iBUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY: Building Equitable Climate-Resilient African Bean & Insect Sectors Fistum Miruts1, Dagmawit Tsegaye1, Tigist Genanew1, Ketema Dessalegn2, Ouya Fredrick3, Lutomia Cosmas4, and Nchanji Eileen4 1Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia 2International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Ethiopia 3Consultant, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Kenya 4International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Kenya ii ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY CITATIONS: Fistum Miruts, Dagmawit Tsegaye, Ketema Dessalegn, Ouya Fredrick, Lutomia Cosmas, and Nchanji Eileen (2025). Ethiopia Gender Strategy. Building Equitable Climate-Resilient African Bean and Insect Sectors. The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Nairobi, Kenya. This publication is copyrighted by the Bungu visuals. It is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Unless otherwise noted, you are free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform and build upon the material) for any purpose, even commercially, under the following conditions: ATTRIBUTION. This work must be attributed when used in other works, but not in any way that suggests endorsement of those works by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT or the author(s). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 1BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1. Context and background 2 1.2. Purpose and objectives 2 1.3. Link to broader goals 3 2. GENDER GAPS 3 3. REACH, BENEFIT, EMPOWER AND TRANSFORM (RBET) FRAMEWORK 4 3.1. Reach 4 3.2. Benefit 5 3.3. Empower 5 3.4. Transform 5 4. ACTION PLAN 5 4.1 Gender analysis 5 4.2. Capacity building activities 6 4.3. Tool development 6 4.4. Scaling the gender transformative socio-technical innovation bundles approach 6 4.5. Gender budgeting 7 5. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 8 5.1 Roles and responsibilities 8 5.2 Partnerships and collaborations 8 6. GENDERED MONITORING AND EVALUATION 8 7. RISK MITIGATION 9 8. GENDER RESPONSIVE COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK 10 9. SUSTAINABILITY 10 9.1. Skills development in gender-sensitive practices and climate resilience 10 9.2. Community ownership and engagement 11 9.3. Develop gender-responsive financial systems 11 9.4. Institutionalization of gender practices 11 REFERENCES 12 2 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Context and background The Building Equitable Climate-Resilient African Bean and Insect Sectors (BRAINS) project is facilitating sustainable agricultural change throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. The project seeks to enhance low- carbon, climate-resilient production systems and broaden inclusive livelihood options for rural communities. The initiative in Ethiopia targets the common bean, fruit trees, and insects for food and feed value chains, which possess significant potential to improve food and nutrition security, diversify revenue sources, and strengthen resilience among smallholder farmers amid escalating climate variability. The BRAINS project is fundamentally dedicated to gender equality and social inclusion, ensuring that women, men, and youth are actively involved, receive equitable benefits from interventions, and are enabled to engage in decision-making and value-chain governance. Ethiopia, like to numerous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), is facing the compounded challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, and socio-economic disparities that disproportionately impact rural communities reliant on rain-fed agriculture. Erratic rainfall, recurrent droughts, and land degradation continue to undermine agricultural productivity and household wellbeing (Belay et al., 2017; Njeru et al., 2016). Women constitute a substantial portion of the agricultural workforce and are integral to food production, household supply, and natural resource management. However, their productivity, ability to adapt, and ability to make decisions are restricted by enduring gender disparities that are associated with unequal access to land, agricultural inputs, finance, extension services, technology, markets, and leadership possibilities (World Bank, 2019; Abdisa et al., 2024; Tesafa et al., 2025). These inequities are compounded by socio-cultural norms, time demands, and institutional impediments that restrict women’s agency within households, cooperatives, and community structures (Bayeh, 2016; Mulema & Damtew, 2016). Evidence from national and regional research suggests that reducing gender disparities in agriculture not only increases production and family food security but also strengthens climate resilience and inter-generational welfare. Yet, women and youth, particularly those in marginalised and resource-poor rural areas, remain under- represented in high-value value-chain activities, entrepreneurial opportunities, and climate-smart agricultural innovations. Addressing these inequalities needs gender-responsive programming, institutional reform, and transformative techniques that challenge restrictive conventions while promoting inclusive participation and benefit sharing throughout agricultural systems. The BRAINS gender strategy for Ethiopia responds to these problems by embracing gender equality as a basic pillar of agricultural development. The strategy is grounded in the Reach, Benefit, Empower, and Transform (RBET) framework, the gender transformative socio-technical innovation bundles (GTSTIBs) approach and the youth and women quality centre (YWQC) model which advocate systematic pathways from inclusive participation to equitable benefits, improved agency, and structural change in social norms and institutional practices. Within the Ethiopian context, the strategy uses these approaches to increase men, women, youth, and other marginalized groups involvement across the bean, fruit tree, and insect for food and feed value chains, while fostering climate- resilient, equitable, and sustainable livelihoods. 