level of adoption of adaptation strategies. The results showed that, irrespective of gender, majority of farmers perceived climate change as extended period of droughts, shortened duration of rains, increased frequency of strong winds and increased day and night temperatures. While climate change perception was similar between men and women, choice of adaptation strategies differed significantly in most instances. Women farmers were generally low adopters of crop and varieties-related strategies, soil and water conservation technics (contour farming, use of organic manure), etc., compare to men. Notably, being the household head, age and the availability of free labor were found to positively increased farmers’ probability of adopting many adaptation strategies. The study recommends improving women’s access and control of production resources (land, labor) as means to improving their adoption of adaptation strategies.

Access the full-text PDF online.

Namirimu, J. (2021). Doctoral dissertation, Makerere University.

Due to low sweetpotato productivity in Uganda, objectives of sweetpotato breeders have been largely based on yield enhancement. However, farmers adopt new varieties depending on how well their preferred crop traits have been incorporated by breeders. Understanding farmers’ relative preferences for varietal traits is necessary for breeders to set their breeding priorities in a more demand-driven way. Therefore, using data collected among sweetpotato growers in Mpigi district through FGDs and IDIs, this study investigated male and female farmers’ preferences for sweetpotato traits. It also employed multinomial logit regression to examine factors affecting choice of most preferred sweetpotato traits. There were disparities in combinations of traits most preferred by farmers based on data from FGDs and IDIs implying that participatory plant breeding needs to be individual-based as the decision to grow a specific crop variety is also individual-based. In addition, despite the importance of output-oriented traits, they should not be emphasized at the expense of other traits most preferred by farmers in their respective contexts. Sweetpotato varieties with such traits should be mainly promoted among older farmers and those who do not store sweetpotato. Breeders should emphasize improving risk-averting traits when developing varieties for more educated farmers. They should improve local varieties by introducing productivity-enhancing traits without losing the indigenous root eating quality and appearance traits. Access the dissertation on the Makerere University website.