Rural Women’s Leadership Programme

Madagascar, Nepal, the Philippines and Senegal

Good practices and lessons learned (2010-2013) This report was prepared by Soma Chakrabarti, acting Technical Adviser for Gender and Targeting, and Beatrice Gerli, Consultant in Gender and Targeting, under the supervision of Clare Bishop-Sambrook, Senior Technical Adviser, Gender and Targeting in IFAD’s Policy and Technical Advisory Division. The following people reviewed the content: Tom Anyonge, Senior Technical Adviser, Rural Institutions; Khadidja Doucoure Nene, Regional Gender Coordinator, Senegal Office, Dakar; Maria Hartl, Technical Adviser, Gender and Social Equity; Elizabeth Ssendiwala, Regional Gender and Youth Coordinator, Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya, East and Southern Africa, all IFAD; Dibya Gurung, Project Coordinator (Nepal); El Hadji Thierno Cissé, Project Coordinator (Senegal) and Assistant Coordinator of the Technical Department, Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Ruraux (CNCR); Annina Lubbock, Consultant (Italy/Nepal); Esther Penunia, Project Coordinator (the Philippines); Harisoa Raoelinirina, Project Coordinator (Madagascar) and Marie Randriamamonhy, Consultant (Madagascar).

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IFAD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The designations ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. This publication or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission from IFAD, provided that the publication or extract reproduced is attributed to IFAD and the title of this publication is stated in any publication and that a copy thereof is sent to IFAD.

Cover: Nepal ©IFAD/Rockey Prajapati

© 2014 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) February 2014 Table of contents

Acknowledgements 2 Acronyms 2 Introduction 4 Part One: Lessons learned and recommendations 6 Part Two: Country case studies 20 Madagascar 20 Senegal 26 Nepal 31 The Philippines 39 References and resources 47

Boxes

1 Formal or informal groups? Findings from West and Central Africa 8 2 Advocating for integration of gender concerns into climate change 12 3 What women want – increasing presence and influence in farmers’ organizations 15 4 Questions to assess support for women’s leadership in farmers’ organizations 18 5 RWLP country case studies at a glance 21 6 Scaling up and out from Senegal 28 7 Mobilizing women into groups to access productive resources 37 8 The training of my dreams 44 9 A recipe for an effective, gender-sensitive leader in farmers’ organizations 46 Acknowledgements

IFAD wishes to thank the Government of Norway, whose support has made this programme possible. Sincere thanks are also extended to the national and international implementing partners, whose practical and technical support has been essential to the success of the Rural Women’s Leadership Programme.

Acronyms

AFA Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development ANPFa All Nepal Peasants’ Federation CECI Centre for International Studies and Cooperation CNCR National Council for Rural Consultation and Cooperation (Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Ruraux ) COSOP country strategic opportunities programme FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations LAPA local adaptation plan of action RWLP Rural Women’s Leadership Programme SFOAP Support to Farmers’ Organizations in Africa WFP World Food Programme WLC Women’s Leadership Circle WOCAN Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture & Natural Resource Management

Madagascar

©IFAD/Masy Andriantsoa

2

Introduction

About this report faced by all smallholder farmers. Without a significant investment in improving the This report brings together the main lessons livelihoods, assets and decision-making from the Rural Women’s Leadership capacity of rural women, it is unlikely that Programme (RWLP), implemented by the the Millennium Development Goals to Policy and Technical Advisory Division of reduce hunger will be achieved. the International Fund for Agricultural At national and global levels, women’s Development (IFAD), with support from voices are weak, largely because of their the Government of Norway and insights from minimal presence in leadership roles of rural the Farmers’ Forum in 2010 and 2012. organizations, the challenges of being treated The purpose of this report is to: as ‘token’ women rather than equally with • Highlight lessons learned male leaders and, in some cases, the limited • Identify recommendations for ability of the few women leaders at the programmes and activities that aim to national level to effectively represent the strengthen rural women’s leadership needs of women at the grass-roots level. • Raise awareness about rural women’s There is also a difference between women’s priorities in the four countries included representation in women-only groups and in RWLP and beyond. mixed-sex groups. Women’s groups tend to be confined to the local level, often organized Part One of this report presents the main around economic activities. In mixed lessons learned and recommendations for organizations, while women may be well international and government actors, as well represented as members, there are generally as for IFAD in particular. Part Two presents few in leadership positions, and this is even brief case studies from each of the countries more the case at national and international in which RWLP was implemented. levels. Therefore, there is a gap between women’s contribution to agricultural production, marketing and rural livelihoods, Overview of the Rural Women’s and their voice in making decisions that affect Leadership Programme them, their livelihoods and their communities. In response to demand from women in In most developing countries, women farmers’ organizations and in IFAD-supported perform a large part (and often most) of Farmers’ Forums, IFAD, with support from the agricultural work, and they produce most the Government of Norway, developed a of the world’s food crops. However, their programme to strengthen the role and voice productivity, as well as the state of food of women leaders in rural organizations, security more widely, is constrained by including by promoting the participation of gender-specific barriers in addition to those representative farmers’ organizations in policy

4 dialogues. Rural organizations include awareness, leadership and community-based organizations, self-help accountability, negotiation and groups, trade unions, natural resource conflict management, advocacy management groups and producer and lobbying, communication and organizations and their groups and federations. adult education methodology RWLP is innovative in that it explicitly and agricultural and natural resources took on the challenge of reaching out beyond management policies as they the better-educated women reached by most affect women leadership programmes, and aimed instead to - Exchange visits to expose women engage with women leaders at the grass-roots at the grass-roots level to new level. RWLP was implemented in four role models countries, and each country adopted a - Mentoring and backstopping of context-specific approach based on advance women leaders at the grass-roots level. scoping studies. • Fostering enabling environments In Nepal and the Philippines, the lead for gender sensitivity and women’s implementing partner was Women Organizing leadership for Change in Agriculture & Natural Resource - Training and sensitization for men Management (WOCAN). In Madagascar, in producer organizations and implementation was led by the Ministry of related institutions to support rural Agriculture and in Senegal, it was led by women’s leadership. the national farmers’ organization National • Promoting the capacity for advocacy Council for Rural Consultation and and involvement of women farmers’ Cooperation ( Conseil National de Concertation organization leaders in national, et de Coopération des Ruraux ) (CNCR). regional and global policy processes RWLP’s goal was to increase the - Training for women leaders on responsiveness of national policies, advocacy tools and methods programmes and institutions to the needs - Supporting the participation of and potential of rural women farmers. representative women leaders in major Specific objectives and main activities regional and global policy dialogues. included the following: • Creating sustainable networks of • Building regional/national capacity to women leaders to promote train and mentor rural women leaders investments and partnerships to - Planning meetings for national make agriculture more responsive to coordinators of all four pilot countries the needs of poor women farmers and WOCAN to determine common - Supporting consultations between approaches, tools and indicators rural women and decision makers - Developing curricula, tools and - Promoting the use of media methods adapted/adaptable to local communications to influence public contexts and educational level perceptions of women’s economic of participants role and women as leaders - Training of trainers - Networking and building partnerships - Mentoring programme. with donors and other organizations • Preparing women members of already supporting women leaders producer organizations to be - Supporting rural women’s leaders and change agents in their participation in global policy forums organizations and events. - Sensitization of women leaders of • Assessing approaches in terms of what producer organizations on topics could be taken to scale including gender relations, self- - A follow-up report.

