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Webinars on
Women’s Collective Action (WCA) in Agricultural Markets
Webinar 3: Synthesis of Findings
Second Phase of Research
Facilitated by
Where are we in the world today
11 Countries
represented!
• Canada
• Ethiopia
• France
• India
• UK
• Mali
• Netherlands
• Palestine
• Philippines
• USA
• Tanzania
What organisations are we from?
Oxfam America
Oxfam Ireland
Oxfam Novib
Oxfam GB
Oxfam Canada
Coady
Care USA
SNV Solidarity Eastern and Central
Expertise Centre
Self-help
Africa
Who is Who? Presenting:
Thalia Kidder
Sally Smith
Ralph Roothaert
Claudia Canepa
Sally Baden
Facilitating Discussion:
Hugo Sintes
Kimberley Loveday-Long
Monitoring Chat:
Sally King
Amanda Shriwise
Technical Assistance:
• Presentation of findings
Thalia Kidder, Oxfam GB
• Comments on implications
Sally Smith, Independent Researcher
Ralph Roothaert, Oxfam GB
• Discussion in plenary
• Research findings
• Implications
• Next steps...
Agenda for today
Aims to identify:
• the conditions
• types of organisation, and
• strategies of support
…that enable women to take on strategic roles in markets in ways that increase
women’s incomes, assets and empowerment.
Oxfam’s research on
Women’s Collective Action
A research, learning
and communications
project on women’s
collective action (WCA)
in agricultural markets
• To what extent and under what conditions does
women smallholder’s engagement in market-
focused collective action lead to gender
equitable outcomes?
• Who benefits?
• Which benefits?
• Does CA overcome
constraints?
The Research Question
Design Finding General:
External support, government policies matter
CA addresses production constraints, rarely social norms,
time, land, etc.
Various levels influence outcomes for women
Look more closely at groups (don’t assume)
– More production …. Less marketing
– Women-only groups; Specialised groups
(mostly ‘mixed’);
– Who in Ethiopia: women heads of households
– A spectrum of ‘mixed’ groups; groups evolve
– Informal groups
Beginnings of answers on WCA
• Primary level CA of small-holder farmers, formal and informal
• Mali, Ethiopia, Tanzania – two regions & six sub-sectors each (rice, coffee, chicken…)
• Qualitative, focus groups
• 529 groups identified, over 200 studied
• Describe CA in each sector:
Benefits for women & how
they vary? Why?
The research done:
FARMING SYSTEM WOMEN’S
MOTIVATION AND CAPACITY
ASSET ENDOWMENT
AGE, SKILLS, LITERACY
HOUSEHOLD DYNAMICS
NO COLLECTIVE
ACTION
LEGAL/POLICY
FRAMEWORK PATTERNS OF COLLECTIVE
ACTION
CHARACTERISTICS
OF SUB-SECTORS
Conceptual Framework
COLLECTIVE OUTCOMES, INDIVIDUAL IMPACT
Incomes, building assets, empowerment
Findings
Design Finding
Many factors relevant….
• Entry fees, lack of information
• Negative attitudes about women in groups
• Land tenure
– Mali: 3% women avg 0.5 ha; men 1.5 ha, but
older women tend to have access to land
– Tanz: FHH avg 1.6 ha, MHH 2.7 ha
• Status in household: age, junior wives, FHH
• Savings group formal producer group
Which women join, and why?
• Government role:
– Promoting support for women farmers; coop laws
• External support:
• Widespread, dominant feature
• Functions: multi-functional, more production
• Women’s Participation – a spectrum
– Women’s groups with token men
– Membership doesn’t equate with leadership
• Formal linked to informal
– Informal labour-sharing, savings groups
• Evolution of groups
Gendered patterns of CA
• Common benefits for women
– Social support, income, inputs-training-savings, labour
• Women-only groups
– Social cohesion, skills, leadership, family responsibility
• Specialised organisations
– More economic benefits, less leadership and voice?
• Mixed groups
– Tanz: overcoming ‘husbands’ restrictions’
Benefits for Women?
Design Finding Constraints (for women) in agr markets
Constraint more so for women…
CA helping?
Buyers – side
Low volumes for sale * *
Limited capital * *
Farmer side
Transport – mobility *
Family responsibilities *
Social norms *
Little market info, lack of business skills & organisation
* *
Collusion between middlemen and wholesalers
*
• Land tenure
• Literacy
• Family responsibilities
• Linking women to profitable markets
• Time poverty
• Mobility and transport
• Social attitudes
Constraints for women
not (often) addressed
1) Any questions for clarification
purposes?
2) What findings did you find the most
interesting or surprising, and why?
Thank you!
