Participatory Gender Training for Community GroupsCGIAR Gender Platform - WLE Webinar

A Project Made Possible By:

Stephanie LederPost-Doctoral Fellow for Gender & Social InclusionInternational Water Management Institute (IWMI) NepalCRP “Water, Land and Ecosystems”

Gitta ShresthaSenior Research OfficerIWMI Nepal

Andrew ReckersCommunicationsIWMI Nepal

Speakers

Participatory Gender Training for Community GroupsCGIAR Gender Platform - WLE Webinar

Thursday, March 2nd

Participatory Gender Training for Community GroupsCGIAR Gender Platform - WLE Webinar

Thursday, March 2nd

Agenda0:00-0:05 Introduction

0:05-0:20 Principles and Development of a Participatory Gender Training for Community Groups, Stephanie Leder

0:20-0:30 Gender and social inclusion (GESI) – The status quo in the organization and at the project level, Gitta Shrestha

0:30-0:35 Using the manual, Andrew Reckers

0:35-1:00 Discussion, all participants (submit questions in chat window)

Principles and Development of a Participatory Gender Training for Community Groups

Stephanie LederPost-Doctoral Fellow for Gender & Social InclusionInternational Water Management Institute - NepalCGIAR Research Program “Water, Land and Ecosystems”

Koiladi,Eastern Terai

Madhubani, Bihar

Cooch Behar, West Bengal

Thakurgaon, NW Bangladesh

Improving water use for marginal and tenant farmers in the dry season in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (ACIAR-WLE funded Project)

Changing…o Gender norms on mobility and voice (speaking up)o Critical awareness on gendered norms - female farmers become more conscious about

their capacities, but also their limitationso New vulnerabilities, increasing work burden and emotional stress

It is not only about “more women practicing more agricultural labor”… … but also gender norms and power relations

Male emigration has led to the feminization of agriculture

“…they used to discourage me and tell me ‘aren't you ashamed of yourself for speaking up when males are there’. Now they don't say that but it used to be like that before.” - S_I4H

o Increasingly nuclear over joint families (35-86%)o Number of households with migration (35-58%)o Household heads remain male (>92%)

Although women take over more responsibilities in agriculture because of emigrated husbands, their needs are institutionally not sufficiently represented.

How can this be addressed?

Collective empowerment in villages – an illusion? Empowerment depends on intra-household relations: family structure and support

(age, gender, position households) inter-household relations: class/economic background,

caste, political networks

Problem 1: • Gendered divisions of agricultural labor: transfer of

agricultural responsibilities, but also sustaining women’s dependence on other male family members or neighbors, e.g. for irrigation and ploughing

• a triple work burden for women (domestic, productive, community work)

• gendered norms on mobility, speaking up and being heard hinder women from taking up agricultural interventions and contributing to (collective) farmer groups to their full potential

women feel like “substitute” or “second choice” farmers

How can farmers work effectively as groups and take up interventions, with both men and women being aware of and acting upon those gendered restrictions?

Problem 2: Lack of participatory gender training approaches for farmers based on SCIENCE

… how can gendered power relations in agrarian communities be addressed?

How can we address gender norms, roles and relations in communities (e.g. affecting agricultural productivity)?

A gender-sensitive approach to resource management in the context of male emigration:

How? Let’s DISCUSS with the farmers!

• Learning theories (Social constructivism, democratic and social learning, Dewey 1985, Vygotsky 1934 etc.)

• Critical pedagogy (raising a critical consciousness, Freire 1996)• Neurodidactic research (visualization, network thinking, Vester 2002)• Brain-based principles (interactive, continuum, Spitzer 2007)• Teaching methodology research (Education for sustainable development,

argumentation, critical thinking, transformative pedagogy, Leder 2017)

As well as…• Participatory principles around farmers’ capabilities, value system, beliefs and

existing agricultural practices (Chambers 1994, Torre et al., 2008; Fine et al., 2008)

• Culturally grounded, yet gender transformative training approach (Leder 2017)• Cost-effective to upscale within NGOs/GOs

Scientific grounding: Social learning and participatory training principles

Participatory Gender Training Curriculum

1) to reflect on their own gender perceptions and roles in their households and community AWARENESSActivity 1: Boy or girl

Empowerment through enthusiasm and empathy (Kabeer 1999, Freire 1996)

Participants are encouraged…

2) to critically review gendered agricultural and domestic labor division RESOURCESActivity 2: Gender Position Bar

3) to develop bargaining skills to resolve conflicts and evoke empathy by switching roles AGENCYActivity 3: Bargaining role play

Principle Objective Method ActivityNetwork thinking(Vester, 2002)