5 Part One: Lessons learned and recommendations

Lessons learned on mainstreaming gender into services; and developing a gender-balanced The lessons presented here draw on RWLP, membership base. the special session on women held during the • RWLP is an important beginning, but Farmers’ Forum organized by IFAD in 2010, because of time and budget the 2012 Farmers’ Forum and other selected constraints, its full potential has yet to projects. Lessons particular to individual be realized in the pilot countries and countries are presented in the country case beyond. A longer-term approach could studies in Part Two. be a solution to embedding the capacity in-country and scaling up. Overall conclusions Three overarching conclusions emerged from Women’s economic empowerment RWLP as a whole: Economic empowerment is a powerful entry • There is clear demand from women, point. Women at the 2010 Farmers’ Forum especially at the grass-roots level, to confirmed IFAD’s experience that women’s have their priorities heard in farmers’ economic empowerment paves the way for a organizations so that they can greater voice in the home, community and contribute more effectively to the formal organizations: human and economic development of “ The economic empowerment of women their families, communities and was identified by all working groups as the countries. This was evidenced by the essential condition to advance the voice great demand for participation in RWLP and leadership of women in farmers’ training sessions, not all of which could organizations.” 1 be met. There is therefore a need to increase support for women’s leadership RWLP confirmed that mobilizing women to in farmers’ organizations. act collectively around economic activities is • Mobilizing women leaders at the grass- often a starting point for them to take on roots level requires a holistic leadership roles. As women begin to approach. The innovative aspect of contribute more to the economy of the family RWLP was its drive to mobilize the and community, they gain experience and leadership potential of women in farmers’ organizations at the grass-roots level. This requires a comprehensive approach that involves informal and women-only cooperatives; formal and 1 IFAD, Promoting women’s leadership in farmers’ and national organizations and the women’s rural producers’ organizations . 2010 Special Session of the third global meeting of the Farmers’ Forum, in conjunction wings of those organizations focusing with the Thirty-third Session of IFAD’s Governing Council , p. 7.

6 begin to be taken more seriously in • Gender mainstreaming plans, which community decision-making. have been adopted by some farmers’ This was the case in Nepal , where RWLP organizations, offer a possible entry enabled women to access local development point for making these organizations funds and meet their priorities, which more welcoming of women and empowered them to take on new challenges. representative of their priorities. For In the Philippines, RWLP also addressed example, in Senegal , RWLP supported women’s economic empowerment within the inclusion of gender issues into the PAKISAMA (the national apex farmers’ strategic plan of CNCR (2011-2015). organization) and women’s organizations by Similarly, in the Philippines , RWLP providing credit and consultancy services for helped to revitalize a gender and income-generating projects. development programme, which had There is scope to bring together young been developed earlier but had lost people and gender interests in farmers’ momentum during a leadership organizations. Young women should be crisis. Currently, Support to Farmers’ included in youth initiatives if they are not to Organizations in Africa (SFOAP), be doubly marginalized because of their age with help from the European as well as their sex. Commission and IFAD, will be drawing For example, Senegal’s youth wing of the on RWLP experience and providing national farmers’ organization CNCR has a support to apex organizations in Africa plan to build the capacity of 300 young men to develop and implement gender and women in leadership, advocacy and mainstreaming plans. lobbying. 2 This presents an opportunity to reach equal numbers of young women and Farmers’ organizations need to attract more men and to build an understanding of gender women members. As expressed by Tom equality and different leadership styles. Anyonge, Senior Technical Adviser at IFAD, “…there needs to be a very strong base of Equal voice and decision-making women’s membership at the grass-roots level. Creating institutional space for women Only when there is this critical mass at the takes time. Any kind of institutional level of farmers’ organizations, can they put change takes time. This is true for attempts women in office. The membership base needs to gain more voice for women’s priorities in to be galvanized.” male-dominated farmers’ organizations. This was a focus of RWLP in Madagascar , It is well known that “…many leadership which launched a comprehensive drive to training programmes fall short of their goals reach out and expand the membership base because when women return to their of women. producer groups they are underrepresented in • Quotas may need to be introduced decision-making roles, and the organizational in the face of entrenched gender culture favours a leadership style more often inequalities to complement bottom-up associated by aggressive and masculine collective action by women. Quotas are tendencies.” 3 This implies that in addition to building the capacities of women themselves, programmes must support institutions to change, modify their perception of leadership 2 CNCR College of Youth, Action Plan 2013-2015. and value women’s contributions. This is a Objective No. 2: The professionalization of youth in different sectors. Available at http://www.cncr.org/IMG/pdf/ long-term undertaking and especially college_des_jeunes_plan_d_action_triennal.pdf . Accessed challenging for large, established formal June 2013. structures, which have emerged as male- 3 See http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/ strengthening-rural-women’s-leadership-in-farmer-and- dominated organizations. producer-organizations/ . Accessed March 2013.

7 BOX 1 Formal or informal groups? Findings from West and Central Africa

Informal groups help women develop leadership skills and build savings, while formal groups offer greater access to inputs and services and engage more effectively in markets. Informal groups sometimes evolve into successful formal groups, and simultaneous membership in both kinds of groups can enhance the benefits of formal collective action. No one type of group benefits women most; women experience different kinds of empowerment from different kinds of groups, and empowerment impacts are often greater from the combined effect of membership in more than one group.

