There is no doubt that AEAS can accelerate the gender equality and food and nutritional security. As per this online discussion: 1. other than providing and facilitating access to knowledge, information and technologies, AEAS can facilitate transfer of agricultural subsidies that include fertilizers, seeds, tools and machineries, loans, money, pesticides, etc. like WeChat Apps in China as well as online marketing of farm products and law supports in grass-root communities; 2. limited understanding of nutrition coupled with ineffective nutrition training and awareness, unclear organizational mandates, lack of interest and resource limitations, gender bias in EAS, lack of joint planning and dialogue at all levels, lack of triangle attachment of nutritionist, gender specialist and EAS experts during policy making; 3. cultural and traditional barrier to adopt new and improved nutritional balanced diet as well as recipes by rural families.
The role and main activities should be of a global forum such as the GFRAS Nutrition Working Group:
1. Identify local, cultural and religious constrains on gender equality and find local solutions with local communities, local and religious leaders through awareness.
2. Promote nutrition and health clubs in school, universities and localities.
3. Find young minds and youth think tanks, arrange workshop, training for them on nutrition-sensitive social movement.
4. Improvise national level policy to encourage nutrition-sensitive family farming.
5. Create tools and campaigning materials for nutrition awareness among school children and develop materials for family workshop on gender-sensitivity and nutritional diet. Like others, a successful example is ‘A New Way to Eat’ is setting out to change the way Chinese kids eat through China’s first food education program built to integrate nutrition and sustainability (http://www.juccce.org/eat).
6. Engage young professionals/body within the working group to generate new ideas through empowering youths for achieving long-term outcomes.
Among the major constrains for youth empowerment in AEAS, lack of modernization and technology in-friendly methods and process is in the top. Youths of 21st century is more addicted to modern devices but in most developing countries AEAS is yet not fully integrated with high-tech devices. ‘The more you improvise the AEAS with high-tech, the more youth you can involve’. In second, policy makers and AEAS staffs in several cases are not aware to utilize youths in AEAS actions, like engaging local youth clubs, sports clubs, voluntary clubs, youth libraries, science clubs, photography clubs, etc. and developing nutrition clubs for not only promotion of gender equality and nutrition-sensitive farming but also balanced diet. Integrating local, national and regional youth bodies, clubs, NGOs could influence and enhance nutrition-sensitive movement in grass-root level.
Keeping in mind to empower youths, both INGENAES and YPARD Bangladesh are collaborating to improve skills of young professionals and mentoring them. The YPARD members from both Bangladesh and Nepal have joined in training and workshops organized by INGENAES on ‘Addressing Gender Issues in Agricultural Value Chains’, ‘Addressing gender issues in technology design, use, and dissemination’; field visits and participation at the Regional Symposium on Integration Nutrition and Gender in Agri Extension’. Suggested reading about these events are, as blog posts:
1. cross talk between gender nutrition and agriculture extension
2. networking between youth ICT and extension better agriculture
3. Regional symposium to scale up nutrition integration in agricultural extension
4. YPARD Nepal- Steps in Capacity Building Process
5. YPARD Nepal Team on Nutrition Workshop
After more than one year of partnering, INGENAES and YPARD Bangladesh has started to setting up a national network on Agriculture for Nutrition (Ag4N) for the scientists, experts, researchers, students and young professionals who are working on nutrition-based agriculture in Bangladesh through a workshop in last May 2017 where professionals from National Agricultural Research System (NARS) and Bangladesh Agricultural University, She-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Department of Agricultural Extension and from other private, NGOs, institutes/universities had participated. The suggestions from the workshop are as follows:
- Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Dissemination, Knowledge Updating, Knowledge Conservation by the network.
- Recognition of best activists from young professionals.
- Inter-university competition to showcase ideas and accomplishments.
- Promotion of the platform through social media and other communications
- Increase participation by individual channels.
- Establish university based hubs and make linkages.
- A network of YPARD units can be created within different organizations/institutions
- Provide publication opportunities.
- Organize workshops, conferences, trainings
- Creating cross-cutting research opportunities
- Provide access to contents to users & publication opportunities
- Youth leadership development programs
- Discussion forums with young students & professionals
- The framework to build this network and the structure, principles and organogram were also proposed and discussed by the participants.
(suggested reading, blog post: YPARD Bangladesh initiates Agriculture for Nutrition (Ag4N) network)
Mr. Fardous Mohammad Safiul Azam