Meeting the gender challenge?
KIT supports CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish
KIT Sustainable Economic Development and KIT Gender are kicking off a new project this week with the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish to support the mainstreaming of gender within its research themes and in implementation. It is an exciting and challenging moment for CGIAR research institutes as they take up gender more comprehensively! The research institutes partnering in the livestock and fish CGIAR research program (CRP) are: WorldFish, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
Gender, livestock, fish and value chains
A sense of urgency for mainstreaming and integrating gender means that technical assistance is needed to assess and get the CRP on a robust and dynamic path over the next few months. That is where KIT comes in, working alongside the gender experts within the CRP itself. KIT combines the experience in innovation systems and research in agriculture and the gender and rights expertise, needed to support the CRP in meeting the gender challenge. From July until October KIT Advisors will be meeting with researchers, flagship leaders and value chain coordinators within the CRP to explore options for mainstreaming gender within their work. There are three technical flagship themes: Animal Health, Animal Genetics, Feeds and Forages. And, there are two non-technical flagship themes: Systems Analysis and Value Chains. KIT Advisors will also work with the CRP to explore the opportunities and constraints to integrating gender into four value chains: pigs (Uganda), dairy (Tanzania), fish (Bangladesh) and small ruminants (Ethiopia).
Towards a gender-integrated 2015
KIT will develop option papers based on the exploratory meetings and propose options for each flagship and value chain. In November the CRP flagship leaders and value chain coordinators will make choices as to how to proceed with selected options in 2015 and funds will be allocated for this. KIT Advisors will coach and mentor the CRP staff in implementing these plans in 2015 and to document the experiences at the end of 2015. The results will be very interesting for other CGIAR institutes and research programs as they also work towards more gender integrated research, programming and implementation.