Gender and Agriculture Interventions: Practical Guidance for Implemented Programs

Definitions

According to USAID,

gender

refers to the array of socially constructed roles and relationships, personality traits, attitudes, behaviors, values, and relative power and influence that society ascribes to the two sexes on a differential basis.

Gender is an acquired identity that is learned, changes over time, and varies widely within and across cultures.

Gender is relational and refers not simply to women or men but to the relationship between them .”

Definitions Equality is equal distribution.

Equity is fairness.

Quick Survey

1.How many participants are currently implementing a Title II development program (DFAP, MYAP, etc)?

2.How many participants are implementing Title II emergency programming (SYAP or EFSP)?

3.How many are willing to admit they have

not

of the program they are implementing?

read the proposal 4.Within the proposals, how many had outlined gender-specific interventions?

5.How many of you saw or participated in a gender assessment conducted within the Title II program you were implementing?

Hypothesis

80% of participants are implementing Title II development programs; 50% have read the proposal of the program they are implementing and most proposals outline very general gender-related activities; 30% have witnessed or participated in a gender assessment within the aforementioned program.

Assumptions

• Women do not own land; • Men control income, women ensure the household is managed (cooking, cleaning, tending to children); • Men purchase inputs and labor or assign labor (wife/wives/children); • Women and children are responsible for small livestock; • Men sell crops with larger yields in larger markets • Women may sell smaller quantities in local markets/communities.

Assessments are needed to challenge assumptions

• Ideally, an assessment prior to the design of the program is best.

• During implementation, we can rely on various data to verify our intervention choices: baselines, assessments.

• Throughout the life of the program, we can use midterm evaluations as well as informal surveying mechanisms such as short surveys, focus groups, and interviews.

Case Study

In Uganda, a program was implemented to empower women by providing them with support to improve banana yields. Women harvested their bananas and had improved yields. What do you think happened next?

Interventions with unintended gender-related consequences

• Ag training was designed to reach men, but women attended instead (time, migration issues). The result: women trained, but unable to implement. Men never trained.

• A women’s cooperative was given training and became very successful. The result: they were outcast from their village.

• A new staple variety is introduced to men. The result: It grows well, but the women do not like to cook with it.

• Example from the group: mulching can reduce labor for women.

• An intervention designed to provide healthy snack options for school children fails to recognized the creation of a small business for women.

Practical Interventions

• Food rations • Capacity building in agriculture (soil management, smart water use, intercropping, etc).

• Disaster preparedness through community mapping of risks/response.

Practical Gender Interventions

Practical gender interventions involve those being directly targeted.

• Food rations targeting pregnant and lactating mothers and children under 2.

• Building women’s capacity in agriculture (soil management, smart water use, intercropping, etc).

• Involvement of women and youth in disaster preparedness through community mapping of risks/response.

Strategic Gender Interventions

Target people of influence • Targeted messaging for men (nutrition) and mother-in laws (breast feeding) about PLW and under 2s. Example: nutritional messaging integrated into agriculture trainings for men; group work with mother-in laws.

• Mulching activities help to reduce the amount of time women spend weeding.

• Working with male leaders to recognize the value of involving women and youth in the disaster preparedness process.

An exercise to reflect on your own programming

What is the goal of the gender interventions?

• Increase women’s decision making?

• Increase economic opportunity for women?

• Increase men’s knowledge of nutrition?

• Increase ag knowledge of girls/boys?

OR What are the practical or strategic gender interventions?

An exercise to reflect on your own programming

What is the indicator (output, outcome)? Is the program on target for reaching the output/outcome levels?

An exercise to reflect on your own programming

Examining the potential HH and community impacts of the interventions. Is there a change in: • Gender-based violence; • Child care practices; • Time available; • Decision-making; • Community status; • Other?

Resources

TOPS Gender Task Force and the FSN Network http://fsnnetwork.org/

This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Save the Children and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.