1.2. Purpose and objectives The Ethiopia Gender Strategy intends to bridge gender disparities within the targeted value chains by guaranteeing equitable access to productive resources, climate-smart technology, leadership spaces, markets, and livelihood possibilities for women, men, youths, and other marginalized groups. It seeks to promote inclusive participation, equitable benefit sharing, and empowerment as essential drivers of resilience, poverty reduction, and sustainable agricultural transformation. The strategy’s objectives are to: • Reduce systemic and structural gender inequalities by improving women’s and youth’s access to land, finance, inputs, climate-smart technologies, and agricultural services. 3BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS • Strengthen women’s and youth’s leadership, voice, and representation in cooperatives, producer organisations, and value-chain governance structures. • Enhance economic empowerment through entrepreneurship, income diversification, and participation in higher-value market opportunities. • Promote inclusive household and community decision-making, equitable workload distribution, and shared control over resources and income. • Support climate-resilient and nutrition-sensitive production systems that improve wellbeing for all household members. • Foster transformative change in social norms, attitudes, and institutional practices that perpetuate gender inequality within agricultural systems. • Institutionalise gender mainstreaming within the BRAINS project’s structures, partner organizations, and policy frameworks to ensure sustainability beyond the project lifespan. 1.3. Link to broader goals The gender strategy of the BRAINS Project supports the broader objectives of the United Nations; the African Union and Ethiopian government policies focused on promoting gender equality and sustainable development. The Ethiopian Gender Strategy, therefore, aligns with global, regional, and national commitments to gender equality, inclusive growth, and climate-resilient development. At the global level, it contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals. Regionally, it supports the aspirations of the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which emphasise women’s empowerment, youth inclusion, agricultural transformation, and climate resilience. Nationally, the strategy enhances Ethiopia’s policy frameworks on gender equality, agricultural modernisation, and rural development, including the National Policy on Women and the Growth and Transformation Plan, and sector policies supporting gender mainstreaming within institutions and value chains. The Ethiopian government has further committed to gender equity through developing the Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTP II – 2016-2020) which target to promote women empowerment, participation, and benefits through education and agriculture production. By embedding gender-responsive, climate-smart, and inclusive techniques across the BRAINS value chains, the plan improves national efforts to promote farmers’ resilience, equitable participation, and position women and youth as essential actors in Ethiopia’s agricultural transformation. 2. GENDER GAPS Despite women roles and substantial contribution to agricultural production in Ethiopia, gender inequalities continue to shape access to resources, participation in decision-making, labour roles, and benefit-sharing across agricultural value chains. These inequalities are reinforced by socio-cultural norms, structural barriers, and institutional constraints that restrict women’s economic opportunities and adaptive capacity, particularly in rural areas where agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood. • Limited access to productive resources and agricultural inputs. Women farmers have comparatively lower access to land, quality seeds, fertilisers, tools, and improved technologies, which constrains productivity and limits opportunities to invest in climate-smart farming practices (Abdisa et al., 2024). • Restricted access to extension services, training, and information. Women participate less frequently in agricultural training programs and extension services due to gendered time burdens, mobility constraints, and male-biased service delivery models, resulting in reduced exposure to innovation and market opportunities (Buehren et al., 2019). 4 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY • Low participation in decision-making and leadership. Men continue to dominate household and community- level decisions on land use, crop selection, marketing, and control over income, while women’s voices and leadership remain limited within cooperatives, farmer institutions, and value-chain governance structures (Mulema & Damtew, 2016). • Influence of socio-cultural norms and gender roles. Deeply rooted traditional norms reinforce unequal power relations, limit women’s mobility and participation in public spaces, and constrain their engagement in higher-value agricultural activities and emerging economic opportunities (Bayeh, 2016). 