The power of ideas: New ways of thinking about gender can improve development outcomes
Agriculture / Gender / GENDERPLATFORM / Impact / Impact Assessment / Interview / Livestock Systems / LIVESTOCKCRP / Markets / Women

The power of ideas: New ways of thinking about gender can improve development outcomes

What does it mean to take gender seriously in development—and specifically in agriculture and livestock development? How can the international community promote economic development in ways that are both culturally sensitive and substantively equitable? What kinds of power are available to women in various cultural and economic contexts and how can these be reinforced? Continue reading

Expanding livestock production in Asia and Africa key to environmental as well as human welfare gains—New study
Advocacy / Africa / CCAFS / Consumption / Food Security / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Intensification / Livelihoods / LIVESTOCKCRP / Markets / Nutrition / PIL / PIM / Pro-Poor Livestock / Science paper / South Asia / Spotlight / WLE / Women

Expanding livestock production in Asia and Africa key to environmental as well as human welfare gains—New study

A new paper, published this month in Global Food Security and led by scientists at ILRI, confirms a wealth of similar evidence showing that, with sufficient and targeted investments in their livestock sectors, low- and middle-income countries can achieve both better nutrition and incomes for the poor and greatly reduced greenhouse gas emission and agricultural water use. Continue reading

The Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index: Indicators for the start of a global, badly needed, conversation
Agriculture / East Africa / Gender / Impact Assessment / Livelihoods / Livestock / LIVESTOCKCRP / PIL / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Science paper / Spotlight / Tanzania / Women

The Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index: Indicators for the start of a global, badly needed, conversation

Recently, a team of scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), led by anthropologist Alessandra Galiè, in collaboration with Emory University, developed the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI), a new index to assess the empowerment of women in production systems in which livestock are important. Continue reading

Award-winning paper establishes links between women’s empowerment and crop seed improvement and governance in pre-war Syria
Agriculture / Award / CGIAR / Crops / Drylands / Extension / Food Security / Gender / Impact Assessment / Knowledge and Information / Middle East / Participation / Policy / Science paper / Seeds / Spotlight / Staff / Vulnerability / Women

Award-winning paper establishes links between women’s empowerment and crop seed improvement and governance in pre-war Syria

Alessandra Galiè, a social scientist specializing in gender issues in agricultural research who now works in Nairobi, Kenya, at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), conducted her doctoral research in Aleppo, Syria, at ILRI’s sister CGIAR institution, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). This week Galiè received a prestigious award for an academic paper she published documenting how ICARDA’s participatory barley breeding program in pre-war Syria impacted women’s empowerment. Continue reading

Closer, smarter integration of crops, animals and soils has bolstered food security, livelihoods and incomes in rural Zimbabwe
Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / ASSP / Cattle / Crop-Livestock / DRYLANDSCRP / Event Report / Extension / Fodder / Food Security / Forages / Goats / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Legumes / LIVESTOCKCRP / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Soils / Southern Africa / Spotlight / Zimbabwe

Closer, smarter integration of crops, animals and soils has bolstered food security, livelihoods and incomes in rural Zimbabwe

Partners and funders of a research-for-development project in rural Zimbabwe called ‘ZimCLIFS’ yesterday (18 Sep 2017) convened in the capital, Harare, to take stock of how small-scale mixed crop-and-livestock farmers improved their food and nutritional security and their livelihoods in four main districts (Goromonzi, Murewa, Gwanda and Nkayi, from 2012 to 2017) and in two spillover districts (Mutoko and Uzumba, from 2015 to 2017). Continue reading

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / CGIAR / Directorate / Environment / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / ILRI / Impact Assessment / NRM / Nutrition / PIM / Policy / Poverty / Presentation / Research / Scaling / Spotlight

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development

By ILRI’s Iain Wright: On 6–8 Jul 2017, I attended a conference at ICRAF on Impacts of International Agricultural Research: Rigorous Evidence for Policy organized jointly by the CGIAR ISPC’s SPIA and PIM. I welcomed the delegates at this meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, on behalf of ICRAF and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the two CGIAR centres headquartered in Nairobi. A modified version of my address and personal reflections on impact assessment in CGIAR follows. Continue reading

A ‘theory of change’ for agricultural research for development
Agriculture / Article / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Communications / Food Security / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Policy / Poverty / Research / Scaling / SLS / Spotlight

A ‘theory of change’ for agricultural research for development

The following are highlights of a new CGIAR paper advancing ways to make agricultural science make a bigger difference to development outcomes. We describe a theory-of-change approach to an agricultural research for development program. Continue reading