Toolkit - 1 - Introduction

The content of this Toolkit has been developed by Angelica Senders of Fair & Sustainable Advisory Services and Mieke Vanderschaeghe (consultant) with support of Roel Snelder of Agri-ProFocus Netherlands. This toolkit is being updated continuously. We welcome your feedback.

For whom is this toolkit?

For practitioners (from local and international development organisations) looking for accessible information on concepts and tools to be applied in gender-sensitive value chain development (VCD) programmes.

What is this toolkit for?

This toolkit intends to contribute to an increased knowledge base to enhance capacities of practitioners in integrating a gender perspective in value chain development of agricultural value chains.

Characteristic of the toolkit will be that it serves as a low-threshold portal for the value chain practitioner interested a gender perspective in his/ her value chain interventions. It seeks to motivate and encourage, the content will be accordingly.

This toolkit will provide the practitioner with a road map, to find him/ herself a way in the wealth of internationally available material. At the same time, it intends to play a role in harvesting unlocked material within organisations. Readers are encouraged to comment, to suggest and provide us with materials to be made accessible via this toolkit.

Set-up and contents

The pages of this toolkit loosely follow the order of a programme cycle:

• Underlying Principles (2)
• Scoping (3)
• Analysis of the value chain (4)
• Strategizing (5)
• Upgrading strategies (6)
• Measuring success (7)

The actual tools are presented in Chapter 3 – 6. The tools are taken from manuals produced by practitioners and organisations, available in the public domain or made available to the Agri-ProFocus Gender in value chains network. The toolkit relies strongly on manuals produced by: USAID, SNV, GIZ and ILO. Click here for an overview of available manuals/ online tools.

For each tool we have elaborated:

• Why use it/ in which situation
• The objective/ what you can gain from using it
• Who uses the tool for which target group (with farmers or practitioners)
• An example of the use of the tool (if possible/ relevant)
• Links to downloadable documents (guidelines, formats, background materials in PDF, Word, Excel)

Open knowledge

We believe in the concept of Open Knowledge. We want to make tools not only Available and Accessible but also Adjustable. We want you to use, copy and adapt these tools as this implies a greater attention for gender in value chain development.

In return

• We would like to be mentioned as source for the material, so that others can also join our growing network.
• We would like to receive feedback on your experiences (below every page there is a comment box for this purpose).
• We would also like you to send us your tools (adjusted from our material or developed by you or your organisation). You can do so through our News section.