Volume 1, Number 3
October 1995

The Future of Gender Analysis in the CG

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Gender Program was formed in 1991 to encourage and assist international agricultural research centers to incorporate gender analysis and a gender perspective in their research and training activities. To date, this has been principally through short consultancies that provided center-wide awareness workshops, assistance to training divisions, and reviews of some centers' research portfolios.

From September 18 to September 20, the Gender Analysis side of the (CGIAR) Gender Program held an expert consultation at IFPRI. Present were 12 participants representing the eight CGIAR Centers with whom the Gender Program has worked most closely with to date, or who are leaders in incorporating gender in their work. During the three days, there was a very rich interchange of experiences from individual Centers in the strategies they were using to encourage a gender perspective, or in materials they had developed for training programs. There was also a very positive sense that early initiatives were bearing fruit manifest in greater interest by scientists and increased opportunities to incorporate a gender perspective in their work. The overall conclusions of the participants were that it is useful to the Centers, and to themselves as scientists, to have a visible system-level Gender Program that draws attention to gender issues relevant to their research. However, the diversity of activities across Centers means that Centers should take the initiative. The CG Gender Program should continue to provide a flexible response system and the resources needed to enrich and expand the work at individual centers. (For further information on the CGIAR Gender Program, contact H.Feldstein@cgiar.org or in care of IFPRI.)