Source: Researching women’s collective action: Findings and recommendations. Oxfam 2013.

controversial but they can help establish that it is normally for better-off women who the necessary critical mass of women as have the possibility to join more formalized members and leaders and bring about structures. 5 Also, the economic benefits may change in policy and institutional be greater for women when they join mixed culture. For example, the Philippine’s groups because they have more resources. ‘Magna Carta’ for women requires an However, research also confirms that women’s equitable gender balance in various membership in women-only groups helps organizations. Quotas should be them to develop the skills and confidence to specified in farmers’ organizations’ participate in mixed groups. In other words, statutes, plans and monitoring tools grass-roots women’s groups may provide an and systems. 4 effective pathway for poorer women in particular to build experience before taking on The RWLP experience shows that gains in a more active role in mixed organizations. women’s leadership need to be supported In the Philippines , RWLP focused on over a reasonable period of time if they are to women’s integration into the national effectively change power inequalities farmers’ organization, while in Madagascar established over many years. However, the and Senegal , the initiatives were mainly duration of RWLP was too short to support through the women’s wings of the national sustained policy, organizational and organizations. In Nepal, the programme behavioural change. focused mostly on women-only groups at What are the benefits of participating in local level. These different approaches reflect women-only groups or mixed groups? In different enabling frameworks. some contexts, women prefer to operate Formal and informal groups are through women-only groups, while in others, important. RWLP supported a mix of they are participating effectively in mixed and collective-action mechanisms for rural often male-dominated national-level farmers’ women, including national and formalized organizations. Women’s wings or committees, often established within mixed groups, can safeguard women’s interests and funding, but they can also sometimes deepen the

marginalization of women from the main 4 Esther A. Penunia, The Role of Farmers’ Organizations business of the farmers’ organization. Recent in Empowering and Promoting the Leadership of Rural Women , p. 6. research by Oxfam points to greater benefits 5 Oxfam, Researching women’s collective action: Findings for women who join multiple groups, but and recommendations, 2013.

8 Senegal

©IFAD/Susan Beccio farmers’ organizations (e.g. Senegal ) and less providing support for entrepreneurial and formal groups (e.g. Nepal ). Overall, women market-access activities. It is important not to participants in all four countries reported that assume that women’s leadership is only they had benefited from collective action, about building women’s confidence and although no one kind of group emerged as leadership skills, but rather to consider being preferred over another. This confirms whether other knowledge or skills may IFAD’s experience in other contexts – that be needed. participating in collective action brings In Senegal , for example, RWLP concrete and financial benefits to women, participants joined in the development of and that programmes need to give space for local cereals with the French non- different kinds of groups according to governmental organization (NGO) Solidarités women’s needs and the broader context. International and capacity-building areas Women’s leadership in farmers’ identified by CNCR’s College of Women organizations can be scaled up – but there (Collège des femmes) included innovative is no ‘magic bullet’. Gender roles, microenterprise and functional literacy. relationships and enabling frameworks vary Women’s voices must be heard by across contexts and over time, and the precise policymakers in order to ensure that their mix of approaches should be determined at priorities are taken into account more widely the national and local levels. Key entry points in national and local rural development. are local public, private and social Despite the fact that rural women contribute organizations because they can leverage the significantly to rural processing and change triggered by RWLP and similar marketing activities across the world, their programmes. Approaches should be revisited decision-making and access to profits over the life of projects so that successes can diminishes as these activities become more be sustained and support can be adapted as commercialized and politicized. Policy institutions evolve. advocacy is therefore needed to make The pilot countries of RWLP adopted development more equitable in farmers’ different approaches based on local contexts, organizations. This advocacy is needed at all which were researched in advance. levels – local, national and international. Working at the household level is critical In Senegal , raising public awareness of in order to bring about behavioural change in women’s role in agriculture was a key one of society’s most fundamental and objective. Activities included: influential institutions. Without this, women • Participation of CNCR in the opening may find that their household roles may not march of the World Social Forum in enable them to fulfil their potential at the Dakar (2011) community level and in farmers’ organizations. • A one-day sensitization workshop for In Nepal , one woman from Sindhuli said, male leaders about the role and “I remember there was one woman whose situation of women in farmers’ husband beat her for going to adult literacy organizations (2011) classes. But today her husband is the one who • Training for rural women leaders in reminds her to go to community meetings. I communication and advocacy (2012) have seen plenty of examples to prove that • Media broadcasts about women’s role in change is possible.” agriculture and producer organizations Women’s leadership requires a mix of (2012). skills. RWLP allowed each country to develop appropriate approaches, which included This generated considerable momentum; training in a mix of leadership and although there was no time to follow through negotiation skills, developing technical with policy dialogue, other actors are well knowledge (e.g. about new crop varieties) and placed to do so.

10 In Nepal , RWLP supported a three-day Programming and project management conference on ‘Gender & Climate Change’, Initiatives such as RWLP work best when where policymakers and practitioners were linked with other projects. In order to boost invited to interact with women leaders from its impact and the chances of uptake upon the grass-roots level from HIMAWANTI and completion, RWLP, like grants and other ASTHA, two major women’s organizations. cross-cutting initiatives, needed to be linked WOCAN’s ‘Women’s Leadership Circles’ is as much as possible with projects supported another possible model (see Box 2). by IFAD or others. At the global level, RWLP participants For example, RWLP in Madagascar built from the four countries also had the on a tradition of working with farmers’ opportunity to take part in policy processes organizations, and RWLP events involved such as: the World Food Summit; the Civil participants from existing projects. Society Organization consultation workshop on the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP); the tenth, fifteenth and Recommendations seventeenth sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) – Convention on Biological This section provides practical guidance for Diversity; the IFAD Farmers’ Forum in 2010; strengthening women’s leadership in farmers’ and the launch of the joint programme on organizations in IFAD’s projects and Accelerating Progress towards the Economic programmes. The recommendations are Empowerment of Rural Women in New York drawn from evidence-based good practices at the General Assembly of the United and lessons from RWLP. Nations in 2012. Networking among women builds their Women’s economic empowerment confidence and generates ideas. The Support women’s economic empowerment participants in Nepal reported an increased is an end in itself, as well as an important sense of solidarity. RWLP participants from entry point for empowering women to gain Senegal and Madagascar expressed greater influence in their homes, satisfaction with being able to exchange ideas communities and farmers’ organizations. with each other at south-south events. Projects supporting value-addition and Engaging men is essential. Gender market access should take active measures to equality is about both men and women. In counteract women’s frequently inequitable many contexts, it is important to work with participation in the opportunities that these men in order to build understanding, projects bring. Such measures can include acceptance and even advocacy for women’s supporting women’s leadership in mixed potential contribution to farmers’ organizations as well as strengthening organizations and through collective action. women’s self-help groups to gain access to Senegal’s workshop to sensitize men is credit and community funds that finance one example of how this can be done. Also, women’s priorities. in Nepal , men were involved from the start in Target young women in youth RWLP activities to ensure lasting change and entrepreneurship initiatives. Some farmers’ build acceptance of women leaders in a organizations have a youth wing as well as a patriarchal society. For example, some women’s wing. Bringing together the youth trainings for farmers’ organizations and gender agendas of farmers’ organizations established that 25-30 per cent of participants can help to mobilize young women leaders to should be men, and a small group of men build farmers’ organizations that support were formed into an informal network to their inclusion and economic empowerment support women’s leadership. through relevant services.

