We hope you are staying safe and healthy.

We are excited to share with you our latest newsletter featuring highlights of our recent activities.

We continue to deepen our commitment to widening the pipeline of women in leadership for agricultural research and development by designing and implementing tailored leadership programs for women. We partnered with the Central and West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) to launch a new training program to strengthen the leadership and mentoring skills of African women scientists working within WAVE. The WAVE Women Career Accelerator training program, which commenced on July 22, 2021, is being offered to 16 women scientists from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo and delivered by AWARD Trainers.

In July, we competitively selected 24 exceptional young women from 10 African countries to participate in an immersive leadership program to enhance their ability to lead and innovate in the scientific world. The AWARD Leadership Program for Emerging African Women in Science, which launched on July 16, 2021, and running until September 2021, is tailored to address some of the challenges that impede young women’s growth into leadership in science.

Across the continent, our country chapters, through which we bolster our intra-country and institutional engagement, are increasingly recording remarkable progress. In Kenya, Ke-AWARD partnered with the Laikipia County Government to train 33 agricultural extension officers in Laikipia East on livestock production, agro-processing, marketing, and feed formulation for increased milk yields.

The Ghanaian Women in Agricultural Research and Development (GhaWARD) held mentoring initiatives at OLA Girls Senior High School and Hohoe E.P Senior High School led by Ms. Matilda Dzomeku, a Senior Research Scientist at CSIR-Food Research Institute and a 2013 AWARD Fellow and Dr. Faith Agbozo, Lecturer, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences and a 2015 AWARD Fellow respectively.

Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Mr. Lobin Lowe, lauded  Malawi African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (MAWARD) for its efforts in promoting more inclusive and gender-responsive agricultural value chains.

From June 30 to July 2, 2021, AWARD joined the UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France in Paris. The Forum mobilized governments, youth, and multi-sector change-makers, to announce trailblazing gender equality investments, programs, and policies. Dr. Michèle Mbo’o-Tchouawou, AWARD’s Deputy Director, Programs,  joined our partners in a panel discussion on opportunities to improve women’s economic empowerment and climate resilience in the Sahel through climate-resilient agriculture. As highlighted in our AgSpirations report, the key to finding solutions is an enhanced focus on the systemic causes of the gender divide in various sectors, including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Finally, we are excited to announce another interactive dialogue that will focus on envisioning frameworks to address the systemic causes of the yawning gender gap in science. Scheduled for September 3, 2021, the online dialogue will be held on the margins of the closing ceremony of the AWARD Leadership Program for Emerging African Women in Science. Please register here to participate in the webinar.

Stay up-to-date with our latest news and opportunities by visiting our website and subscribing to our mailing list. Remember to follow us on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram pages for news updates and online discussions.

Ms. Dorothy Mukhebi,
Ag Director and Deputy Director, Operations, AWARD