First Time for Everything: Kazakhstan’s Girls’ Leadership Camp · • Integrating Gender Into Environmental Awareness in Nepal ... projects, agricultural and environmental issues

THE EXCHANGE • Peace Corps’ Women in Development Newsletter Gender, Agriculture, and the Environment • August 2003 • 1

Peace Corps’ Women in Development NewsletterGENDER, AGRICULTURE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT • AUGUST 2003 • VOLUME NO. 37

Peace Corps • Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters • 1111 20th Street, NW • Washington, DC 20526 USA • www.peacecorps.gov

First Time for Everything:Kazakhstan’s Girls’ Leadership Camp

By Nicole Rom and Jackie Redmer/PCVs

OUTDOOR ADVENTURERS:Participants in a leadership camp embark on their first camping trip.

Photo submitted by Jackie Redmer/PCV

Inside

• Letter From the Editors ............ 2

• Questions and Answers ............. 2

• WID Reviews in ICE ................. 3

• Gender in the Agricultureand Environment Sectors ......... 4

• Gender-Sensitive Agricultureand Environment Projects ........ 7

• Case Study: Gender Rolesin Agroforestry ........................... 8

• Integrating Gender IntoEnvironmental Awarenessin Nepal ..................................... 10

• Strengthening FemaleAgricultural Leadershipin Honduras ............................. 11

• Women’s Group of Hope andProgress in Nicaragua ............. 12

• Engendering Development ..... 13

• How To ...................................... 14

• What’s Going On ..................... 16

• Making Dolls in Nicaragua .... 24

Leadership Training Camp continues on page 12

Camp GOAL (Girls’ Outdoor Adventurefor Leadership) was organized to empowergirls in Kazakhstan through a hiking trip thatemphasized outdoor adventure and leader-ship. Its purposes were twofold: (1) to en-hance leadership skills such as communica-tion, trust, cooperation, and problem solv-ing and (2) to build individual and groupconfidence with respect to people and theenvironment. By getting out of their normalsurroundings and climbing a mountain, theyoung women would learn about natural his-tory and the beauty of their country whilefeeling good about themselves. Volunteersidentified a local teacher with experienceleading extended camping trips with her stu-dents in the mountains. She and her mother,who also helped guide the hike, could notfathom the idea of an all-girls trip. They weresure we needed at least one male for security

purposes. These women, Alexsandra (Sasha)Nikolaevna and Svetlana Fredrovena, weretrained during Soviet times as tourist lead-ers and had been going to the mountains alltheir lives, and taking students on trips foras long as they had been teachers, but neverbefore without men.

We purchased backpacks, tents, sleepingbags and pads, stoves and fuel bottles, tarps,and other supplies at a local outdoors club.We found a health spa for the first two daysof the camp at which the girls could beintroduced to the equipment, as well aswomen’s leadership, environmental ethics,and gender topics. Sasha determined theroute we would take and assisted withlogistics. The group included four femaleVolunteers, 20 girls, and four teachers,including two translators.

2 • Gender, Agriculture, and the Environment • August 2003 THE EXCHANGE • Peace Corps’ Women in Development Newsletter

Letters

Fromthe Editors

Zambia GADZ CommitteeBy Natalie Jackson/PCV

Following the example of other PeaceCorps countries in our subregion, PeaceCorps/Zambia started a Gender and Devel-opment in Zambia (GADZ) committee. Dur-ing a two-day meeting, elected GADZ pointpersons laid the foundation of the commit-tee. This involved extensive discussion aboutthe importance of considering gender whenworking in development; writing a consti-tution, mission statement, and action plan;and making suggestions on how to integratebasic gender and development principles intotraining.

Although we may not always be awarethat gender is affecting the work that we do,it is an underlying issue that Peace CorpsVolunteers should strive to assess and un-derstand. While carrying out informationgathering and needs assessment, we need toassess gender roles, gender division of labor,access, power relations, and gender needsin order to promote the inclusion of both menand women in the process of development.In turn, this will increase the chances ofachieving sustainable changes.

The GADZ committee’s five goals are:

1. Develop and promote projects focusingon increasing awareness of gender equal-ity issues.

Zambia GADZ Committee continues on page 3

&Q AThe Exchange is a publication of the PeaceCorps. Letters to the editor are the expressedviews of the individual writers and do notnecessarily represent the official position ofthe Peace Corps. We reserve the right to editfor style, clarity, and length.

Dear Readers,

While only 27 percent of Volunteerswork in agriculture and environmentprojects, agricultural and environmentalissues such as land use, food security,nutrition, and vanishing natural resourcesimpact the communities in which allVolunteers work. This is why we havechosen to focus volume 37 of TheExchange on gender, agriculture, and theenvironment. Despite increased under-standing of the importance of consider-ing gender when working in the agricul-ture and environment sectors, Volunteersstill face significant challenges. Bothmale and female Volunteers confrontstereotypes and must address the chal-lenges of working in traditionally maleor female areas. In addition, in many ofthe countries where they serve, Volunteersfind it difficult to increase women’s par-ticipation in the areas of agriculture andthe environment because women’s rolesin these sectors are often invisible. Thechallenge for Volunteers then is to iden-tify the roles of women and men in theagricultural and environmental sectors sothat projects meet the needs of bothwomen and men.

In this issue you’ll find articles on howthe hillside farming project in Hondurasis building leadership skills of women inthe agriculture sector; how Volunteers inKazakhstan are using camping to teachenvironmental awareness to girls; andhow Peace Corps/Nepal is incorporatinggender into its environmental educationproject.

The technical article, “Gender in theAgriculture and Environment Sectors,”explores how other international actorsare addressing this issue and how Volun-teers can better incorporate a gender per-spective in their agriculture and environ-ment activities. Accompanying this articleis a case study from Guinea that demon-strates how gender analysis informs the

work of Volunteers.Another article, “Gen-der-Sensitive Peace CorpsAgriculture and Environment Activities,”offers examples of ways Volunteers aretaking gender into account.

This issue’s “How To” column focuseson drama therapy in Togo. Also in thisissue are articles on curriculum develop-ment and service projects in Ukraine,girls’ conferences in El Salvador andTonga, and a work fair for women inNiger.

The Exchange is a forum for Volun-teers to share their successes and chal-lenges in integrating women in develop-ment and gender and development ap-proaches into their Peace Corps activities.Your articles educate and inspire Volun-teers around the world, so please sharewith us what you are doing to integrateWID and GAD. We welcome your sub-missions for the “How To,” “BuildingSustainability,” and “What’s Going On”sections and articles on integrating GADinto youth activities for volume 39. Weencourage you to send photographs withyour articles. Articles and photos can besubmitted by e-mail to: [email protected].

The Exchange tries to represent adiverse set of Volunteer activities aroundthe world. While we are not able toincorporate all submissions, we thankeveryone who submitted articles for thisissue.

Lyn MessnerWomen in Development/Gender and Development Coordinator

Tammy BogerWomen in Development/Gender and Development andInformation and CommunicationTechnologies Assistant


Information Collection and Exchange

WID Reviews in ICE2. Provide and share information and re-

sources among Peace Corps Volunteersabout GAD.

3. Network with existing organizations thatwork with gender issues.

4. Give Peace Corps Volunteers tools andtraining to incorporate GAD into allprojects.

5. Support and encourage Peace CorpsVolunteers to incorporate GAD prin-ciples on a grass-roots level.

If you have any ideas about how to incor-porate GAD into pre-service training, les-sons learned from the field, or informationon successful GAD projects, please relay theinformation to us. Your input and feedbackwill be useful.

c/o Donald PhiriProgram Assistant/RAP/LIFEPeace CorpsPO Box 50707Lusaka, Zambia

M0071 — Learning Local Environmental Knowledge: A Volunteer’sGuide to Community EntryT0126 — Learning Local Environmental Knowledge: TrainingManual

The Learning Local EnvironmentalKnowledge guide and training manualprovide Volunteers with a structuredway to learn about the biophysical, eco-nomic, and social aspects of a hostcommunity during the initial monthsof service. Using these materials, Vol-unteers explore and discover how com-munity members perceive and relate totheir local natural resource base. In-creasing their understanding of localpractices and livelihood strategies, theybecome valuable assets for communitydevelopment. This is an excellent toolfor Volunteers to use in their role aslearners.

If you would like to use this book and it is not available in your resource center,you may order directly from ICE through your Peace Corps office. List your name,your sector, your address, the book title, and the ICE publication number, and acopy will be sent to you. Send your requests to:

Distribution Management SpecialistPeace Corps/The Center1111 20th Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20526 [email protected]

To locate other resources, refer to The Whole ICE Catalog (RE 001), whichcontains a complete listing of technical books and publications from the PeaceCorps Information Collection and Exchange for use of Peace Corps Volunteersand staff. WID and GAD resources can be found on pages 163 to 171 of thecatalog.

If you have a favorite ICE publication, The Exchange would like to share yourreview and comments on how you have used the resource. Please send a note tothe WID office with the title and catalog number of the resource, and describewhat you thought of the book, how you used it, and for what other projects youthink it could be used. If you have found helpful resources not currently distrib-uted through The Whole ICE Catalog, please send information on them as well.Through this sharing process, we can continue to help Volunteers find helpful andmeaningful resources.

