Methods for studying gender dynamics in value chains beyond the production node and single commodity analysis

28 November 2021. Over 20 years of research on gender dynamics in value chain development has tended to overemphasize the production node and single commodity chains. Since 2019, the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) has supported a set of six projects that analyze gender roles, responsibilities, and relations in agricultural value chains drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data that look at nodes in the midstream segments of the value chain and/or across multiple chains. Despite COVID setbacks, the projects have generated compelling insights on the differential effects on the benefits that women and men derive from value chain participation. These insights will be shared in a two-part webinar series. 

The first webinar on September 21 focused on findings from these projects, and the second on October 28 focuses on innovative methods used in these studies.

Webinar 1: Gender dynamics in value chains beyond production node and a single commodity focus: Findings

• Gender dynamics along fish value chains in India: Testing assumptions about the influence of women’s self-help groups (Surendran Rajaratnam, WorldFish)
• Understanding gender dynamics in the input segment of upgraded value chains for root crops in Vietnam (Vanya Slavchevska, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and Nozomi Kawarazuka, International Potato Center (CIP)
• Helpers, employees, or owners: Opportunities for women’s economic empowerment in agricultural value chains (Jennifer Twyman, Independent Consultant, formerly the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT)
• Moderator: Cheryl Doss, leader of the Cross-Cutting Gender Research and Coordination flagship in PIM.

Webinar 2: Methods for studying gender dynamics in value chains beyond the production node and single commodity analysis

October 28, 2021, 10:00-11:00 AM EDT - REGISTER *

• Understanding the relationship between women’s empowerment and women’s increased participation in poultry value chains in Burkina Faso - Jessica Leight, IFPRI
• From oil palm mamas to market queens: Measuring the gender footprint of informal and formal market value chains in Eastern Region, Ghana - Emily Gallagher, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
• Agricultural value chain financing for marginalized women: A multi value chain project in Vietnam and Indonesia Kate Ambler, IFPRI
• Moderation Rhiannon Pyburn, NL-CGIAR senior expert and senior advisor at KIT Royal Tropical Institute; leader of Collaborative Gender Research cluster PIM