11 BOX 2 Advocating for integration of gender concerns into climate change

On 18-20 February 2013, WOCAN hosted a Global Meeting of the Women’s Leadership Circles (WLCs) in Nairobi, Kenya. Women’s Leadership Circles, organized by WOCAN at the national level, provide a space where women farmers and policymakers meet regularly as part of the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders in Agriculture. The meeting focused on climate change, providing a platform of dialogue where grass-roots women could share concerns, opinions and inputs with other women at policymaking level. In addition, the WOCAN-hosted breakfast meeting for the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for Environment (NWMLE) provided a unique opportunity for the women farmers and decision makers from Nepal, South Africa, the Maldives and Kenya to share their issues with NWMLE members and to discuss points that could be raised in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council meetings.

Source: Report of The Global Meeting of WLC in Nairobi 2013. Available at http://wocan.org/resources/report-global-meeting- wlc-nairobi-2013. Accessed March 2013.

Equal voice and decision-making organizations could be supported to take a Adopt a long-term approach. Whether more active role. Projects should try to working with women-only organizations or support women in sharing their experience in mixed organizations, creating individual and different kinds of farmers’ organizations, and institutional capacity takes time. Projects strengthen pathways from women-only to should be part of a programme approach mixed farmers’ organizations. and linked to other projects to create longer- In mixed farmers’ organizations, term momentum. facilitate women’s increased representation Create opportunities for rural women to and strengthen gender relations. Gender participate in mixed and women-only parity can be achieved by increasing women’s farmers’ organizations and in both formal representation through recruitment drives and informal ones. Group participation and graduated membership fees. A critical provides women with self-confidence, mass of women members can then be enhanced skills and improved access to supported to articulate their needs more productive resources (e.g. land and capital) effectively, and potential women leaders can and services (e.g. entrepreneurial skills be supported with leadership skills and training). Women-only groups can be an technical training – ensuring that participants important entry point for encouraging have an outlet to immediately put their women to identify strategies to protect their learning to practical use. Minimum quotas unique knowledge and skills from being should be considered where there is exploited as markets become more persistent inequality in gender balance, commercial. Women often feel more complemented by aspirational targets to comfortable, confident and safe in women- ensure the quotas do not inadvertently end only groups where there is a tacit shared up as a glass ceiling. Gender mainstreaming understanding, but it is also important to plans are important entry points towards strengthen women’s active participation in strengthening gender relations; support more formalized mixed cooperatives. should be given to farmers’ organizations to Women-only groups may be a more develop and implement these, based on appropriate vehicle to engage poorer women, needs expressed by women members and whereas those already in mixed farmers’ potential members.

12 Ensure the approach is suitable for the farmers’ organizations from different context. Gender roles vary in specific contexts countries. For example, the participation of and change over time. Therefore, successful RWLP participants in Senegal was greatly practices adopted from elsewhere need to be appreciated in Madagascar , highlighting a locally tested and adapted. demand for south-south learning. Learning Support behavioural change in the home routes around women’s leadership in farmers’ to unlock women’s leadership potential organizations could also be explored. outside it. Women in each of the four Engage men. If projects are to support countries of RWLP cited sociocultural barriers lasting improvements in women’s as the root of their problems in gaining voice participation in farmers’ organizations, it is in farmers’ organizations. Women are held important to engage with men as well as back by limited mobility; social norms women. Strategies include sensitizing men – casting them in caring rather than in including male leaders of farmers’ leadership roles; and heavy workloads. organizations, local government and Consider using gender-transformative households – on the economic and social household methodologies to tackle these benefits of mobilizing women. These issues, and to engage men and women in strategies can eventually support improved decision-making in households. Highlighting gender relations in various institutions, the economic benefits for the household and including the home. community can be an effective approach. Ensure that women’s leadership courses Equitable workloads include an appropriate mix of skills. The Ensure that efforts to increase women’s key components of the notion of leadership decision-making in farmers’ organizations need to be identified and leadership and other forms of collective action are programmes should include relevant supported with measures to reduce their technical and behavioural skills prioritized workload. Women’s disproportionate by participants. workload in many contexts means that even Support more enabling policy if they are interested, they are simply unable frameworks at the national and local levels. to take up opportunities for collective action. An example of this would be to ensure that Women typically have strong roles in national and local government, rural processing and marketing, yet they also have development councils and others are aware of limited mobility and growing workloads in the importance of women’s role in agriculture many contexts because of the effects of and of women’s voices in decision-making climate change. Projects supporting value processes. Specifically, projects could provide chains and market access could consider for policy dialogues and sensitization around funding locally accessible, easily maintained the importance of women’s equal labour-saving processing and packaging representation in farmers’ organizations and technologies. Good quality and affordable how to go about achieving this in terms of local health care can also significantly reduce policy formulation and budgeting processes. women’s care burden for the young and sick, International Women’s Day is a potential thus freeing up time for active participation in focus for such efforts. Women should be part community affairs and farmers’ organizations. of these policy dialogues and projects could also include measures to support dialogue Programming and project management among women at regional, national and Consider the following operational grass-roots levels. suggestions for strengthening women’s Promote south-south learning. Projects leadership in farmers’ organizations: should promote sharing experience among • Include women’s leadership in farmers’ decision makers, especially women, in organizations as an explicit objective

13 14 or outcome, encompassing the as earmarking some project activities to dimensions of both representation support women only. This does include (i.e. gender balance in membership and engaging with men; indeed, as the leadership) as well as empowerment example from Nepal shows, this is (i.e. equal voice in decision-making and central to success. access to benefits). • When preparing country programmes, • Analyse the status of and opportunities consider grants directly to women’s for women’s participation in farmers’ farmers’ organizations or to women’s organizations, ideally mapping the wings within national apex gender profile and experience of mixed organizations – similar to RWLP. Such organizations and women-only grants may be especially appropriate to organizations. This mapping should kick-start momentum, although it is also identify male and female potential important to plan for the eventual advocates and supporters, as well as uptake and integration of new capacities organizations able to provide local more widely into country programmes capacity-building. It should also include and local institutions. other projects and initiatives of IFAD • Allocate a dedicated budget to primarily and others which could be built upon. benefit women members of farmers’ IFAD should ensure that RWLP pilot organizations, but which could also be countries build on and scale out used to influence decision makers. RWLP achievements, so as not to lose • Take a longer-term approach, and do momentum and to tap into a cohort of not stop at the ‘quick wins’ – change recently trained people. This can be done takes time. Over the life of projects and at both a project and a programme level. programmes, sequence activities to For example, the new country strategic enable organizations to evolve and opportunities programme (COSOP) in individuals to develop. Consider Nepal explicitly foresees doing so. supporting pathways for women to • Focus on women-only organizations as move from informal women-only well as mixed farmers’ organizations organizations to more formalized and which have a gender mainstreaming male-dominated farmers’ organizations plan and/or women’s wings or are keen at the regional and national levels. to develop one. • Adapt approaches to address change or • Include an appropriate mix of to tackle entrenched inequalities. Allow mechanisms and activities. For example, flexibility to fine-tune approaches and quotas, capacity-building for women allow women time to gain confidence, and sensitization may be necessary for articulate their priorities and take large mixed farmers’ organizations, advantage of opportunities and new whereas women-only organizations may initiatives. For example, in Senegal with need access to credit and advocacy RWLP, a number of achievements (e.g. support. Within a project, this could integrating gender concerns into CNCR’s mean including ‘mainstreaming’ gender national strategy) were not originally equity considerations in any activities to foreseen but eventually strengthened the support farmers’ organizations, as well overall result.

