1. Dryland Systems:
Planning Workshop for Implementing
the Gender Strategy
The Gender Strategy:
Launching the Multi-Stakeholder Implementation Process
Jennie Dey de Pryck
GFAR/GAP Senior Gender Adviser & ICARDA Consultant
Amman, 26 May 2014

2. Structure of Presentation
• Consortium Office priorities & demands
• Process: developing, implementing, updating
Gender Strategy (GS) with stakeholders
• GS: gaps in knowledge, target groups, goal,
objectives, research questions, theory of
change, impact pathway
• GS: capacity building
• GS: management systems, team building,
M&E

3. Consortium Office: What are our
Challenges?
• Approved GS for 1 year: Updated GS to be submitted
early Jan 2015
• Appreciated central role given to gender research in ex
ante analysis, priority setting & planning, for the entire
CRP
• Recognized contribution of proposed Gender
Transformative Research to innovation & need for
development-oriented action research
• Stressed need for further specification of gender
research questions
• CRP needs to strengthen its identification/attainment
of “outcomes” for gender

4. The Process: taking ownership - 1
A conducive environment & time:
• Strong commitment by Center DGs &
Managers
• Growing “demand” from CRP scientists &
partners for help in gender-responsive AR4D
• CO reporting & sanctions
• Opportunities to re-conceptualize and
strengthen gender research as the CRP
evolves (revised IDOs, Science meeting)

5. The Process: taking ownership - 2
A participatory design process:
• Malawi workshop with multiple stakeholders
(Sept ’13) – formulated Gender & Youth IDO
agreed by Steering Committee, GS objectives etc.
• Drafting GS/comments from DS scientists & CO
• Submission to CO (Jan ’14)
• Gender incorporated in Flagship PWBs for ’14,’15
• Amman Workshop to develop/agree Gender
Work Plan & Budget (GWP&B) (May ’14)

6. The Process: taking ownership - 3
Next steps 2014:
• Implementing GWP&B: monitoring, reporting
• Strengthening gender specialists’ and
biophysical scientists’ team work in grounding
gender in technological research
• Integrating gender, socio-economic &
institutional issues in DS systems concepts &
methods at Science meeting (July ’14)
• Updating GS

7. Gender Strategy: Gaps in Knowledge
& Practice in Dryland Systems
• Gender roles/issues & gaps in knowledge & practice in
AR4D vary by Flagship
• Traditional CG focus on ex post gender impact assessments,
gender less integrated in ex ante diagnosis & research cycle
• Small-scale, piecemeal gender research – often fails to
harness opportunities from broad change processes
• Inadequate attention to socio-economic differentiation
between & among women/men
• Limited value of sex-disaggregated baseline data unless
disaggregated by socio-economic class, age, ethnicity etc. &
supplemented with info on gender relations & dynamics
• Little knowledge of gender roles/dynamics (by class) in
community NR & marketing orgs

8. Gender Strategy: Target Beneficiaries
• Poor, vulnerable people, especially women, to
increase resilience (IDO1)
• Women (and men) with capacity to intensify or
diversify to increase wealth and wellbeing (IDO2)
Need to:
a) Develop typologies of these groups using
baseline surveys & qualitative info
b) Give attention to inter-relations between these
groups

9. Gender Strategy Goal
The overall goal is:
“to promote gender-equity in access to and
control of agricultural assets, technologies,
services, products and income in dryland
systems in order to enhance the food security,
wellbeing and resilience of poor vulnerable
households, especially women and children”

10. Gender Strategy Objectives
• Develop/implement more effective interdisciplinary ex-ante diagnostic
methods to integrate gender analysis & gender equity goals in
targeting/prioritizing DS programs (All IDOs)
• Improve knowledge/understanding of key (changing) cultural, ideological,
normative and institutional factors in the 5 Regions that lead to gender
inequalities and identify effective gender-responsive and transformative
ways of addressing these (All IDOs)
• Design processes, technologies and related policy and institutional
frameworks to reduce gender disparities in critical vulnerabilities and
access to agricultural/domestic technologies to reduce female drudgery
and improve resilience (primarily IDOs 1 & 5).
• Integrate gender differences & equity goals into development/testing
technologies to intensify production/increase value addition along
selected DS crop & livestock value chains, with a focus on entrepreneurial
women/men to increase wealth & wellbeing (IDOs 2 & 5).

