Event

CSW67: Gender-responsive agricultural innovations: Getting rural women ahead

In Danghesta village, Dangila district, Amhara region, Ethiopia, woman and man set up a solar-powered pump. Photo: Mulugeta Ayene/WLE.
When
Where Salvation Army, Lower Level, 221 E. 52nd St., New York, NY 10022
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The CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform, with African Women in Agricultural Research for Development (AWARD), is hosting a parallel event during the NGO CSW67 Forum. It will take place on Thursday, March 9, 2023, 6.15pm–7.45pm EST at the Salvation Army, Lower Level, in New York City.

Introduction

Empowerment is the process by which people expand their ability to make strategic life choices, particularly in contexts in which this ability has been denied them. Exercising choice takes resources, agency and achievements.

Food systems in developing countries are dominated by women with limited resources. They lack access to information on markets and finances,  to agricultural innovations—such as new plant cultivars, animal breeds, farm machinery—and to training on new and agricultural practices. For example, a study in Tanzania and Kenya showed how women tend to exercise autonomy over crops such as leafy vegetables that bring in a steady stream of cash—albeit little—to meet daily needs as opposed to those that fetch higher incomes.  The high-income crops are mostly under the control of men.

On the sidelines of the 67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), we discuss the need for gender-responsive agricultural innovations for rural women, showcasing promising examples, and proposing how to support women’s use of such innovations. We will further deliberate on information and communication technology (ICT) in agricultural extension, narrowing down on the promotion of productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies and practices and impacts on women’s empowerment and their influence on household decisions.

Speakers

  • Dr. Nicoline de Haan, Director, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform: Research, Evidence & Gaps
  • Dr. Susan Kaaria, Director of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)
  • Dr. Esther Njuguna (ILRI): Improved forages as a pathway for women empowerment in Western Kenya and Ethiopia.
  • Dr. Eileen Nchanji (Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT): Women-friendly technologies – a case of bean threshers in Tanzania
  • Dr. Gaudiose Mujawamariya (AfricaRice): When the technology is designed with and for women: Impact of rice parboiling technology in West and Eastern Africa
  • Wairimu Kanyiri, GROOTS Kenya Champion Farmer