Call for Proposals: Research project on gender, climate change, agriculture, and food security

Deadline: 1 May 2011. The complex and dynamic relationships among climate change, agriculture and food security and how they affect men and women differently are not well understood. Due to scarce gender-disaggregated data, there has been limited research on how men and women adapt to climate variability and change to maintain food security in agricultural systems, as well as the incentives, constraints and opportunities women farmers have to pursue farming practices that reduces emission of GHG. How climate risk affects the livelihoods of men and women, and the type of climate information that will assist both men and women in making ‘climate smart decisions’ are also areas of research that have not received enough attention. Therefore, CCAFS is searching for scientists who are interested in conducting research on gender issues related to the climate change, agriculture, and food security nexus.

Our main objectives are to work with institutions based in CCAFS initial priority geographic areas of East Africa, West Africa, and Indo-Gangetic Plains, and researchers who are citizens of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Bangladesh, India, or Nepal to:

1. Demonstrate and contribute to understanding the linkages between climate change and gender more specifically, while developing policy-relevant findings on climate change, agriculture, and food security more generally.
2. Build research capacity of women scientists in partner institutions and increase their representation in agricultural research.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

I.    SCOPE OF THE WORK
To design and conduct a research project on a key topic/issue related to gender, climate change, agriculture, and food security. Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Differences between men and women’s access to, and use of, climate/agricultural information
• Institutional arrangements that provide incentives and deliver benefits for women to mitigate greenhouse gases through the adoption of soil, water, cropping, livestock or agroforestry management methods that reduce GHG emissions.
• Adaptation strategies, both technical and institutional, that help men and women cope with the impacts of a changing climate on agriculture and food security
• Differentiated impacts of climate change on food security and nutrition
• Risk management strategies through the use of institutional services (i.e. safety nets, technical advice, financial services) differentiated by gender.
• Relative vulnerability of men and women, and of female-headed versus male-headed households, to climate change impacts on agriculture and food security
• Roles of women and men in local food systems, such as small-scale trade and local food reserves, in adapting to a changing climate
• Gender-differentiated allocation of household labor and capital in agricultural adaptation and mitigation
• How national legislation and policy on mitigation and adaptation can best support gender equality

Research sponsored by CCAFS is aimed at helping to inform policies and practices that reduce the negative impacts of climate change for people who depend on agriculture as a source of their livelihoods, without jeopardizing food security.

This call targets female PhD scientists and students enrolled in a PhD program based in CCAFS initial target countries. Scientists awarded the grant will be partly supervised by a CGIAR scientist and will have full access to an electronic science library. The scientist should also be supervised by the institution she is affiliated with. Those awarded are required to submit financial and narrative progress reports every six months to the supervisor. The expected output of the research project will be a publishable paper and a presentation on the awarded research topic.

Download the full call for proposals and the application form below. Proposals must be submitted by 1 May 2011.

call_for_competitive_small_grants_proposals.pdf

application_form_for_the_competitive_small_grants_proposals.pdf