At Responsible Innovations (RI), we spend a lot of time thinking about how to scale innovations equitably. In many cases, agricultural innovations still primarily serve people with land titles, access to finance, and influence over policy decisions. But across the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region of East and the Horn of Africa, the people doing much of the day-to-day work in food systems are women – managing farms, households, and food security, often without the same access to resources or decision-making power.
I recently had the opportunity to facilitate the Inaugural IGAD Women Forum on Agrifood Systems in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, supported by the World Bank’s Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP). The Forum brought together women parliamentarians, Ministry of Gender officials, farmers, cooperative leaders, financial institutions, and development partners from all seven IGAD member states. It was the first regional forum of its kind, and it coincided with a moment of growing global attention to women in agriculture, including International Women’s Day and the launch of FAO’s International Year of the Woman Farmer.
The problem we keep not solving
Women produce an estimated 40-60% of agricultural output across the region. Yet they own relatively little land, access limited credit, and are underrepresented in agricultural policy spaces. But there’s no shortage of policies or commitments recognizing gender inequality in agriculture – from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to the Kampala CAADP Declaration. The challenge is that these commitments are implemented unevenly. Across IGAD member states, only about 11% of national policies meaningfully integrate gender. The issue is not so much about awareness; the gap lies in how systems are structured, which is where we focus our efforts at Responsible Innovations. Our work aims to bridge the gap between what policies say and how programs are actually designed, funded, and implemented on the ground.
What the farmers said
One of the most important aspects of the Forum was who was included. Women farmers and cooperative representatives were in the room alongside policymakers and financial institutions, participating as contributors and experts rather than as an afterthought. Their message was consistent across countries and aligned with what RI’s work has shown: “Before you make policies, come and see what’s happening on the ground.” Policies developed without input from the people they’re meant to serve often miss key realities on the ground, and ultimately fall short.
One cooperative representative from Uganda described a common dynamic, in which women do much of the production, while men are more likely to control marketing and income, creating a disconnect between labor and financial decision-making. This is central to how RI thinks about equity in innovation. It’s not enough to design programs that reach women. Programs have to be designed with women – the people who understand firsthand where the system breaks down.
From aspiration to institution
One of the key outcomes of the Forum was the adoption of the Terms of Reference for the IGAD Women Forum on Agrifood Systems, establishing it as an ongoing regional platform with a defined mandate and governance structure. Farmer perspectives were incorporated from the outset, and the framework explicitly recognizes women as active contributors to food system development.
Across breakout groups, including farmers, finance actors, parliamentarians, and ministry officials, there was strong alignment around five priorities: improving women’s access to finance, strengthening accountability for policy implementation, increasing women’s representation in decision-making, investing in capacity and digital literacy, and strengthening regional coordination. That convergence, across stakeholders who rarely sit in the same room, underscores that the challenge is actually following through on implementing policies and programs that solve the problems we’ve long-since identified.
A near-term opportunity: the knowledge hub
One proposal that gained traction during the Forum was the development of a regional digital knowledge hub for women smallholder farmers. This would build on IGAD’s existing Digital Agro-Climate Advisory Services (DACAS) platform to provide more targeted information on climate, irrigation, markets, and access to credit.
The digital knowledge hub would build on existing infrastructure, respond directly to needs raised by farmers, and focus on improving access to information that can support day-to-day decision-making. It’s the kind of initiative that RI supports strongly – connecting research to practice at scale – and it should be the standard for every food systems innovation.
What responsible innovation looks like in practice
I left Addis Ababa thinking about what it means to do this work responsibly. Innovation requires both technical solutions and consideration about how processes are designed – who participates, whose knowledge is considered, and whether outcomes translate into changes in policy, funding, and access. It’s also critical to build institutions that outlast any single convening and measure success not by the quality of the speeches but by whether the policies change, the budgets shift, and the women who grow the food gain a real seat at the tables where food systems futures are decided.
The IGAD Women Forum is still at an early stage. Its long-term impact will depend on follow-through – implementation of the commitments, forward progress on the proposed initiatives, and continued inclusivity of participation. But the foundation is there. And importantly, it has been shaped by the people most directly involved in and affected by these systems.
That is what responsible innovation looks like.