- The Sourcebook is not a primary research product, advocacy piece, or toolkit; it capitalizes on the real development experiences of task managers and operational staff in designing and implementing gender-responsive agricultural projects. The Sourcebook aims to deliver practical advice, guidelines, principles, and descriptions and illustrations of approaches that have worked so far to achieve the goal of effective gender mainstreaming in the agricultural operations of development agencies. Several principles govern the writing of the Sourcebook:
- The Sourcebook puts people at the center of the discussion.
- The Sourcebook recognizes the importance of an integrated and multisectoral approach in promoting sustainable livelihoods.
- Development activity tends to focus on either the macro or the microlevel. The Sourcebook attempts to bridge this gap by emphasizing the importance of macrolevel policy and institutions to the livelihood options of communities and individuals.
- The Sourcebook focuses on strengths and opportunities, rather than on needs and weaknesses.
- In response to the dynamics of agricultural development, the Sourcebook includes anchoring the present in past developments, describing the main drivers of change, and providing a vision for the future.
- The Sourcebook also brings forth the diversity and heterogeneity of the poor. The context -- who they are, where they are, and what they do -- matters in how effectively gender integration and development goals are achieved.