Extending and sustaining knowledge

Photo networks as visual input

1 - Boy or Girl2 - Gender Position Bar

Identifying social constructions(Chambers 1994, Leder, 2017)

Demystifying ascribed gender traits and roles in the community (e.g. women’s triple work)

Discussing reasons for boy or girl preferences

1 - Boy or Girl

Thinking on a Continuum (Leder, 2017)

Demonstrating the relativity of gendered labor division

Arranging agricultural labor on 5 varying degrees of women and men’s involvement

2 - Gender Position Bar

Role switching Raising empathy and awareness for the other gender’s constraints

Switched gender role play with own bargaining story

3 - Bargaining Role Play

Participation and farmer orientation(Bunch, 1995, Chambers, 1994)

“local people to share, enhance and analyse their knowledge and conditions, to plan and act” (Chambers, 1994)

Farmers’ choice of pictures, space for discussing own reasons, spontaneously integrating farmers’ issues in the training schedule

1 - Boy or Girl2 - Gender Position Bar3 - Bargaining Role Play

Activity-specific principles and methods

The participatory gender training was developed, piloted, implemented and comparatively evaluated across different projects for WLE (DSI4MTF, Gender circles and poverty squares) and BRACED-Anukulan (DFID)

• in 12 villages in the Far West of Nepal and the Terai; West Bengal and Bihar, India

• 24 trainings with approx. 65 community mobilizers/field staff of 15 NGO/GOs• Approx. 200 farmers• if upscaled, possibility to target 39,000 households (1 field staff, 10 trainings with

10 participants = 100 trained household members of families with 6 members )

Activity 1: Boy or girl? Understanding our own and our community’s constructions of gender

… and that gender roles in agriculture have already been CHANGING

Reason Daughter SonFinancial Security Daughters are regarded as

goddess Laxmi, so having girls, is considered as good source of income.

The dowry of the son’s bride contributes to the family’s welfare.

Lineage Having a girl creates, extents and strengthens relations with another family

Sons continue the race as they stay in the family and pass on the family name

Gendered tasks Daughters are responsible and help with all household work (cooking, washing, cleaning etc.)

Ploughing can only be done by male, as a drought will come if female plough (based on a legend)Parents’ cremation (Daagbathi)

Gendered traits Daughters come when we call them. Even if they are married, they come to their parents if they are called

Sons will stay with the family and look after the parents when they are old

Examples from Nepal

Activity 2: Gender Position Bar How do we want to change the gendered division of labor?

Farmers state that the change towards more equal division of labor is already going on, and they envision even further change

Agricultural or Reproductive Task

Gender Farmers’ reasons for gendered task

Plowing Male Too technical, to respect women

Irrigation/ Pump Handling Male Too heavy, too dangerous, too technical, women’s sari

Drying Harvest Mostly Female Not much power and physical labor required, women have a better vision, related to caring and cleaning, women can better concentrate

Childcare Mostly female/ both

Women more loving and kindhearted

Cooking Female/ mostly female

Husband says: I married you, so you have to cook for me, men cook only outside or in exceptions, e.g. when wife is sick; women do rotis at home

Examples from Madhubani, Bihar, India

Activity 3: Role play: Bargaining as the other gender

“It’s the first time playing a woman (for me), I didn’t know how to speak as a woman, as a

daughter-in law, it’s difficult to attend meetings and walk in a saree as well.” – CMs Guleriya

“It felt weird to play a landlord and harass people older than me, it was good to have that power but at the same time he was an elderly person and I played a younger person’s role.” –

Bhariya, Guleriya

The Outcome: A Gentle Gender TransformationGender sensitivity brings enthusiasm, empathy and creates space for DISCUSSION and AGENCY for BOTH men and women

• The training intends to increase farmer group interaction and empathy through discussions on collective support and the willingness to mitigate the gendered division of labor.

• The training promotes bargaining skills which enable farmers to confidently negotiate with their group members, landlords and others in cases of conflicts.

Feedback from Community Mobilizers and Farmers

“I thought we would argue about gender differences but we discussed very specific things that were previously ignored- it forced us to think about it.” – CM5, Guleriya

“I didn’t know about the training gender vs sex. This participatory approach is new for us, we don’t talk about gender in farmers groups. Now we can discuss this in our communities.” – CM5, Dadeldhura

“I learned that men and women need to understand each other’s needs. I will now ask my husband to work alongside and help me grow vegetables.” – female farmer, Phulwari village, Kailali

“Today I learned that gender roles are something that can be changed, but that change is slow.” – female farmer, Attariya village

Thank you!

Encouraging open discussions in gender-sensitive trainings is the key to sustainable agriculture

References

Bunch, R. (1995). Two Ears of Corn: A guide to people-centered agricultural improvement.