Nepal

©IFAD/Rockey Prajapati

15 • Embed relevant indicators in the logical for representatives from the joint framework, as well as in the monitoring programme, RWLP and SFOAP countries. and evaluation framework. This includes • Continue to seek opportunities for checking on progress, success factors and linking RWLP and SFOAP. At the lessons during supervision missions and national and international levels, mid-term reviews, as well as at project SFOAP’s focus on apex organizations and programme completion. could be mobilized to stimulate and support national farmers’ organizations Scaling up RWLP in IFAD to put in place gender-sensitive policies Some IFAD projects and programmes already and membership services. apply ideas and mechanisms to strengthen • Organize a side-event coinciding with women’s presence and voice in farmers’ the Farmers’ Forum 2014, to organizations; however, there is room to disseminate findings and stimulate scale up IFAD’s engagement. The following further debate on how to strengthen are IFAD-specific options for scaling up women’s leadership in these institutions. the approaches and opportunities arising A special focus could be placed on from RWLP: mobilizing young women’s leadership • Embed and take RWLP to scale in the and income-generating capacities four pilot countries: Madagascar, through farmers’ organizations, given Nepal, the Philippines and Senegal. that in 2012 there was a special session IFAD should take concrete steps to share on youth and that 2014 is the findings and lessons learned from this International Year of Family Farming. pilot programme to inform project • Consider a regional mechanism to design and, critically, COSOPs, in each mainstream gender into national of the four RWLP pilot countries to farmers’ organizations. Although a maintain momentum and build on the number of countries have supportive achievements, including a cohort of policies and structures in place, women trained people. This has happened in leaders and women’s wings often lack a the case of Nepal , where RWLP features strong voice. Supporting stronger links in the new COSOP. with regional and apex organizations • Take concrete steps to scale up the and south-south learning can help to social and human capital, as well as create the enabling environment that is the practical tools generated, through often missing and that could give the joint programme to Accelerate women the confidence to speak up. Progress towards the Economic • Seek linkages with other relevant Empowerment of Rural Women. This initiatives and projects. Examples of joint programme among the Food and these include the following: Agriculture Organization of the United - The World Agroforestry Centre Nations (FAO), IFAD, UN Women and (ICRAF) and IFAD project Enabling the World Food Programme (WFP) is Rural Transformation and Grassroots being implemented initially in Ethiopia, Institutional Building for Sustainable Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Land Management and Increased Niger and Rwanda. 6 South-south Incomes and Food Security, which learning between RWLP pilot countries aims to develop a model for and the joint programme countries could be encouraged. This idea could be tested at a follow-up special side-event in the 2014 Farmers’ Forum at IFAD

6 Note that the joint programme was informed by RWLP.

16 BOX 3 What women want – increasing presence and influence in farmers’ organizations

RWLP participants substantively contributed to defining the following strategies to promote women’s leadership within farmers’ organizations: • Ensure equitable access to productive resources • Establish quotas for women’s participation in the membership and leadership mechanisms of mixed farmers’ organizations • Establish women-only committees • Aim for longer-term institutional change • Ensure that capacity-building and training are based on needs identified by women farmers.

Source: Adapted from the Special Session of the third global meeting of the Farmers’ Forum in conjunction with the Thirty-third Session of IFAD’s Governing Council on Promoting women’s leadership in farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations (IFAD 2010).

strengthening grass-roots institutions Conclusions for effective engagement in policy processes that enable poor rural RWLP confirmed that there is a need to households to aggregate, mobilize address the lack of strong women’s voices in a and access rural services. range of farmers’ organizations. This will - Feature RWLP and its key points in require a multi-pronged long-term approach, the IFAD project design aids, such as and IFAD will intensify its efforts to identify the IFAD Toolkit for Institutional and entry points. Box 4 presents some questions Organizational Analysis and the to consider when designing programmes. Gender and Targeting Toolkit. - Translate and upload important documents on key websites. Documents – such as the training manuals developed in French and Malagasy, and CNCR’s strategy as an example of where gender has been mainstreamed into the national farmers’ organization – should be shared widely through specialist online forums.

These recommendations all confirm the priorities and needs expressed by women at the IFAD-hosted Farmers’ Forum in 2010 (see Box 3).

17 BOX 4 Questions to assess support for women’s leadership in farmers’ organizations

Policy Are there enabling policies at the national and/or subnational level? • If so, what are the entry points for programmes to ensure their implementation in practice? • If not, how can projects support policy advocacy (e.g. by showcasing successful examples from other contexts or by facilitating women’s voices to be heard)?

Farmers’ organizations Should the programme support women-only or mixed organizations? This will depend on the local context and a combination of the two is also possible; attention should be paid to creating pathways between the two.

Are there women-only organizations and/or women’s wings in place? • If so, how can projects support pathways between these and mixed organizations (e.g. by identifying and supporting high-potential women to play a more active role)? • If not, is there a need to support these in order to create an enabling space for women to develop their skills and confidence? How could this best be done?

In mixed organizations, are there enabling policies in place? These could include gender mainstreaming strategies and budgets, minimum participation quotas and aspirational targets for membership and leadership levels and outcomes (e.g. gender-responsive services). • If so, are they working or is there scope to refresh them? This could be done by asking women and men in the farmers’ organization to identify what works as well as any ideas for progress. Again, successful strategies from other contexts could be presented for possible adaptation. • If not, what is the most effective way to establish these?

Are there effective procedures and resources in place to support policies? • If so, what could be scaled out to other locations in the country, or scaled up to a national or regional level? How can good practices be leveraged to influence further progress? • If not, how can projects support the implementation of policies? This can be tackled through a wide range of strategies ranging from membership recruitment drives to ensure a critical mass of women, to capacity-building and sensitization of women and men members and leaders. Support may also be needed to ensure that budgets and monitoring procedures reflect gender goals. Strategies should reflect the fact that institutions are composed of people, and that profound behavioural change is likely to require an approach that touches people’s values and emotions as well as their rational side. This approach can also be effective in addressing conflicts that arise when gender roles are challenged in traditional societies.

