Mid-career African Women in the Agricultural Policy field have been urged to apply for the second Cohort of the Gender Responsive Agriculture Systems Policy (GRASP) Fellowship.
GRASP Fellowship- an initiative by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)- is an immersive three-year career development program targeting mid-career African women in the policy field to catalyze the design and implementation of gender-responsive agricultural policies across Africa.
Only women who are citizens of Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Senegal are eligible to apply for the fellowship, where successful applicants, known as AWARD policy fellows, will get customized training in mentoring, leadership, negotiation skills, and gender integration in policy and agriculture.
The GRASP Fellows will be identified through a competitive selection process that includes assessing their experience and leadership potential in gender, agriculture, food systems, and policy development. The fellowship will enable them to sharpen their skills to foster innovative policy-oriented projects and lead policy processes on top of receiving catalytic funding to design and deploy innovative gender-responsive policy projects.
Eligible persons are urged to apply before April 12, 2023, at 2359 hours EAT. Application is strictly through the online portal on the AWARD website and incomplete or late submissions will not be accepted.
Effective policies are critical if research innovations are to provide gender-inclusive, sustainable solutions for Africa to transform its agriculture and feed its growing population. The guidelines for country implementation of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) under the Malabo declaration highlight the need for agricultural policies that will facilitate stakeholder engagement and inclusive, equitable agricultural growth. Such policies require careful interrogation of the policy processes from decisions to actions.
“To develop and refine policy interventions for women and other marginalized groups involved in livestock rearing, we must better understand the roles they play in livestock production and what interventions work best to empower them,” Sylvia Harrison Ng’andu, Lecturer, University of Zambia, 2022 AWARD Policy Fellow.
