MAKING AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND ADVISORY SERVICES MORE EFFECTIVE IN AFRICA: A GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION APPROACH
Key Messages
▪ Vast studies in Africa reveal the challenges of inadequate agricultural extension services and gender gaps in access to extension services and the adoption of improved technologies in the face of climate change.
▪ Inequalities in access to agricultural extension and advisory services are not limited to gender, but rather an interplay of multiple social identities such as age, social economic status, marital status, education, geographical location, and culture, among others.
▪ A gender equality and social inclusion approach to agricultural extension and advisory services attempts to reduce disparities by ensuring equal rights, opportunities, and respect for agriculture value chain actors in the access, use and benefit from agricultural extension and advisory services regardless of their social identity.
▪ Actions to strengthen the effectiveness of agricultural extension and advisory services in Africa through a gender equality and social inclusion approach include: explicit integration of gender equality and social inclusion in organisational policies and culture; development of clear systems and procedures to guide practitioners in its integration in programme cycles; building a knowledge base of agricultural extension and advisory clientele typologies; developing gender capacities of agricultural extension and advisory services practitioners; promoting partnerships and collective advocacy in gender equality and social inclusion in extension and advisory services; and supporting
the increased enrolment and advancement of females in the agricultural extension and advisory services profession.