Warning. This technology has not yet been validated, because it is not yet ready to scale.

Gender-Transformative Dialogues for Women’s Leadership in Cassava Groups

Transforming gender norms to advance women’s leadership

The gender-transformative dialogue approach addresses norms affecting women’s leadership through coordinated engagement at group and community levels.

An eight-session curriculum uses facilitated discussions, critical reflection, brainstorming, participatory activities and male engagement with women and men in agricultural groups. Participants examine attitudes, harmful masculinities and unequal gender relations that restrict women’s participation in leadership and identify practical actions for change.

Community dialogues extend the process to traditional rulers and chiefs, religious and youth leaders, family heads, women leaders, farmer and market leaders, group leaders and other relevant local stakeholders. Drama skits and case studies support collective reflection on barriers to women’s leadership and the development of locally relevant strategies and community action plans.

This two-level structure addresses norms within organized agricultural groups alongside the community environment that influences women’s participation in leadership.

This technology is not yet validated.

6•4

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 6/9; level of use 4/9

Positive impacts: 13

target group	Positive impacts
Young women smallholder farmers with disabilities	Greater voice: More opportunities to express their perspectives in discussions on leadership and group decision-making. Leadership opportunities: Challenging restrictive gender norms can increase acceptance of their participation in leadership positions. Greater recognition: Engagement of men and community leaders can strengthen recognition of their leadership potential beyond the agricultural group.
Young women smallholder farmers from socially marginalized or minority groups	Greater participation: Structured dialogue can create more opportunities to contribute to discussions on leadership. Stronger influence: Their priorities and perspectives can receive greater consideration in group decisions. Leadership opportunities: Challenging norms related to women’s leadership can improve opportunities to take up leadership roles. Community recognition: Community dialogue can increase recognition of their leadership potential among influential local actors.
Young women with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Greater visibility: Participatory dialogue can provide opportunities for women facing multiple forms of marginalization to contribute to leadership discussions. Stronger voice: Their perspectives can receive greater consideration in discussions and agreed actions. Leadership opportunities: Reflection on restrictive norms can challenge perceptions that limit their participation in leadership. Community recognition: Engagement with community actors can strengthen acceptance of their participation in leadership.
Women smallholder farmers with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Greater participation: Structured dialogue can increase opportunities to contribute to leadership discussions. Stronger influence: Their perspectives and priorities can be better represented in group decisions and action planning. Leadership opportunities: Challenging restrictive norms can expand opportunities to take up and participate in leadership roles. Community support: Engagement with influential community actors can help create a more supportive environment for their leadership.

More...

Unintended impacts: 12
Mitigations: 12

Barriers: 16
Mitigations: 16

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

As a social innovation, the approach is not dependent on specific climatic or weather conditions and can be adapted for implementation across diverse climatic contexts.

Farmer climate change readiness: No improvement

The approach does not directly strengthen farmers’ capacity to anticipate, prepare for, or respond to climate-related risks. Its primary focus is transforming gender norms and strengthening women’s participation in leadership.

Problem

Persistent gender norms: Social norms and attitudes that discourage women from holding leadership positions continue to shape participation and leadership within agricultural and community groups.
Women’s underrepresentation in leadership: Women’s participation in agricultural activities does not necessarily translate into equitable representation in the leadership structures of agricultural groups.
Unequal influence over collective decisions: Limited representation in leadership reduces opportunities for women’s priorities, needs and perspectives to be reflected in group decisions and activities.
Reinforcement across group and community levels: Norms affecting women’s leadership are embedded not only within groups but also in the surrounding community, where influential local actors and social expectations can reinforce existing gender relations.

Solution

Transforming persistent gender norms: Participatory dialogues engage women and men in critically examining attitudes and social norms that discourage women from holding leadership positions.
Expanding women’s representation: Group activities, reflection and examples of women leaders help identify practical changes that create more equitable opportunities for women to take up leadership positions.
Strengthening women’s influence: Guided discussions and action planning support changes that enable women to participate more effectively in leadership and contribute to collective decisions and activities.
Addressing reinforcing social norms: Community dialogues engage traditional, religious, youth and other local leaders in challenging attitudes that reinforce barriers to women’s leadership within agricultural groups.

Key points to design your project

Integrates into gender-responsive agriculture, rural development, women’s empowerment and agricultural extension programmes seeking to strengthen women’s participation and representation in leadership.

