Call for comments: How best to address gender issues for increasing livestock and fish productivity for global food security?

http://agrigender.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/how-best-to-address-gender-issues-for-increasing-livestock-and-fish-productivity-for-global-food-security/

and here:

http://livestockfish.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/week-3/

Employment: ILRI Gender & Livestock Postdoc

INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT POST-DOCTORAL SCIENTIST-GENDER AND LIVESTOCK REF: PD/GL/07/10

The globally-networked International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) helps to reduce poverty, hunger and environmental degradation by enhancing animal agriculture in developing countries.  ILRI positions its work at the dynamic interface of poverty alleviation and sustainable livestock livelihoods.  Our staff works in partnerships and alliances with diverse organisations in developed and developing countries, including some of the finest universities and research institutes in the world.  ILRI’s headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with a second principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Staff members are also based in 7 partner institutions in other parts of Africa, in Asia and in Latin America.  We employ more than 700 staff from about 40 countries and are one of 15 centres around the world sponsored by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

ILRI seeks to recruit a postdoctoral scientist within its Poverty and Gender Group. The goal of the position will be to conduct and publish research on gender and assets including livestock and develop strategies for integrating gender and gender analysis in ILRI’s projects and programmes.

News: Heifer Project on Women and Cattle in Zambia Wins Best Practice Award

Source: Heifer Intl

Heifer International’s Miyoba Women’s Draft Cattle Project in Zambia has been selected for a Best Practice Award by InterAction, a coalition of humanitarian organizations providing disaster relief, refugee assistance and sustainable development programs worldwide. The project, which supported Women Farmers in Building Community Resilience Through Harnessing Crops and Livestock, built economic resilience and self-reliance by increasing crop yields and improving nutrition of families through gifts of livestock and training. It also encouraged environmentally friendly farming through the use of animal manure and reducing overgrazing. Heifer was recognized especially for its strengths in promoting gender integration and livestock production.

“Heifer is delighted to be recognized with a Best Practice Award by InterAction, especially for accomplishments in our Cornerstones,” said Martha Hirpa, Heifer’s director of gender equity advocacy. James Kasongo, Heifer’s country director in Zambia, echoed Hirpa’s comments stressing the organization’s Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development as the foundation of Heifer’s successful development model.

The project began in 2001 after disease wiped out draft cattle in southern and central provinces of Zambia, and the privatization of veterinary services, coupled with drought, led to high cattle mortality in Mumbwa, making farming difficult due to a lack of draft animals. Farming became increasingly dependent upon women, whose fields—planted with protein-rich crops like groundnuts, monkey-nuts, sweet potatoes and bean—suffered because they had to spend much of their time working in traditionally men’s fields, on crops like maize, to feed the family. Protein deficiencies contributed to high malnutrition, particularly in children.