ICRW is working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its partners to strengthen their attention to gender in various agricultural projects in Africa and South Asia. ICRW reviews project designs and advises the foundation on how to address the distinct issues that affect the work of women and men farmers. ICRW also guides implementing organizations on ways to improve outreach to women farmers.
For example, ICRW provided recommendations to TechnoServe in Kenya and Tanzania in an effort to increase the incomes of small-scale farmers by improving the quality of their coffee in order to sell it in global markets. ICRW’s recommendations included approaches to guarantee that women benefit from the program along with men - such as having full membership in farmers’ cooperatives - increasing their leadership opportunities, and receiving payment for their labor on the coffee crop.