Dear friends,

It is my pleasure to share this edition of the newsletter.

We are delighted to announce the launch of  “The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa” report at the recently concluded Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF2025) in Dakar, Senegal. Co-published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), National Resources Institute (NRI) of the University of Greenwich, and AWARD, this report presents critical data and actionable recommendations to address the structural inequalities hindering progress in the region’s agrifood systems.

AWARD joined other partners at AFSF2025, where we led conversations around illuminating the crucial need for equitable agrifood systems, underscoring women’s key role in transforming agrifood systems. Read about our sessions at AFSF.

We are proud to celebrate Professor Mary Abukutsa Onyango, a renowned Kenyan scientist and AWARD Mentor, on being named the 2025 Africa Food Prize winner for her innovative work promoting African leafy vegetables for improved and affordable nutrition.

In our continued commitment to contributing to plugging the leaky pipeline, we have announced the Call for Applications for the next Cohort of the Leadership Program for Emerging African Women in Agricultural Science. This program targets women under 35 years from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia. In the same vein, we partnered with the Creative Action Institute to host a role modeling event for 36 teenage girls from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. During the event, early-career women from AWARD and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) shared their academic and professional journeys, offering practical insights and encouragement.

We welcomed the third Cohort of 50 African women policy practitioners into the Gender Responsive Agriculture Systems Policy (GRASP) Fellowship.

Through our Gender in Agrifood Systems Policies (GASP) program, our institutional engagement continues to gain momentum. We have collaborated with national agricultural ministries and GIZ to facilitate tailored training workshops for Agriculture-related ministries and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)  across Madagascar, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Zambia to support their integration of gender into their policies and programs. We invite you to listen to our GASP participants’ renewed passion and vision for reshaping institutional policies.

In this edition, we shine a spotlight on our Policy Fellows and their work around interrogating policies to understand how these might be enabling or stifling equitable agrifood systems. In these three newly published policy briefs, our Policy Fellows address critical and emerging issues, including Cassava seed entrepreneur policy guidelines for inclusivity and gender responsiveness, the impacts of assessing gender and gender-based violence responsiveness in Nigeria’s agrifood policies, and fostering gender responsiveness and inclusivity in Nigeria’s agricultural seed policies. In addition, we welcome you to read about Dr. Temitayo Adeyemo, a 2022 AWARD Policy Fellow, who is advancing the use of gender-disaggregated data to transform Nigeria’s aquaculture sector.

Remember you can stay up-to-date with our latest news and opportunities by visiting our website and subscribing to our mailing list. Follow us on our Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram pages for news updates and online discussions.