Contributions

Enhancing gender integration and social inclusion in the drylands: Gender research is designed to support GLDC in pursuit of integration, inclusion and equity among female, male and youth beneficiaries and stakeholders, to strengthen the relevance and targeting of research outputs and enhance development impacts. Ensuring inclusion and participation of men, women and young people in research and value chain development is crucial for accelerating impact. As a strategy for gender integration in the whole CRP, gender research questions are proposed for FP2-FP4 while CoA1.3 offers the platform for strategic gender research questions on norms of women participation, youth in the drylands and understanding the nexus between nutrient dense cereals/ legumes and malnutrition.

Women are increasingly taking responsibility to head households when men migrate to urban areas in search of employment. The main source of labor in dryland farming has been women labor. There are unique cultures, in GLDC target regions, whose norms and practices still limit the participation of women in public domains because of religious or social norms. Hampering if/how women can interact with agents of change. Women are an important constituency in legume and cereals farming systems, and increasingly, they need to be able to access knowledge and skills about improved varieties, practices and value chains. Research questions about women include:

What and how do social/gender norms and power relations influence women’s participation, decision making and practices in the legumes and cereals systems?

What are the core values, norms and practices that need to be taken into account when working with women on legumes and cereals innovations in the drylands?

What role can inclusive, innovative, learning and action systems play to leverage change?

Young people’s embeddedness in families, social networks and communities, as well as norms and expectations related to age and gender, influence the exercise of agency¹⁰³ as well as livelihood decisions and outcomes¹⁰⁴. Research questions about youth include:

What are the local contextual factors and social differences and how do they interact to shape the diverse pathways by which young men and women engage with in legume and cereals systems in the drylands?

What opportunities exist to enhance gainful participation of the youth in cereals/legumes value chains?

What is the potential of ICT/Digital agriculture?