Jemimah Njuki

Dr. Jemimah Njuki has more than 20 years of experience in the agriculture sector in Africa and Asia, working on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Her extensive resume includes positions with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), CARE USA, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). She has served as Coordinator of the Growth and Economic Opportunities Program (2020) and Senior Program Specialist in the Agriculture and Food Security Program at IDRC (2013–2019); Program Leader for the Women in Agriculture Program at CARE USA (2012–2013); and Program Leader for the Poverty, Gender and Impact Program (2009-2012) and Senior Scientist at ILRI (2003–2009). She has worked widely in Africa, including in Malawi (2004–2007), Zimbabwe (2007–2009), and Tanzania (2012–2013), and has conducted field research in many other countries.

Dr. Njuki has published extensively in gender and agriculture journals on topics such as gender and technology, impacts of women’s time in agriculture on caregiving practices and nutrition, indicators for women’s empowerment, trade-offs between market development and women’s income control, approaches for linking smallholder women farmers to markets, and gender transformative food systems. Her current research focuses on how to make food systems more equitable and gender transformative.

Dr. Njuki serves on several international committees. She currently leads the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Lever for the UN Food Systems Summit and is one of 60 named Champions for Food Systems. She was formerly Chair and is currently Deputy Chair of the Advisory Committee of African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD). She is a member of the Technical Working Group for the Livestock Development Master Plan of the African Development Bank, and also serves on the committee of the EU-AU Food Security Program.

Her most recent publications include: The Potential Intersections of Covid-19, Gender and Food Security in Africa (2020 with Cheryl Doss and Helena Mika); Gender Equality in Rural Africa: From Commitments to Outcomes (ReSAKSS, 2019 with Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Agnes Quisumbing); Transforming Gender and Food Systems in the Global South (2018 with John Parkins and Amy Kaler); and Women, Livestock Ownership and Markets: Bridging the Gender Gap in Eastern and Southern Africa (2013 with Pascal Sanginga).

A national of Kenya, Dr. Njuki holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania, and a bachelor’s degree in Dairy, Food Science and Technology from Egerton University in Kenya.