3. REACH, BENEFIT, EMPOWER AND TRANSFORM (RBET) FRAMEWORK The Ethiopian Gender Strategy adopts the Reach, Benefit, Empower and Transform (RBET) framework as the core approach for integrating gender equality into the design, implementation, and monitoring of project interventions across the bean, fruit tree, and beneficial insect value chains. The framework ensures that project actions move beyond basic participation to support equitable access to opportunities, strengthen agency and decision-making power among women and youth, and promote long-term shifts in social norms and institutional practices that sustain gender equality. In doing so, RBET supports a progressive pathway from inclusion to meaningful benefit, to empowerment, and ultimately to structural transformation within agricultural systems, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: RBET framework (Nchanji, 2024) 3.1. Reach The Reach dimension focuses on ensuring that women, youth, and marginalised groups are deliberately identified, engaged, and included in project activities and services. In the Ethiopian context, this involves addressing barriers such as time constraints, mobility limitations, and social norms that often restrict women’s participation in 5BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS training, extension services, and innovation initiatives. Through inclusive targeting, community-based outreach, and collaboration with local structures, the project will increase the visibility and participation of women and youth across the three value chains, ensuring that they have access to relevant information, technologies, and support services. 3.2. Benefit Under Benefit, the strategy seeks to ensure that participation translates into tangible and equitable outcomes for women and youth. This includes improving access to productive resources, climate-smart technologies, quality seeds, financial services, market opportunities, and post-harvest innovations that enhance productivity, income, food nutrition security. By reducing gender-based barriers in resource allocation and service delivery, the project aims to strengthen women’s ability to derive meaningful economic and livelihood gains from their engagement in agricultural value-chain activities. 3.3. Empower The Empower component focuses on strengthening women’s and youth’s agency, confidence, and leadership capacity so they can influence decisions at household, community, and institutional levels. This will be pursued through initiatives that enhance leadership skills, financial literacy, entrepreneurship capacity, and participation in cooperative and governance structures. Empowerment in this strategy goes beyond economic outcomes to include increased voice in decision-making, greater control over resources and income, and the ability to make strategic life and livelihood choices. 3.4. Transform The Transform dimension represents the highest level of change within the RBET framework and seeks to address the structural and normative barriers that perpetuate gender inequality in agriculture. In Ethiopia, this involves challenging restrictive gender norms, promoting positive shifts in household and community attitudes toward women’s participation, and strengthening institutional accountability for gender inclusion. Through policy engagement, community dialogue, gender-responsive governance, and institutional capacity strengthening, the project aims to foster long-term systemic change that supports equitable, climate-resilient, and inclusive agricultural development. 4. ACTION PLAN 4.1. Gender analysis The gender analysis conducted under the BRAINS project in Ethiopia drew on focus group discussions and key informant interviews to explore gender roles, access to resources, decision-making processes, and involvement throughout the bean, fruit tree, and beekeeping value chains. The data demonstrate clear gender-differentiated roles, with men, women, and youth contributing at different levels of production and marketing but benefiting unequally from opportunities and outcomes. In the common bean value chain, adult men generally engage in ploughing, hoeing, and sowing, while women contribute considerably to weeding, cultivation, harvesting, and marketing. Youth participate mostly as support labour, with reduced involvement in strategic farm choices. In the fruit value chain, men are more involved in land preparation, seedling development, transplanting, and weeding, whereas women play key roles in fruit gathering, transportation to market, selling, and in many cases, managing income from fruit sales. In beekeeping, men continue to dominate production operations and decision-making, while women are increasingly engaged in hive management, honey extraction, and post-harvest processing. Across all three value chains, the analysis found persistent gender discrepancies in access to productive resources, information, credit, training, markets, and leadership possibilities. These differences reinforce unequal decision- making power and limit women’s ability to fully benefit from or influence value-chain outcomes. The Action Plan 6 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY responds to these results by prioritizing actions that increase women’s agency, expand equal access to resources and services, and encourage inclusive involvement among women, men, and youth. 