GREAT Blog
28 February 2018
Among the important staple food crops, cassava is nothing short of a powerhouse. Because of it, smallholder farmers have been able to feed their families and control domestic demands through income from cassava production. Though many obstacles stand in the way of most cassava producers in West... more
10 November 2017
Incorporating gender-responsiveness can be a challenge for any breeding program when formal training or relevant prior experience is missing, but for research teams working within conflict zones, there is an additional and entirely different set of challenges to overcome. One team from our on-... more
01 November 2017
Deborah Rubin, standing, checks in on a group's work during the GREAT roots, tubers and bananas course
It was in May 2014 that I first got involved in what has become the Gender-Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation program or GREAT. I’d been invited to a gathering of... more
19 September 2017
ZOMBO, UGANDA – This October, researchers with the Next Generation Cassava Breeding project (NextGen Cassava) will launch their first gender-responsive participatory variety selection (PVS) trials in Uganda, after project researchers attended the GREAT Gender-Responsive Root, Tuber and Banana... more
29 August 2017
As we wrapped up Week 1 of the Gender-Responsive Cereal Grains Breeding Course in Kampala, we caught up with three GREAT participants to see what inspired them to join GREAT, and get their impressions on the course so far. We'll feature additional voices in the months to come. To learn more about... more
09 August 2017
For Lilian Nkengla, the start this week of the GREAT Gender-Responsive Cereal Grains Breeding course will be both familiar and completely new.
As a participant in the first GREAT course last year, Nkengla, from Cameroon, worked alongside her colleague from the International Institute of Tropical... more
06 July 2017
In Nigeria, the world’s largest producer and consumer of cassava, Vitamin A deficiency affects 30 percent of children under the age of 5 (World Health Organization estimates), resulting in reduced immunity, impaired vision, and, in some cases, even blindness and death. Furthermore, these health... more
27 June 2017
By all standards, it was fruitful.
Five technical report outputs, learning, networking, and adventure – all in just 8 days!
In June 2017, members of the implementing team of the GREAT project convened a meeting at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The purpose of the meeting was not to discuss... more
22 June 2017
My Ph.D. journey has been an eye opener to gender-responsive research. As a Doctoral student in Agricultural and Rural Innovation at Makerere University, my research has been aimed at understanding the social dynamics in Banana Technology Development (BTD) and implications for uptake. Results of... more
01 June 2017
GHANA: Being a participant in the GREAT Gender-responsive Root, Tuber and Banana Breeding training in September 2016 and February 2017 was an awesome experience. Through the training, I was exposed to a new perspective in agriculture and research – peering through the gender lens. This enabled me... more