Zambia GADZ Committee continued from page 2


Gender, Agriculture, and the Environment

Agriculture and Environment continues on page 5

1 “Gender and Community Conservation,” Gender Matters Quarterly 3. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, Office of Women in Development, June 2001.

2 Gender and Population Division (SDW), Sustainable Development Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Italy.

3 According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (www.biodiv.org/convention/articles.asp), this term refers to “thevariability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystemsand the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and ofecosystems.”

Gender in the Agriculture and Environment SectorsBy Jonathon Landeck/Agriculture and Environment Specialist/Africa

The idea that agriculture and environ-ment projects can be designed andimplemented without taking gender

into account is not entirely realistic. Thesocial, economic, technical, and politicalroles of men and women in every environ-mental conservation and food productionproject require careful consideration. Menand women have unique knowledge and per-ceptions about plants, animals, soils, andother natural resources, often resulting indifferent solutions for the same problems.The U.S. Agency for International Develop-ment1 and the World Bank have establishedthat effective and sustainable agricultural andenvironmental interventions must involveboth women and men, even though their in-terests and perspectives may differ signifi-cantly. Their research shows that male andfemale farmers are equally efficient foodproducers when their access to information,credit, inputs, and markets is equitable andwhen the time women must spend on house-hold and child-care tasks is reduced.

Gender Considerations

The United Nations Food and Agricul-ture Organization (FAO) recognizes genderas a critical component for successfulprojects, and identifies four objectives in its“Gender and Development Plan of Action”(2002-2007),2

• Promote gender equality in the access tosufficient, safe, and nutritionally ade-quate food;

• Promote gender equality in the access to,control over, and management of naturalresources and agricultural supportservices;

• Promote gender equality in policy- anddecision-making processes at all levelsin the agricultural and rural sector; and

• Promote gender equality in opportunitiesfor on- and off-farm employment in ruralareas.

These objectives guide FAO’s projectplanning and implementation, and are usedas guidelines to ensure that gender roles andresponsibilities are taken into account. Thefollowing examples highlight some genderdimensions of each objective and some ques-tions Volunteers might consider in imple-menting agriculture and environmentprojects.

Promote gender equality in the accessto sufficient, safe, and nutritionallyadequate food.

The FAO defines food security as people’saccess to available and nutritious food.Therefore, to achieve food security both menand women need the resources to producefood (i.e., land, labor, capital) and thepurchasing power to buy food when andwhere it is not produced or available. Genderequality in food security prompts questionssuch as:

• Do families prioritize who is fed first,second, and last among householdmembers?

• Who is responsible for ensuring that foodis available, safe, nutritious, and wellprepared?

Promote gender equality in the accessto, control over, and management of natu-ral resources and agricultural supportservices.

The FAO recognizes that the preservationof biological diversity3 is critical to achiev-ing food security. When forest lands arecleared for timber, when ranges and mead-ows are overstocked with cattle, or whenlocal bush meat is illegally hunted, there isa negative impact on biodiversity and ruralpeople’s ability to grow and access food isreduced. Therefore, it is important to askquestions about rural men’s and women’sknowledge of their natural resources andtheir roles in determining how to managelocal soils, crops, livestock, timber, andwater. For example:

• Who makes decisions about which landsto clear and burn in any given year togrow field crops? Who decides where toplant crops? Who harvests the crops?

• Who determines which seeds to save andstore from which crops, how much tostore, and how much to sell?

• Is training in safe use of pesticides of-fered and conveniently available to bothwomen and men?



Agriculture and Environment continues on page 6

Agriculture and Environment continued from page 4

Promote gender equality in policy- anddecision-making processes at all levels inthe agricultural and rural sector.

National decisions and policies aboutenvironmental conservation and agriculturalsupport systems can have significantly dif-ferent impacts on men and women at thelocal level. For example, access to credit orsubsidies to purchase production inputs orbuild fences and storage facilities may becontingent on land ownership, tangible col-lateral (housing, livestock), or the right tosign a legally binding contract. Options likethese may not be available to women whofarm or manage local natural resources thatthey do not legally own. When men’s andwomen’s roles in natural resource manage-ment are understood, project planners canbetter address issues such as:

• What mechanisms and structures exist orcan be established to better ensure theinclusion of rural women and men inbiodiversity preservation and food pro-duction processes?

• Are local or subregional advisory com-mittees or commodity associations rep-resented at the national level? Who aretheir representatives?

• If cash crop production is dominated bymen, are the food production needs ofwomen farmers considered?

Promote gender equality in opportuni-ties for on- and off-farm employment inrural areas.

Rural development issues related to “whoworks” versus “who works for wages” arefrequently not discussed when environmen-tal conservation and food productionprojects are planned. In most cases, devel-opment workers do not fully understand howthe informal labor force is compensated incash or in kind for its time and energy spentworking on farms, in pastures, or in forests.Equity in employment opportunities andcompensation between rural men andwomen is open to question, not to mention

equity between boys and girls. Generallyspeaking, the private commercial sector hasperformed poorly in rural areas of develop-ing countries when it comes to generatingemployment. That is why the rural exodusof young men is a major development issueand why most women, by necessity, developtheir own income generation activities. Thefollowing are some key issues to considerwhen promoting gender equality in ruralemployment opportunities:

• What kinds of employment opportuni-ties exist in environmental conservationand food production in rural areas? (e.g.,ecotourism programs and facilities,harvesting and processing non-timberforest products, building and marketingwood-conserving cook stoves)

• Who owns these businesses? Who doesthe work?

• How do men, women, girls, and boysobtain the investments needed to initiatethese “job growth” activities? Are theirrespective sources of capital different?

• Who has time to engage in these enter-prises? Who would cultivate the fields,watch the children, cook the meals, andgo to the market instead?

• What skills do men, women, boys, andgirls have that would make them moreemployable? Are they literate and numer-ate?

How to Include a GenderPerspective

When Volunteers and their counterpartsunderstand the realities highlighted above,their projects better meet community agri-cultural and environmental needs in the longterm. A key question for Volunteers and theircounterparts to ask when developing aproject is: How do the project objectivessupport or contradict the social and eco-nomic roles and responsibilities of men andwomen?

Considering gender and development ispart of the Peace Corps’ overall philosophi-cal approach for effective and sustainabledevelopment as mandated in section 2502(d)of the Peace Corps Act. The assumptions ofthe Peace Corps’ GAD approach are that menand women merit equal opportunity to par-ticipate in the decision-making processes andactivities that affect their lives, and that natu-ral resource management projects shouldbenefit all household members. To ensurethat gender needs of men and women aretaken into account, Volunteers and counter-parts working in the agriculture and envi-ronment sectors need to understand twofundamental issues:

1. The differences and similarities betweenmen’s and women’s roles and needs re-lated to agriculture and the environment;and

2. How project objectives in the agricultureand environment sectors address thesegender roles and needs.

How do Volunteers achieve this? PeaceCorps posts around the world integrate agender perspective into various componentsof pre-service training (language, cross-cultural, technical, health, and safety andsecurity) as well as in-service training. Yet,few Volunteers in the agriculture and envi-ronment sectors conduct adequate genderanalysis prior to diving into their work.However, most Volunteers understand local



Agriculture and Environment continued from page 5

gender norms. For example, in a particularculture, women may work with goats andsheep while men work with cattle. Or menmay market meat and grain while womensell vegetables and fruit. Most agricultureand environment Volunteers can identify atleast one such gender norm in their commu-nities.

It is important, however, that Volunteersnot form stereotypes about men’s andwomen’s roles. Gender roles vary within andbetween cultures, and change over time. Forexample, even though women may nowparticipate economically in natural resourcemanagement activities, this is an area thatmay have been the domain of men not longago. Differences in the level and intensityof women’s and men’s participation incertain activities may exist.

How do men’s and women’s needs differin the agriculture and environment sectors?If some women manage gardens to improvethe family’s health and nutrition, for ex-ample, and their husbands do the same inorder to sell the produce to obtain cash tobuy cattle, men and women may requiredifferent kinds of seeds to meet their respec-tive needs. Neither party’s need is better orworse than the other, and both ultimately

benefit their families’ well-being. Failure onthe part of Volunteers and their counterpartsto understand differences like these caneasily lead to misdirected information, time,money, effort, and even hope.

If gender is such a critical aspect ofproject planning and implementation, howcan Volunteers identify the gender roles andresponsibilities in the communities in whichthey work? Above is a simple checklistadapted from the FAO’s GAD framework,which can be used to ensure that genderneeds are considered in any agriculture orenvironment project.

This checklist, along with the questionsraised in the FAO objectives, can helpVolunteers ensure that the needs of allcommunity members are met. The mostimportant result is that Volunteers and theircounterparts become more aware of how totake gender roles and needs into account toensure that agriculture and environmentprojects are relevant, effective, and sustain-able. Examples of how Volunteers are takinggender into account can be found in twoaccompanying articles in this issue of TheExchange: “A Case Study: Gender Roles inAgroforestry in Guinea” and “Gender-Sensi-tive Agriculture and Environment Projects.”

