1. Maintaining the Gender and Livelihood impacts of Cassava Value Chain Development Dr Petra Abdulsalam-Saghir Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta-Nigeria 13 th -16 th October, 2015 NIFST Conference Owerri

2. Level of Work Different gender roles for men and women Structural gender bias abound in who works and who receives income Issues of formalized market and benefits Commercialization and additional workload for women Structural bottlenecks in processing of HQCF 57% indicated that HQCF processing adds more work equating to more hours spent

3. Gender and Value chain in HQCF Lowest and weakest link in the chain! Women participating and benefitting were found to have better gender relations at HH Husbands VERY supportive They have more assets eg mobile phones & Network More mobile and higher prestige

4. Revenue and Expenditure More consistent revenue source Ability to meet household needs Decrease in intergenerational poverty! Additional income and ability to retain values in the society Coping with stress and shocks Better and higher level of business entrepreneurships ‘Interested in self development and active’ Ability to take risks Fear of the unknown eg rejection of produce

5. Gendered Decision making Culture, religion and level of education Issues of masculinity and power asymmetry Men take on more of leadership roles even in women groups! Decision making positively skewed towards men = affects everything Striving for equitable and positive impact on the livelihoods of men and women

6. How to maintain Gender and Livelihoods Participatory or demand driven approaches Group based approaches Focus on education and capacity development Gender sensitive advisers Legal support and economic empowerment Household approaches Effective MLE for accountability Provide for gender sensitive work conditions Transformative gender approach where stakeholders dialogue & women sensitized Promote gender sensibility also with male Policy thrusts on gender asset ownership and benefits