By Henk Knipscheer | Senior Associate
The lack of female agricultural extension agents may be the greatest barrier to increasing food production in Africa. Female farmers produce 70% of Africa’s food. Female farmers need access to extension agents who can provide education and resources to increase food production. Unfortunately, in many African cultures, there is no communication between male extension agents and female farmers. Consequently, only 5% of rural women receive agriculture extension services.
The Christopher Dowswell Scholarship fund meets this challenge by supporting mid-career female farmers who are enrolled in agricultural extension and communication programs. The Fund is managed by Winrock International who collaborates closely with the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education Program (SAFE). The SAFE program improves the capacity of agricultural advisory services in Africa.
Thanks to your generosity, 33 scholars have received support. To date, 10 have successfully completed their degree and 4 are expected to complete their degree in the next quarter. 19 students are actively working toward graduation.
Your continued support is highly appreciated and will make it possible for Winrock to increase the number of scholarship awards.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