The following Information Collection andExchange publications provide further infor-mation on integrating a gender perspectiveinto agriculture and environment activities(for information on how to order ICEresources, refer to page 3):

• Agricultural Extension for Women Farm-ers in Africa (WD090)

• Tools of Gender Analysis: A Guide toField Methods for Bringing Gender IntoSustainable Resource Management(WD112)

• Tools for the Field: Methodologies Hand-book for Gender Analysis in Agriculture(WD114)

• Women and IPM: Crop Protection Prac-tices and Strategies (WD136)

• Women and Environment in the ThirdWorld: Alliance for the Future (WD096)

• Learning Local Environmental Knowl-edge: A Volunteer’s Guide to CommunityEntry (M0071)

NotGAD-Related Issues and Activities Yes No Sure Comments

Is there a division of labor between men and women Determine and describe the division of labor.in farming activities in the project area?

Do men and women farmers face constraints in Determine and describe these constraints.improving productivity?

Do men and women have similar access to and Determine and describe the access and control thatcontrol over resources at the household level? women and men have over resources.

Do men and women farmers have similar Determine and describe women’s and men’sunderstandings of and capacity to adopt sustainable understandings of their capacity to adopt sustainableresource management practices? natural resource management practices.

Is there a common system of land tenure security Determine and describe the system of land tenurethat treats men and women differently? security with reference to ownership and use rights.

Are there institutions that provide support to the Determine and describe the local institutions thatparticular farming needs of men and women? support farm production and marketing.



Gender-Sensitive Agricultureand Environment Projects

Compiled by Jonathon Landeck/Agriculture and Environment Specialist/Africa and Tammy Boger/WID/GAD and ICT Assistant

The following summaries of PeaceCorps agriculture and environmentprojects illustrate how Volunteers are

applying a gender perspective to their workin these two sectors.1 In other words, theseprojects take into account both men’s andwomen’s roles, responsibilities, needs, andopportunities so that all community mem-bers benefit from the projects’ purpose andobjectives.

Agriculture

• In the Dominican Republic Volunteersand counterparts increase female farm-ers’ access to information, resources, andopportunities related to new productionmethods, marketing, and accounting.

• Many families in Ecuador rely on grow-ing potatoes and onions for their liveli-hood. Volunteers and counterparts intro-duce rabbits and guinea pigs to promotenutrition for families while takingwomen’s workload into consideration.Women learn how to make nutritionalmeals with guinea pigs or rabbits raisedat home. Volunteers work primarily withwomen and youth, who were not in-volved in this project when the empha-sis was on cattle and other large animals.

• In Guatemala women and girls are blur-ring traditional gender roles by engag-ing in horticulture. Volunteers teachwomen how to use compost and greenmanures in their kitchen gardens, andprovide technical assistance to indig-enous women in grafting techniques forfruit trees, traditionally a male role.Women in Guatemala have the primaryresponsibility for raising animals forconsumption, and a Volunteer helpedassemble basic veterinary kits for chickens

and pigs to address the limited access toveterinary treatment and the loss of live-stock from disease. Women now knowhow to vaccinate, and by providing vac-cinations they are raising money to buyveterinary supplies such as antibiotics fortheir communities. They sell these sup-plies at a small profit and reinvest theearnings to increase the inventory of vet-erinary kits. The women are also learn-ing about antibiotics, castration, deworm-ing, how to give injections, and how torecognize and treat illnesses. Mostimportant, they are learning basic prin-ciples of animal sanitation and diseaseprevention so that they can reduce theirlivestock losses and veterinary expenses.In turn, these women are teaching othersin their community.

• Volunteers and counterparts in Hondu-ras promote women as leaders in agri-culture, since women are rarely recog-nized as community leaders and are notencouraged to actively share their knowl-edge with others. Through regional work-shops women discuss topics such as self-esteem and self-motivation and receivetraining in small-animal (mostly chickensand pigs) care. Workshop participantshave built 87 chicken coops and estab-lished 18 vaccination programs forchickens. They also teach other womenhow to prepare chicken feed and repro-duction cages. Volunteers continue toinvolve men and youth to help themunderstand and support women’s rolesas leaders and agricultural producers intheir communities. While keeping manyof their traditional roles intact, thewomen have modified their own viewsand the views of others regarding theirrole.

• In Panama Volunteers held a seminar,titled “Backyard Nutrition,” to help ruralwomen address malnutrition resultingfrom the lack of arable land. Participantsfrom various ethnic groups came togetherto learn about feasible techniques forgrowing food in their “backyards.” Rep-resentatives from various national agen-cies addressed topics such as nutrition,the dietary needs of children, no-costprotein and vitamins, garden bed prepa-ration, and seed beds. Two women whohad attended previous seminars gavetalks on self-esteem and medicinal plants.

• A Master’s International Volunteer inParaguay did her research on the roleof rural women in the economy. She dis-covered that most women’s interest inadditional learning focused on small-animal production. While many Volun-teers assume that fieldwork and crop pro-duction are the responsibility of men inrural areas, they are beginning to discovera variety of other patterns, such as womenmanaging fields where mandioca, usedto feed animals, is grown.

• One of the objectives of the agricultureproject in Senegal is to improve seedvariety and cultivation methods. To thisend, Volunteers and counterparts arebuilding the skills of both male andfemale farmers in areas outside their tra-ditional roles. For example, Volunteersare working to popularize upland ricecultivation among male farmers, thoughrice cultivation is traditionally a women’sactivity.

• Women in Zambia have initiated severalfish-farming ventures, challenging atraditional perception that fish farmingis men’s work. Volunteers advocate family

1 These examples are taken from the fiscal year 2002 project status reports. For more information on Peace Corps agricultureand environment projects as well as WID and GAD, ask your APCD for a copy of the Peace Corps’ 2002 Project andTraining Status Reports: Global Summary and Promising Practices. Gender-Sensitive Projects continues on page 8



A Case Study:Gender Roles in Agroforestry in Guinea

By Jonathon Landeck/Agriculture and Environment Specialist/Africa

To understand how gender shapes environ-mental activities, it is important to be awareof who uses resources and how, who is af-fected by resource use, and who has the au-thority to make decisions about resource use.Gender analysis is an important tool forlearning about men’s and women’s differ-ent perspectives in order to avoid relianceon stereotypes. The following case study isan example of the roles of male and femalefarmers in one agricultural ecosystem. Itdemonstrates how Volunteers can use gen-der analysis to design projects that respectgender roles and address barriers towomen’s participation.

Case Study

In the highlands of Guinea, male and fe-male farmers have significantly differ-ent roles with respect to soil and crop

management. The women grow maize yearafter year in plots around their homes. Thesefields are protected from livestock by per-manent fences built by men. The maize cropsare fertilized solely by the application of leaf

mulch, which women cut from trees in thesurrounding forest. The mulch adds organicnutrients to the crop and suppresses weedgrowth. Taro, a root crop, is commonly inter-cropped with the maize. In fields beyond thefenced-in maize, the men grow upland rice,peanuts, sorghum, and fonio, a small grain.These fields are planted for three to five yearsand then left fallow for five to 10 years. Tocontrol livestock movement, the men buildfences around these fields. When new land

1 In both cases, the leaves add nutrients, but burned leaves contribute different nutrients than leaf mulch. A Case Study continues on page 9

is cleared for cultivation, the hillside isburned.

Both women and men understand thevalue of decomposed tree leaves as a fertil-izer even though they use them in differentways. The women use leaves cut from treesto mulch their maize, while the men main-tain trees in their fields because the leavesthat fall add fertility to soils even when theleaves are burned1 during land clearing.Women have little use for fire in their fields

management of fish-farming activitiesrather than individual or group manage-ment. Family management results in in-creased fish production, more equitabledistribution of benefits, and betterchances for long-term sustainability.

Environment

• Volunteers in Nepal help female mem-bers of community forest groups developthe leadership and organizational skillsthey need to voice their views and tomotivate other women to become in-volved in natural resources management.Group members are developing action

Gender-Sensitive Projects continued from page 7

plans and networking with similar groupsto share best practices.

• Young girls interested in environmentalprotection participated in six GLOW(Girls Leading Our World ) camps inRomania. The camps, heavily focusedon environmental issues, were designedto promote awareness and train futureleaders.

• In Samoa a Volunteer assisted her coun-terpart in gathering and recording tradi-tional knowledge of natural resourcesfrom villagers. The Volunteer interactedmainly with women, who tend to remain

quiet in discussions that include men,even though women do most of theharvesting of marine organisms fromshallow areas of the reef and lagoon.

• Volunteers and counterparts in Tanzaniateach women how to use fuel-efficientcook stoves. The women now spend lesstime harvesting wood for cooking anduse fewer trees as sources of fuel.

• A Volunteer in The Gambia taught bee-keeping, traditionally a male-onlyactivity, to 38 men and 16 women. Fiveof the women are now keeping bees as abusiness.



