50 African women policymakers shortlisted for agricultural development fellowship program-Xinhua

50 African women policymakers shortlisted for agricultural development fellowship program

Source: Xinhua| 2022-12-01 22:26:30|Editor: huaxia

NAIROBI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Fifty African women policymakers have been selected to participate in a two-year fellowship aimed at building their capacity to transform the continent's food systems, funders announced on Thursday.

The mid-career female policymakers from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia will be the first cohort of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)'s flagship program that seeks to create a large pool of trained female personnel who will implement programs aimed at improving productivity at the small-holder level.

Dubbed the Gender Responsive Agriculture Systems Policy (GRASP) Fellowship, the training program will also leverage collaborative research and sharing of best practices to ensure female policy-makers are at the heart of efforts to promote food security and rural development in Africa.

The AWARD said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital that the two-year fellowship will lead to the enactment of policies and the adoption of innovations that advance gender-inclusive agricultural transformation in the continent.

Susan Kaaria, the Director of AWARD, noted that African women, who contribute about 70 percent of food production in the continent, should be empowered to enable them to participate in designing policies that seek to end hunger linked to the climate crisis and population growth.

"That is why it is critical that we pay attention to how our agricultural policies are addressing the needs of both women and men, and how they enable equitable food systems," Kaaria said.

According to Kaaria, the 50 women will participate in a series of training, mentorship and peer learning activities to enable them to become effective policy practitioners in the agriculture sector.

Kaaria said the women will also be equipped with negotiation skills that are critical to enabling them to navigate policy processes and build partnerships aimed at influencing the transformation of small-holder agriculture in Africa.

The women fellows are also expected to foster dialogue aimed at change of mindset and policy realignment to revamp food systems in the continent, and hasten the attainment of the UN 2030 goals, Kaaria added.

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