Gender disaggregation of data: More than a workshop

Gender disaggregated data is an important component to a successful research. A focus on gender has been shown to increase agriculture productivity among other benefits and gender disaggregated data significantly contributes to this success. The ‘Technical Workshop on CAADP M&E: Gender Disaggregation of Data and Tools for Planning’ organised by the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) and the Poverty, Gender and Impact (PGI) team of ILRI, on the 26- 29 September in Nairobi, Kenya dedicated the first 2 days of this workshop on gender disaggregated data.

The workshop objectives as presented by Dr. Joseph Karugia, the regional coordinator of ReSAKKS in his welcome remark included:

To discuss the operationalization of the gender disaggregation of indicators as proposed in the CAADP monitoring and evaluation framework
Share successful experiences with collecting, managing and analysing gender disaggregated agriculture and investments data in the region
Identify gaps in capacity, tools and methods for collecting, managing and analysing gender disaggregated agriculture and investments data
Develop a plan for building capacity and supporting collection, managing and analysing gender disaggregated data at country level

The business case for gender mainstreaming

Participants were informed about the efforts that ILRI is making to incorporate gender into its operation through the PGI team. This innovative team aims at mainstreaming gender in ILRI programs and to generate evidence on why gender should be mainstreamed at ILRI.

Among the reasons why ILRI aims to mainstream gender include:

To enable ILRI to have a systematic approach to promoting gender equality / equity at institutional and research level.
To define the role that ILRI will play in stimulating and facilitating efforts, both in-house and with partners at the national, regional and global levels, to overcome constraints and take advantage of opportunities to promote gender equality and equity within the livestock sub sector
It is a reflection of the increasing awareness that gender equality and equity are important prerequisites for agricultural growth and sustainable development.

Learning from other countries

In line with the objective of sharing experiences in the region, the workshop participants from the various African countries also had an opportunity to present and share their experiences of managing data on gender in their various countries. This session elicited very interesting discussion with participants learning from each other, identify potential gaps in their various related works and opportunities for developing further.

The evolution of gender

Evolution of gender started from the time when we had Women in Development (WID) and the reason behind WID was that women needed to participate, this was replaced by Women and Development (WAD) which included the element of trying to figure out how can women benefit from development and finally the current, Gender and Development (GAD) which was introduced in the 1980s. Some of it’s features include;

GAD sees women in the same light as men, that is as agents of change rather than as passive recipients of development assistance
GAD stresses the need for women to organize themselves for more effective political voice
GAD focuses on strengthening women legal rights, including the reform of inheritance and legal rights

Other topics that were discussed included, CAADP M&E, a review of the gender study by COMESA, practical assignments on disaggregating of data by gender and learning from case studies.

Conclusion

The workshop was a great learning forum, symbolic to a ‘a gender classroom’, where the participants were equipped with information and knowledge that would enable them to become champions of the gender issues at their home institution, give correct policy recommendations to policy makers where gender issues are concerned as well as advise on how to capture and use gender data so as to better shape agriculture research.

Workshop pictures review

Workshop participants pose for a group photo