A Case Study continued from page 8

because they don’t rely on burned leaves tosuppress weed growth. Moreover, womenprefer to mulch their crop with younger,smaller leaves because these decomposequicker than older ones. While women con-sider mulching to be their most onerous task,they see it as indispensable to maize pro-duction. Men, in contrast, see weeding asone of several labor-intensive tasks, includ-ing fence building and land clearing.

Thus, both men and women in this re-gion perceive the presence of trees in crop-land as the determining factor in soil fertil-ity. Men also see certain trees and grasses asan indicator that land is relatively fertile.They like trees to grow on their croplandduring fallow periods because the trees thatfall when they clear the land inhibit soil fromwashing down hillside slopes when it rains.Except for fruit trees growing next to houses,the fields that women cultivate remain rela-

tively treeless because trees compete withmaize for sunlight and water.

Gender Analysis

Some of the gender roles, division oflabor, access to resources, power relations,and gender needs2 of men and women in thiscommunity can be determined from exam-ining the farming systems described. Usingonly the information from the above casestudy, what can you determine about howgender roles impact agroforestry?

From this exercise, it is clear that even amodest examination of the different roles andperceptions of male and female farmersoffers insight on what gender-sensitiveagroforestry might look like. In this example,Volunteers would determine and take intoaccount which tree species men value most

for soil fertility and conservation for theirfields (rice, sorghum, fonio, peanut) andwhich trees women value most for mulch-ing their maize fields.

An agroforestry activity might take ad-vantage of fences that men have already builtas barriers to livestock that might otherwisegraze on newly planted trees. It might alsoconsider strategic locations for planting newtrees. For example, trees planted to benefitwomen’s work would be closer to their maizefields than the trees from which they cur-rently gather leaves for mulch. But theywould not be close enough to compete withmaize for sunlight, water, and nutrients.Trees planted to benefit men’s work, on theother hand, would best be planted at moreor less equidistant points across the field tohelp ensure the uniformity of leaves droppedfrom trees and, likewise, the uniformity ofsoil fertility.

Gender Roles Women … Men …

Who uses the • Use land close to home to grow maize, taro, • Use land farther from home to grow grains andnatural resources and fruit. peanuts.of these communities, • Use leaves cut from trees and animal manure to • Use leaves that fall from trees growing onand how? fertilize maize and taro fields. farmland, burning them before seeding.

• Use wood for permanent fences (built by men) • Use wood to build temporary fences to encloseto enclose maize fields and control livestock. grain fields and control livestock.

Who is affected • Men, women, and children are affected in a • Men, women, and children are affected in aby the use of these positive way because maize is the most positive way because rice, fonio, sorghum, andresources? valuable grain crop sold in local and regional peanuts are staple foods.

markets, and it is nutritious. • Men, women, and children are affected• Men, women, and children are affected in a negatively by deforestation from land clearing

negative way by deforestation from fence and fence building, which degrades the localbuilding around maize fields, which degrades environment.the local environment.

Who has the authority • Women decide which tree leaves to use for • Men decide which fields to clear, when to burnto make decisions mulching maize and when to apply the mulch. the fields, and when and where to plant variousabout resource use? • Women decide how much maize to sell, when to crops on the hillside.

sell it, how much to save for planting, and how • Men decide where to build new fences to expandmuch to serve as meals. maize fields and which fences need repair.

• Women decide how much staple food to sell, • Men decide where to build temporary fenceswhen to sell it, how much to save, and how around nonmaize croplands.much to cook.

2 For a detailed description of this gender analysis framework, see The Exchange, volume 32 (winter 2000), page 9.



Integrating Gender Into EnvironmentalEducation and Awareness in Nepal

By Wendy King/WIDTECH Consultant

In an effort to incorporate a gender per-spective into Volunteer and staff train-ing, Peace Corps/Nepal engaged a con-

sultant through WIDTECH (Women inDevelopment Technical Assistance Project)with support from USAID to design andfacilitate sessions on gender and caste foran environmental education in-service train-ing. The objectives of the gender and castecomponent of the training were to:

• Ensure the ability of Volunteers and theircounterparts to address gender issues inenvironmental education; promote gen-der-sensitive environmental education;and conduct such activities in schools,with families, and with communities; and

• Increase the ability of Peace Corps/Nepalstaff and other participants to provideguidance to Volunteers and counterpartsnot involved in this training on integrat-ing gender perspectives into their envi-ronmental education activities.

concepts, practical tools, and activities. Thefive workshop sessions introduced topicssuch as gender, gender terminology, genderin the project cycle, gender analysis tools,masculinity, gender assessment of environ-mental education materials, caste perspec-tives, and human trafficking. In support ofmainstreaming gender perspectives, the gen-der and caste sessions were incorporatedthroughout the five-day workshop.

The strategy for the gender and caste com-ponent was to balance theory and practicaltools. However, the strategy was adapted tothe Peace Corps context in response to dailyevaluations, consultations with participants,and the limited time allocated for the genderand caste component.

The final activity of the workshop wasaction planning that focused on environmen-tal education in five sectors (education,health, natural resources management, waterand sanitation, and youth development).Each of the action plans effectively incor-porated key gender and caste perspectivesand approaches:

• The natural resources management groupplanned to develop a paper productionenterprise with a gender balance in plan-ning, implementing, and benefiting fromthe enterprise.

• The water and sanitation group’s priori-ties were education and awareness focus-

ing on enrollment and retention of girlsand other low-caste groups such asuntouchables in schools and provision ofsanitation messages in schools, such asthe importance of regular hand washingfor good health.

• The health group decided to focus oneducation for three groups: newly mar-ried couples; boys and girls in grades 8,9, and 10 and village women.

• The youth development group decidedto organize a camp for boys, girls, andlow-caste youth.

• The education group planned to addressa specific obstacle for girls and other low-caste groups attending school by con-structing water and toilet facilities atschools.

In their final action plans, all groupsreflected sharper gender perspectives andincreased awareness. Peace Corps/Nepalstaff commented that they gained a clearerunderstanding of gender and developmentand will now be able to provide strongerguidance to Volunteers. Peace Corps/Nepal’snext steps include building on this founda-tion by mainstreaming gender and develop-ment into pre-service training and other in-service trainings and by harnessing the ideas,commitment, and experience of local NGOsthat are working on gender and development.

You can access a complete report byWendy King on the WIDTECH website(www.widtech.org) under the training sec-tion.

c/o Ang Dali SherpaExecutive AssistantPeace Corps DirectorGPO Box 613Tej Bhawan, LazimpatKathmandu,Nepal

In light of the broad range of participants’experiences and needs, the gender and castecomponent was designed to provide basic



Supporting Women Agricultural Leaders in HondurasBy Luis Estrada/APCD/Hillside Farming

The Peace Corps’ family hillside farm-ing project in Honduras addresses the needfor female leaders in the agriculture sectorby helping women develop their talents andskills. Regional conferences have been anenormous success in achieving this goal. The women go back to their sites motivatedto work with Volunteers on project activi-ties, and they participate more actively inother community development activities.

As a result of these previous successes, aregional conference was held in westernHonduras to provide women the opportunityto exchange experiences and learn from oneanother. It was a big event for many of theparticipants, most of whom had never lefttheir communities before. For example, oneparticipant lives on a model farm and helpstrain local farmers with her husband. Whileher husband has traveled to many places inthe country and has attended, organized, andled conferences, she had never gone fartherthan the departmental capital, 25 kilometersaway. When a Volunteer invited her to par-ticipate, she assumed he was inviting herhusband; she was thrilled when she realizedthe Volunteer wanted her to come.

Although some of the women were ner-vous during discussions, they were able toovercome their fears with the support ofVolunteers and the other participants. Dis-cussion topics included leadership, self-esteem, motivation, and communicationskills. Two women who had participated inprevious workshops taught participants howto use medicinal plants and how to cook withgandul (a cousin of the soybean). During the

diploma ceremony at the close of the con-ference, many participants shed tears andseveral remarked that their diploma was thefirst they had ever received.

After these conferences, participants con-tinue to work with Volunteers and share theinformation and skills they acquired withtheir communities. The women, with supportfrom Volunteers, have organized meetingsto deliver training in leadership, gender roles,and technical skills. Some women neededadditional support, but most demonstrated ahigh commitment to conducting formaltraining sessions and field demonstra-tions. For example,

• Pascuala Sánchez is now president of thelocal community council;

• Cándida Vásquez is now giving trainingsessions with her husband on their farm;

• Paula Acosta has been elected by themunicipal council to be the spokesper-son for the villages;

• Some of the women joined Volunteers inbuilding chicken coops and pigpens; and

• Fondo Cristiano, an NGO, supports thewomen by paying for follow-up training.

A highlight of these events is whenwomen who attended previous conferenceslead the conference events and share theirexperiences and skills. One of the keys to asuccessful conference is to help womenincrease their self-esteem, which is donethrough motivational sessions and activitiesthat help them realize how much they con-tribute to the daily life of their families. Once women learn to appreciate themselves,it is easier to introduce leadership or techni-cal skills.

c/o Luis EstradaAPCD/Hillside FarmingCuerpo de PazApartado Postal 3158TegucigalpaHonduras

SEEDS OF SUCCESS: Future agricultural leaders are nurtured in Honduras.

