DIMAPUR — A four-day off-campus collaborative training programme on ‘Institutionalising gender mainstreaming through ATMA’ was conducted from August 20 to the 23rd at the State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (SAMETI) in Medziphema.
The training was jointly organised by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) and SAMETI.
An update from SAMETI stated that the director of Agriculture and state nodal officer of Agricultural Technology Management Authority (ATMA), C Peter Yanthan, attended the inaugural programme as the special guest.
The training featured distinguished resource persons including Dr. Veenita Kumari, deputy director of MANAGE (gender studies); Dr. Rajumoni Bordoloi, director of Extension Education Institute (EEI), North Eastern Region; Dr. Sugandha Munshi, senior associate scientist and lead specialist from IRRI, New Delhi; Dr. Punam Sharma, joint director at the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India; and Sungjemkala, master trainer from the department of Women Resource Development.
The training covered a wide range of topics essential to promoting gender equity in agriculture including gender concepts and stereotypes, role of ATMA in advancing gender equity, tools for integrating gender perspectives in agricultural programmes and strategies for effective messaging on gender mainstreaming.
It stated that the participants were also trained on engaging women and marginalised groups in participatory processes and on methods for collecting and analysing gender-disaggregated data to inform policy and project decisions.
A total of 23 participants from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya attended the training.
The training was aimed at empowering participants with knowledge and tools needed to implement gender-sensitive approaches in their respective regions, contributing to more inclusive and equitable agricultural development.