Report on the Regional Workshop on Gender, Agriculture, and Global Climate Change

The workshop was an outgrowth of an eighteen-month process to identify key gender issues in the East Africa region as part of USAID/East Africa's (USAID/EA) development of its Feed the Future multi-year strategy. The workshop was jointly supported by the USAID Washington's Office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GenDev) and USAID/EA Office of Regional Economic Growth and Integration (REGI) and implemented by DevTech Systems, Inc. (DevTech) under the Short-Short-Term Technical Assistance and Training Task Order (Contract Number GEW-I-01-02-00019-00). The workshop aimed to address gender disparities in East Africa related to access to productive assets, restrictive social norms, discriminatory social beliefs, and areas of capacity building. Discussions with stakeholders revealed that partners and stakeholder groups hold many misconceptions about gender, conflating women and gender. Sex-disaggregated data is spotty and gender analysis limited. Significant gaps exist between institutional gender policies and capabilities to implement gender-responsive programming. The 46 workshop attendees represented seven East African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda). In addition to staff members from USAID/Washington, USAID/EA, and these seven field missions, the workshop included USAID partners: NGOs, private sector firms, and international organizations. A full list of participants is included in Annex 1. The workshop design focused on addressing the identified gender disparities and misconceptions. The studies on gender, agriculture, and climate change highlighted the need for gender-responsive programming in East Africa. The workshop included presentations on the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and the Gender Dimensions Framework (GDF). The WEAI is a tool used to measure women's empowerment in agriculture, while the GDF is a framework used to analyze the gender dimensions of climate change. The workshop also included case studies and good practices from USAID programs in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The case studies highlighted the importance of integrating gender into agriculture and climate change programming. The good practices included strategies for addressing gender disparities and promoting women's empowerment in agriculture. The workshop concluded with a discussion on the way forward for integrating attention to gender into agriculture and global climate change programming in East Africa. The participants emphasized the need for continued support and resources to address the identified gender disparities and misconceptions. The workshop materials, including the presentations and case studies, are available online. The workshop was a significant step towards addressing the gender disparities and misconceptions in East Africa. The participants recognized the importance of integrating gender into agriculture and climate change programming and emphasized the need for continued support and resources to address the identified gaps. The workshop materials will be used to inform future programming and policy decisions in East Africa. The workshop attendees represented a range of stakeholders, including USAID staff, partners, and stakeholders from the seven East African countries. The diversity of the participants ensured that a range of perspectives and experiences were represented. The workshop provided a platform for sharing knowledge, experiences, and best practices in integrating attention to gender into agriculture and global climate change programming.