File photo from Peace Corps/Honduras



Women’s Group of Hope and Progress in NicaraguaBy Meme McKee/PCV

My Nicaraguan counterpart, whohas a long history of working withmale farmers, and I invited all the

farmers’ wives to a meeting in order to forma working group for future activities. Heexplained that the group would have to forma board, including a president, vice presi-dent, and so forth. At the mention of thisrequirement, the meeting went no further.All previously interested eyes suddenlychanged, and I was left feeling lost and con-fused. My counterpart zoomed off on hismotorcycle, and I watched the women walkaway slowly, looking back as if they wantedto say something more.

The next day, they approached me oneby one, and I soon learned that they wereafraid they could not fulfill the needs of thegroup. The reason, many said, was that theycould not read or write; others said that while

they could read, they had never been askedto do so. They had been frightened by theformal approach and wondered how theycould be in such a group. When I calledanother meeting to explain that the groupwould not need a board after all, interestskyrocketed.

Our first project was to start a tree garden.Several women volunteered to bring seedsthat had recently fallen, and my counterpartcontributed plastic bags. Three months later,each of the 16 women planted 35 trees ontheir farms for reforestation. After a fewmonths of working together, the women toldme they were interested in a chicken project.The group then formed a directive board,developed a proposal, and solicited funds,and the project began to unfold. We quicklysaw that the project would involve the workof both men and women. As we now reach

our one-year anniversary, 16 chicken pensare being finished, each of which will holda stock of 10 new birds. Now when we havemeetings, I can hardly get in a single word.The women have taken on the leadershiprole.

Together we have learned that develop-ment is about how we can better the lives ofthe whole family, and how women and mencan work together to accomplish that goal.The members of the Women’s Group ofHope and Progress have accomplishedamazing things because they believe in them-selves and in their capabilities.

c/o Elias RuizAPCD/AgriculturePeace Corps DirectorApartado 3256Managua, Nicaragua

After arriving at the sanitarium, we didintroductions and icebreakers, went throughthe rules of the camp, discussed the sched-ule for the next couple of days, and dividedthe girls into two groups of 10 for hiking.Sessions at the sanitarium focused on envi-ronmental awareness, basic laws of ecology,and the leave-no-trace approach to hikingand camping. There also was a two-hourlesson on gender roles, the difference be-tween the terms sex and gender, and womenin leadership. Sasha and Svetlana familiar-ized the girls with the equipment, includinghow to pack and carry a backpack, set up atent, and start a campfire. The afternoon andevening programs focused on group dynam-ics, trust, leadership building, and criticalthinking.

During the hike, girls had daily duties thatincluded selecting and setting up a camp-site, building a fire, cooking, and cleaning.At evening campfires, girls spoke about whatthey hoped to learn during the week, whatchallenges they had faced and overcome, andsomething they had discovered about them-selves. We sang songs, told scary stories, andintroduced the girls to s’mores. Sasha and

Svetlana led a dayhike up to a glacier,where we crossed theKora River severaltimes. On smaller ex-cursions to caves andon nature hikes, welearned about the wildmushrooms and herbsof the area. An envi-ronmental scavengerhunt featured exer-cises in critical think-ing and problem solv-ing, and various blind-fold activities built trust among the girls.

Sasha and Svetlana learned that it is pos-sible to take a group of only girls into thewoods, to cross rivers with only femalehands, and to hike steep inclines by support-ing one another. They learned that girls, too,can gather wood for a fire. For many of thegirls, this was not only the first time theyhad left home but the first time they had car-ried a backpack, slept in a tent, and carriedsix days’ worth of food. They were empow-ered because they learned to trust, depend

on, and support one another and overcameboth social and physical challenges. Theyalso experienced the joys of living in naturefor an extended period of time.

c/o Dinara DadabaevaVolunteer Support SpecialistPeace CorpsPO Box 376480001 AlmatyKazakhstan

First Time for Everything continued from page 1

BUILDING SELF-SUFFICIENCY:Guides AlexsandraNikolaevna andSvetlana Fredrovenateach campers howto pitch their owntents.

Photo submitted byJackie Redmer/PCV


Engendering Development

Engendering DevelopmentBy Lyn Messner/WID/GAD Coordinator

“Engendering Development” is an ongoing col-umn that provides theories and tools for inte-grating a gender perspective into programmingand training.

Recent articles for this column have fo-cused on the Peace Corps’ strategy toincorporate gender into programming

and training. In this article, we step outside thePeace Corps to look at other global efforts toaddress gender issues in a variety of contexts.Every three years, the Association for Women’sRights in Development holds an internationalforum to provide the opportunity to developstrategies, share ideas, build skills, and providesupport to advance gender equality and socialjustice. It is the largest regularly held interna-tional forum on gender equality outside theUnited Nations system.

The ninth international forum, which focused on “ReinventingGlobalization,” was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October 2002.There were five themes: women’s rights and economic change,young women and leadership, gender equality and new technolo-gies, feminist organizational development, and women’s rights andthe new global order. More than 1,300 male and femalepolicymakers, practitioners, donors, researchers, grass-roots activ-ists, students, and business people from over 100 countries partici-pated.

Over 150 workshops, debates, plenary sessions, and skill-build-ing sessions allowed participants to analyze current approaches toeconomic and political change and strategize on how to translateideas into concrete actions. The program was designed to forgeaction plans to further women’s rights, build practical skills, facili-tate international networking, and create inclusive spaces for bothyoung and adult women, as well as for participants with a varietyof backgrounds and experience.

With over 43 sessions each day, there was a wide range of top-ics, including funding trends for women’s rights, power and nego-tiation, domestic violence and pop culture, and leadership for thefuture of gender and development as well as the women’s humanrights movement. Two sessions of particular relevance to the workof Peace Corps Volunteers are highlighted below.

Trafficking in Persons: The Development Response was pre-sented by the Women in Development office of the U.S. Agencyfor International Development. The U.S. government’s approachto trafficking is an integrated strategy based on prevention, protec-tion and assistance for victims, and prosecution of traffickers.USAID is positioned to play an important role in the government’santi-trafficking efforts. A significant part of USAID’s developmentassistance is aimed at programs that help create conditions that

lessen the vulnerability of women and chil-dren to traffickers, such as poverty reduction,girls’ education, promotion of the rule of law,and equal economic and political opportuni-ties for women. While not sufficient by them-selves to eliminate trafficking, these programsprovide important reinforcement for activitiesspecifically targeted at the prevention of traf-ficking and assistance and protection for vic-tims.

You Work With Adults, Don’t You? waspresented by members of the Youth Coalition,an international organization that promotes thesexual and reproductive rights of youth. Thisskill-building session for youth and those whowork with young people asked the provoca-tive question “How do we work effectivelywith adults?” By sharing best (and worst) prac-

tices, participants learned communication and networking strate-gies, inclusive advocacy techniques, how to develop leadership andlearning partnerships, and where feminist youth organizationaldevelopment is headed—all the ingredients needed to build suc-cessful youth-adult partnerships.

Session participants identified obstacles to youth’s participa-tion in adult environments, which include lack of respect, lack of afeeling of belonging, lack of trust and confidence in youth, and thefact that the lack of a university degree is equated with lack ofknowledge. Participants also identified reasons for the obstaclesand strategies to address them. Reasons include the tendency totreat youth like children; resistance to the ideas and passion of youthas a movement toward radical change; equating credibility withthe attainment of university degrees; and the painful process ofrealizing that one’s own youth is lost. Some of the strategies forincreasing youth’s participation are identifying adults who believein and can support youth; encouraging youth to organize them-selves; being sensitive to organizations’ internal politics; and pro-moting the benefits of viewing projects from the perspective ofyouth.

The website of the Association for Women’s Rights inDevelopment (www.awid.org) is full of information toinspire, educate, and connect individuals and organi-zations that are working to promote gender equalityaround the globe. Click on “AWID’s 9th InternationalForum” for workshop summaries, the text of plenarysession speeches, information on AWID’s GlobalizeThis! campaign, and more.


How To …

How To…Using Drama to Build Confidence in Togo

By Jessica Krakow/PCV

NOTE: This article discusses how to conduct drama sessions withyouth. The role plays described below can be very powerful andmay raise strong emotions among participants. Sessions such asthese should be conducted only by facilitators who have the neces-sary skills (such as conflict resolution and negotiation) to helpstudents address the emotions that are raised. Volunteers interestedin using this approach should first watch those experienced inconducting role plays or practice with their colleagues beforefacilitating role plays with students.