The household Is there a need to back up efforts in farmers’ organizations with support in the home? Support at the household level can be the key to transforming gender relations and overcoming gender barriers in the home that are holding back women’s leadership potential in the community and in farmers’ organizations.

18 The Philippines

©IFAD/GMB Akash

19 Part Two: Country case studies

This section presents each of the country case Ministry of Health, Family Planning and studies, including lessons learned and Social Protection, and was mainly dependent recommendations at the national level. Box 5 on donor funding. Gender focal points had below gives an overview of the distinct features been set up in various ministries, a gender of the four RWLP case study countries. network had been created (including government organizations and NGOs) and a Gender Observatory had been established to Madagascar promote gender equality. Background and context There were two apex rural women’s organizations: the Federation of the Rural In Madagascar, rural women represent 53 per Women of Madagascar (FVTM) and the cent of the agricultural population. They are Committee for the Coordination of Women’s responsible for producing 80 per cent of food Associations and NGOs in Madagascar crops and are in charge of nearly 90 per cent (DRV). FVTM was a member of the of agricultural processing activities; rural Confédération des Agriculteurs Malagasy women therefore play a key role in ensuring (FEKRITAMA), which was established in 1988 food security and contribute to increased with regional representation. Thirty per cent rural incomes. Women in Madagascar are of FEKRITAMA’s central management group is slowly gaining economic power but are still women. FEKRITAMA is itself a member of the often unaware of their options and potential. Coalition Paysanne de Madagascar (CPM) or the There is a disparity between women’s Coalition of Farmers’ Organizations, which important role in society and their level of has established a Women’s Commission. influence; they have limited presence in Rural women in Madagascar, as in other leadership roles in farmers’ organizations and countries, are generally poorly represented in the few women leaders at the national level mixed organizations, and women-only have limited ability to represent the interests organizations lack resources and influence. of rural women at the grass-roots level. 7 However, women are actively involved in Women’s rights are recognized in the IFAD-supported programmes and participate Constitution, but socio-economic barriers in activities related to microcredit, marketing block the implementation of those rights at and community development. In line with times. Women face constraints in the family, national policy, the development of farmers’ community and professional activities. They organizations is an important part of IFAD’s are poorly represented and have little voice in critical decision-making domains, such as politics and farmers’ organizations. 8

When RWLP was established, the 7 RWLP concept note, Annex 2, 2009. Government’s gender unit was based in the 8 RWLP Final Report, Ministry of Agriculture, Madagascar.

20 BOX 5 RWLP country case studies at a glance

Madagascar • RWLP well integrated into other country programmes • Training of journalists generated visibility • Strengthening women’s capacity (e.g. training of trainers, pilot training, training materials in Malagasy).

Senegal • Training in leadership, negotiation and governance – strong demand but content too much in a short time • Potential synergy identified between women’s and youth wings • Gender integrated into strategic plan of national farmers’ organization – not planned, but a key achievement.

Nepal • RWLP women access funds earmarked for them but diverted elsewhere, bringing gains to the community • Network established of men supporting women’s leadership.

The Philippines • Supportive policy environment • Women’s leadership and gender were part of the institutional change agenda • Importance of integrating women’s wings into farmers’ organizations.

support, and in 2006, IFAD provided support for Rural Microenterprise Poles and Regional for institutional strengthening of the CPM Economies (PROSPERER), which aim to have platform. IFAD’s current COSOP was half of their beneficiaries be women-headed developed with direct input from farmers’ businesses that receive support to grow their organizations, which expressed a need for microenterprises. capacity development to professionalize activities. T he Upper Mandraré Basin Development Project (PHBM) engaged Goals and objectives facilitators to work with men to explain the advantages of engaging with women, which The overall goal of RWLP in Madagascar was resulted in a greater appreciation of women’s to combat rural poverty and food insecurity contribution. RWLP aimed to build on this by strengthening the competence, experience and strengthen the role of rural representation and influence of rural women women in farmers’ organizations. within farmers’ organizations to improve An important feature of RWLP in their social, economic and professional Madagascar was the strong link with existing status. Beneficiaries were women from projects, which was considered key to the farmers’ organizations, including from IFAD- sustainability of RWLP. These other projects supported projects. included the Support to Farmers’ Professional RWLP was implemented for more than Organizations and Agricultural Services 1½ years in 6 regions, in 24 rural districts Project (AROPA) and the Support Programme (out of a total of 107) and 51 rural

21 communes (out of about 1,395). The two other associations selected by the programme was implemented by the Ministry apex organizations. of Agriculture’s Coordination Department • Training materials were developed based with a budget of US$150,000. on the pilot training and including Specific objectives were to: locally relevant case studies. • Promote increased membership and representation in decision-making Engaging rural women and farmers’ within farmers’ organizations. organizations in policy dialogues – see • Strengthen the capacities and activities under ‘Improving representation competence of rural women and their and the voice of rural women in farmers’ organizations through improved organizations’ above. working conditions and appropriate support services to enable them to Providing programme implementation become effective advocates. support • Engage rural women and farmers’ • Institutional strengthening was provided organizations in policy dialogues on for women’s departments in key rural development at the national and government institutions (e.g. Ministry local levels, including through of Agriculture), the Gender Network networking between grass-roots and women’s apex organizations to women’s organizations and apex enable them to implement RWLP and organizations. similar programmes. • Programme management was provided.

Main activities Achievements Activities were implemented in the following areas: The Ministry of Agriculture’s final programme report is comprehensive and Improving representation and the voice of includes the following observations about rural women in farmers’ organizations RWLP’s achievements: • Research was conducted on women • The research allowed the Ministry of leaders in farmers’ organizations, Agriculture to analyse key issues relating focusing on experiences in IFAD-funded to women’s representation in farmers’ projects. organizations. The research results were • An information and advocacy campaign collected into two volumes: the first was implemented. volume focused on women’s leadership, • Rural women leaders’ representatives the factors and conditions influencing participated in the Farmers’ Forum. rural women’s leadership and possible actions to strengthen this. The Strengthening women’s capacity proposed actions include: (i) individual • Specialized national trainers conducted empowerment of rural women; training for trainers (five days for (ii) gender mainstreaming into 20 trainees, including government and institutions and programmes; project gender specialists, gender (iii) support for women’s organizations network members and others). as key vehicles to make rural women’s • Pilot training using new tools and voice more influential; and approaches was offered for two to three (iv) promotion of women’s greater days for rural women leaders from the influence and voice within existing (male- four IFAD-supported programmes and dominated) institutions. The second