Target leadership gaps: Prioritize organized agricultural groups and communities where women participate but remain underrepresented in leadership or have limited influence over group decisions.
Plan two-level delivery: Combine the eight-session dialogue process with community dialogues involving relevant local leaders and stakeholders. Use existing agricultural programmes, organized groups and local implementing partners for delivery, and contact IITA for adaptation beyond cassava.
Track change: Monitor women’s representation and participation in leadership, their influence in group decisions, changes in attitudes toward women’s leadership, and implementation of agreed actions.
Support continuity: Build local facilitation capacity and embed dialogue and agreed actions within existing group and community structures to support continued implementation and expansion.

IP

Open source / open access

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology's development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology's readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 6 out of 9

Semi-controlled environment: testing

Level of use 4 out of 9

By some projects connected to technology providers

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Positive impact 13

target group	Positive impacts
Young women smallholder farmers with disabilities	Greater voice: More opportunities to express their perspectives in discussions on leadership and group decision-making. Leadership opportunities: Challenging restrictive gender norms can increase acceptance of their participation in leadership positions. Greater recognition: Engagement of men and community leaders can strengthen recognition of their leadership potential beyond the agricultural group.
Young women smallholder farmers from socially marginalized or minority groups	Greater participation: Structured dialogue can create more opportunities to contribute to discussions on leadership. Stronger influence: Their priorities and perspectives can receive greater consideration in group decisions. Leadership opportunities: Challenging norms related to women’s leadership can improve opportunities to take up leadership roles. Community recognition: Community dialogue can increase recognition of their leadership potential among influential local actors.
Young women with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Greater visibility: Participatory dialogue can provide opportunities for women facing multiple forms of marginalization to contribute to leadership discussions. Stronger voice: Their perspectives can receive greater consideration in discussions and agreed actions. Leadership opportunities: Reflection on restrictive norms can challenge perceptions that limit their participation in leadership. Community recognition: Engagement with community actors can strengthen acceptance of their participation in leadership.
Women smallholder farmers with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Greater participation: Structured dialogue can increase opportunities to contribute to leadership discussions. Stronger influence: Their perspectives and priorities can be better represented in group decisions and action planning. Leadership opportunities: Challenging restrictive norms can expand opportunities to take up and participate in leadership roles. Community support: Engagement with influential community actors can help create a more supportive environment for their leadership.

Unintended impact 12

Target group	Unintended impacts	Mitigation measures
Young women smallholder farmers with disabilities	Unequal voice: More vocal or influential participants may dominate the dialogues, leaving their perspectives underrepresented. Backlash: Greater visibility or expression of views challenging established gender norms may expose participants to criticism or social pressure. Additional burden: Participation across eight sessions or taking on new leadership responsibilities may add to existing farming and household workloads.	Inclusive participation: Use structured turn-taking, small-group discussions and inclusive facilitation. Safe engagement: Establish safe dialogue rules and engage men and influential community actors throughout the process. Workload consideration: Agree suitable session schedules and consider existing responsibilities when developing leadership actions.
Young women smallholder farmers from socially marginalized or minority groups	Dominance of existing hierarchies: More influential participants may shape dialogue outcomes and action plans. Backlash: Increased visibility in leadership may trigger resistance from people holding restrictive gender or social norms. Additional burden: Dialogue participation and new leadership responsibilities may add to farming and household responsibilities.	Equitable participation: Ensure marginalized participants contribute to developing and reviewing agreed actions. Anticipate resistance: Engage men, group leaders and influential community actors in challenging restrictive norms. Workload consideration: Adapt scheduling and ensure agreed leadership actions consider existing responsibilities.
Young women with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Stigma or social pressure: Increased visibility may expose participants to criticism linked to gender, disability or social status. Intersectional needs overlooked: Actions may address gender inequality while overlooking disability or social marginalization. Token participation: Their presence may be treated as inclusion without meaningful influence over dialogue outcomes.	Safe participation: Create safe dialogue conditions and engage influential actors in challenging discriminatory attitudes. Intersectional action planning: Explicitly consider intersecting disadvantages when developing and reviewing action plans. Meaningful participation: Ensure their contributions are incorporated into priorities and agreed actions.
Women smallholder farmers with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Elite capture: Leadership opportunities may primarily benefit women who already have greater social standing. Priorities overlooked: More influential participants may define women’s priorities without adequately representing their concerns. Additional burden: Greater leadership participation may add responsibilities without reducing existing productive and household workloads.	Equitable opportunities: Track who receives leadership opportunities and adjust actions when marginalized women remain excluded. Inclusive priority setting: Directly involve intersectionally marginalized women in identifying priorities and reviewing action plans. Workload consideration: Include existing responsibilities when defining leadership roles and agreed actions.