The more I study the issue of girls’ education, the more I realizethat getting girls into school is only half of the equation. Oftenyelled at by teachers and taunted by boys, girls are timid and shy.Without the confidence to speak up, girls cannot succeed. Onemethod of boosting their self-confidence is through role plays, atechnique that uses drama to explore emotions or aid in personaldiscovery. The hypothetical nature of the scenarios and the con-trolled environment of the role plays provide a safe place for girlsto express themselves. They are able to step outside their shy per-sonas and abandon the roles they adopt to fit the standards of soci-ety. The exercises allow girls to discover the self-awareness andself-confidence necessary to succeed in school. Because of theirgreater maturity, high school girls are the most appropriate groupfor this type of activity.

Since it is essential that a group be small enough for membersto become close to and trust one another, groups should be limitedto no more than 17 girls. During the first few meetings, the groupshould focus on getting to know one another on a more personallevel to create trust through culturally specific games, singing, anddancing. Facilitators should learn girls’ names to forge a closerrelationship with them. For homework, the girls might write some-thing (anonymously if preferred) describing the challenges theyface in school and what discourages them from attending. It isimportant to get the girls’ perspective and understand exactly wheretheir constraints lie in order to develop appropriate role-playingscenarios.

Following are three of the scenarios that I have used. During thescenes, stand nearby for support. If the girls are confused or getstuck (repeating the same lines or not listening to each other), theycan motion for assistance and (without stopping the scene) youcan explain the scene again. Quietly whisper a question to them,such as “What do you really want to say?” or “What are you afraidto say?” This gives the girls ideas without telling them how to runthe scene. The more control the girls have over the scenes, the morepower they will feel through their words and actions and the more

their self-confidence will soar. It is important to make sure that thegirls in the audience are respectful during the scenes to support thefocus and honesty of the actors.

Sample Scenarios

• Pick one girl to play a father who refuses to send his daughterto school and another actor to play a girl who is trying to con-vince her father that she should continue with school. The girlswill probably jump right into the scene, with the father refusingand the daughter pleading. The best part of this exercise is theamazing release that the girls feel. Discovering what they trulywant to say and do gives them confidence and power. This ex-ercise is designed to help girls understand the elements of theirrelationships, where the conflicts lie, and most important, theother person’s side. In the process, the girls find their own voicesand practice ways of communicating with others.

• A girl tells a friend she is pregnant. This scenario makes theissue more real, allowing girls to imagine what the situationwould feel like if it were happening to them.

• A girl tells her friend that she has contracted HIV. With thisscenario, the girls begin to see that AIDS does indeed exist and

How To continues on page 15

ACTING OUT: Teens role-play as part of a drama club in Togo.

Photo by Jessica Krakow/PCV


How To …

that they need to consider how to protect themselves while alsocomforting those who are infected. The objective is to releasethe fear of this disease and create awareness that it can happento anyone—one’s best friend or even oneself.

Processing

It is important to help the girls process the scenes that they havejust viewed or enacted. One way of doing this is to have the audi-ence ask questions of the actors while they are still in character.For example, “How do you feel when people are scared of youbecause you have AIDS?” The actors reply in character, makingthemselves completely three-dimensional. This gives members ofthe audience a chance to express their opinions and feelings. Afterthe question-and-answer period, thank the actors for their perfor-mances and allow them to rejoin the larger group. As a large group,discuss what they have learned, how these lessons have affectedthem, and what they hope to take with them from this activity.

Theater sheds light on different worldviews, helping people openup to new ways of thinking. “Wow,” a girl might think, “I neverthought of it like that before.” Slowly, with that change of perspec-tive, girls begin to change unsafe behavior into productive, helpfulbehavior, which, if I’m not mistaken, is what development is allabout.

c/o Rose KpomblekouAPCD/Girls’ Education and EmpowermentPeace Corps DirectorBP 3194Lome, Togo

Tips forConducting Role Plays

• Be conscientious in selecting actors for specific roles,especially with sensitive scenarios.

• Encourage actors to use “I” statements instead of “you.”For example, instead of saying, “You made me angrywhen you said I was ugly,” girls should be encouragedto say, “I feel mad when I am told that I am ugly.”

• Do not get upset with the girls or penalize them for theway the scenes evolve. Allow the girls to think and actfor themselves.

• When actors react to a scene with fear, have the girlsswitch roles and do the same scene again to allow themto experience what it is like to be each character. After-ward, talk about why they were scared and do the sceneyet again. Generally, the girls will be much more openand responsive.

• Switching roles is also useful when both characters areextremely stubborn and refuse to see the othercharacter’s side. This opens their eyes to another pointof view, leads to greater comprehension, and eventu-ally evokes a more satisfying resolution.

• Be flexible. Do not have a definite teaching or direct-ing plan. Give the girls the characters and a rough back-ground, but let them discover their creativity and spon-taneity. The exciting part of this work is that it is al-ways the girls who come up with the ideas. If they areuncomfortable or unsure of something, try to explainbetter or simplify the scene, but never run the scene forthem. Never say: “You must say no” or “You will getpregnant.” Rather, ask: “What do you want to say?”

• Do not lose patience. If the role plays do not runsmoothly, remember where the girls are coming fromand start over or explain the scene further. The idea isto coax them out of a shy place and let them learn totalk at their own pace. This gives them a sense of theirindividuality and allows them to let go of their fearsand take control.

How To continued from page 14


What’s Going On

What’s Going On…Building Bridges to the Future in Russia Far EastBy Marguerite Rupsis/PCV

One hundred Russian businesswomenfrom Khabarovsk, Russia, gathered withPeace Corps Volunteers for the first annualInternational Women’s Conference. Orga-nized in collaboration with the RussianAmerican Education Center (ARC), thetheme of the conference was “BuildingBridges to the Future.” The conference wasa great chance for experienced business-women to share ideas and work on plans fora future consulting center to assist in the cre-ation of new businesses. The three maingoals of the conference were to increase con-tact among business leaders and the ARC,to discuss and seek solutions to the commonproblems that face modern businesswomen,and to provide information about possiblesources of funding and assistance.

In opening remarks, the chairman of theKhabarovsk Economic Committee,Alexander Levinthal, spoke of the successof businesswomen in Khabarovsk and theirimpact on the city’s economy. He noted asteady increase in the number of businessesfounded by women, as well as women’s in-creased involvement in local business events.

The conference featured speeches bylocal business leaders, including bank rep-resentatives, who spoke about their consult-ing services and opportunities for low-interest loans. A round table focused on thecreation of a citywide business resource cen-ter that could provide consultation serviceson a volunteer basis. A majority of partici-pants agreed to ask the local governmentadministration to provide support to the Kha-

barovsk Businesswomen’s Union and otherlocal businesswomen in their establishmentof the resource center.

Volunteers gathered after the conferenceto share their thoughts. While everyoneagreed that the conference differed greatlyfrom their expectations, all were pleased thatit had been entirely Russian led and orga-nized. This bodes well for the future of thisevent and the ability to continue it withoutthe Peace Corps’ assistance.

c/o Cindy DownsEMA WID/GAD Sector CoordinatorPaul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters1111 20th Street, NWWashington, DC 20526

Teaching Gender Issues in UkraineBy Elizabeth Spears/PCV

The Whole ICE Catalog lists numerous resources to helpVolunteers teach gender and development topics. Thefollowing are a few examples:

In the Classroom: Empowering Girls (M0083)

Gender and Development: The CEDPA Training ManualSeries, Vol. III (WD133)

The Oxfam Gender Training Manual (WD139)

Gender Relations Analysis: A Guide for Trainers (WD138)

Choose a Future: Issues and Options for Adolescent Girls(WD127)

Choose a Future: Issues and Options for Adolescent Boys(YD132)

Life Skills Manual (M0061)

Choices: A Teen Woman’s Journal for Self-Awareness andPlanning (WD135)

In addition, many Peace Corps publications are availableelectronically through the online library at :

www.peacecorps.gov/library.

Recognizing that the issue of gender and development is not ahigh-profile one in Ukraine, TEFL Volunteers decided to develop acurriculum for teaching the concept of gender and gender roles totheir students.

The curriculum involves defining gender and societal roles, rec-ognizing stereotypes, and exploring equality and nontraditional roles.Volunteers tested the curriculum in their classrooms and at summercamps, identifying what worked and what did not. They compiledthe results in a 22-lesson manual for a two-day workshop, enablingother Volunteers to use the materials. Students in five classrooms atthe secondary school and university levels subsequently were in-troduced to these concepts.

c/o Oxana TimchenkoPersonnel and Volunteer Support CoordinatorCentral Post OfficePO Box 20401001Kiev, Ukraine


What’s Going On

Bolivian Youth Spread Their WingsBy Susan Discus/PCV

Volunteers, representatives from localorganizations, and local professional womenorganized a gender and development con-ference titled “Wings of Equality; Flying tothe Future.” It provided teenage girls andboys the opportunity to explore and analyzethe issues and causes of gender inequalityin their communities. The conference wasalso designed to help open their minds tothe opportunities available to them in thefuture.

A total of 26 teenagers participated in thefour-day conference. The topics includedself-esteem, interpersonal communication,sex and gender, goal setting, careers, educa-

tion, health, domestic violence, and alcohol-ism. Each participant accompanied a profes-sional woman to work in order to observe,converse, and interact. Both boys and girlshad the chance to see a woman doing herjob and learn about her life, her education,and her struggles.

