Dear friends,

I am delighted to share with you updates from the past few months.

We have had a series of immersive training activities under the One Planet Fellowship, including two rounds of Progress Monitoring Meetings (PMM) to reflect on the mentoring program, a foundational leadership course for the younger scientists known as “learning partners,” and two rounds of a week-long learning and networking activity that convened Laureate Candidates together with their African and European mentees.

These activities have seen us convene more than 300 participants from 24 African and European countries. I am pleased to share that during these activities, we were honored to celebrate our outstanding mentors who have dedicated their resources, time, and invaluable experience to our quest to equip African researchers to be exceptional leaders in climate research on the African continent.

As we continue our renewed commitment to influencing an enabling policy environment for equitable agrifood systems through the Gender Responsive Agriculture Systems (GRASP) Fellowship, we curated conversations focusing on gender equality in institutions and policies in agricultural research for development.

Together with the CGIAR Gender Impact Platform and CIFOR-ICRAF, we co-organized an event to commemorate International Women’s Day 2024. During the event, we spotlighted strategies for promoting equal participation of women in organizational leadership and how to ensure our innovations work for smallholder women farmers in agrifood systems.

We continued this conversation at the 68th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) in New York through our side event on exploring the nexus of gender-responsive policies and equitable agrifood systems. Our CSW68 side event featured contributions from different countries, including Malawi and Uganda, and our Policy Fellows in the GRASP Fellowship, who shared some innovative policy ideas they are exploring to foster equitable agrifood systems.

I was excited to speak at a conference exploring increasing the number of women in research. I shared AWARD’s lessons and experiences at the event, which was co-organized by the Danida Fellowship Centre and the MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS TCDC) in Arusha, Tanzania.

We are excited that our Fellows continue to make commendable progress in their Fellowship journeys and careers. In this issue’s Fellows in Focus, we bring you stories featuring our Fellows from Nigeria and Senegal.

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, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram pages for news updates and online discussions.

Dr. Susan Kaaria,
Director, AWARD