4.2. Capacity building activities Capacity-building initiatives will be implemented to increase gender-responsive skills, enhance inclusive participation, and promote equitable decision-making across the Ethiopian bean, fruit tree, and beekeeping value chains. Activities will focus on technical skills, leadership development, entrepreneurship, institutional capacity, and community awareness, with particular attention to women and youth. a. Raise awareness among project teams on gender equality, gender roles, and equity principles. b. Train project partners and staff to mainstream gender across all activities and implementation processes. c. Support women entrepreneurs through business training, mentorship, and improved access to financial services and networks. d. Strengthen women’s decision-making capacities at household, farm, cooperative, and community levels. e. Conduct campaigns encouraging women’s participation in cooperatives and leadership structures, while engaging men as allies and advocates. f. Address restrictive gender norms through dialogue and behaviour-change initiatives involving men, elders, and community leaders. g. Train men, women, and youth as gender champions to enhance access to information and promote inclusive knowledge sharing. h. Build the capacity of extension officers to deliver gender-responsive, accessible, and sustainable advisory services. i. Facilitate women’s entry into higher-value markets through partnerships, networks, and improved access to market intelligence. j. Provide leadership and governance training, including peer-to-peer mentorship on advocacy, negotiation, and organisational participation. k. Engage men in nutrition education to promote shared household responsibility and improved dietary outcomes. 4.3. Tool development The project will develop, adapt, and deploy gender-responsive tools to support consistent implementation and learning across the target value chains. These will include training manuals, facilitation guides, behavioural change communication materials, gender integration checklists, and monitoring templates in multiple local languages. Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) approaches will be used to document and promote shifts in attitudes and practices relating to gender equality and climate-smart agriculture. Gender outcome stories and reflection tools will be used throughout implementation to track behavioural change, guide learning, and inform adaptive programming. Gender focal persons will be trained to use these tools and to cascade capacity-building within communities and partner institutions. 4.4. Scaling the gender transformative socio-technical innovation bundles approach The Gender Transformative Socio-Technical Innovation Bundling (GTSTIBs) approach, validated through CGIAR Gender Equality (HER+) learning initiatives in Kenya, Ethiopia, and India, demonstrates strong potential for strengthening women’s empowerment and resilience to climate risks. GTSTIBs integrate co-designed combinations of technological innovations (such as climate-resilient seeds and inputs), technical interventions (including agronomy, nutrition, market engagement, and gender-sensitive nutrition training), and social innovations (such as financial inclusion, digital tools, policy linkages, and market solutions). Evidence shows that the approach enhances women’s decision-making power and strengthens anticipatory, absorptive, adaptive, and transformative resilience capacities, leading to higher productivity, empowerment, and food security (Ayuya et al., 2024). Within BRAINS Ethiopia, the GTSTIBs approach will be integrated to address systemic barriers affecting women, youth, and marginalised groups across the bean, fruit tree, and beekeeping value chains. Context-specific bundles 7BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS will be promoted to accelerate the adoption of climate-resilient practices, expand economic opportunities, and foster inclusive participation. Lessons generated will inform scaling and institutional integration of the approach within partner and community systems. Table 1 presents an example of GSTIBs that was promoted in Kenya. GSTIBs approach will enhance inclusivity, build empowerment, and increase income for all genders. Table 1. Potential GTSTIBs in Ethiopia PROJECT SITE GTSTIBS (INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS) SCALING PARTNERS (WOMEN, MEN OR YOUTH-LED) PARTNER NAME LOCATION LEADERSHIP CAPACITY Melkasa (Adama and Lume)  Commercial Bean varieties (SER-119 and Awash-2) + Mango/ avocado/ papaya+ IPM+ agronomic practice management training+ crop diversification+gender training+ market linkage+ dietary diversity and recipe development and demonstration Lume Adama union, food vendor micro enterprises, Adama bee hive multiplier (SME)  Lume, Adama Men-led, Women led for food vendors 45MT beans + 100kg honey, 10,000 hives/year Melkasa (Adama and Lume)  Postharvest technologies (PICS, Thresher, fruit picker) + vermicomposting + Bio fertilizer (rhizobium) bio- fortified beans+ Shayashone + Menagesha PLC  Addis Ababa  Men-Led 10M (PICS bag/ year) + 5T bio fertilizer/year Jimma  Beans+ coffee+ Avocado/ IPM+ Bee+ hives Jima ARC Jima (Shebe, Mana, Sokoru) Youth-led 20MT beans + 10 MT coffee + 500kg honey + 10MT avocado Diredawa   Beans+ Mango/ IPM+ vermin compost + bio-fertilizer Haramaya university Haramaya University+ Menagesha PLC+Shayshone Men-led 5MT of bean seed+ 5T bio fertilizer/year+ Scattered mango production Wolaita  Beans(biofortified)+Mango/ IPM+post-harvest, handling fruit+ mango seedling grafting+Honey production and processing Arbaminch plant clinic+ Arbaminich university+ Hawassa ARC Huloma seed grower+Youth groups Men led, Youth-Led 2MT of beans + 10000 seedlings  Gamo  Beans(biofortified)+recipe development and demonstration +Mango/IPM+ post-harvest, handling fruit+ mango seedling grafting+ Arbaminch plant clinic+ Arbaminich university+ Hawassa ARC Hulume seed growers+Youth groups  Men led,Youth-Led 5MT of beans + 10000seedlings 4.5. Gender budgeting Gender budgeting will be applied to ensure that financial resources are planned, allocated, and monitored in ways that explicitly support gender-responsive activities and equitable outcomes. Gender considerations will be integrated into project components, work plans, and budget processes, with dedicated financing for capacity-building, outreach, inclusion initiatives, and women and youth focused support activities. Partners will be supported to adopt gender-responsive financial planning and reporting practices to enhance transparency and accountability. Through systematic tracking of expenditures and results, gender budgeting will help ensure that investments actively contribute to fairness, inclusion, and equitable benefit across all project interventions. 8 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY 5. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 5.1. Roles and responsibilities The institutional framework provides the foundation for effective coordination, implementation, and sustainability of the BRAINS project in Ethiopia. Clear roles and responsibilities have been established across project structures and partner institutions to ensure accountability, collaboration, and gender-responsive delivery of activities across the bean, fruit tree, and beekeeping value chains. a. Project coordination committee: The project coordination committee will oversee the implementation of BRAINS activities across the targeted value chains and project locations. The committee will consist of the national coordinator and focal persons responsible for guiding implementation in line with approved work plans. Women producers, processors, and off-takers will be intentionally included to ensure that women’s perspectives inform project decisions and priorities, with a target of at least 40% female representation to strengthen inclusive governance and accountability. b. Project team and implementing partners: A transdisciplinary project team will support implementation, comprising socio-economists, agronomists, value-chain experts, breeders, pathologists, nutritionists, and researchers working across the bean, fruit tree, and insect-for-food-and-feed value chains. The team will collaborate closely with gender focal persons embedded within the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and partner institutions to ensure that gender is systematically mainstreamed in planning, implementation, capacity building, technology dissemination, and monitoring processes. Implementing partners, including community organisations, cooperatives, and local institutions, will work jointly with the project team to operationalise activities and promote inclusive participation among women, men, and youth. 5.2. Partnerships and collaborations Partnerships are essential for building synergies, enhancing learning, and scaling gender-responsive and climate-resilient interventions across the Ethiopian value chains targeted by BRAINS. The project will strengthen collaboration with national, regional, and international actors to leverage expertise, influence policy processes, and support sustainable implementation. The project will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and relevant government departments responsible for gender, climate change, and rural development to align interventions with national priorities and policy frameworks. Strategic partnerships will also be developed with organisations such as AGRA, CARE Ethiopia, SWRE, non-governmental organisations, private-sector actors, and other value-chain stakeholders to support innovation scaling, capacity building, and market linkages. Through these collaborative engagements, the project will foster shared ownership, strengthen institutional capacity, and enhance the impact and sustainability of gender-inclusive outcomes within the bean, fruit tree, and beekeeping value chains. 6. GENDERED MONITORING AND EVALUATION Gendered monitoring and evaluation will be integrated throughout the implementation of the BRAINS project in Ethiopia to assess how women, men, and youth participate in and benefit from interventions across the bean, fruit tree, and insect for food and feed value chains. The monitoring process will track whether project activities respond to the needs and priorities of different social groups and whether outcomes promote inclusion, equity, and meaningful participation. The approach will focus on learning from implementation, identifying gaps, and adapting strategies to ensure that project results contribute to lasting and gender-equitable change. Monitoring will be undertaken at multiple levels at individual, household, community, and institutional, to capture shifts in participation, access to resources, decision-making power, workload distribution, and livelihood outcomes. Throughout the project lifecycle, sex, and age disaggregated data will be collected and analysed to understand how women, men, and youth are affected by project activities and whether interventions are meeting their specific needs. Participatory feedback mechanisms will be used to engage beneficiaries directly, 9BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS amplify the voices of women, youth, and marginalised groups, and ensure that lessons emerging from the field inform adaptive management. Through this approach, the project will reinforce accountability to gender equality objectives and promote an inclusive, responsive, and learning-oriented