By Andrea Bohn June 1, 2015 INGENAES stands for Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services. INGENAES focuses on innovating women farmers with better education about good nutrition practices, increased access to appropriate technologies and inputs, and improved access to information and training.

1. Introducing INGENAES
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By Andrea Bohn
June 1, 2015
JSI
Arlington

2. What we stand for
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IN
GE
N
A
E
S

3. Motivation for INGENAES
• Many extension systems and
agricultural development
efforts systematically fail to
target women farmers with
services, or utilize
approaches that make it
difficult for women farmers
to engage
• Many extension services have
a topic bias towards trainings
on staple crop production
and new seed varieties and
practices
• Significant human capacity
constraints along with
institutional and social factors
Household farmers learning group in
Khatlon Oblast, Tajikistan showing the
results of their canning and processing
training

4. Extension and Advisory Services
• The context for extension
and advisory services is
varied
• Challenges of funding,
human and
organizational capacity,
coordination, pluralism
and competition
• Yet many good activities
and programs are
underway
Extension staff prepare a maize and soya
variety demonstration near Tamale,
Ghana as part of the SARI program

5. INGENAES Framework
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I. Build gender-
responsive and
nutrition sensitive
institutions
II. Replicate gender-
responsive and
nutrition sensitive
service delivery
mechanisms
III. Disseminate
technologies that
enhance women’s
productivity and
improve nutritional
outcomes
IV. Apply gender-
appropriate and
nutrition sensitive
approaches and
tools
Increased access to
information and
training for women
farmers
Increased access to
appropriate
technologies and
inputs by women
farmers
Improved
knowledge about
good nutrition
among men and
women
Increased
agricultural
productivity and
profitability
Increased
empowerment of
women farmers
Increased women’s
income
Improved nutrition
for household and
community
members
Action Areas Development Objectives Outcomes Results

6. Impact Indicators
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Women
Farmers
Along with men
farmers have
better knowledge
about good
nutrition practices
Increased access
to appropriate
technologies and
inputs
Improved access
to information and
training

7. Focusing on the major impacts and indicators
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• In the experience of MEAS some of the most
challenging indicators to reach are those which
require significant buy-in from extension
organizations and NGOs that are not listed in the
project proposal
• INGENAES approach has some resources for in-
country partner organizations
• Key – find extension organizations and allies
professionally committed to the types of changes
INGENAES can assist with
• Orient in-country activities around the end of
influencing a number of extension organizations

8. Addressing multiple objectives and indicators in an
engagement
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• Important to articulate and document impact stories,
success stories, outputs and outcomes as we go along
• When working in-country it is beneficial to address
multiple indicators within one trip or engagement
– For example, if in a country to conduct an assessment also
run a training at the Min of Ag or an NGO or a university on
an aspect of INGENAES
– Build capacity and engage in-country mentees in the
activities
– Write a fact sheet or technical note or paper based on a
significant engagement or finding
• How to modify an extension organization’s monitoring and
evaluation system to promote nutrition sensitive agriculture

9. Country Level Approach
EXAMPLE: Timeline of Bangladesh Activities

10. Stakeholders, Partners, Beneficiaries
Stakeholders:
 Civil Society Organizations
 International NGOs, Development
Organizations
 Donors
 Farmers and their organizations
 Government
 Private/for-Profit
 Research centers (national international)
 Universities and training institutions
Partners: subset of the above
Beneficiaries: can be from the partners or affiliated
with them
Indirect beneficiaries: will benefit from improved
practice on part of the partners, direct
beneficiaries, and even stakeholders that adopt
change even without direct partnership with the
project.

11. How to prioritize, how to focus?

12. Photo:LuisFlores,MSU
Disclaimer
This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through
the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. The contents are the
responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United
States Government.

13. Bangladesh

14. Objectives
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1
• Creating gender-responsive agriculture EAS,
so women farmers have access to gender
appropriate technologies and practices
2
• Improving the nutrition information of
agricultural EAS and the ability of those
services to promote that information
3
• Improving the coordination across
agriculture EAS and nutrition EAS