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Gender-Sensitive Natural Resource Management Research-for-Development

This research was a comparative study of the gender-sensitivity of natural resource management (NRM) research-for-development projects in India and Ghana, funded by the DFID Natural Resource Systems Programme. 'NRM research-for-development' projects integrate technical approaches, derived largely from the field of the natural sciences, with social science concerns about institutions which shape the nature and experience of poverty, and the access to, use of, and benefits from NRs. As 'research-for-development' projects, they have an 'action' and a 'research' component: frequently they are carried out through the partnership between a research institution, which takes main responsibility for new techniques and analysis, and a non-governmental organization, that takes main responsibility for organizing the implementation of the techniques and monitoring. In line with the government's influential 1997 White Paper on poverty, the aim has been make a direct contribution to tackling poverty, as well as to carrying out research.

In the last few years, there has been a move in development policy and practice to 'mainstream' gender concerns. Instead of being addressed separately (often by a dedicated team of, frequently female, specialists), the aim has been for gender concerns to be integrated into all areas, and dealt with by all involved. Concerns have been raised, however, that 'gender', as a DFID country officer interviewed for this research put it, 'has been mainstreamed off the agenda' (see also Cornwall et al. 2004).

Making garri
A woman on the outskirts of Kintampo town in central Ghana, making garri from cassavas for sale.

This research found that all the projects were committed to gender-sensitivity, but there were some successes and some limitations to their outcomes. The research identified that one of the reasons for a lack of engagement with gender issues in practice was an uneven relationship between the social and natural science components of the research-for-development projects. This research has been developed into publication with Dr Buzz Harrison of the University of Sussex.

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