WID ACTIVITIES IN THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Miss Mamoona Wali Muhammad-Sub Divisional Officer Winrock International-58 Margalla Road, F 7/2-1slalmabad

BACKGROUND AND PROJECT PROFILE

The Forestry Planning and Development Project, a Government of /USAID joint venture started in 1984 and is scheduled to end in August 1993.

The project has five operational thrusts: 1. Strengthening of Forest Policy in Pakistan. 2. Reversal of through crop management on private lands. 3. Improvement of forestry education and training. 4. Expansion of Forestry research. 5. Developm .nt of Farm Forestry Outreach.

The Inspector General of , Ministry of Food, Agricul­ ture and Cooperatives, , is the Overall Project Director. The Project is active in all the four provinces of Pakistan. Each province has a provincial Project Director, who is a Chief Conservator of Forests, except for , where due to the current status of work, a Divisional Forest Officer is incharge of the project.

The USAID Project officer, is a senior retired Forest officer, and ex Secretary of the Government of . Technical aspects are looked after by a Technical Assistance Team, comprising three US and two Pakistani experts in different fields of forestry, training, planning, outreach and extension.

The project has, in addition to different forestry related activities, also undertaken the training of students in Forestry at the Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawer. A batch of 25 students have undergone Masters or Bachelur level training at the PFI, this included the first ever women forestry graduates of Pakistan. Ten are currently under training. These students, upon graduation, will form a resource base of trained , available for any challenging opportunity, specially with the emphasis on environm­ ental and related activities gaining prominence, Ithe future for these graduates is fairly bright.

Paper presented at the Pakistan Forest Institute and International Labour Organization Workshop on Employment of Women in on April 27-30, 1991 in , Pakistan

- I­ WID ACTIVITIES

Keeping in line with the Project WID activities goals, i.e., "women must be included in the project extension staff", the project haz recently branched out in a bold new direction, i.e., the employment c. two of the women forestry graduates from PFI, as SDFO and RFO. The two are working under the supervision of the Project Director Punjab, one in tahsil, and the other in tahsii. Although the activities of the two are somewhat restricted, keeping the orthodox forestry background in Pakistan in mind, still they have made long strides and deep inroads in the here to fore male dominated forestry domain, and their work is now beginning to be appreciated even by the die hard foresters.

The major Women Oriented/Related activities in the field include the organization of both poly-bag ana bed Nurseries by the women, planting of nursery stock in fields an, around the houses, and involvement of school and girl college students in the project activities, by taking advantage of the opportunity to bring women into the project as tree and nursery growers, presented by the unique experience of having a woman rather than a male talking to this segment of the population.

It is :ioped that these temporary positions will soon be filled up on a permanent basis by the government, by providing these women forestry graduates the opportunity to be enrolled as professional foresters, in the forest service.

TRAINING/SOURCE OF INFORMATION

The training at the PFI was geared towards Social Forestry, which included the methodology of WID related activities. This, along with the availability of comprehensive material in the shape of publications by different international and local NGO's and organizations was a source of information and guidance in the WID activities undertaken by me.

Thre rc-ilt of my work is now recognized by the project staff, and it is incorporated in the project and given almost equal importance with the other ongoing activities. I have been able to get 10,000 planted, and establish seven nurseries having approximately 275,000 saplings that are being run by women in and around their courtyards.

PROBLEMS FACED AND OBSTACLES CONFRONTING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN FORESTRY ACTIVITIES.

My short tenure as a forester has not been without its ups and downs, while I have enjoyed the challenge, I have also felt frustrated at times, some of the major, points that I feel should be elaborated are:

2 1. Forestry in Pakistan will require more exposure to WID activities, especially aimed at rural women and by women workers, the inbred wariness of the male Forester, especially given the traditional policing role, has to be eliminated, before permanent inroads can be built into the female population.

2. The rural women are not exposed to city life, albeit their exposure through the TV plays etc., shows the city women in a cast that is fast, reckless and at times shocking. It took some time to convince them that I was not a Poll Taker, but wanted to help them to help their men folk in improving the lot of their families, by generating income from a source that was new and untried as far as women's involvement was concerned. However, once the barrier was broken the word spread like jungle fire and I was literally swamped by women who if nothing else, wanted information on the project, and of course wanted to see the city girl who was different. 3. Lack of or little education among rural women, and their traditional role of being a submissive housewife, is a barrier to outdoor activity, like forestry, for them. This has been overcome to some extent, by encouraging and accepting, smaller number of plants in nurseries as compared to the standard of 50,000 plus plant nurseries.

4. Part of the project activities include motivational gatherings in the open, where people, generally men and children, are present to listen to the forest discuss the merits of planting trees, the presence of women at formal gatherings is often resented by the males. Thus a big opportunity is wasted. To overcome this problem I organized and held meetings, exclusively for women, this has caught on and I feel that if more women were to be inducted in the service, a real opportunity exists for them to work successfully with women in the field. 5. The attitude of the forestry staff, especially with regards to outdoor work, was initially a big hinderance. It was OK for a woman to work in the office, or be a school teacher, even a census taker was acceptable, but a women trying to vie for a position in a work that has so far not been open to women, was something else. I am glad to say that I am now accepted as a member, though not yet an equal partner, in the job of forestry.

6. Transport is an essential ingredient for successful field work, this aspect has been rather neglected. I have not been left without conveyance, however, dependence on others has rather a cramping effect on ones movement's, especially when one has a deadline to meet or a meeting to attend, and the transport gets delayed due to some reason, this had, on occasions the effect of making the

3 gathering restive and one an occasion, to leave the appointed place.

EVALUATION

Formal evaluation of my performance in the field has not yet been carried out, and is scheduled to be held at the expiry of six months. However, I have been monitored and continuously evaluated by different forest officers during the routine work. I have been submitting Monthly Activities Progress Report, through the concerned DFO to the Project Director.

The supervisors and other project staff who have had a chance to see my work have expressed their satisfaction with my approach, work and the results that are evident so far

FUTURE PROJECT WID PLANS

The project has plans to continue the promotion of WID activities both on Governmental level and on NGO level. Plans are under preparation to involve NGO's in project activities. The goals so far set for me and my colleague are near accomplishment, however, if this work is stopped at this point, a lot of good work will go waste.

The project staff is fully alive to this situation, and it is envisaged that the WID activities, including the continuation of the current status of the present women forest officers; or some other women qualified in forestry, will be planned till the end of the Project period, i.e., August 1993.

It is realized, of course, that 2 women in the field, that too restricted to fixed geographic borders, are not sufficient to accomplish the hopes pinned on them, and I am sure that the number will increase in the future. This will become obligatory on the Government not only because of greater awareness of the importance of this renewable natural resource in the masses, but also by their realization that this is one simple and quick method to improve the economic and social conditions of the family, especially by the .

Of course the aspirations of the women which have been aroused by the humble beginnings made, will act as the stepping stone, and help the decision makers to incorporate Women in Forestry in Pakistan.

FUTURE OF WOMEN IN FORESTRY.

I feel that the time is not far when women foresters will be in the forefront in Pakistan.

4 Given the fast changing cultural, social and economic values, and a better understanding of religion, in today's Pakistani women, the day is not fai, when like other fields of human endeavor, where women have joined strides with men, the few secluded and closed male professions, will also fall to equal opportunity status, and thus forestry will have a future for Pakistani women.

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