Chambers, R. (1994). The origins and practice of participatory rural appraisal. World Development, 22(7), 953-969.

Fine M, Tuck J E, Zeller-Nerkman S. (2008). Do you believe in Geneva? In: Denzin N, Smith LT, Lincoln Y, editors. Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Knowledges. Beverly Hills: Sage, p. 157-180.

Leder, S. (2017). Transformative pedagogic practice. Education for Sustainable Development on water conflicts in India. Springer. forthcoming.

Torre ME, Fine M, Alexander N, Billups A B, Blanding Y, Genao E, MArboe E, Salah T, Urdang K (2008). Participatory actions research in the contact zone. In: Cammarota J, Fine M, editors. Revolutionizing Education Youth Participatory Action Research in Motion. New York: Routledge, p. 23-44.

Vester, F. (2002). Unsere Welt - ein vernetztes System. München: Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag.

Gender and social inclusion (GESI) – The status quo in the

organization and at the project level

Gitta ShresthaSenior Research Officer, IWMI Nepal

Gender and social inclusion (GESI) – The status quo in the organization and at the project level

Experiences from the field:1. Research (Gender in the DFID-funded BRACED-Anukulan Project led by

iDE-Nepal) 2. Participatory Gender Training Manual

Research findings – gender in the Anukulan Project

1.The neglected complexities of gender issues2.Awareness of gender issues3.Lack of space to express gender issues

The neglected complexities of gender issues

Have they (landless, poor Dalit women) benefited from those trainings? Community Mobilizer: Yes.

What kinds of trainings have they received? CM: Integrated Pest Management, Off-season farming etc.

But how they have used that knowledge when they rely on daily wage labour? CM: To meet the target, we included poor female Dalit (marginalized caste) farmers. We have to include them even if they do not own the land. This is for meeting project criteria.” Interview Dadeldura_November 2016

Awareness on Gender Issues

How difficult is it for you to link female farmers with the vegetable collection center? Community Mobilizer: They are illiterate. (…) They are totally responsible for household work. They cannot manage time and also some are engaged in wage labour. - Interview Doti_Novemeber 2016

Unaddressed challenges• Illiteracy• Lack time• No landownership

Gender

Reproduce inequalities

Relations, Power, Networks, Access,

Opportunities

Lack of space to express gender issues

“This is the first time we have gained this detailed knowledge about gender roles and relations. No one before has helped us to understand the concepts. We have never applied this in our work besides following the instructions of including different representatives from different groups in user groups.” Interview Doti_Novmeber 2016

CMs enable:• Data collection• Site selection• Beneficiary selection• Group inclusivity

The participatory gender training manual

• Sensitize staff and community about gender issues• Bring out the complex nature of embedded inequalities in the

community• Provide space for critical and constructive discussions on gender

experiences and GESI issues

Gender sensitive planning and designing

Gender sensitive implementation of the project activities

The participatory gender training manual

Examples:

• Primary social qualitative and quantitative data

• selecting the beneficiary groups • forming the user groups• documentation and reporting

project progress

Examples: (from Activity 3, “Bargaining Role Play”)

• Excessive alcoholism and the resultant domestic violence (by a mixed-gender farmer group)

• Difficulty faced by CM to convince the household members to send the women for trainings (by a mixed-gender Community Group)

Successful implementation of the training manual depends on Participatory Approach

• Use of language

• How to probe

Skills to remember

Logistical issues

Place of discussion and sitting arrangement

Pre-arrangement of prop for the role play.

Give and receive lessons

Question your knowledge and experience on gender

-Self-Critical of knowledge on gender relations

-For effective discussion and learning, share life experiences on gender and also encourage the participants to do the same

Final Tip: Avoid jumping into conclusions in the beginning, regarding, for example gender equality, equal division of work, etc. This will confuse the participants. Let them realize through the activities and discussions how division of gender role is a social construct, and how it shapes their lives.

Thank You!

Using the manual

Andrew ReckersCommunications, IWMI Nepal

Training structure

Training structure

Key definitions and concepts

Activity Format

Discussion Format

Evaluating the training

Evaluating the training manual

Resources available

• Manual in English and Nepali (soon to be posted)

• 12 min. film

• Monitoring and evaluation

• March 8, International Women’s Day: WLE Thrive blogpost

Manual homepage:

https://wle.cgiar.org/solutions/participatory-gender-training-community-groups

Resources available

• Manual in English and Nepali (soon to be posted)

• 12 min. film

• Monitoring and evaluation

• March 8, International Women’s Day: WLE Thrive

blogpost

Manual homepage: https://wle.cgiar.org/solutions/participatory-gender-training-community-groups

Thank you! Please type questions in the chat window