To ensure that Feed the Future impact evaluations are well-conceived, build on existing evidence, and fill critical evidence gaps, the Bureau for Food Security of USAID is supporting a comprehensive assessment of existing evidence and gaps in knowledge for each of six themes covered by the Feed the Future Learning Agenda. This paper summarizes available evidence that relates to key questions for the Feed the Future Learning Agenda theme on improved gender integration and women’s empowerment. 

The Excellence in Higher Education for Liberian Development (EHELD) project funded by USAID aims to build regionally recognized and competitive academic Centers of Excellence (CoEs) that produce graduates who become leading professionals and entrepreneurs in the fields of agriculture and engineering in Liberia.

The Women’s Leadership Program in Paraguay is a three-year (2012-2015) higher education partnership between the National University of Asuncion’s School of Agricultural Sciences in Paraguay and the University of Florida (UF) in the United States.The program supports national and local development goals in Paraguay that promote gender equality and female empowerment in the agricultural sector.  

As the world’s most youthful country, it sits on the cusp of being able to harness the youth dividend. Without a more broadly diversified economy, seizing the opportunities presented by Uganda’s youthful demographic will call for understanding both young people, and a focus on the aspects of agriculture that will need to grow and change to meet the challenge. 

The Agribusiness Linkages Global Development Alliance (GDA) was to contribute to sustainable rural development throughout Egypt by enhancing the capacity of smallholder farmers to profitably serve as reliable suppliers of high-value horticulture to processors and other buyers by integrating 3,000 farmers into a sustainable and competitive high-value horticultural value chain anchored by HEINZ in the governorates of Sohag, Qena, Luxor, and Aswan in Upper Egypt; El Minya and Assiut in Middle Egypt; Beni Suef, Giza and Fayoum in Northern Upper Egypt; and the Nubaria area in lower Egypt.

USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project is a horticulture value chain activity aimed at addressing the key challenges of rural poverty, natural resource degradation, food insecurity, and under-nutrition.Through the promotion of sustainable production practices, increased functionality of farmer groups and associations, improved market linkages, and increased availability and access to quality agricultural inputs and services, including access to finance, the project will aim to stimulate and support increased economic activity and growth  for Timorese citizensi

The Agriculture Innovation Partnership (AIP) project, a Feed the Future (FTF) project implemented through partnerships between United States (US) land grant and Indian universities, was to improve the livelihoods of rural populations through several education-related activities to create technical innovations, teaching capacity, and develop extension links within Indian higher educational institutions. These innovations were intended to diversify agricultural productivity and strengthen rural development to be more responsive to local market demands

The youth crisis has recently received much attention from the global community, particularly in how it intersects with the future of agriculture. Causes of the youth crisis include univeral youth disinterest in agriculture, deskilled youth populations, lack of access to resources, gender disparity and lack of reliable data regarding youth in agriculture.

The USAID Feed the Future Mozambique Agricultural Innovations Activity (FTF Inova) is a five-year project that seeks to increase equitable growth and incomes in the agriculture sector in Mozambique by increasing the competitiveness of selected value chains, expanding the number of enterprises that can compete and upgrade their products and services in selected markets, and improving relationships and linkages between those firms and other market participants throughout the value chains.

This report covers the first four months of implementation, corresponding to the period February 22–June 30, of the USAID Feed the Future Mozambique Agricultural Innovations Activity.  During this period, key and non-key personnel were mobilized and procurement and office start-up activities were carried out.