Knowing not only why and how people raise, sell, eat chickens but also who is raising, selling, trading, processing, consuming village chickens is of foremost importance for the improvement of village poultry in general and specifically for the control of Newcastle disease (ND) to succeed.

As most of the countries are adopting gender sensitive measures and policies that aim to redress past inequities between men and women, there is a growing tendency among politicians as well as technicians to consider women’s rights and access to resources as legitimate and positively contributing to the efforts to eradicate poverty. In most countries, staff and technicians are looking for tools and learning on how to address women’s issues and integrate a gender perspective in their work. This can have positive consequences for programmes as a whole and households specifically as it gives opportunity for women’s contributions and needs to be taken into consideration.

Following are some publications addressing gender in livestock projects:

• Bagnol, Brigitte (2012). Advocate gender issues: A sustainable way to control Newcastle Disease in village chickens. INFPD Good Practices of Family Poultry Production Note No 03.

• IFAD. 2015. Gender in Agriculture Partnership. Transforming agriculture to empower women and deliver food, nutrition and income security. IFAD Special event on household methodologies – Recordings and documentation http://www.gender-gap.net/content/ifad-special-event-household-methodologies-recordings-and-documentation 

• FAO (2013). Understanding and integrating gender issues into livestock projects and programmes: A checklist for practitioners. Rome, FAO (available at www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3216e/i3216e.pdf).

• Njuki, Jemimah and Pascal, C. Sanginga. 2013. Women, Livestock Ownership and Markets. London: Routledge.