implementation process. Figure 3: A framework for measuring gender transformative change 7. RISK MITIGATION In many communities, traditional norms and power dynamics still favour men, often limiting women’s voices and opportunities. Cultural and religious beliefs can reinforce these roles, making it difficult to challenge the status quo. As a result, efforts to empower women especially around leadership or economic independence may face resistance, and in some cases, even backlash. To address these challenges, the BRAINS project is taking proactive steps to reduce risks and build more inclusive, supportive environments: • Gender action learning system (GALS): Through the Gender Action Learning System (GALS), we will work with couples to encourage open communication, shared decision-making and mutual respect. This helps reduce the risk of gender-based violence that can sometimes arise when household power dynamics shift. • Community engagement and sensitization: Conduct awareness campaigns and dialogues involving both men and women to highlight the benefits of women’s involvement in decision-making and leadership. Male role models and gender champions will also be engaged to support these efforts. • Inclusive participation models: The project will make sure both women and men have equal opportunities to be involved in every stage of implementation and decision-making. Activities will be designed to fit around women’s daily responsibilities, so new farming practices or technologies don’t add to their workload. 10 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY 8. GENDER RESPONSIVE COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK A gender responsive communication strategy is critical for promoting gender equality. BRAINS will use a gender- responsive communication strategy to: • Communicate its gender equality goals and targets for women, youth, and marginalised groups involved in beans, fruit trees, and insects for feed and food value chains. • Highlight contributions of men, women, youth, and marginalised groups in beans, fruit trees, and insects for feed and food value chains. • Share success and impact stories of women, youth, and marginalised groups involved in the BRAINS project in the three value chains. • Share educational and knowledge products to inform researchers, development practitioners, governments, donors, and communities on gender issues in the three value chains. • Influence behaviour change among stakeholders and communities by promoting positive attitudes that support gender equality. • Challenge harmful gender norms perpetuating gender inequalities and exclusion of women in high-value nodes in beans, fruit trees, and insects for feed and food value chains. • Advocate for policy changes needed to support transformations in beans, fruit trees, and insects for feed and food value chain based on the BRAINS project’s impacts on climate resilience and gender equality. Multiple communication channels will be used to promote gender awareness and communicate results generated by BRAINS. They will include: • Multimedia and social platforms to increase the visibility of BRAINS interventions. Engaging content through animations, videos, info graphics, and stories of change will be used to convey gender issues, what BRAINS is doing to address the issues, and highlight success stories from interventions. • BRAINS will organize workshops for both men and women to discuss the value of gender equality in agricultural activities. The workshops will educate men and women about gender equality and highlight the importance of working together at household and community levels to achieve broader benefits. • Community outreach campaigns, including public events, media campaigns through local radio broadcasts, posters, and community meetings, will raise awareness about gender issues and the importance of women’s empowerment in agriculture, especially in beans, fruit trees, and insects for feed and food value chains. They will be crucial in mobilizing support from local and national stakeholders and value chain actors to challenge harmful gender norms and promote behaviour change. • Engaging men as gender equality role models and champions of gender equality to challenge gender norms and encourage practices or behaviours that support women’s empowerment. Having men as champions of gender equality will encourage dialogue between men and women to foster mutual understanding and collaboration at household and community-level engagements. 9. SUSTAINABILITY The BRAINS project will incorporate several mechanisms to ensure that its output and impacts are sustained in the long run. 9.1. Skills development in gender-sensitive practices and climate resilience Men, women, youth, and marginalized groups will receive training on gender-sensitive practices and how to build resilience to climate change. This will help create a culture of inclusion, not just within local community organizations, but also in future development efforts. Through these trainings, participants will gain practical skills in regenerative agriculture and learn about climate-smart technologies. By involving both men and women equally, families and communities will be better prepared to cope with changing weather patterns. These efforts 11BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS will support stronger, more stable livelihoods through things like income diversification and better access to markets. Over time, they will also help shift social and cultural norms, leading to more empowered communities that can actively shape policies for sustainable development and climate resilience. 