Gender inclusion in the LIVES project: Gender mainstreaming approaches and areas of interventions

Ephrem Tesema

Livestock and Fish Gender Working Group Workshop and Planning Meeting

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14-18 October 2013

Outline

• Overview on LIVES Project• Gender Inclusion and Exclusion Dynamics• Why Gender Mainstreaming is indispensable?• Approaches to Mainstream gender in Livestock and Irrigation

Value Chains• LIVES Gender Strategy • A Gender Lens in commodity/ Enterprise Development• Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive Interventions in

LIVES • Possible Areas of Interventions• Concluding Remarks• Food for Thought

Lives Objectives

• Introduction/adaptation of tested and new value chain interventions for targeted value chains/areas (value chain development)

• Capacity development of value chain actors, service providers and educational institutions (capacity development)

• Introduction/adaptation of tested and new knowledge management interventions in support of value chain development (knowledge management)

Objective of Lives Cont’d

• Generation and documentation of new knowledge on value chain interventions through diagnosis, action and impact research studies (research)

• Promotion of knowledge generated for scaling out beyond the project areas (promotion)

Project Focus• Commodities: - Livestock (dairy, beef, small ruminants,

poultry, apiculture) and high value irrigated crops (vegetables, fruits, fodder)

• Geographical - Ten (10) zones with clusters of Districts producing selected commodities

TABLE: Priority commodity value chains and their zonal locations selected by the four Regional States

Region/Zone Beef /live

animals

Chicken meat/eggs

Honey & bee wax

Milk SR meat/ live

animals

Fruits Veg- etables

Total

Amhara (10) - Gondar N/S*

- - - √ - (√) √ 2

- South Wollo - - - √ √ √ √ 4

- West Gojam - - - √ √ √ √ 4

Oromiya (12) - E Shoa √ - - - √ √ √ 4

- W Shoa - - √ √ - √ √ 4

- Jimma - - √ √ √ √ - 4

SNNPR (5) - Gamo Gofa - √ √ - - - √ 3

- Sidama** - √ - √ - - - 2

Tigray (8) - Central - - - √ √ √ √ 4

- Eastern - - √ √ √ - √ 4

Total 1 2 4 8 6 6 8 35

Note: N – North, S – South, E – East, W – West; *growth corridor ** Hawassa milkshed

Direct value chain beneficiaries LIVES

Actors

Input Producer/ Supplier

Output Producer

Trader/ Processor

Extension Research Education

Public Support Services

POLICY

Research LIVESRapid assessment of value chains and

public support services

Value chain interventions on supply/production of inputs, production/processing/marketing of outputs

Knowledge Mngt and capacity development interventions

Diagnosis

Action Impact

RESEARCH/STUDIES

Learning Learning

Gender Inclusion and Exclusion Dynamics• Framing Gender within the socio-cultural milieu• Ideologies, activism and gender in our time• The Language of Research and Development• The Language of Farmers and Others• Communicating Gender to inspire inclusive

transformation• Gender in Ethiopia: The burden of History, the dynamics

of socio-cultural Change and striking the balance• Commitment, Accountability and Professionalism• Understanding the specific context• Allowing the locals to articulate gender Issues• Diagnosing, Documenting, Analyzing, Synthesizing

evaluating and Sharing for scale up and out

Why Gender Mainstreaming is Indispensable?• The reality pops up out their even for the gender blind

ones• Value addition in market oriented agriculture needs the

skills and dexterities of both female and male producers, traders, input and service providers etc.

• More than 50% of the smallholders are female farmers• Female and male farmers own skills, resources and

inalienable entitlements to grow and transform • Gender equity and equality justifies the final outcome of

R&D interventions• Ignoring gender in R&D intervention is a way to

reinforcing socio-cultural, economic, political and societal decadence and multifaceted disarticulation

Approaches to Mainstream gender in Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains

• Capacity Building, Team Building and Partnership• Stating Generic Gendered Directives• Identifying Possible areas of Interventions• Commodity and VC nodes Analysis/synthesis

Team Building Matters

LIVES Gender Strategy

• Capitalize of IPMS findings and Lessons

• Findings documented during PIP

• LIVES Baseline Survey

• Capitalize on CIDA funded project experiences

• Reviewing documented evidences in the agricultural development sector

Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive Interventions in LIVES

• Set specific Gender targets for LIVES Intervention that captures the imagination of staff and partners and facilitate support for its successful achievements.

• Learn from and share the experience of successful gender sensitive VC Governance

• Present evidence and facts to raise the awareness of project partners regarding the Importance of gender in value chain development initiative. Do not preach!!

• Prepare a gender action plan and scan the plan and all project activities with a gender lens, share with partners and project staff

A Gender Lens in commodity/ Enterprise Development

• Commodities and value chain nodes traditionally dominated by women

• Commodities and value chain nodes conventionally involve men and women

• Commodities and value chain nodes conventionally dominated by men only.

Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive Interventions in LIVES

• Learn and share Gender analytical tools and approaches for successful delivery

• Work in partnership with the respective Women’s Affair Offices and other women focused public and private service delivery organizations

• Understanding the gender context of the priority commodity/ value chains through diagnostic process and by making continues follow up studies

• Collecting and analyzing site and priority value chain specific information on gender differences in division of labor in producing and marketing priority commodities

Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive Interventions in LIVES

• Identify the extent of access to and control over resources and benefits accrued to men and women from specific commodities and value chain nodes

• gender participation in decision making capacity needs to be engaged in priority commodity value chain development

• Developing strategies to address gender issues in commodity chains with partners.

• Identifying opportunities and implementing strategies to enable women and men to have equal opportunities in the project activities

• Identifying constraints and opportunities for women’s participation in the selected value chains

Possible Areas of Interventions

• Targeting women from female headed households who ‐have land for vegetable production

• Targeting women to engage in input supply systems like fruit tree nurseries, pullet production, feed block preparation

• Involving women and women groups in value addition/processing (e.g. juice and honey processing)

• Giving more focus and support to women in women‐dominated enterprises (e.g. dairy and poultry)

• Adapting enterprises to more effectively engage and increase benefits to women, e.g., honey production in modern beehives

Concluding Remarks• Gender Mainstreaming in the Livestock VCD has implications

on:- Design Gendered Capacity Building- Design Gendered Knowledge Management- Design Gendered Technology Uptake- Generate lessons for practitioners and researchers- Ensure Gender Empowerment and inclusive VCD- Increase financial gains for Men & Women Smallholders- Sustain inclusive livestock and Irrigation VC Development

intervention- Improve the existing gender inequality in the livestock and

Irrigation Agriculture. - Transform gender concerns from rhetoric to strategic ends- Add value to Livestock products more than ever

Cocktail for Thought

• Do Countries have feminine and masculine identity • Who is an influential man or women who play a visible

role in the recent past of your countries historySource of the questions: A few non workshop participant but who attended last nights cocktail

Involve women: LIVES Gender Tools Pretest in Lome District

Thank You!

www.lives-ethiopia.org