Please submit via ‘chat’ box (moderators tab)
• Sally Smith
Independent Consultant
• Ralph Roothaert
Tanzania Agricultural Scale Up
Programme Coordinator
Commentators
• Important addition to knowledge base on CA in agriculture -
– Shows complexity; contrasts with way (women’s) CA is usually
portrayed;
– Important implications for key development actors and initiatives,
e.g. CAADP, AGRA, Making Markets Work for the Poor
• Raises ‘why’ questions for investigation in Phase 3-
– Shea in Mali – specialised, high value but dominated by women,
why?
– access to land – how and why here not elsewhere?
– Explore ‘exceptions’, especially those with positive outcomes for
women
• Marketing function important –linked to greater economic
benefits.
– what brings groups to marketing function? sub-sector needs,
policy environment, donor support, etc.
– Is this function is transferable (e.g. From rice in Mali to staple
crops elsewhere)
Implications: Sally Smith
• Mixed and women-only groups – Is extending functions of women’s groups feasible/desirable to get more economic
benefits?
– Is enhancing position of women in mixed groups more effective long term (to address
structural causes of gender inequality)?
• Critical to know disabling factors and how they are overcome in
different socio-cultural contexts – E.g., What hinders WCA in sectors traditionally under women’s control and how have
these constraints been overcome for ‘exceptions’?
– How did men’s attitudes to WCA change in Mali? WCA may not be the best tool –
what other strategies have worked (e.g. labour-saving technology, gender
sensitisation, etc.)?
• Indications of strong influence of governance structures and
group dynamics – How do leadership, mission and values of groups affect outcomes?
– What’s the role of linked organisations in these dynamics (e.g. second tier CA,
buyers, NGOs)
• Indications of changes in intra-household gender relations where
women are contributing to household income. – how and when does this occur (e.g. only where groups have marketing function?)
– what does it mean in terms of women’s empowerment?
Overview
Implications for Oxfam’s agriculture programme
• External influences on WCA across countries:
– Cultural
– Government
– NGOs
• Importance of other movements
• Degree of formality of groups
Implications: Ralph Roothaert
How do external factors influence WCA and
agricultural value chains in a market system?
Processing Inputs
Enabling environment, e.g. cultural, government
Production Distribution
Finance and supporting services, e.g. NGOs
Consumption
WCA WCA WCA
• Many NGOs or government programmes promote group
formation; difficult to reach scale of WCA without them.
– Farmer and gender networks
– Women empowerment
• Programmes need to ‘piggy back’ on existing positive
internal or external movements that affect women
organisations in agriculture
– Good leadership
– Role models
Importance of other initiatives and
movements to reach scale
• The definition of formal and informal groups or CA is
very difficult and tends to be blur.
– E.g. Formal groups in Tanzania have informal
components of saving groups
• It is more difficult to identify or access informal groups
in the field because of their informal nature. Proper
assessment of informal groups needs more time from
researchers.
• In Mali, formal groups trigger informal groups
upstream (towards production). This could be a lead
towards identifying more informal groups elsewhere.
Degree of formality of groups
• Programmatic value chain approaches need to focus on
enabling environment. The research has provided
important lessons on cultural institutions from which
contextual guidelines can be formed on group formation.
• We should link our approaches of facilitating WCA with
dynamic movements that happen regardless
• Lessons on informal WCA are very diverse. We need
more research to draw general conclusions or link
findings to conditions.
To wrap up
Asanteni
• Answers to questions seeking
clarification on research process or
findings
Q&A
• Your views
on what you
found most
interesting or
surprising…
Let’s discuss!
New Ideas?! How might you improve
your agr/markets programme or policy
work?
A. POLICY context
B. Rigorous Selection of GROUPS to support– considering formal and informal
C. Address gender-specific BARRIERS to women participating
D. Support groups to evolve and improve FUNCTIONS
E. Other?
Please chat your ideas to us!
Low volumes for sale
Limited capital
Mobility & transport
Family responsibilities
Social norms
Time poverty
Lack of marketing or links to buyers
Illiteracy
Little market info or few business skills
Land tenure
Constraints for women farmers to
engage in markets
Doing well A challenge Learn more
Highlights of discussion
Phase III research
• Nov 2011-June 2012
• Qualitative: case studies of development interventions on women’s collective action which strategies effective and why?
• Quantitative: surveys of hhs and women who participates in CA and who benefits?
Upcoming WCA webinars
• Three more webinars coming next
year: – January: Innovative types of groups that
enable greater inclusion by women (Coady)
– February/March: Women producers,
collective enterprises & Fair Trade (WIEGO)
– May: Evolution of groups (Care/Coady)
Co- organised by:
Thank you!
Visit us at
http://womenscollectiveaction.com/Webinars
for a summary of this webinar and information on
upcoming webinars!