https://hdl.handle.net/10419/60 Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung / Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn 2026-09-14T01:22:08Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308772 Title: Integrating gender in social learning approaches for agriculture and land management research and implementation projects: Insights and reflections from Sub-Sahara Africa Authors: Asare-Nuamah, Peter; Anaafo, David; Akurugu, Constance Awinpoka; Beuchelt, Tina Abstract: Contemporary global development discourses recognize the need for adopting inclusive approaches to sustainable development due to the complexities that characterize development and the pervasive inequalities and marginalization between and within states. Social learning approaches can be an important mechanism towards achieving inclusive sustainable development across contexts given the possibility they offer for addressing complex problems, like agriculture, land degradation or food insecurity, from inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives by working with all relevant stakeholders. Yet, questions regarding gender, intersectionality and inclusivity have been insufficiently addressed by social learning scholars and practitioners, particularly in the African agriculture and land management context. Relying on the existing body of knowledge on social learning and our transdisciplinary backgrounds and experiences, we explore approaches for integrating gender in social learning. We also propose an iterative framework for practical application of social learning with a gender perspective. We argue that developing and implementing an effective Gendered Social Learning (GSL) approach requires an excellent understanding of the study context and stakeholders, including the use of power and stakeholder analyses. The social learning process must be well institutionalized and facilitated to enhance trust among stakeholders. Again, a safe and inclusive space for dialogue and discovery, negotiating objectives and co-creating solutions is essential. Performing a gender analysis of relevant dimensions of diversity and intersectionality enables the solutions and innovations to be contextualized to the needs and priorities of diverse women, men and marginalized groups. This paper describes the theoretical frame of the GSL Approach, which is designed flexible enough to be adapted to various local contexts. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/318481 Title: Women's off-farm employment and dietary quality in rural Africa Authors: Mutsami, Chrispinus; Parlasca, Martin Christoph; Qaim, Matin Abstract: Most households in rural Africa are involved in smallholder farming, but off-farm employment is an important additional income source for many. Previous research has analyzed links between off-farm employment and wellbeing, but mostly at the household level, not considering that household members may be affected differently. In particular, gender gaps in employment, nutrition, and other wellbeing dimensions are widely observed. Here, we use survey data collected in Tanzania and Zambia to examine how women's off-farm employment influences their individual-level dietary quality. Regression estimates with instrumental variables show that women's off-farm employment improves their dietary diversity, including more frequent consumption of nutritious foods such as meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables. We also explore potential mechanisms, including changes in household income, women's agency, and time allocation. The main results hold across various robustness checks, suggesting that improving women's access to off-farm employment can help increase household income and reduce widespread gender gaps in rural Africa. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315037 Title: Mapping present and future agroforestry in Africa Authors: Diouf, Abdoul Aziz; Mirzabaev, Alisher; Mbow, Cheikh; Baumüller, Heike; Didarali, Zahra; von Braun, Joachim Abstract: Agroforestry systems are vital for sustainable development in Africa, offering significant benefits such as enhanced agricultural productivity, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience. This study provides a detailed analysis of the past, present, and potential future distributions of agroforestry across the African continent using high-resolution geospatial datasets and predictive modeling techniques. Between 2000 and 2020, agroforestry areas have expanded in some, while declining in other locations across Africa. Overall, at the continental level, net economic losses due to decline in the extent of agroforestry systems between 2000 and 2020 made up an equivalent of 14 billion USD. Economic projections point at consistently positive returns from future investments into agroforestry expansion in northern Africa, the northern part of the Sahel region, horn of Africa, and southern Africa. However, there is a strong heterogeneity across the continent in terms of economic viability of agroforestry expansion investments, requiring targeted prioritization to those areas with higher longterm returns. Projections to 2050 indicate that targeted policies and investments can not only prevent agroforestry losses under the business-as-usual trends but also help maximize benefits from agroforestry expansion where it makes the most sense. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315030 Title: Performance, consumption and production: State governance and the uses and meanings of water in the Sardar Sarovar Project, Gujarat, India Authors: Mollinga, Peter P.; Deekshit, Pranjal Abstract: This paper analyses the performative, consumptive and productive uses and meanings of water in and of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), a large dam with reservoir on the Narmada river, located at the border of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh States, India. The main focus of the paper is how water is being used in the State of Gujarat, of which the SSP covers the larger part, and the meanings that water and the infrastructure that it supplies have acquired since water was released from the dam in the early 2000s. The water and the project were carriers of meaning well before the project got constructed and became operational - the project is best known for the opposition against its building. The paper looks at that history briefly also, to assess how meanings have changed, continued and been added to. While originally designed for agricultural use and hydropower generation, the scope of uses and meanings has considerably expanded in the past decades, and particularly since the dam has become operational. The use of the water of the Narmada river for domestic purposes and, through that, for urban and industrial development is now prominent. The paper reviews the relatively limited amount of scholarship on the functioning and imagining of the project since it became operational in 2002, theoretically explores how water infrastructure functions as 'logistical power' in state governance, and outlines an interdisciplinary perspective for further research. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z