On 5th August 2009, female scientists from the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) project, coordinated by the Gender & Diversity Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), met with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Nairobi. AWARD fellow Sheila Ommeh explains her research on indigenous chicken for disease control to distinguished audience including US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Kenyan Minister of Agriculture Isaac Ruto and Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai
In her official speech, Hillary Clinton emphasized the importance of women in agriculture saying,
"The AWARD program is a great example. It supports women scientists working to improve farming here in Africa and to fight hunger and poverty. And we need women represented in our laboratories as well as our fields. And I really congratulate the AWARD women for being pioneers in plant science."
