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
Tag Archives: Alessandra Galie
Research approaches required for supporting the empowerment of pastoral dairy women
The especially rich and clearly written results of a livestock-gender-nutrition study in Tanzania deserve wide attention. Continue reading
Barriers and opportunities for women milk traders in peri-urban Nairobi
In much of Africa, milk is not only an important dietary component, but a vital livelihood activity. Dairying provides income to many people, up and down the dairy value chain. In Nairobi’s peri-urban resource-poor areas, informal milk trade dominates the market: most residents rely on it to source milk for consumption, and dairy traders rely … Continue reading
When ‘Do no harm’ is harder than ‘doing good’
Agricultural researchers working to enhance traditional pasture conservation by Tanzania’s pastoral Maasai communities are systematically addressing gendered norms and roles to ensure that they don’t end up hurting more than helping these communities. Continue reading
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
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