Project News

The ZIM-SHEP team conducted a Training of Trainers (ToT) for Gender mainstreaming, and backstopped frontline extension staff as they trained target farmers in Mash West and Masvingo province in July 2022. Among the participants were provincial and district agriculture officers and specialists, frontline Agricultural Extension Supervisors (AES) and Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO) in charge of the target irrigation schemes.

The gender tools utilised during the sessions are ‘Productive and Reproductive Activities', ‘Access and Control of Resources', ‘Daily Activity Calendar', and ‘Gender Action Plan'. The main objective of the gender mainstreaming in agriculture focused on strategies farming households may effectively allocate and utilize limited resources and time to increase their income self-realisation of the importance of working together as a unit and making joint decisions.

During the training sessions when farmers were asked to define the ‘Gender' terminology, there was a general assumption that the training were advocating for equal rights. Eventually, they realized through practical discussions that the sessions sought to find their own solutions to improve farm productivity and profitability by allocating more time on productive roles and reducing the burden on reproductive roles such as fetching firewood leading to improved livelihoods. The farmers appreciated the eye-opening training and promised to continue with the exercises at a household level.

A HQ specialist facilitating over one of the exercises at Training of Trainers

Women's group working on one of the exercises

Men's group working on one of the exercises

An extension officer comparing men's result and women's result

Plenary session being facilitated by a provincial officer

Farmers dancing in appreciation of the gender in agriculture trainings