HYDERABAD, NOVEMBER 07, 2024: A three-day international workshop on ‘Gender-Responsive Agricultural Extension: Transforming Practices, Policies, and Institutions’ at MANAGE organized by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the CGIAR Gender Impact Platform concluded here on Thursday.
The workshop was held in the presence of Interim Director General, ICRISAT Dr. Stanford Blade and Director General (I/C) and Director (Administration & Agricultural Extension) at MANAGE. A total of 30 participants from organizations including FAO, ICAR-IVRI, APAARI, CRISP, IFPRI, ICRISAT, Digital Green, J-PAL South Asia, and African Centre for Field School (Uganda), HAPRI, SEWA Cooperative from 10 countries participated in the workshop.
The workshop was aimed at revolutionizing the delivery of agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) to empower women farmers through a dynamic dialogue among key stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and development partners. The workshop explored innovations and identified strategies to make agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) more inclusive and gender-responsive, addressing gaps that had limited women’s access to essential agricultural knowledge, technologies, and resources. Peter Ballantyne, Deputy Director (Gender Studies), MANAGE Dr Veenita Kumari, and Evidence Module Lead, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform and Principal Scientist of Gender and Livelihoods, IRRI Dr Ranjitha Puskur also participated.
In the opening session, in his inaugural address, Dr Stanford Blade, Interim Director General, ICRISAT, said “As we go into the future of agriculture, we must ensure policies and practices actively support women farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs who represent vital and transformative forces in the sector. Dr Saravanan Raj, Director General (I/C) of MANAGE and Director of Administration & Agricultural Extension at MANAGE, emphasized that we need to empower local grassroots extension professionals through extension institutions and take the knowledge from these institutions to mainstream gender-responsive agriculture. For that, equity is the answer, he said. Dr Ranjitha Puskur, Evidence Module Lead, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform & Principal Scientist of Gender and Livelihoods, IRRI, highlighted that Closing the gaps is fine, but we need to move beyond the symptoms and address root causes such as the digital divide, design and implementation of programs, and gender-responsive policies, she said. The workshop explored innovations and identified strategies to make agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) more inclusive and gender-responsive, addressing gaps that had limited women’s access to essential agricultural knowledge, technologies, and resources. Peter Ballantyne served as the facilitator for the workshop, while Dr Veenita Kumari, Deputy Director (Gender Studies), MANAGE, and Dr Ranjitha Puskur, Evidence Module Lead, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform and Principal Scientist of Gender and Livelihoods, IRRI, coordinated the workshop.
