GREAT South Asia course participants and trainers in Hyderabad, India in September.

Time runs fast! This has been a busy few months for GREAT with brand new trainings, partnerships and research initiatives. 

In September, GREAT expanded into a new geographical area with the GREAT Course for South Asia. The course was a fantastic experience to meet exciting people and learn together. For the trainer team, the workshops held in Hyderabad, India brought many together for the first time since 2020 after several years delivering courses virtually.

We are also thrilled to share that the trainer’s manual for the Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding Course is now published. The manual presents the training process for the Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding course and is intended for all facilitators/trainers interested in applied, gender responsive agricultural research.

In October, our team participated in 2022 CGIAR Science Exchange. The event was a great sharing, learning and networking opportunity! Plus, a GREAT Fellow earned runner-up at the Gender Vision competition for innovation, impact potential and cross-cutting promise.

A new initiative is expanding the GREAT network. Makerere University signed an MoU with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture through the Excellence in Agronomy initiative of the OneCGIAR to implement a gender capacity strengthening program in the first quarter of 2023. 

Our four research clusters are progressing steadily, with most teams now writing publications. The cluster on women empowerment, masculinities and social norms in agriculture at Makerere University had a great experience collecting data using the ProWEAI tool in Central Uganda. All the research clusters are aimed at deepening the capacity of agricultural researchers to conduct gender responsive and transformative research across Africa and beyond.

Last but not least, we are preparing submissions to the Sustainability special issue in December to publish work from the research clusters and other studies from the GREAT Community.

Stay safe, and thank you for reading this issue.

Sincerely,

Dr. Margaret Najjingo Mangheni and Dr. Hale Ann Tufan,

GREAT Co-Principal Investigators

Creating more inclusive and effective agricultural systems

Trainer’s Manual for the Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding Course

GREAT | by Margaret Najjingo Mangheni and Hale Ann Tufan | September 30, 2022

This manual presents the training process for the Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding course. Each session consists of specific learning objectives, session plans and slides, delivery methods, practical exercises and examples, as well as relevant tips and synthesized take-home messages. This manual is for all facilitators/trainers interested in applied, gender responsive agricultural research. Read the full manual.

GREAT provides gender in agriculture training in South Asia

GREAT | by Elizabeth Asiimwe | October 15, 2022 | Read more here.

GREAT participates in CGIAR Science event

GREAT | by Elizabeth Asiimwe | October 28, 2022 | Read more here.

GREAT mentorship: an invaluable resource

Makerere University | by Fred Shimali | October 28, 2022 | Read more here.

Hale Ann Tufan named associate professor at Cornell University

GREAT co-PI Hale Ann Tufan now holds a tenure-track position as Associate Professor at Cornell University's School of Integrative Plant Science.

Hearty congratulations, Hale! Learn more in a spotlight feature from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

GREAT Fellow Patricia Acheampong promoted to principal research scientist at CSIR! 

This summer, GREAT Fellow Dr Patricia Acheampong earned a promotion to principal researcher scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Crops Research Institute in Kumasi, Ghana. She is one of the few women agricultural economists with that rank at the institution.  

Patricia attended the virtual GREAT Gender-responsive plant breeding course (Theme 5) in 2021.

Congratulations, Dr. Acheampong! 

Dr. Amengor successfully defends his PhD!

GREAT Fellow Eyram Natson Amengor successfully defended his PhD at the Nkwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. 

Dr. Amengor attended GREAT Cohort 2 on gender-responsive cereal grains breeding in 2017/18 held at Makerere University in Uganda.

Congratulations, Eyram!

Out & About

Opportunity: Consultancy for Integrating Social Inclusion Perspective in Agricultural and Food system Research for Development

• CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform
• Deadline: November 15, 2022
• More info

Opportunity: Gender and Agriculture Researcher

• Oxfam
• Deadline: November 13
• More info

Event: The Gendering of Climate Change Scholarship in Africa

• Speaker: Siera Vercillo, adjunct professor and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo
• Part of the Women and Gender in International Development discussion series 
• When: November 10
• Registration

Freely access 238 full-text articles in the GREAT CoP Zotero Group library.

Authors in bold, below, are CoP members.

GREAT Trainer’s Manual for the Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding Course

Published: September 2022

Margaret Najjingo Mangheni, Hale Ann Tufan

Access the full-text PDF online.

Researching Gender Relations in Africa: Directions and Landmarks in Feminist Research Methodology

Published: 2022

Josephine Ahikire

Access the full-text PDF online.

Youth engagement in sweetpotato production and agribusiness: the case of Northern Uganda

Published: July 2022

Mdege, N.; Mayanja Sarah; Mudege, NN.

Access the full-text PDF online.

Gender differences in climate-smart adaptation practices amongst bean-producing farmers in Malawi: The case of Linthipe Extension Planning Area

Published: September 2022

Nchanji, Eileen Bogweh; Kabuli, Hilda; Nyamolo, Victor Onyango; Cosmas, Lutomia; Chisale, Virginia; and Matumba, Anne

Access the full-text PDF online.

Understanding gendered trait preferences: Implications for client-responsive breeding programs 

Published: August 2022

Cynthia McDougall, Juliet Kariuki, Birhanu M. Lenjiso, Pricilla Marimo, Mamta Mehar, Seamus Murphy, Be´la Teeken, Michael J. Akester, John A.H. Benzie, Alessandra Galiè, Peter Kulakow, Wagdy Mekkawy, Lilian Nkengla-Asi, Julie M. K. Ojango, Robooni Tumuhimbise, Brigitte Uwimana, Alastair Orr

Access the full-text PDF online.

Gender-responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) is a collaboration between Cornell University, in the United States, and Makerere University, in Uganda, in partnership with CGIAR GENDER Platform. GREAT started in 2016, and is funded with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

GREAT equips researchers to create more inclusive and effective agricultural systems by addressing the needs and priorities of both women and men in sub-Saharan Africa.

www.greatagriculture.org