22 volume focused more on women’s gender and leadership in communities empowerment issues in the regions of and organizations, develop related skills Vakinankaratra, Haute Matsiatra, and undertake some planning of future Atsinanana and Vatovavy Fitovinany. activities (January 2011). • There was a noticeable improvement • A total of 57 women were trained in in participants’ understanding of leadership and management techniques, the gender dimensions of rural which is more than the 40 originally development. There was also increased planned. A total of 14 sessions, each understanding about the gaps between lasting between two and four days, were policies and their application organized (March to July 2011). because of entrenched sociocultural • Various training tools were developed. stereotypes in rural communities and The final product was a binder with farmers’ organizations. The Ministry modules in Malagasy covering 4 main of Agriculture took part for the first themes and 24 tools in the areas of time in this kind of activity, and gender and development, personal its capacity was greatly strengthened. development, leadership and farmers’ • The programme supported the organizations and adult training organization of the International Day methodologies. Copies of these manuals of Rural Women for two years, and were shared with rural women’s leaders over 100 rural women took part. The and with IFAD programme managers advocacy dimension was supported and partners. by workshops on issues such as new rice • Exchange visits promoted south-south varieties and how to set up and run learning and networking, boosting an agribusiness. women’s self-confidence. These included • Fourteen journalists were trained from visits between RWLP participating different media. This training was locations in Madagascar, a visit from effective in sensitizing the press on RWLP participants in Senegal and fundamental concepts, such as that participation in two IFAD Farmers’ gender equality does not mean that men Forums in 2010 and 2012. and women are the same, but that the goal is to aim for equality while taking into account the different priorities Challenges of women and men. The programme enjoyed considerable visibility as a result RWLP experienced the following challenges: of the advocacy focus and media support. • There was a lack of political will, • A cohort of trainers was established in coupled with a lack of understanding key issues relating to gender and rural about basic gender concepts among development. Twenty trainers were rural women and key decision makers in trained (13 women and 7 men) by five farmers’ organizations. trainers over five days. Topics included • Delays in project start-up caused some leadership and management concepts operational challenges. (e.g. good governance) and adult • Sustainability of project achievements teaching methodologies (andragogy). is a challenge given the entrenched • WOCAN organized a training workshop gender roles and modest intervention on ‘Rural Women’s Leadership’, which of RWLP. Efforts should be made by was attended by IFAD representatives IFAD and partners to scale up the and RWLP participants from Senegal. achievements, including by drawing on The workshop aimed to enable the pool of trained women leaders participants to understand the impact of and training materials.

23 24 Lessons learned • Both decision makers and rural women at the grass-roots level need • International Day of Rural Women on to be targeted by activities to ensure 15 October is mainly celebrated at the sustainability of programme national level without significant achievements. However, attention engagement at the grass-roots level. should be paid to ensuring that This is a missed opportunity for what maximum benefits are felt by women could be an important entry point for at the grass-roots level. advocacy activities with rural • Increasing the voice of women in community leaders. mixed organizations is as important • Training for rural women leaders as strengthening women-only should be carried out at the district organizations. The goal of level to achieve greater impact. strengthening rural women’s leadership Participants in RWLP training recognized has a number of entry points, including the impact of the programme; however, strengthening women’s voice and to effectively integrate the training of representation in mixed organizations rural women leaders into the activity as well as strengthening women’s plans of farmer associations requires an farmers’ organizations at the grass-roots analysis of these associations and a level. The appropriate strategy depends sensitization campaign over time, rather on the context, and indeed a mix of than one-off and ad hoc activities. approaches is likely to be needed. Follow-up activities after training sessions • South-south learning experiences are essential to promote sustainability are important. RWLP participants in and keep up the momentum. Madagascar greatly appreciated the • Gender mainstreaming is a process opportunity to share experiences which goes far beyond producing sex- with RWLP participants in Senegal, disaggregated data, according to findings highlighting a demand for south-south from the research component of RWLP. learning. Learning routes around The goal is to consider the different women’s leadership in farmers’ needs of the whole population, which is organizations could also be explored. not possible without a gender-sensitive approach. Moreover, women’s leadership is not achievable without a supportive Recommendations policy environment and coherent strategies that mainstream gender The main recommendations for IFAD and concerns into institutions, programmes national/international partners from the RWLP and projects. Building the concept of experience in Madagascar are as follows: ‘rural women leaders’ requires a • Continue to advocate for the voice of complete review and transformation of rural women and celebrate International the mission, structure, activities and Women’s Day alongside capacity- processes of key institutions and their building activities. organizations. This, in turn, requires • Ensure that stand-alone initiatives to sensitization at the personal and support women’s voice in farmers’ household level, before any other organizations are firmly linked with institutions can be tackled. existing projects to promote greater uptake at the end.

Madagascar

©IFAD/Rindra Ramasomanana

25 • Provide direct support, including learning Goals and objectives exchanges and support for economic empowerment, to women’s organizations. In support of College priorities, RWLP in • Work with national farmers’ Senegal aimed to strengthen rural women’s organizations to develop gender capacities to express their needs and mainstreaming plans. priorities, increase their presence in • Support the capacities of the Ministry leadership and decision-making positions of Agriculture and national/local and improve their managerial skills. gender institutions to carry out the RWLP in Senegal had three objectives: above activities. • Improve the capacities of women in • Share this case study with IFAD and producer organizations in leadership relevant national partners so that it can and negotiation. be used and applied in related projects. • Imp rove women’s capacities in • Find ways to scale up key aspects of governance. RWLP in Madagascar, especially the core • Raise public awareness about women’s group of trained women and the role in agriculture. training materials.

Main activities Senegal Background and context The pilot programme was implemented by CNCR over two years and focused on two The presence of women in decision-making rural communities (Koul-Thiés and Ogo- positions in producer organizations in Senegal Matam). The main activities were as follows: remains low. A 2007 report noted that only 20 per cent of local platforms of farmers’ Improving the capacities of women in organization presidents were women and that farmers’ organizations in leadership, there were no women at the regional level. 9 negotiation and governance The situation is the same at the national level. • Women participated in a workshop in Women’s lack of access to decision-making Madagascar on rural women’s leadership in farmers’ organizations has led to the (2011). development of a number of women-only • A validation workshop was conducted rural farmers’ organizations, as well as the for the training modules which had establishment of women’s wings in mixed been proposed by the consultant (2011). organizations such as CNCR. The creation of • Core trainers were trained (2011). the women’s wing in CNCR (College of • A refresher training for core trainers was Women or Collège des femmes ) was supported conducted because of delays in project by the Network of Farmers’ Organizations start-up (2012). and Agricultural Producers in West Africa • Casc ade training was offered to grass- (Résea u des organisations paysannes et de roots women leaders in two locations producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest – ROPPA ) in (Koul and Ogo) (2012). order to increase women’s participation. The College developed a three-year plan to improve skills in women’s professional activities and to promote their participation in apex farmer associations. 9 World Bank, Good Infobrief Practice, Africa Region Number 139 August 2007. Available at https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/9560/408170SN0Pro du1ns0infob13901PUBLIC1.txt?sequence=2.

