Content Summary
Brief Description: This toolkit describes an analytical process to understand the potential gender-related and nutritional impacts of specific agricultural technologies on men and women. The methodology aids practitioners and researchers in assessing whether the agricultural technologies they use or will use are gender-responsive and nutrition-sensitive in terms of design, use, and dissemination. The toolkit consists of a guide in three parts: Learn, Apply, and Share. It offers readers an understanding of the relationships between gender, nutrition, and agricultural technologies and how to address these issues systematically.
Uses: The INGENAES technology assessment can be used to improve the design and dissemination of agricultural technologies in ways that increase adoption by men and women farmers.
Tool Components:
Part 1: Learn. This section of the toolkit discusses the relationships between gender, nutrition, and agricultural technologies. It is divided into short thematic chapters that each describe one of three areas of inquiry: time and labor; food availability, access, safely, and quality; and income and assets.
Part 2: Apply. This section of the toolkit introduces a gender analysis framework and a range of tools (questionnaires, worksheets) that can be used to enhance the design and dissemination of agricultural technologies.
Part 3: Share. This section of the toolkit is a facilitator’s guide for designing and conducting a workshop on the methodology. The facilitator’s guide is made up of slides and exercises that over the course of the pilot’s four workshops were found to be most useful in sharing the methodology.
Operations
Number of Staff Required: The number of staff needed to collect the qualitative data will be dependent on project needs and scale.
Time: The assessment is designed to be applied after technologies have been introduced to farmers. However, the questionnaires can be modified for use at different points in the technology development process. Early in the process, actors can use the assessment to gather valuable information about men’s and women’s preferences and needs that can influence the selection of time-consuming and labor intensive tasks to upgrade or the design of other technologies. Later in the technology development process, the assessment can inform dissemination strategies to ensure that products are accessible and affordable for men and women farmers.
Cost of Assessment: Not specified; this will vary according to context.
Training: The tools were developed for readers with a basic understanding of gender and nutrition issues. Part 1 of the toolkit serves as a training tool for implementers of the technology assessment.
Geographic Targeting: This is a community-focused assessment tool. The primary data collection should be tailored to whatever size community received/is undergoing a technology activity.
Type of Data Collection: Quantitative and Qualitative (primary sources are surveys, key informant and group interviews; desktop research and a review of secondary literature about the technology should supplement primary data collection where available).
Degree of Technical Difficulty: This toolkit is aimed towards agricultural researchers or practitioners interested in learning how to address gender and nutrition issues in their work.
Complements other Resources: Where possible, this guide highlights resources to help the user deepen their understanding of different issues. These resources consist of readings and articles, as well as toolkits such as USAID’s Promoting Gender Equitable Opportunities in Agricultural Value Chains: A Handbook, and FIELD’s Behavior Change for Research and Assessment toolkit. The toolkit also complements existing INGENAES tools such as the INGENAES Competency Framework for Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services.