To learn about the educational alternativesavailable, participants visited several tech-nical schools and different departments atuniversities. During these visits, the teenshad the opportunity to learn more about ca-reer options, speak with individuals in par-ticular fields, and understand the need to setgoals and identify pathways to reach them.

As the conference ended we noticed sev-eral changes in the youth. Some appearedmore confident; some were enthusiasticabout starting to plan for their future. Allthe teenagers seemed hopeful about the op-portunities available to them and eager toshare their experiences with others.

c/o Carla CarvajalTraining AssistantPeace Corps DirectorCasilla #1655Calle 5, Numero 458 ObrajesLa Paz, Bolivia

Peace Corps/Niger’s Women’s Work FairBy Kim Ziropoulos/PCV

priorities. Next came a riveting discussionof women’s rights, during which the womenasked myriad questions. The program alsoincluded a video promoting girls’ educationin both Hausa and Zarma.

Four practical sessions gave the womena chance to learn and practice new skills,such as how to make bread over a traditionalcooking fire, prepare weaning porridges, es-tablish a garden, and process peanuts, includ-ing oil extraction and the production of pea-nut-brittle candy.

Before the fair ended, the women met toplan a regional follow-up. Participants wenthome motivated to share what they had

The Women’s Work Fair brought togetherfemale community leaders to provide skillstraining, information sessions, and a forumfor the exchange of experiences and ideas.Volunteers from across Niger worked withtheir host communities to select motivatedwomen who are both leaders in their com-munities and active in small income-gener-ating activities.

The introductory session of the fairstressed the importance of follow-up on alocal level. After a preview of the schedule,the women divided themselves into groupsof Hausa and Zarma speakers (the fair wasfacilitated in both local languages).

The information sessions focused onAIDS, traditional health practices, smallbusiness and money management, reproduc-tive health, and women’s rights under Islam.Participants discussed the traditional healthpractices in their regions and learned aboutthe positive and negative impacts of thosepractices. In the money management session,the women described their income-generat-ing activities and shared ideas about improv-ing and expanding them. They calculatedprofit, learned ways to maximize earnings,considered their responsibilities and ex-penses, and developed a list of economic

learned and to continue striving to improvethe well-being of their families and commu-nities. In the future, Volunteers and partici-pants will work together to organize villagevisits, regional gatherings, presentations atlocal markets in order to facilitate the trans-fer of information to the participants’ homecommunities.

c/o Assalama Sidi DawalakAPCD/EducationPeace CorpsBP 10537Niamey, Niger

SQUEEZING A FUTUREFROM PEANUTS: Participantsin Niger’s Women’s Work Fairlearn to extract oil during a sessionon income-generating activities.

Photo submitted by Assalama SidiDawalak/APCD/Education


What’s Going On

The Sevastopol Women’s EmpowermentThrough Service Project in UkraineBy Amy Daniels and Alyson Sowers/PCVs

Many women in the Sevastopol region ofUkraine have had little or no training in lead-ership and teamwork. In addition, whilethere may be strong community spirit, thereare few outlets for women who wish to vol-unteer and assist other women. Therefore,the Sevastopol Women’s EmpowermentThrough Service Project was developed withthe goal of establishing an organization runby young female leaders committed to serv-ing other women in their community. Theproject’s mission is to explore gender issuesand community service and to develop lead-ership and teamwork skills. In doing so, theproject promotes the principle that womencan affect positive change in the communityby establishing a self-sustaining women’sorganization founded on the idea that “ser-vice is empowerment.”

The weeklong empowerment seminar thatlaunched the project provided the opportu-nity for young female leaders to discuss gen-

der issues, improve their communicationskills, foster a sense of teamwork and trust,improve their leadership skills through self-discovery activities, and discuss and promotethe idea of service in the community.

Each day of the seminar had a theme. Theweek began with a discussion of women insociety, stereotypes, gender issues, leader-ship, self-exploration, teamwork, and prob-lem solving. It continued with discussionsabout forming the service organization. Bythe end of the seminar, the women hadformed a young women’s service organiza-tion called People and Me. Since then, thewomen have held follow-up meetings and

have chosen sexual health as the focus oftheir first project. They were previouslytrained as trainers for the sexual health edu-cation program “Sound Mind, Sound Body,”and they will spend the next year visitingarea schools and universities to implementthe program.

c/o Oxana TimchenkoPersonnel and Volunteer Support CoordinatorCentral Post OfficePO Box 20401001Kiev, Ukraine

DRAWING THE FUTURE: Young women draw their ideal leader during a workshop in Ukraine.

Photo by Alyson Sowers/PCV

COMMUNICATING THROUGH ART: Participantsdisplay the results of a communication activity

during an empowerment seminar.

Photo by Alyson Sowers/PCV


What’s Going On

Camp GLOW in the Kyrgyz RepublicBy Leslie Wakulich/PCV

The first Peace Corps/Kyrgyz RepublicCamp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World)brought together young Kyrgyz and Russianwomen ages 12 to 17 for sessions on leader-ship, team building, and decision making.The girls also learned about women’s healthfrom a female Kyrgyz doctor and aboutwomen’s rights from representatives of theUnited Nations Development Programmeand a Bishkek women’s shelter. Female stu-dents from a local university escorted thegirls to camp and served as counselors. Par-ticipants were chosen on the basis of thequality and insight of their essays, the topicof which was problems facing Kyrgyzwomen and their future in the republic.

The camp’s theme, “Shaking the Tree,”urged the girls to “shake up the tree of lifeto get more out of it,” PCV Jill Morrisonsaid. She added that the camp was “aboutchanging your life, changing traditions, and

Girls Conference in El SalvadorBy Samantha Mora Reinhart/PCV

exchange on the final day, professionalwomen shared their experiences of study-ing, working, and, in one case, being a singleparent at the same time. The girls listenedto the women’s stories about their educa-tion and careers and then kept them busywith questions. The majority of the girlssaid that their outlook had been alteredas a result of the seminar and that theyrealized they could achieve theirgoals through hard work anddetermination.

c/o Sonia FloresProgram AssistantCuerpo de Paz El SalvadorApartado 1947Correo Nacional, Centro deGobiernoSan Salvador, El Salvador

Volunteers in El Salvador held a motiva-tional seminar for 20 promising youngwomen ranging in age from 14 to 22. Thefirst night, the young women engaged in ice-breakers and prepared for the professionalwomen’s exchange the following day bydeveloping interview questions and select-ing the careers that most interested them. Thegirls spent the next day at work with twoprofessional women, one in the morning, theother in the afternoon. That night the girlsshared their experiences in a processingworkshop. They were impressed by theopenness of the professional women and thesupport and encouragement they offered.

On the second day, participants touredthree public, private, and technical universi-ties in the capital. The girls received infor-mation about academics, admissions, studentlife, and scholarships. During a round-table

empowering yourself.” A life-size paper treewith painted leaves that hung on the wall inthe community room served as a forum forthe girls to express their feelings andthoughts.

Participants discussed gender issuesthroughout the week, and daily craft projectsand social events, such as a talent show andgroup skit performances, encouraged thecampers to explore their individuality. Manyof the shy campers were less hesitant by thetime the camp ended, demonstrating an in-crease in confidence.

c/o Susan BrockProgramming and Training OfficerPeace Corps304 Chokmorova Street720010 BishkekKyrgyz Republic


What’s Going On

Young Women in TongaLearn How to Be LeadersBy Kiran Dhillon/PCV

Twenty-three blindfolded girls weavedacross the wide lawn. Secured together byone length of rope, they bumped into oneanother as they tried to negotiate their wayaround the grass. Two more young ladiescircled the group, whistling intermittently.As they whistled, the girls hushed their con-fused deliberations and cocked their heads,listening intently. When the whistle faded,several girls led the group into different di-rections. The “human blob” seethed; girlspressed against the group’s borders, follow-ing the whistle’s beckon. Casting off theirblindfolds and untying the rope, they gath-ered with their “captors” and discussedwhich girls had emerged as leaders in theconfusion and how those leaders had gainedthe confidence of the others.

The Human Blob leadership game wasone of many hands-on activities duringCamp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) inTonga. This weeklong event was designedto provide an educational and inspirationalforum for girls ages 17 to 26 to share expe-riences, gain knowledge and fresh perspec-tives, and explore available resources inTonga. Camp GLOW presented information

on decision making, changing cultural ex-pectations, building self-esteem, health andnutrition, environmental awareness, sex edu-cation, life planning, and educational andcareer opportunities.

Three Tongan youth who had attended aprevious workshop on life skills conductedsessions on decision-making and critical-thinking skills. Other sessions featuredspeakers from local businesses and the hos-pital. And a youth drama group presentedlively and informative skits on HIV/AIDSand environmental hazards.

The girls spent evenings playing netball,hiking to the peak of the islands’ highestmountain, or participating in a scavengerhunt, movie night, talent show, and beachpicnic. The girls were also able to spend aSunday attending church with members oftheir extended families, with whom they didnot normally have the opportunity to visit.Now armed with new information andknowledge of opportunities, the participantswill become the facilitators of their ownCamp GLOW when they return to their re-spective islands.