11. Gender Strategy: Priority Actions
Priority to:
• Mainstreaming gender throughout the CRP, in
each Flagship and IDO, especially
– Integrating gender in ex ante diagnostic work
– Grounding the Gender Work Plan technically
• Undertaking 1 (max.3) cross-Flagship strategic
studies to INFORM/STRENGTHEN the
mainstreaming work

12. Initial Generic Research Questions –
to be refined
• What are the specific gender knowledge gaps and priorities in the 5 Regions with important
implications for gender-equitable demand-driven technology development and adoption?
What are the commonalities/critical differences across Regions, to enable more substantive
impacts?
• How do (changing) cultural, ideological, normative and institutional factors in the 5 DS
Regions/Countries affect gender relations? What are the implications for the diagnosis and
prioritization of research problems and targeting, and implementation of (eg) plant breeding,
systems agronomy, environmental sustainability and conservation, crop-livestock
interactions, climate-smart production practices, and crop and livestock value chain
improvement?
• What are promising ways of facilitating (transformative) change in norms, attitudes and
practices underlying gender disparities in the 5 Flagships? What are promising institutional
arrangements to increase women’s voice and power in community/agricultural
organizations to improve NRM & ensure more equitable access to CRP innovations? How do
changes in norms and practices affect intrahousehold gender relations? What are the
implications for the CRP?
• What are promising technologies to reduce the drudgery of women’s household and
agricultural work to free up time and energy to engage in agricultural diversification,
intensification and/or value-addition in dryland crop-livestock systems, and promising
practices for women to purchase, operate and maintain such technologies at the individual,
household or community level?

13. Generic Research Questions: Focal Points to define
Actual Questions based on their Work
• What are the specific gender knowledge gaps and priorities in the 5 Regions
with important implications for gender-equitable demand-driven technology
development and adoption?
• How do (changing) cultural, ideological, normative and institutional factors in
the 5 DS Regions/Countries affect gender relations and what are the
implications for the research cycle?
• What are promising ways of facilitating (transformative) change in norms,
attitudes and practices underlying gender disparities and increasing women’s
voice and power in the 5 Flagships?
• What are promising technologies to reduce the drudgery of women’s
household and agricultural work to free up time and energy to engage in
agricultural diversification, intensification and/or value-addition in dryland
crop-livestock systems?

14. Theory of Change
Social & Political
Structures,
Norms, Values,
Attitudes,
Customs,
Practices, Laws
Social & Political
Structures, Norms etc
determine Access by
Gender & Age to:
 Agri. Assets, Inputs,
Services, Finance
 Agri. Labor
 Education, Skills
 Markets
 Agri. & Community
Organizations
 Information, ICT
 Employment
 Voice, Decision-
Making Power
AFFECT
Subject to Positive or
Negative Changes
External Changes:
 Economic/Social
 Environmental
 War/Civil conflicts
 Natural Disasters
Public Action:
 Policies & Laws
 Admin. Procedures
Social & Political
Movements
 Women’s Orgs
 Youth Orgs
 Social Campaigns
Livelihood
Opportunities
Vulnerability
Risks
Distribution
of Benefits,
Income &
Decision-
Making
Dryland Systems CRP:
Gender-Aware:
 AR4D integrates gender priorities, and addresses their constraints.
 Agri. services (extension, finance, inputs, markets) strengthened for women.
 Women helped to take advantage of positive and avoid/mitigate negative changes.
Gender-Transformative:
 Innovations to improve women’s access to assets e.g. fish ponds, livestock, crops, incl. thro’ coops, self-help groups, group leases.
 Innovations for value addition by women including through cooperatives, community organizations.
 Recommendations to policy-makers for land reform, joint titling, labor market reform, decent work measures/sanctions etc.

15. Value of the Theory of Change
• Draws on work by Kabeer, Rowlands, Reeler
• Aims to analyze/identify ways to reduce social &
gender inequities & poverty, and empower
women in DS AR4D to improve wellbeing
• Shows root causes of these inequities/poverty
are underlying social & power structures, and
social norms, values, practices
• Guides identification of DS research priorities,
methods, targeting
• Helps identify gender-aware and –transformative
AR4D interventions

16. Gender-Blind, -Aware and
–Transformative Development
Gender-blind development: excludes women or brings them in on terms
that reproduce their secondary status
Gender-aware development: brings economic and welfare benefits to
women and their families but does NOT challenge the status quo (can lead
to unanticipated transformations)
Gender-transformative development: promotes structural changes to
address power inequalities
Gender-aware & gender-transformative approaches not mutually
exclusive
Source: Kabeer, 2010

17. Gender-transformative approaches
(GTAs): Some caveats
• Elaborated conceptually (eg in AAS) but very limited implementation
experience & lessons learned available
• Easier to implement in situations of enabling change (joint husband-wife
land titling, equalizing gender rights in family/inheritance laws)
• Can provoke conflicts (intra-household, community)
• May be better to start with gender-aware approaches to build confidence
among women & in community before attempting GTAs
• Critical to engage in participatory action research with women & men
stakeholders to support their goals (respecting their risk aversion)
• More effective if work with grassroots dev. partners & policy makers
• Consider engaging in Cross-CRP Study on Gender Norms & Agency to
identify key (changing) cultural, ideological, normative and institutional
causes of gender inequalities in each Flagship, before embarking on GTAs

