A new cohort of women recently began their journey as Meryl Williams fellows at a foundation workshop in Malaysia.
The Meryl Williams Fellowship (MWF) is an ACIAR initiative for female scientists that offers high-level leadership training, and global network and professional development opportunities.
The MWF provides female agricultural researchers with access to leadership training and network-building resources on an international scale. The learning outcomes are ambitious and practical, designed to promote personal growth in knowledge, skills and confidence.
'Selecting one country to host the entire program means that in-country needs and priorities matter in shaping the experience,' said Pakistan Country Manager Dr Kazmi Munawar. 'Since the women work with poor farming communities to solve complex challenges, the program has the capacity for wide-ranging development impacts.'
Twenty Pakistani women were selected as part of the Pakistan program. They are based in organisations - and work with communities - that are familiar with ACIAR projects and partner organisations.
'Over the past 40 years, Pakistan has engaged with more than 100 organisations through ACIAR-mediated partnerships,' said Dr Munawar. 'The MWF program fits in well with the capacity building and gender equity work that are routinely built into ACIAR projects.'
Kitchen garden models to close nutritional gaps
Mrs Sanam Abbasi is a Research Assistant in water quality and environmental microbiology testing at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology. Based in Sindh province, she holds a master's degree in water, sanitation and health sciences. Her MWF collaborative assignment involves developing a kitchen garden model to close nutritional gaps.
As someone passionate about sustainability and practical solutions to environmental challenges, Mrs Abbasi is forthright about why water resources matter to her.
'I love nature,' she said. 'I want to save it - especially our water and agricultural ecosystems. If I can do that, I can save lives.'
Mrs Abbasi works at the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water in Jamshoro, where she also teaches and mentors undergraduate students. The centre is a state-of-the-art research facility with an applied focus on Pakistan's water crisis. Within it, Mrs Abbasi applies molecular technologies to water safety testing and environmental studies.
She applied to the MWF to broaden her understanding of water resources through a collaborative project while strengthening her confidence, management and leadership skills.
'The focus on women is valuable since women in farming communities can carry many responsibilities and burdens yet lack access to the resources to solve challenges and improve their lives and outcomes for their families,' she said.
Mrs Abbasi also sees the Fellowship as a way to strengthen her ability to present information to farming communities in ways that support adoption, particularly in efforts to improve outcomes for women.
'Women in poor agricultural communities can face extra adoption challenges,' she said. 'Women may face more barriers to educational opportunities or less access to resources than men. They may also need the permission of fathers or husbands before adopting new practices or participating in trials. How we engage with them is important and I'm keen to explore learnings about this issue from the broader scientific community.'
Nutrition-sensitive agricultural research
Dr Nighat Raza is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture in Multan. She holds a PhD in food science and technology and works in Punjab province. She is also developing a kitchen garden model as her MWF group project to close nutritional gaps for her MWF assignment.
Dr Raza obtained a master's degree in food science and technology in 2009, before pausing her studies to marry and start a family. In 2014, she returned to academia. With 2 sons in tow - and 2 more to come - she secured an Indigenous 5000 PhD Fellowship, a Pakistani program that builds the capacity of regionally dispersed researchers to strengthen national development capability.
Since being promoted to Assistant Professor in 2022, she has supervised 18 postgraduate students and currently co-supervises 2 PhD candidates.
Throughout her work, Dr Raza has focused on nutrition, particularly for very young children in low-income communities.
'We are seeing this phenomenon where children receive sufficient calories and yet they experience difficulties because of nutritional deficiencies,' she said. 'It turns out that having enough food isn't enough if you do not understand nutritional requirements.
'In Pakistan, this translates into a need to re-educate poorer communities. These are communities where women tend to marry young and are without access to education or an understanding of their own capabilities,' she said.
As a result, Dr Raza places high importance on gender, youth and nutrition inclusion in ACIAR projects. She aims to build her skills in these areas through the MWF, including upcoming workshops at the University of Melbourne.
'I am unabashedly ambitious when it comes to striving to improve myself, as it is a way to improve delivery to poor communities,' she said. 'Improving my skills, ideas and leadership abilities ultimately also benefits my institute and that means we are better at helping agricultural communities improve their livelihoods.'
Creating livelihood opportunities, reducing post-harvest food loss
Dr Masooma Munir works at the national level to advance research and capacity building, focusing on reducing post-harvest food losses, which in Pakistan can reach up to 40% in horticultural systems.
She works as senior scientist at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), a national research organisation with substations across the country that partners with federal and provincial agencies to deliver science-based solutions to agricultural challenges, including food security.
Based at the Mountain Agricultural Research Council in Gilgit-Baltistan, Dr Munir researches ways to create livelihood opportunities for poor farmers in some of Pakistan's most remote and least developed regions.
'The area I work in is beautiful but underdeveloped, even with regard to infrastructure like roads,' said Dr Munir. 'The communities are wonderful and women play important roles producing food. I work with these communities to build capacity to preserve and process excess produce in a way that adds value. For example, by making pickles, fruit bars, preserves, jam and jellies.'
Dr Munir is the only female officer within her substation, which creates unique opportunities when it comes to supporting the women within Gilgit farming communities.
'These communities can be distrustful of allowing female participation in training programs if the extension worker or trainer is male,' said Dr Munir. 'I don't experience that restriction but, at the same time, I wasn't trained to make the most of the situation. As such, I saw the MWF as an opportunity to upgrade my leadership skills and create new opportunities to benefit farmers in my care in gender equitable ways.'
Given the scale of potential impacts, she was insistent in her application to the MWF, stressing the profound need she had for the training and mentoring on offer.
Importantly, her mentor at the University of Melbourne brings expertise directly relevant to her field. During her visit to Australia, Dr Munir will engage with the university and other institutions, focusing on building networks and learning modern approaches to value addition and value chain innovation.
'Already, my perspective has changed about leadership roles and my role within the organisation,' she said. 'I now look to create networks rather than trying to work on my own.
'I really like the ACIAR partnership model and want to move forward and work in that manner, building teams from across institutions, disciplines and nations. And I want to do it for the farmers in my area. They are wonderful, hardworking people and I want to see them thrive and the women acknowledged and appreciated for all they do.'
