The Role of Gender in ICT-mediated Agricultural Information Campaigns

In agricultural information dissemination campaigns through agricultural advisory services, seemingly small design attributes, such as the way the information is delivered, who delivers the information, or who is targeted by the message, can result in significant differences in effectiveness and inclusiveness of the intervention. In the context of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) mediated knowledge transfer, this study investigates the importance of the gender composition of the person(s) who provide(s) the information and the gender composition of the person(s) who receive(s) the information. In particular, we set up a field experiment among smallholder maize farmers in Uganda to assess if reducing asymmetric information within the household leads to improved outcomes. In addition, we study the effectiveness of promoting a more cooperative approach to household farming. Finally, we test for gender homophily effects, where female farmers learn more from female trainers. Effectiveness is assessed in terms of knowledge gained, adoption of modern inputs and recommend practices, yield, and poverty reduction. Outcomes are dis-aggregated by gender to study changes in intra-household equity and women empowerment. While endline of the study is planned for February 2018, we preview encouraging effects on knowledge transfer as measured immediately after administering the treatments. Acknowledgement : We acknowledge support from USAID's Global Development Lab and Digital Green

Situational Analysis of Climate Change-Agriculture-Gender Inequality Hotspots in Bangladesh

The goal of the situational analysis was to validate a prior geospatial mapping of subnational hotspots in Bangladesh, where women in agricultural and food systems are at the most risk of the impacts of gender inequality and climate change. The study identifies areas where decision makers in climate change investments should prioritize to target

Institutions under construction: resolving resource conflicts in Tanzanian irrigation schemes

Water governance in Tanzania’s small-scale irrigation schemes has become ever more challenging because of increasing market penetration, declining predictability of water availability and widening institutional pluralism. Despite these trends, resource conflicts at the local level have generally been avoided. Instead, one observes processes in which actors involved in conflicts make and remake institutions. This renders these irrigation schemes interesting for studying water governance institutions under construction. By documenting how conflicts over water are solved in small-scale irrigation schemes in rural Tanzania, we show that resource conflicts do not necessarily lead to violence, but motivate actors to pragmatically search for solutions. Institutional pluralism is turned into an asset because it increases the potential for creativity. As such, pragmatic conflict resolution and institutional pluralism contribute to the development of more sophisticated and locally adapted resource governance institutions. However, despite its potential, actor-driven development of resource governance institutions can also reproduce deeply entrenched power imbalances and gender roles. As such, it can hinder inclusion of less powerful resource users because the latter do not always have the capability to engage in creative conflict resolution

Early compared with delayed inhaled nitric oxide in moderately hypoxaemic neonates with respiratory failure : a randomised controlled trial

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