Barriers 16

Target group	Adoption barriers	Mitigation measures
Young women smallholder farmers with disabilities	Physical accessibility: Mobility or accessibility constraints may limit attendance. Time constraints: Farming and household responsibilities may prevent regular attendance across eight sessions. Age hierarchy: Younger women may find it difficult to speak openly alongside older or more influential participants. Communication accessibility: Some disabilities may require adapted communication methods.	Accessible delivery: Select accessible venues and adapt participation arrangements. Suitable scheduling: Agree session times around livelihood and household responsibilities. Equitable participation: Use small-group activities and structured opportunities for participation. Adapted communication: Adapt communication and participatory materials to accessibility needs.
Young women smallholder farmers from socially marginalized or minority groups	Participant selection: Reliance on existing group structures may result in less influential women being overlooked. Low social influence: Age and marginalized social status may discourage open participation. Time constraints: Farming and household responsibilities may affect regular attendance. Restrictive social norms: Family or community expectations may discourage participation in leadership activities.	Inclusive selection: Use inclusive selection criteria and actively identify women at risk of exclusion. Safe participation: Use smaller-group activities and structured facilitation. Suitable scheduling: Agree locally appropriate schedules with participants. Community engagement: Engage relevant family, group and community actors to support participation.
Young women with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Physical or communication accessibility: Venue design or communication methods may prevent meaningful participation. Participant selection: Multiple forms of marginalization may reduce their likelihood of being identified or invited. Low social influence: Age, disability and social status may make open participation difficult. Restrictive family or community attitudes: Social expectations may limit attendance or participation.	Accessible delivery: Use accessible venues and adapt communication and participatory methods. Inclusive selection: Use explicit selection criteria and identify women at risk of exclusion. Safe participation: Use small-group formats and actively facilitate their contribution. Community engagement: Engage relevant family and community actors while maintaining voluntary and safe participation.
Women smallholder farmers with disabilities from socially marginalized or minority groups	Physical accessibility: Mobility constraints may prevent repeated attendance. Participant selection: Existing group structures may overlook women with lower social visibility. Time constraints: Farming, livelihood and household responsibilities may limit participation. Low influence within groups: Physical presence may not translate into meaningful participation in dialogue and action planning.	Accessible delivery: Select accessible locations and adapt session arrangements. Inclusive selection: Apply inclusive participant-selection criteria and actively identify marginalized women. Suitable scheduling: Develop session schedules around major livelihood and household responsibilities. Meaningful participation: Use structured participation methods and ensure representation in action-planning processes.

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Nigeria	Testing ongoing	–Not tested	–Not adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid	–	–	–	–
Semiarid	–	–	–	–
Subhumid		–	–	–
Humid		–	–	–

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 4: quality education

The participatory dialogue sessions provide learning opportunities for women and men to strengthen their understanding of gender norms, unequal gender relations and women’s leadership, and to identify practical actions for more equitable participation.

Goal 5: gender equality

The approach addresses restrictive gender norms that limit women’s participation in leadership and decision-making, helping expand their opportunities to take up leadership roles and strengthen their influence in group decisions.

Step 1 – Prepare the dialogue sessions: Use the facilitator guides to plan the group and community dialogues and identify the participants and stakeholders to engage.

Step 2 – Conduct group dialogues: Deliver the eight-session curriculum with women and men using facilitated discussions, critical reflection, brainstorming and participatory group activities.

Step 3 – Examine leadership norms: Support participants in identifying and reflecting on gender norms, attitudes, harmful masculinities and unequal gender relations that restrict women’s leadership.

Step 4 – Conduct community dialogues: Engage traditional, religious and youth leaders, family heads, women leaders, farmer and market leaders, group leaders and other relevant stakeholders using facilitated discussions, drama skits and case studies.

Step 5 – Develop actions for change: Identify practical actions and develop group and community strategies that create greater opportunities for women to take up and participate effectively in leadership positions.

Last updated on Oct 20, 2026

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Dr Steve Cole

Commodities

Cassava

Sustainable Development Goals Details ›

Subcategory

Gender-transformative potential

Value chain step

Gender-transformative potential

Solution to

Gender Inequality

Tested/adopted in Details ›

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Where it can be used Details ›

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones.

Target groups

Development institutions Farmers Cooperatives and Agribusinesses

Ready-to-Scale Technologies from IITA