This brief proposes to donors, government and research partners that engaging women through innovation platforms (IPs) in the inclusive processes of technology and market development can accelerate transitions towards greater sustainability, food security, nutrition, education and health

This report conducted a gender assessment exercise to evaluate if the current solutions/innovations are gender responsive or not. Three innovations were selected that are primarily focused towards Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and that had affordability and ease of use as key objectives. The gender assessment embraced a qualitative research approach. This choice was guided by the need to appreciate respondents’ understanding and experiences or perceptions of the different innovations that RAN has been nurturing and developing over the years

This poster describes a research experience carried out in Burundi that investigate the influency of the gender roles in the management of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) disease

The aim of this study was to investigate the vulnerabilities of women involved in a bean value chain development intervention at the Maendeloe Innovation Platform in Eastern DRC. Specifically, the paper first discusses the roles of women and men in the value chain, what production resources and benefits they access and control, the role of the IP as a vehicle for women’s empowerment, and identifies women’s gender needs. Secondly, the paper identifies women’s vulnerabilities, and the capacities that the IP could build on, to support their participation in bean value chain development

The first section of this paper outlines the effect of gender norms on the productivity and incomes of women in the agricultural sectors of various African countries. The main challenges faced by women in value chains are outlined, including limited land rights, lower education levels and lower financial inclusion, as well as traditional division of labour in the household. These constraints are examined in turn, and their implications in terms of agricultural productivity and earnings are discussed.

This paper examines innovations for bridging gender gaps in agricultural value chains in Africa. It focuses on innovative platforms for addressing gender gaps, considering women contribute up to 40 percent of labor in agricultural production. Women remain at the bottom of value chains and face gender-specific constraints attributable to gender and social norms, discriminatory beliefs and practices, gender-blind designs and delivery of technologies and innovations which impede women s participation in value chains.

The Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA), which aims to stimulate gender-responsive innovations in commodity chains, was used to improve the performance of ALVs market chains in central Uganda. This paper presents the results of applying the PMCA in a phased manner on the Indigenous African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) commodity chain in the context of a collaborative research project implemented in central Uganda

This study examines whether agroecological farming practices, when employed by highly vulnerable households in sub-Saharan Africa, can improve food security and dietary diversity. The research involved a four-year study with 425 smallholder households, selected purposively based on high levels of food insecurity and/or positive HIV status. The households carried out agroecological experiments of their own choosing over a four-year period.

What are key characteristics of rural innovators? How are their experiences similar for women and men, and how are they different? To examine these questions, this study draw on individual interviews with 336 rural women and men known in their communities for trying out new things in agriculture. The data form part of 84 GENNOVATE community case studies from 19 countries. Building on study participants’ own reflections and experiences with innovation in their agricultural livelihoods, we combine variable-oriented analysis and analysis of specific individuals’ lived experience.

Based on 25 case studies from the global comparative study ‘GENNOVATE: Enabling gender equality in agricultural and environmental innovation’, this paper explores rural young women’s and men’s occupational aspirations and trajectories in India, Mali, Malawi, Morocco, Mexico, Nigeria, and the Philippines. The study draw upon qualitative data from 50 sex-segregated focus groups with the youth to show that across the study’s regional contexts, young rural women and men predominantly aspire for formal blue and white-collar jobs