This book highlights an example of the Intermediate Technology Development Group’s (ITDG) participatory work with a strong gender-empowerment focus. This was a follow-up from a 1990 project in which ITDG worked with local researchers on case studies of technical innovation and adaptation among women technology users in Asia. Later in that year the researchers presented the conclusions of their work at a seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Other groups promoting a similar gender emphasis at the time were Appropriate Technology (AT) in Washington, USA, as well as the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which maintained various information and newsletter networks on agriculture, forestry, and water that often addressed issues of participation, gender, and governance.

The mid-1990s also saw the start of a dedicated systemwide programme of participatory research and gender analysis (PRGA) in the CG system. This was primarily seen as a service programme to provide support to natural resources scientists, especially plant breeders, to improve the focus and efficiency of their research. (Biggs, 2008: 496)