Dorine Odongo is the Senior Communications Manager for African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). Dr. David Ameyaw is the President of the International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED).
This blog is a conversation between Dorine Odongo of AWARD and Dr. David Ameyaw of ICED. AWARD and ICED have long been partners and collaborators with each other and are partners with USAID. Both organizations do capacity strengthening work with individuals and organizations to nurture networks of African academics to do research and influence systems change. Last year, Ms. Odongo and Dr. Ameyaw shared insights at the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security (REFS) session during USAID’s Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) Learning and Feedback Forum, which highlighted good examples of LCS practices in food security programming, like the ones described in this blog.
AWARD and ICED also strengthen connections between researchers and decision makers so that African evidence is used to shape African policy to improve livelihoods. This conversation focuses on their local capacity strengthening efforts to support women researchers in Africa to influence food and agriculture policies and practices, as supported by USAID. REFS will be hosting another conversation at this year’s virtual LCS Policy Learning and Feedback Forum (October 1–10, 2024), during which the Bureau will share new local capacity strengthening guidance that builds on the Principles of Locally Led Adaptation and that will inform their future programming.
Dorine Odongo: AWARD was established in Kenya 15 years ago and was founded to widen the pipeline of capable, influential African women leaders in agricultural research. Today, sadly, the situation is still dire. On the African continent, only 25 percent of African researchers are women, and only 7 percent of researchers in a leadership role are women. AWARD started with a mandate to enhance the leadership capacity of individual female researchers. But we found that after participating in training, these women would simply go back to the same systems and institutions where they faced the same problems they did before their training.
Over the years, our work has expanded to address this challenge. While we continue to work with individuals, we also now work at the institutional level, helping organizations be more conducive for women by using a gender equity approach. We support agricultural researchers to develop innovations that both help women and strengthen institutions, such as programs addressing flexible hours, child care, and mentorship. This is all because skills training is not the only thing women need: what women really need is the opportunity to participate and benefit as equal members of society.
Dr. David Ameyaw: The International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED) was founded in 2016 and has offices in Kenya and Ghana. We’ve had a similar experience to what Dorine described. On the Feed the Future Advancing Local Leadership, Innovation, and Networks (ALL-IN) project, we put out a call for proposals from African researchers early in their career. Only 35 percent of the 124 proposals came from female Principal Investigators, and only 30 percent of the 12 research grants were awarded to women. This set off alarm bells. We not only needed to support female researchers to write competitive grants, but we also needed to mentor them through the application process. African research is indeed male dominated. We need to make an effort to work with women if we want to achieve gender equality in our sector and see better overall results.
Ameyaw: ICED advances thought and practice leadership in the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) profession. To achieve this, we combine high-level research and evaluation knowledge and skills with extensive practical experience. Our team then delivers evidence-based tools that are sensitive and responsive to culture, values systems, and local context. At ICED, we don’t use the term “capacity building.” We use the term “capacity strengthening,” like the USAID Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) Policy. The reason why is because we do not start from zero. We work with professionals with years of experience. They may simply need to enhance their work, their network connections, or be given additional experience and opportunities. We know there is no such thing as perfection, but we encourage everyone we work with to strive for excellence on their own path.
Odongo: One method that we find effective is to continue to work with our alumni. AWARD Fellows graduate from our programs, go on to become change makers, and start to role-model what women in agricultural leadership look like. They can mentor new female academics. They can collaborate with each other to publish their research and get their research findings into the hands of policymakers.
Women scientists exist in Africa; often, they are just not visible. This is another reason why skills training is not enough. AWARD helps make connections among women researchers and media and supports women's media engagement. We design events where female researchers can present. We work to position women in regional and national policy dialogues. All together, these efforts support women scientists to become visible to their colleagues, to influencers, and to policymakers.
We also need to be intentional in increasing the number of women in policy processes and equipping women to influence the design and implementation of policies that address these interconnected gender issues in agricultural research. This is at the core of our Gender Responsive Agriculture Systems Policy (GRASP) Fellowship, which works with women policy practitioners across 12 African countries to develop innovative policy projects that analyze and address gender gaps in agrifood policies.
Ameyaw: The ICED mission is to support researchers from the Global South to generate, synthesize, and promote uptake of evidence to promote policies and actions that transform lives. Knowing how to influence policy requires an individual to have a deep knowledge of the policymaking process in their country. One strategy we have found successful is to embed women policymakers in the research team—an idea we got from the ALL-IN grant awarded to Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and the Tegemeo Institute of Agriculture in Kenya. The person who is in the room and able to articulate the research, that is the one who is going to get their ideas in an agenda. We work to ensure that women from the community who will be impacted are part of the research team, along with policymakers. These partnerships are able to funnel information up through the channels to the decision makers so that policies are inclusive and more equitable. This approach enables us to identify the gender gaps in national policies and submit innovative policy solutions to address those issues. Traditionally, men were the only people suggesting policy solutions. The key to change is finding the entry point for women involved in research in this process.
Odongo: When we talk about policy change, amplifying women's voices is important because we cannot afford to omit fundamental input for critical policy processes that may exacerbate inequality. For instance, when agricultural extension policies do not factor in women’s preferences and accessibility to advisory services, significant contributors to our agrifood systems are blocked from accessing skills, knowledge, and services to accelerate their productivity. Ultimately, the entire agrifood system suffers.
We need to shift the enabling environment so women in agriculture are heard and respected. We help connect our women grantees with popular media, introduce them to media agencies, and help them pitch op-eds. We have conducted training on storytelling so that women researchers develop their skills to tell compelling narratives around their work. AWARD also designs and convenes events where female researchers can come and share their stories with policymakers. This is how we ensure their research is seen and influences action.
Ameyaw: As of 2018, sub-Saharan Africa is home to 14 percent of the world’s people but only 0.7 percent of the world’s researchers. And among that 0.7 percent, women’s research visibility is very low. We need to make a change, and our potential is here among us—women just need the opportunity. African organizations like AWARD and ICED are creating those opportunities and leading efforts to strengthen the capacity of women researchers in Africa.
Odongo: The gender gap in Africa is still very high. But we are making progress. The amount of noise that is happening is finally working: there is awareness and agreement to change. The progress is slow but sure. We need to keep talking and keep showing the data. For example, if there is a leadership team without women, people now say something. When we go to a conference and see a “manel” (all-male panel), people now complain. All of this is very positive, because it demonstrates a change. Not only are people recognizing gender gaps, but they also are saying something about it.
We need to keep on and bring greater visibility and respect to these uncompromising scientists. And we need to celebrate our achievements. This is a slow process, so let’s be proud of the strategies that have worked. For example, 50 percent of AWARD’s graduates are in senior leadership positions around Africa. That did not happen just because of training. It also required structural change, media engagement, and creating spaces for our women leaders to shine—intentional and holistic capacity strengthening. This is a tremendous accomplishment that is something to celebrate. Like good research, we can’t be stuck focusing on the problem; rather, we must focus on the solutions.
*Editor's note: This blog was originally written and published on USAID's website. The original article can be found here.
