Hale Ann Tufan

Gender-Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation

Why GREAT?

Why GREAT?

Institutional support

Policy shifts

What is GREAT?

GREAT is a Makerere University- Cornell University certificate program delivering applied gender training for agricultural researchers to offer tailored skills development in gender-

responsiveness along the design, implementation, evaluation, and communication of agricultural research, focusing on

gender training linked to practice, building communities and effecting change within institutions and national policies.

Participants- Who are they?

• Agricultural researchers (women and men), ranging from junior to senior staff members of NARIs, universities (faculty and graduate students), CGIAR centers, regional organizations, NGOs and other agricultural research entities.

• Budding regional gender experts specializing in agriculture, as well as gender focal points from participants’ institutions

• Participants drawn from ongoing project teams, up to three people

Themes- What topics will we focus on?

Theme 8

2020

Mechanization

Theme 7

2020

Knowledge Exchange

(Extension)

Theme 6

2019

Nutrition and Food Systems

Theme 5

2019

Value Chains: Legumes

Theme 4

2018

Value Chains: Dairy

Theme 3

2018

Animal Breeding

Theme 2

2017

Crop Breeding: Grains and Legumes

Theme 1

2016

Crop Breeding: Roots, Tubers and Bananas

Curriculum- How will we design it?

• Core development/delivery team

• Each Theme- recruit gender experts with experience in the Theme, as well as subject matter experts

Technical Team Identification

• Consultation with advisory committee, strategic partners, literature review

Content Development

• Technical coordinator (CP) generate course outline, session content, relevant reference materials

Process Development

• AWARD trainers oversee delivery, feedback on process, flow, activities, generate manuals and course reports

Delivery

Module1

Module2

Datacollec on

Genderbasedconstraintsandopportuni es

Reflec onanddatacollec onathomeins tu onswithe-supportandmentoring

Analyzeandinterpretsex-disaggregateddata

Communica onandadvocacy,communityfeedback

1Week

4-6Months

1Week

Framing,methodology,datacollec ontools

GenderresponsiveM&E,dra inggenderexpertTOR

Formula nggenderresearchques on,budge ng

Post-cer ficatesupport

CommunityofPrac cethroughResourceHub

“Pu ngevidencetowork”countryevents

Gendertheory,situa onalanalysis

Seedgrants

Business cases as a teaching tool • Discussion with Cornell Business School Faculty

Susan Fleming

• Will test how to apply the Harvard Business School case teaching method to GREAT

• Need to base on primary materials so will require upfront work on existing studies. E.g: for Theme 1 leverage ongoing NEXTGEN Cassava studies

• Promises the “a-hah” moment and self-discovery by participants

Working with WEAI

• Teams use WEAI country reports to identify domains women are most disempowered in to inform their project design and implementation.

• Teams map their project impact to domains of WEAI, to ensure this aligns with where change is needed from point 1 above.

• Teams will learn to use pro-WEAI tools, to track project outcomes and to measure change in the domains they have identified.

• Through funding under GAAP2 with AWARD, teams contribute to pro-WEAI curriculum development for adaptation and testing

GREAT Communication

• Focus on generating convincing case studies from participants’ outputs

• Make case contextually, with regional and commodity focus, for “why

gender matters” for policy engagement and scientific communities

• Individual and community level transformation will be tracked through “GREAT stories” constructed in collaboration with ALINe, supplemented with professional A/V material generated for multimedia outputs.

• Active social media presence with dedicated student support to maintain a presence.

GREAT Resource Hub

• GREAT’s resource hub will be a one-stop platform to gain access to critical information, including a community of experts

• Dynamic community-generated content using easy-to-use tools. Content added on a weekly basis so new information is constantly available

• Content alerts will help people stay up-to-date with the both the latest research and informal findings

• Skype resource consultations and document delivery will be available for all participants in order to further develop their research plan

Curriculum Development

• Spin-off courses developed with interested partners. AWARD, CGIAR centers, universities and graduate training programs (ACCI, WACCI, ADA)

• In-house Cornell course on gender-responsive plant breeding

• Cornell Small Private Online Course/MOOC planned from GREAT content, possibly on gender responsive plant breeding

Curriculum/Capacity Development

• Makerere already offers a course unit in gender and agricultural development (core at undergraduate and elective at postgraduate level)

• The GREAT curriculum will enrich these courses making them more practical and applied

• Through the RUFORUM network, the experiences will be shared with other universities in SSA

• Capacity building for gender expertise: Mentor pairing junior gender experts with experienced experts recruited for each theme to work closely together

Institutional change/policy shifts

• GREAT will contribute to building supportive environments in research institutions through:

(i) Partnering with AWARD to offer its Leadership Program for Agricultural Research & Development (LEPARD) to leaders of agricultural research institutions

(ii) Establishing a strong communications platform to share lessons, case studies, publications and effective messaging for policy makers and research leaders

(iii) Convening in-country “putting evidence to work” events featuring GREAT alumni presenting well-packaged evidence from their research results to regional and national policy makers to influence change

(iv)Strategic partnerships to leverage resources , e.g. presentations at CAADP and FARA meetings.

ASARECA will lead the institution strengthening and policy influence component of GREAT given its strategic position at national and regional level, pairing with other SROs in West Africa

Institutional change/policy shifts

Makerere-centre of excellence

• Hypothesis: By establishing an academic institution like Makerere University as the region’s center of excellence for gender-responsive research, GREAT can change how agricultural sciences are taught for decades to come.

• GREAT will exploit the conducive institutional environment: Faculty from College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and School of Women and Gender Studies (SWGS) will work together in GREAT curriculum development

• The continuing Agricultural Education Centre (CAEC) will serve as a host center for GREAT as a for-fee course in the long run.

• Makerere will benefit from the expanded professional networks, especially with Cornell

Business model

• GREAT will admit a mix of participants: fully supported, partially supported and self-supported, increasing the latter over the project period. Eventually GREAT to be a fee paying course.

• Assumptions: Makerere University allows reinvestment of project administration fee for improvements at CAEC to serve as a long term host for high caliber international courses such as GREAT.

• There is a large potential client base of donor funded agricultural research projects in SSA with an acute need for specialized gender training.

• Theme-based delivery allows topical flexibility in response to emerging regional and donor priorities.

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Fully supported participants

Partially funded participants

Fully funded participants

M&E • M&E activities will serve two major functions: (1) develop and

coordinate the documentation and analysis of changes in individuals, institutions and learning, and (2) building critical gender focused M&E capacity in SSA

• A robust theory of change and a M L&E framework will be developed and tested for measurement of impact and scaling out

• This component will be led by ALINe and include longitudinal studies, case studies, participant surveys and field visits.

Thank you!