Dear Friends,

We are thrilled to share another edition of our newsletter.

AWARD is excited to enter into a renewed phase, guided by our Refreshed Strategy 2017-2022 which reflects our learnings from the first half of the strategy implementation. While our vision remains a robust, resilient gender-responsive agricultural innovation system working toward agriculture-driven prosperity for Africa, the refreshed strategy is a robust response to our monitoring, evaluation, and learning, and prioritizes four focus areas to advance our mission.

In our pursuit of building a robust pipeline of scientists leading climate change research in Africa, we are pleased to have launched the third Cohort of the One Planet Fellowship consisting of 41 promising researchers. This cohort brings the number of researchers participating in the career development program to 260, from 77 institutions in 14 African countries.

In September, we kicked off the CGIAR Gender Researchers’ Leadership and Mentoring Program with the participation of 23 gender researchers from 15 countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Netherlands, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sri Lanka, USA, and Uganda. The 20-month-long immersive program, under our partnership with the CGIAR GENDER Platform, aims to develop effective and confident gender research leaders to advance science, policy, and practice for gender-equitable and sustainable agricultural development.

In September, we also hosted an interactive dialogue exploring opportunities and strategies to strengthen frameworks to bridge the gender gap in science. The webinar was attended by 153 participants from 35 countries worldwide. We invite you to interact with the webinar report, which presents highlights of the discussions from the dialogue.

AWARD’s footprint across the continent continues to grow with the recent launch of our 11th country chapter in Senegal. The journey toward the Senegalese Association of Women in Agricultural Research and Development (SenAWARD) dates back to October 2019 when AWARD convened francophone AWARD Fellows, Mentors, and Fellows’ Mentees in Côte d’Ivoire to lay the foundation for the creation of a francophone chapter, capitalizing on the AWARD Pan-African Fellowship. SenAWARD’s vision is to be a multi-stakeholder platform for cross-learning and sharing ideas to help revitalize agriculture in Senegal.

We are excited to invite you to our interactive virtual storytelling session on December 3, 2021, from 1400hrs, EAT with leading African experts on food security issues ranging from soil fertility to seed systems and plant protection. The speakers will include accomplished African researchers who have participated in career acceleration fellowships offered by AWARD. We encourage you to register and join us for the event.

Finally, did you know that we have a podcast series? The AgSpirations by AWARD podcast features immersive conversations with leading global experts on accelerating inclusive, agricultural-driven development in Africa. You can catch up with the episodes on our website or subscribe to any podcast platform of your choice.

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 Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram for real-time updates and online discussions.

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