9.2. Community ownership and engagement Real change lasts when communities are truly involved. That’s why we make sure people are part of the process from the start. BRAINS works closely with communities to create practical solutions that respect local cultures and fit their real needs. When men, women, youth, and marginalized groups help shape the ideas and actions, they feel a sense of ownership. This builds trust and encourages people to stay engaged, even after the project ends. When communities see their voices reflected in the work, they are more likely to keep the momentum going and make the changes part of everyday life. 9.3. Develop gender-responsive financial systems BRAINS plans to create long term financial opportunities for women and youth farmers by improving access to finance and literacy. Many smallholder farmers face challenges due to limited understanding of financial systems. To address this, we will provide regular training to build farmers’ skills in managing money, saving, and using credit wisely. We also plan to partner with banks and microfinance institutions to offer small, low-interest loans tailored to farmers’ needs. With better financial knowledge and access, women and youth will be more confident in adopting climate-smart technologies, starting or expanding their businesses, and building stable sources of income. These efforts will help strengthen their resilience to economic and environmental shocks and support lasting economic empowerment, even after the project ends. 9.4. Institutionalization of gender practices To make sure gender equality lasts beyond the BRAINS project, we’re working with organizations at local, national, and regional levels to embed gender into their everyday operations. This means helping partners align their policies with national and global gender frameworks and supporting them in tracking progress toward gender goals especially in leadership roles, community engagement, and across value chains. We’ll also train staff and stakeholders to deepen their understanding of gender-responsive practices and help create organizational cultures where inclusion is the norm. In addition, BRAINS will support the formation of women-led cooperatives and advocacy networks to keep gender issues on the agenda and push for policy changes as new challenges emerge. 12 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY REFERENCES Abdisa, T., Mehare, A., & Wakeyo, M. B. (2024). Analyzing gender gap in agricultural productivity: Evidence from Ethiopia. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 15, 100960. Ayuya, O.I.; Jong, A.O.; Alworah, G.O.; Lutomia, C.K.; Nchanji, E.B.; Waswa, B.S.; Ooro, P.; Muriithi, C.; Njiru, E.; Ouya, F.O. (2024) Identifying and measuring the effectiveness of socio-technical innovation bundles on empowerment and resilience in Kenya: A baseline report. CGIAR Initiative on Gender Equility (HER+), Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140709. Bayeh, E. (2016). The role of empowering women and achieving gender equality to the sustainable development of Ethiopia. Pacific Science Review B: Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(1), 37-42. Belay, A., Recha, J.W., Woldeamanuel, T., and John F. Morton. 2017. Smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate change and determinants of their adaptation decisions in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Agric & Food Secur 6, 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-017-0100-1. Buehren, N., Goldstein, M., Molina, E., and Vaillant, J. 2019. The impact of strengthening agricultural extension services on women farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia. Agricultural Economics, 50(4), 407-419. Chekol, F. 2024. Determinants of engagement of rural women in non-farm economic activities in rural Ethiopia.  Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2329802. Mulema, A., and Damtew, E. 2016. Gender-based constraints and opportunities to agricultural intensification in Ethiopia: A systematic review. Nchanji Eileen, Lutomia Cosmas, Nyamolo Victor, Arinaitwe Warren, Muriithi Beatrice and Fombong Ayuka (2024). Gender Strategy for Building Equitable Climate-Resilient African Bean and Insect Sectors. Unpublished report. The Alliance of Bioversity International, CIAT, and the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe). Njeru, E., Grey, S., and Kilawe, E. 2016. Eastern Africa climate-smart agriculture scoping study: Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Tesafa, F., Mulugeta, M., and Tsehay, S. 2025. Women empowerment, efficiency and food security nexus in rural Ethiopia: A generalized structural equation modeling.  Heliyon,  11(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. heliyon.2024.e41273. World Bank group. 2019. Ethiopia Gender Diagnostic Report. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140709 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-017-0100-1 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2329802 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41273 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41273 13BUILDING EQUITABLE CL IMATE-RESIL IENT AFRICAN BEAN & INSECT SECTORS 14 ETHIOPIAN GENDER STRATEGY CONTACT INFORMATION: For questions about this report, please contact: Eileen Nchanji Gender Inclusion Expert, Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT E.Nchanji@cgiar.org Lutomia Kweyu Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT C.Lutomia@cgiar.org Ketema Dessalegn Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT D.Ketema@cgiar.org