Women and Gender in Development Virtual Conference 2021
Out of the Theory & into the Field: A DIALOGUE ON GENDERED APPROACHES TO INCLUSIVE RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Amidst the current landscape of challenges, emerging research, and energized commitments to enable equitable development, there remains a disconnect between the spheres of international development and US agriculture and rural development. The Women and Gender in Development conference aims to bring together agriculture and gender experts from the field of international development as well as researchers and practitioners from the United States for dialogue on common and complementary themes. The perspectives and approaches from the development sphere can contribute to advancing the discussion on gender issues in US agriculture and support more inclusive community, local, and regional economic development. Grounded in academic scholarship and development practice, the WGD conference provides quality learning, networking, and capacity-building opportunities to conference attendees, including students, early career faculty & researchers, and development practitioners.
In 2019, the WGD Conference: Out of the Theory and Into the Field, emphasized a discussion on issues linked to nutrition, gender, agricultural extension, and value chain development. The conference brought together world-renowned development experts and leading scholars in the field, including Dr. Agnes Quisumbing from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dr. Carmen Diana Deere, Agricultural Economist from the University of Florida, and Dr. Krista Jacobs from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Food Security.
Opportunities for engagement and participation
This conference offers many opportunities for attendees to network and engage in conversation with each other and with the conference’s invited speakers.
We will be using the popular events app, Whova, to facilitate networking and community spaces. There will also be special opportunities for students.
Students, scholars, and practitioners are welcome to present their research and/or programmatic activities during the conference’s poster session.
In addition to the poster session, graduate students who have completed research (Masters and PhD) will have a chance to compete in what we are calling the 4 Minute Student Flashtalks (taking the idea from the 3MT or Three Minute Thesis competitions). They as well as undergraduate students are eligible for participation in the poster competition.
Both Keynote presentations and the panels will have lots of time for discussion and Q and A.
Participants are invited to be part of several Conversations.
You may choose to create a topic on the Community board at any time.
During the Careers conversation, attendees will have an opportunity to learn about different career paths and recommendations from practitioners and those in academia working at the nexus of gender and development.
The World Café presents opportunities to learn about methods, tools, or techniques that organizations working internationally and in the United States are using to reduce gender-based constraints, promote greater gender equality, and support women’s empowerment.
Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in one of four two-hour pre-conference workshops and will get to work in smaller breakout groups, and learn more about skills, tools, and methods that they can utilize to address issues linked to gender, power, and inequality in the context of their own work as practitioners, researchers, and/or educators. The workshops also provide opportunities for networking.
