Implementation of Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program. GRAIN Gender Advisor, mentor and Eastern Region Manager interviewing mentee
Implementation of Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program. The GRAIN Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program is specifically designed to empower female university students and young professionals in wheat research or related agricultural fields, as they develop and enhance personal and professional skills. A principal aim is to build capacities that support individuals to pursue careers in the wheat research sector. Celebrating Completion of the Women in Agriculture Research Mentorship Program 13 Mentorship Program closing ceremony in Kabul In PY2, 63 Mentees from four provinces and six mentors were engaged in the inaugural cohort of the Mentorship Program, with 61 Mentees successfully completing all requirements of the program by the end of the project year. In total, Xxxxxxx completed 2,267 hours of structured learning through classroom and field-based programs in PY2 (about 38 hours on average for each Mentee). A few key program accomplishments during the reporting period are outlined below. The last in a series of regional celebrations of the successful completion of the Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program for 2018-2019 was held at KU on 16 October, postponed slightly due to security concerns in September related to the Afghan presidential elections. In total, 55 participants from ARIA, KU, other related projects, program partners and supporters, Mentors, and Xxxxxxx attended this event. The theme of the event was “Sisters in Agriculture”, with speakers emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and fellowship among women in the agriculture sector, highlighting that all are stronger when working together. XXXXX acknowledged the support of partners who helped implement the program with appreciation letters and recognition. In addition, each successful Mentee received program completion certificates. Evaluation of the Mentorship Program An end-of-program evaluation survey was developed and conducted during September and October by the Monitoring, Evaluations and Learning (XXX) staff and interns who were deployed to the field to administer the survey using the tool designed by the XXX department of the GRAIN project. Out of a total of 61 participants in the mentorship program, 45 (74%) were interviewed. Only half of the participants from Kabul (14 of 28) were interviewed, as the remaining participants were on seasonal holidays from university. Respondents were asked whether they felt their overall learning goals were achieved. Eighty percent said that they had achieved their learning g...
Implementation of Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program. The GRAIN Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program is specifically designed to empower female university students and young professionals in the wheat research or related fields as they develop and enhance personal and professional skills. A principal aim is to build capacities that support individuals to pursue careers in the wheat research sector. This marks the second year of implementation of the Mentorship program with the aim of engaging about 70 Mentees, seven Mentors, and four Mentor Assistants this year. While the program will follow the curriculum and guidelines provided by the GRAIN Capacity Building Team, with support from an International Consultant beginning in June, GRAIN will initiate a new partnership with an Afghan NGO as a service provider to implement the program, including hiring Consultants, logistically supporting events and training, and providing high quality reports of Mentee progress. Recruitment of a New Local Partner for Activity Implementation On 23 January, XXXXX released a Request for Expressions of Interest through the ACBAR website (the most visited website for development organizations and job seekers in Afghanistan). By the deadline of 03 February, 18 organizations submitted formal expressions of interest. On 17 February, MSU released a full Request for Proposals to those organizations, receiving 28 applications by the deadline, six of which were complete and from eligible organizations. Following the criteria listed in the RFP, a committee of four GRAIN staff evaluated proposals, considering: GRAIN seeks an Afghanistan-based non-governmental organization (must be registered in Afghanistan and in good standing with the Government of Afghanistan). Other preferred criteria include: • Preference given to woman-owned or women-led Afghan organizations. • Current presence (offices or programs) in Balkh, Herat, Nangarhar, and Kabul Provinces. • Demonstrated experience in implementing women’s empowerment programming. • Demonstrated experience in implementing training and capacity building programs. • Demonstrated experience in implementing USAID programming. Three organizations were short-listed, with representatives from these organizations invited to interviews on 17 March. The committee was particularly impressed with one Afghan NGO, which demonstrated extensive experience in capacity building and women’s empowerment programming, an ability to effectively manage the logistics of a program of this size, and put forw...
Implementation of Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program. This quarter involved substantial in-field practical and learning opportunities for mentees, and saw the continuation of a productive collaboration with USAID’s PROMOTE Women’s Leadership Development (WLD) program through its Jawana activity, and provision of computer classes and personal empowerment sessions. GRAIN Mentees visiting Nangarhar University Agriculture Faculty soil testing lab. Bridging the Gap – Preparing Mentees for Scholarship Opportunities: As the key objective of this activity is supporting university students and young professional women to develop skills to pursue agricultural sector careers, a group of mentees recently achieved a major milestone, when nine were selected as finalists for cohort 2 GRAIN Graduate Degree Scholarships, thus being invited to take the entrance exam for KU’s Masters of Agronomy Program. In all, 13 GRAIN mentees applied in a field of 125 candidates, and were able to draw upon extensive trainings acquired through GRAIN’s Women in Agricultural Research Mentorship Program. Central to the mentorship curriculum is providing guidance in areas relating to professional presentation, proposal writing, increased self- esteem, CV writing and interviewing techniques – attributes that contributed and complimented the scholarship application and interview process. These efforts to bridge the skill and knowledge gap between male and female applicants is further explained in Activity 1.B.2.