18. Impact Pathway
Women have better access to and control over productive assets, improved technologies,
inputs, services, information and market opportunities and capture a more equitable share of
increased income, food and other benefits
Development
agencies
Policy makers
Line
departments
Producer &
marketing
associations
NGOs/CSOs
Extension
systems
Agribusiness
Farmers
pastoralists
NARS
Advanced
research centers
CG centers
Other CRPs
Women
empowered
within HHs &
communities
More rapid adoption of
technologies with
additional benefits for
women by incorporating
their preferences
Policy reforms improved
gender equity in access to
ag. technologies, assets,
services & markets
Men & women increase
yields/outputs/incomes
from DS crops & livestock
thro’ use of technology &
management innovations
Accelerated
crop/livestock
breeding with
traits better
suited to user
needs
Indicators tested
& available.
Analyses
available for
dev. policy,
action & future
AR4D
Evidence-based analyses
& policy briefs on gender
issues & gender-equitable
practices in community
pastoral/other DS NRM,
ag. orgs/ag. services
Hands-on training &
technical manuals for
biophysical and social
scientists in gender
analysis in DS systems
Evidence-based
gender-
awareness
raising briefs,
presentations
for managers
Gender-differentiated
preferences for crop &
livestock enterprises &
traits incorporated in
technology dev. from
breeding to processing
products
M&E systems
have explicit
gender
indicators
Gender research
findings &
recommendations
integrated in dev.
policy & practice
CGIAR & NARS
scientists’ capacity
to undertake
gender research
enhanced
Gender awareness &
commitment of CGIAR &
NARS research managers
enhanced
Gender integrated
across CRP’s
research cycle
Impac
t
Development
Outcomes
OutputsGuiding
principles
Research
Outcomes
Gender
integrated in
CGIAR & NARS
AR4D
Improved gender-
sensitive methods for
sustainable use &
conservation of
community natural
resources
Partners along
impact pathway
Gender equity in
access to
technologies &
appropriate
delivery systems
Female drudgery
in HH & agri. work
reduced, freeing
time for more
productive agri.
work & improved
child nutrition

19. Impact Pathway: Application
• Not “cast in stone” but a tool to guide design of
gender-aware/transformative activities, outputs,
outcomes in each Flagship and in strategic research
across Flagships
• FPs to identify “outcomes” quickly to meet CO demand
by end 2014, drawing on opportunities from past/on-
going work that require little (if any) additional
investment while continuing long-term scientific work
• Shows need for different partners along IP (eg NARS,
CSOs at activity/output level, policymakers/dev. orgs at
dev. outcome level)

20. Capacity Building
• Identify CB needs for biophysical scientists,
gender specialists etc:
– Use/adapt specialized tools for this purpose
– Collaborate with other CRPs
• Design/implement
– Awareness-raising for managers/scientists
– CB for biophysical & social scientists
• Adapt gender research tools & methods
• Train women scientists in leadership,
management & negotiation; provide mentoring

21. Management & Coordination
• Senior Gender Specialist/Coordinator to be
member of CRP Research Management
Committee & report to CRP Director
• Set up CRP Working Group of Gender Focal Points
& agree methods of communication/discussion
(meetings, email)
• Form/strengthen multidisciplinary research teams
in each Flagship, with shared systems approach
• Allocate Gender FP(s) per Flagship & IDO
• Accountability for “gender” at all levels

22. Gender Team Building
• Regular DS Gender FP meetings to share lessons &
update plans
• Training, supervision, mentoring of junior staff
within Centers and across CRP Gender Team
• Use of external specialists to fill temporary staffing
gaps (universities, NARS, CSOs):
*Secondments or consultants
*Special services

23. Monitoring & Evaluation
Gender M&E Strategy will be:
• Nested within overall CRP M&E strategy
• Based on the CO indicators for annual reporting
on CRP progress

24. Partners & Networks
• CO Senior Gender Adviser & CGIAR Gender &
Agriculture Research Network
• Other systems CRPs (AAS, Humid Tropics, AN4H,
PIM)
• Other research programs (World Bank LSMS-ISA,
IFAD Household Methodologies)
• GFAR/GAP – GCWA2 & GCARD3 (2015)
• Regional Fora (AARINENA, FARA, APAARI)
• YPARD
• WFO

25. Budget
• Budget for gender mainstreaming in the
Flagships (IDOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6) to come from the
Flagships’ budgets
• Budget for cross-Flagship strategic research to
come under IDO 5 (in CRP Director’s Office)
• Approx. 10% of total CRP budget allocated to
gender (in practice likely to be more)

26. Thank you