Targeting Women in Smallholder Households for Better Development Outcomes

Agricultural research for development approaches have shifted over the years in response to demands to make it more efficient and effective. It has been widely recognized and acknowledged that closing the gender gap in access to productive resources, technologies and markets is critical to tackling significant global food security challenges, especially in the face of a changing climate. The international agricultural research community is for the first time proposing that the new CGIAR consortium research programs take ‘gender transformative approaches’ and add a system-level outcome on improving gender equity. This involves a transformation of the gender research agenda in agriculture to integrate efforts to redress gender disparities in resources, markets and technologies with complementary actions to address underlying social norms and power relations, i.e. more ‘action research’ and less diagnostic research. Examples of approaches that empower women smallholders include: strengthening groups (women’s, men’s and mixed groups) through inclusive trainings and rules such as rotational leaderships, increasing equitable access to information, credit, agricultural inputs through community-managed savings and loans groups, marketing cooperatives, producer associations, water-user groups, etc. Researchers that are thoughtful about inclusive engagement processes with local partners that ensure both men and women participate, have a voice, and equally benefit from interventions are contributing to closing the gender gap. Approaches such as scenarios, outcome mapping/impact pathway development with diverse partners, facilitated processes that strengthen public-private partnerships that include researchers, communication and capacity efforts aimed at spanning boundaries between researchers, NGO’s, government, private sector and CSO’s that enhance the reach, usefulness and use of research findings, and ‘learning approaches’ that encourage innovating and experimenting are all critical.