Improving Gender Outcomes in Agriculture Programming: What Can We Do? Sylvia Cabus Gender Advisor USAID/Bureau for Food Security 1a TOPS Food Security Network Maputo September 2011
Objectives By the end of the session, participants will: Understand the importance of gender in agriculture and food security Understand what USAID is doing to integrate gender in value chains Understand the connections between nutrition, agriculture, and gender The ability to identify additional resources 2
Support the incorporation of gender best practices in the development and implementation of Country Investment Plans Use consultation as a tool for gender integration. Assess how countries use social/gender analysis to involve and help ensure meaningful participation of women and men in Focus Country’s consultative process Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions As an agency, our commitments are: Promote M&E of the gender impacts of USAID investments Improve targeting of financial services to women 3 CIPSCIPS PROGRAMSPROGRAMS
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT HOW DO WE? Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions 1. Design 2. Implement3. M & E 4. Assess/ redesign IEHA Gender Assessment Build gender objectives into designs (scopes with criteria) based on good gender analysis (TIPS) Formulate appropriate program-level indicators Insist on sex-disaggregated targets Establish sex-disaggregated baselines Work with partners through annual work plans to ensure gender issues are identified and addressed Monitor performance through annual results reporting Change design if necessary 4
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT HOW DO WE? Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions THROUGH AGRICULTURE VALUE CHAINS Guidance on: How gender issues affect agricultural value chains. A process for analyzing gender issues in agricultural value chains. Strategies for addressing gender issues in agricultural value chains. Promoting Gender Equitable Opportunities in Agricultural Value Chains A Guide to Integrating Gender into Agricultural Value Chains 5
“add women and stir” to the value chain 66
7 Characteristics of Gender Equitable Agriculture Value Chain Programs Value chain programs that support gender equity goals: Understand men’s and women’s roles and relations. Foster equitable participation. Address the needs of women. Support women’s economic advancement. Promote gender equitable market-driven solutions. Design equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms. Include men (in addition to women) in defining the “problem” and the solution.
88 Gender-equitable value chains
HOW DO WE? Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH Support women scientists in scholarship and fellowship programs (AWARD, Borlaug, Cochrane) Competitive grants program with technical points for gender considerations Include women in research trials Target research on crops where women are likely to benefit 9
HOW DO WE? Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions in AGRICULTURAL INPUTS AND TECHNOLOGY Ensure equitable membership policies for producer associations Target women’s associations Adjust training programs - length, timing and mobility Community agriculture extension volunteers Husband/wife teams as lead farmers Farming as a family business Literacy/numeracy training for associations 10
HOW DO WE? Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions in VALUE-ADDED EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Business development services to women agribusinesses Income-generating entrepreneurial activities Ensure female participation persists with commercialization IEHA Gender Assessment Synthesis Report, September
HOW DO WE? Develop approaches to target men and women with agricultural interventions in POST HARVEST STORAGE, MARKETING AND TRADE Securing storage for seed Market information systems help to overcome mobility constraints Profiling women in trade shows and fairs Supporting institutionalization of gender issues in regional bodies IEHA Gender Assessment Synthesis Report, September
HOW DO WE? Improve targeting of financial services to women? IEHA Gender Assessment Synthesis Report, September 2010 Assist women to open bank accounts or insist on joint accounts Embedded services whereby buyers provide farmers with in- kind credit Increase availability of banking technologies Project-supported lines of credit from local banks and micro- financing institutions Linking village savings and loan associations with Savings and Credit Cooperatives Partnerships between banks and processors 13
HOW DO WE? Promote M&E of the gender impacts of FTF investments: establishing sex-disaggregated targets, tracking impacts of investments on women and men, measuring the progress of women’s achievements related to men’s? IEHA Gender Assessment Lessons Establish gender-related objectives in design phase Insist upon sex-disaggregated baseline data collection Focus on outcome not output Initiate gender impact assessments 14
Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index Five domains to be measured: 1.Women’s role in household decision-making related to agricultural production 2.Women’s access to productive capital, such as credit or land 3.The adequacy of woman’s income to feed her family a nutritious diet 4.Women’s access to leadership roles within the community 5.Women’s and men’s labor time allocations 15
Index developed in partnership with: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Alkire-Foster Method Piloted Summer 2011 Ready to launch by early 2012 Performance Monitoring in all FTF countries and for Impact Evaluations 16 Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
Key Linkages: Gender, Nutrition, and Agriculture Focus on women because of their role as care givers, producers, processors of food Nutrition and health protocols Customs and beliefs detrimental to child health and development Gender approach: involving men 17
Women as food producers Women as income-earning farmers Women as health/nutrition-care providers Women as nutritionally vulnerable population Women and men as partners in agri-nutrition efforts 18 Key Linkages: Gender, Nutrition, and Agriculture
Mozambique 90% of women work in agriculture 62% of agriculture labor force Many constraints: –Only 20% of women have rights to land (2+ hectares) –Land tenure/access is a function of kinship –Heavy workloads in addition to labor (childcare, household) And also opportunities -Participation in business association and leadership roles -Access to markets -Off-farm income-generating activities 19
PROGRAMMING OTHER IMPORTANT AREAS Increasing options for family planning Access to land Improving health of (especially pregnant) women Increasing access to fuel and water Trafficking Gender-based violence Trade, labor, and manufacturing Migration 20
Thank you! 21