Tracking the gender responsiveness of agricultural research across the research cycle: a monitoring and evaluation framework tested in Uganda and Rwanda

There is widespread need for gender-responsive agricultural research, yet the question of how this kind of research can be implemented and its success measured needs further interrogation. This paper presents a framework, developed on the basis of literature and validated by experts, for tracking the gender responsiveness of agricultural research throughout the research cycle, from the research plan to the dissemination of research findings. The framework was tested in Uganda and Rwanda on 14 research projects considered to be gender-responsive. Scores on the quantitative tool were triangulated with qualitative data from four case studies. Data was collected between June and August 2016, by reviewing projects' documents and conducting key informant interviews. Our findings show that most of the projects investigated were not sufficiently gender-responsive. The easy-to-use framework presented in this paper provides a much-needed tool for guiding agricultural researchers and partners to design, implement, and measure the gender responsiveness of research projects.