Integrating Gender Considerations into Livestock
Genetic Improvement in Low to Middle Income
Countries: a Conceptual Framework
Alessandra Galiè and Karen Marshall
Livestock Genetics Flagship Meeting, Nairobi, 16-17 July 2019

Background
• Adoption of improved animal breeds will increase when women and men -
involved in production, consumption, marketing - benefit
• But when and how do (different) women and men benefit from improved
breeds? And contribute labour? How do gender dynamics and norms
affect roles and benefits?
Gender-responsive livestock genetic improvement (LGI) program for:
1. Increased adoption
2. Equal benefits from livestock breeding
How can a LGI program respond?

Our focus: ‘Where and how gender matters in the
implementation of livestock genetic improvement programs’
Conceptual Framework on when and how to integrate gender in
a livestock genetics program
5 steps:
1. Targeting and priority setting
2. Type of genetic improvement strategy
3. Implementation of strategy
4. Adoption and use of the improved genetics
5. Equitable benefits from improved genetics
Our conceptual framework

• Targeting of genetic improvement (GI) strategies:
– where, with and for whom GI? => What the species,
breeds and traits?
E.g. Poultry ET: women = increased productivity of
chickens in extensive systems/ men = productivity and
marketing for scaling (Ramasawmy et al 2018)
Analyse: Who needs to be involved, how and why?
1. Targeting and priority setting

• What strategy? breed substitution, within-breed
improvement, cross-breeding?
• Who can participate in the program? investment levels
by whom e.g. labour and financial resources vis-à-vis
expected benefit.
E.g. Goats in TZ: new exotic goats shifted labour from men
to women: goats to be kept in the courtyard, a space for
women. Women had more labour and more milk but
lacked needed finances…
Analyse: who does what, who benefits and how will
arrangements change and why
2. Type of genetic improvement strategy

• What information is needed and how to share it
E.g. Cattle in Senegal: men= cattle husbandry and control
income from animal sale; women= main decision makers,
labourers and control income from milk (Marshall et al 2017)
Analyse: who needs to know what, when and how – who
accesses mobile devices? When and where to hold
meeting?
3. Implementation of improvement strategy
Info on milk quality and priceInfo on animal husbandry

• Availability, accessibility and affordability of improved
genetic material
• Capacity to improve management of new livestock
E.g. Gender norms in TZ restrict women’s mobility and
reduce their access to services & formal livestock markets
(Galie et al 2017)
• Analyse: Who can access and afford improved genetic
material?
• Who can take decisions over household investments?
Who can access technologies, information, credit,
services, markets… and how?
4. Adoption and use of the improved genetics

• Changes in who contributes labour / who benefits
E.g. East Africa and Senegal: intensification entails more
work for women and loss of control over milk or revenues
(Galie and de Haan 2019; Marshall et al 2017)
• Analyse: Who gains and who loses and why?
• How is adoption affected and impact
5. Equitable benefits from improved genetics

Key stages for integration of gender considerations
into livestock genetic improvement strategies: an
overview of the 5 main steps

Where does your approach stand?

CGIAR Research Program on Livestock
livestock.cgiar.org
The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock aims to increase the productivity and profitability of livestock agri-food
systems in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and eggs more available and affordable across the developing world.
This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
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