Organizational implications for mainstreaming participatory research and gender analysis

T he effectiveness of Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PR&GA) approaches is critically constrained by an organizational structure based on a supply-driven system of innovation. Results of several studies conducted by the Program with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers demonstrates three separate but inter-related constraints: 1) Fragmented investment in and application of PR&GA approaches across the CGIAR system leads to repeated testing of proven approaches and as a result of which international agricultural research centers (IARCs) do not evolve beyond a researcher-led type of participation. 2) In a researcher-driven participatory research process, the likelihood of technologies matching farmers’ priorities is small because end-users, such as women, tend to be brought into the participatory research process at a relatively late stage, to evaluate technologies that have already been developed and are ready for dissemination. 3) Even in those cases where innovations have resulted from farmers’ feedback, it is unlikely that such learning and change can be sustained beyond the life of the project. One major reason for this is that PR&GA approaches largely remain isolated from, and often contradict the dominant paradigm of innovation practiced within organizations

Contening cultures amongst development actors

Lewis et al (2003) establish a cogent argument which suggests that serious analysis of the culture of aid organizations, and of the relationships with other actors, matters, and that it is a neglected area of analysis. Their discussion raises important new questions about the development enterprise from an internal perspective that heretofore has been neglected or ignored. Contrasting the article by Lewis et al. with a book by Harrison and Huntington (2000) reinforces that conviction. Throughout the Harrison and Huntington book-- whose authors provide an excellent overview of the history of the study of culture as something that certainly does ‘matter’ in development--we kept saying to ourselves that ‘All this is fine, but it is focussed (as is much of the ancillary literature on ‘culture’ in development) on looking outward, at others undergoing development, without consideration of the development agency actors themselves. It mostly addresses questions and issues concerning the question: Why some political and national systems succeed and others fail

Developing local organizational capacity for participatory seed management: Experiences from the Eastern Himalayas

This paper describes the objectives and goals oh participatory seed-management initiative that is presently being conducted in the Sankhuwasabha District of eastern Nepal as part of the Gender, Ethnicity and Agro biodiversity Management" project. The long-term goal of the project is to develop local capacities to effectively manage existing genetic resources through the development of skills that enhance crop improvement. The research is based on an interactive methodology that emphasizes devolution through varying levels of farmer participation in the research process. Both men and women farmers are included in the project, with the requirement that they be involved in farming as a full-time subsistence activity, Specific problems faced by farmers in the area, such as out-migration of men looking for wage-work and a yearly period of food scarcity lasting as long as six months, are highlighted

Institutionalizing gender - responsive research & development in agriculture and natural resource management through women's networks : final technical report 2005 - 2008

The report reviews capacity development workshops, such as the Workshop on Rapid Market Appraisal Cycle (October 2006) which enabled participants to better understand how to apply concepts and skills of agro-enterprise development through a ‘hands-on’ process as well as to be able to train others, both within their respective organizations and grassroots partner organizations. Other workshops aimed to enhance rural women’s engagement with markets and provided leadership training. The project supported partners in agricultural and natural resource management (NRM) organizations to institutionalize a planning and delivery process more responsive to the needs of rural women through facilitating organizational change

Leishmania major degrades murine CXCL1 - An immune evasion strategy.

Leishmaniasis is a global health problem with an estimated report of 2 million new cases every year and more than 1 billion people at risk of contracting this disease in endemic areas. The innate immune system plays a central role in controlling L. major infection by initiating a signaling cascade that results in production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and recruitment of both innate and adaptive immune cells. Upon infection with L. major, CXCL1 is produced locally and plays an important role in the recruitment of neutrophils to the site of infection. Herein, we report that L. major specifically targets murine CXCL1 for degradation. The degradation of CXCL1 is not dependent on host factors as L. major can directly degrade recombinant CXCL1 in a cell-free system. Using mass spectrometry, we discovered that the L. major protease cleaves at the C-terminal end of murine CXCL1. Finally, our data suggest that L. major metalloproteases are involved in the direct cleavage and degradation of CXCL1, and a synthetic peptide spanning the CXCL1 cleavage site can be used to inhibit L. major metalloprotease activity. In conclusion, our study has identified an immune evasion strategy employed by L. major to evade innate immune responses in mice, likely reservoirs in the endemic areas, and further highlights that targeting these L. major metalloproteases may be important in controlling infection within the reservoir population and transmittance of the disease