At the close of the camp, the girls receivedcertificates at a formal presentation. Localyouth groups were invited to help celebrateat a barbecue afterward. In the evening, whenthe last well-wisher had gone, the girls gath-ered together one last time. With lightsdoused and arms linked, the GLOW girlspassed a candle around. As each girl heldthe candle, she described how the camp hadaffected her. Camp GLOW had undoubtedlytouched each girl deeply. One hopes the re-lationships and knowledge they gained fromthe experience will continue to guide futuredecisions.

Editor’s note: For more information on con-ducting Camp GLOW, consult the CampGLOW Handbook for Volunteers, now avail-able through Information Collection andExchange.

c/o Elenoa KauvakaLanguage and Cross-cultural CoordinatorPeace Corps TongaPO Box 147Nuku’alofaKingdom of Tonga

GLOWING WITH ENTHUSIASM: Campers prepare for one of the many hands-on activitiesdesigned to build leadership and self-esteem.

Photo submitted by Elenoa Kauvaka/Language Coordinator


What’s Going On

Peace Corps CelebratesInternational Women’s DayCompiled by Lyn Messner/WID/GAD Coordinator

International Women’s Day has its ori-gins in a march held by immigrant workers.In 1908 they marched in New York to de-mand higher wages, better working condi-tions, and the right to vote. This inspiredwomen during a 1910 socialist conferencein Europe to declare March 8 InternationalWomen’s Day in recognition of the immi-grants’ struggle. Though not widely cele-brated in the United States in the 1950s and1960s, International Women’s Day is nowcelebrated throughout America and aroundthe globe.1 Highlighted below are someexamples of how Volunteers and their com-munities worked to empower women andgirls as part of International Women’s Daycelebrations in the countries where theyserve.

Armenia

The Peace Corps/Armenia gender anddevelopment committee organized an essaycontest in eight of Armenia’s 10 regions thatran from International Women’s Day (March8) to Motherhood and Beauty Day (April 7).The top three winners from each region cameto the capital to compete in a final round.

Cape Verde

A women’s rights conference in SantoAntao included singing and dancing contestsfor women as part of an evening activitysponsored by a local women’s association.

Costa Rica

Volunteers in Costa Rica held the thirdannual girls’ conference for 80 youngwomen from all over the country. The eventcontinues to be popular because of its posi-tive impact on personal development and theimproved leadership skills that participantsbring back to their communities.

The Gambia

Peace Corps/The Gambia and the Minis-try of Education organized a Take OurDaughters to Work Day on March 8 in Basse,Upper River Division (URD). Thirty girlsfrom grades 7 to 9 accompanied professionalrole models to work. The event exposed thegirls to career options, celebrated the accom-plishments of the role models, and providedthe opportunity to discuss obstacles to pur-suing careers such as early pregnancy, earlymarriage, and HIV/AIDS. Because of thelimited number of female professionals inthe rural communities of the URD, manygirls are not aware of their career options.By meeting the many professional womenfound in Basse, the girls learned that jobsare available near their homes, not just inthe capital city.

1 Davis, Sue. “How International Women’s Day Began.” Workers World News Service, March 16, 2000. International Women’s Day continues on page 22

CIRCLE OF TRUST:Young women support each other.

File photo from Peace Corps/Cameroon


What’s Going On

Ghana

Volunteers facilitated a national Take YourDaughter to Work activity that introducedgirls to careers, encouraged women to reachout to girls as mentors, and attempted to dis-pel the myth that opportunities exist only inurban areas. Volunteers identified women toact as mentors, and each girl shadowed awoman at work for a day.

Guinea

One of Guinea’s regional girls’ confer-ences featured a poet who was a role modelfor many of the girls. She read her poems,spoke to the girls about violence againstwomen, and encouraged them to speak upfor their rights. The four-day seminar alsoincluded sessions on reproductive health,study skills, life skills, leadership, and self-esteem.

International Women’s Day continued from page 21

Paraguay

Volunteers and youth from their commu-nities attended a half-day celebration thatbegan with a welcome by a successful Para-guayan woman who has dedicated her lifeto promoting women’s rights. Other activi-ties included a presentation on the historyand current status of women’s rights in Para-guay; a presentation by a girls’ soccer teamon how to organize soccer tournaments; apresentation by two young women on howthey started their jewelry business fromscratch; and a health trivia game.

Romania

In conjunction with local NGOs, Volun-teers and community members in 14 townsthroughout Romania held candlelight vigilsto draw attention to the issue of domesticviolence. The candlelight vigils coincidedwith the opening of women’s shelters inthese communities.

Samoa

Peace Corps/Samoa held a seminar ondomestic violence for Volunteers and theircounterparts. It featured speakers from theWomen’s Affairs Office, local organizations,and the United Nations. On March 8 a localorganization and the Peace Corps held acandlelight vigil in memory of victims andsurvivors of domestic violence.

Tonga

Peace Corps/Tonga staffed a booth at awomen’s fair on March 7 to highlight womenin development publications available lo-cally in the Peace Corps’ resource center.Peace Corps/Tonga hopes this effort willencourage women’s groups to turn to thePeace Corps for resources.


Around the Corner

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Articles in The Exchange, Gender, Agriculture, and the Environment • August 2003, Were Submitted From…

1. Armenia2. Bolivia3. Cape Verde4. Costa Rica5. El Salvador6. The Gambia

7. Ghana8. Guinea9. Honduras

10. Kazakhstan11. Kyrgyz Republic12. Nepal

13. Nicaragua14. Niger15. Paraguay16. Romania17. Russia Far East18. Samoa

19. Togo20. Tonga21. Ukraine22. Zambia

Upcoming IssuesUpcoming IssuesUpcoming IssuesUpcoming IssuesUpcoming Issues

• The next issue of The Exchange (Volume 38) will focus on gender and youth development.

• Volume 39 of The Exchange will focus on gender, water, and sanitation. Articles for this volume are currently being accepted.

Editor’s note: All submissions are welcome, and topics are not limited to the theme of the issue. Feel free to submit letters to the editor,items for the “How To” or “Building Sustainability” columns, or pieces on any activity that involves gender and development.

Upcoming OpportunitiesUpcoming OpportunitiesUpcoming OpportunitiesUpcoming OpportunitiesUpcoming Opportunities

• September 16: International Day of Peace

• October 16: World Food Day

• November 20: UN Children’s Day

• November 25: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

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24 • Gender, Agriculture, and the Environment • August 2003 THE EXCHANGE • Peace Corps’ Women in Development NewsletterPeace Corps • Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters • 1111 20th Street, NW • Washington, DC 20526 USA • www.peacecorps.gov

Express YourselfTell us what is happening with WID or GAD in your country that you would like to share with others. Tell us your success stories. What works?What does not? When you tell us about your project, please give a location and an address. Photos should include the names of the keyindividuals in the picture, a brief description, the location, and the name of the photographer. Send contributions, comments, suggestions, andrequests to:

Editor, The ExchangeWomen in DevelopmentPeace Corps/The Center

Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters1111 20th Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20526USA

The [email protected]

Lyn Messner, WID/GAD Coordinator Tammy Boger, WID/GAD and ICT Assistant

The Exchange is published by Women in Development, The Center for Field Assistance and Applied Research, the Peace Corps, for distribution to all Peace CorpsVolunteers and staff. Views expressed in The Exchange are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Peace Corps.Use of funds for printing this newsletter has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget of the U.S. government. We reserve the right to edit for style,clarity, and length. The Peace Corps reserves the right to use any submitted writing, photos, and artwork in other publications.

Girls Making Dolls in NicaraguaBy Nancy Collins/PCV

After being in Nicaragua forthree months and seeing younggirls with blond dolls that lookednothing like them, I solicited myfriends and family back home forsupplies to make “Nica” dolls. Irealized doll making was a per-fect opportunity for the seven-to-10-year-old girls in my commu-nity to learn new skills and gaina sense of accomplishment.

A total of 36 girls attendedfour doll-making parties. I sup-plied the decorative materials,and the girls supplied the emptysoda containers. I was surprisedat the lack of self-confidence inmany of the girls. Some were noteven able to choose dress fabricsor hair ribbons on their own, NEW ARTISTS: Nicaraguan girls create dolls in their own image.

Photo by Nancy Collins/PCV

looking to others for help orchoosing the same fabric or rib-bons as others had. Yet it wastouching to watch their pride inthreading a needle, sewing adress, or drawing a mouth.

Despite loose knots, unevenlydrawn mouths, and lopsided hair,every doll was adorable. Andevery girl, regardless of howmuch she participated in the con-struction, was extremely proudof her doll.

c/o Elias RuizAPCD/AgriculturePeace Corps DirectorApartado 3256ManaguaNicaragua

Documents

First Time for Everything: Kazakhstan’s Girls’ Leadership Camp · • Integrating Gender Into Environmental Awareness in Nepal ... projects, agricultural and environmental issues