26 Raising public awareness of women’s role - Establishment and strengthening in agriculture of community centres • The College participated in the opening - Action research march of the World Social Forum in - Improvement of living conditions Dakar (2011). of insecure and poor households • A one-day sensitization workshop was - Functional literacy offered for male leaders, organized on - Establishment and strengthening the annual mobilization/sensitization of a youth wing (College of Youth or day about the role and situation of Collège des Jeunes ) women in producer organizations (2011) . - Training in communication and • Training was provided in advocacy. communication and advocacy. • Meetings were held with relevant partners. • Media b roadcasts were disseminated on women’s role in agriculture and producer organizations (2012). Achievements

The following additional activities addressed The CNCR organized an evaluation programme management, analysis and workshop in July 2012, and participants other needs (activities marked with an included members from the office of the asterisk* were not in the original plan) College and some core trainers. Officers • A p roject start-up meeting was held with from the newly established College of Youth the College. were also invited so that they could learn • A participatory organizational analysis from the experience of the College of was developed and the action plan of Women. The evaluation identified the the College was updated (2011).* following achievements: • Local cereals were developed with the • The programme trained 23 trainers, who French NGO Solidarités International in turn trained 50 members of grass- (2011).* roots producer organizations. These • Participation in national-level sector members are now in a position to apply round-table dialogues under the what they have learned within the ‘Uniterra’ programme of the Centre for farmers’ organizations which supported International Studies and Cooperation their participation. (CECI). The CNCR RWLP coordinator • The training methodology for core was introduced at the first sector round trainers was very relevant and provided a table, and she introduced RWLP. The good foundation for the core trainers to second round table focused on gender develop additional modules. The mainstreaming in Uniterra partners’ materials were felt to be useful for programmes and projects (2011).* subsequent scaling up. • Participation in gender equality training • The programme strengthened the with two Canadian NGOs: CECI and the solidarity between members of CNCR Service d’assistance canadienne aux and the women’s wings of member organismes (SACO) (2011).* organizations. • Gender issues were included in CNCR’s • The capacity of participants in the strategic plan (2011-2015).* women’s wings of CNCR member • The fo llowing projects were identified organizations was felt to have been for member organizations of the significantly strengthened. College, and concept notes were • Local participants in Ogo and Koul developed for the first three: greatly appreciated the training and - Innovative microenterprise participatory approach.

27 BOX 6 Scaling up and out from Senegal

Four main outputs of RWLP have potential for scaling up in Senegal and beyond. • The College’s updated plan and its gender dimensions offer both policy and programming entry points to scale up support to reduce the gender gap in participation and influence in producer organizations. • The training manuals and participant workbooks in French could be adapted for use in similar initiatives. However, these should ideally be translated into local languages for maximum impact. • The concept notes for action research, microenterprise and support of community centres merit support because they are initiatives generated by women in grass-roots organizations, rather than top-down initiatives. • The core trainers, the participants in the cascade training and the male leader participants in the gender-sensitization workshop could form a resource and reference group for similar initiatives. However, some refresher support would be necessary.

• The local workshops helped to identify grant administration, to close down the participants with the potential to agreement with an overall expenditure become future core local trainers. of a little more than half of the • The participants’ enthusiasm and originally agreed US$150,000. Since the commitment were critical factors for training of trainers had been completed the success of the training and the but the cascade training had not been, whole programme. IFAD made a significant effort to ensure • Women reported that they were better that major planned activities were able to express their needs and priorities completed and intended project results as a result of RWLP. were achieved. This was done by using US$71,137 returned funds under a different contractual agreement that Challenges would involve IFAD’s country office in Dakar (and specifically the regional • Due to delays in project start-up, gender coordinator based in Dakar, also activities on the ground effectively cofinanced by Norway in an oversight started in January 2011, after the project role). This complementary initiative coordinator and another woman leader obliged IFAD to request an extension joined the train-the-trainer workshops to the overall agreement, which was organized in Madagascar. granted. The delays led to a loss of • CNCR requested an extension because momentum, which resulted in the need of the delays; however, IFAD was for a campaign to remobilize key actors obliged , under current rules governing in 2012.

Senegal

©IFAD/Olivier Asselin

28 29 • Some activities were not implemented needs to be balanced by a focus as planned (e.g. the concept notes for on implementation. the planned subprojects in action • The impact of advocacy is difficult research, microenterprise and support of to measure and attribute to RWLP. community centres). IFAD should make Given the low awareness levels about efforts to explore other mechanisms for women’s roles and priorities in farmers’ supporting these bottom-up initiatives. organizations, this component can be • The delay also meant that the said to have been an essential building evaluation workshop focused more block for the rest of the programme. on the training, with little feedback on the advocacy dimension. • The training modules contained too Recommendations much content for effective rollout; either the con ten t needed to be reduced or the Recommendations arising from the 2012 training needed to be longer. Participants evaluation workshop are set out below: also felt that there needed to be more • Excellent materials (training manuals attention to managing disruptions, and participant workbooks) were lengthy interventions, lateness and produced and some need to be similar issues. Finally, there was strengthened and consolidated. These significant unmet demand for places but materials are an important resource not enough on the training course. and should be further refined, disseminated and translated, and opportunities to practically apply Lessons learned them should be identified. • Roll-out of the training should be • Flexible implementation led to some carried out within CNCR’s member positive results. Some activities which organizations to meet the demand for were not planned but were carried training in additional locations and for out were strategic and positively more people. Participants with potential evaluated by participants. These to be trainers should be identified included conducting the participatory and mobilized to deliver this training. organizational analysis, updating the • Core trainers should receive some College’s action plan and including additional support to improve their gender equality concerns into CNCR’s research and ideally to benefit from peer strategic plan (2011-2015). Similarly, the exchanges with other trainers. participation in national-level sector • CNCR should recognize the newly round tables under CECI’s Uniterra acquired skills of the women’s wing programme allowed linkages to be made participants and support them to apply with complementary initiatives and these skills on specific occasions. provided a direct advocacy opportunity. • The skills acquired by beneficiaries This indicates that a flexible approach, should be translated into action and into which remains responsive to emerging the governance of farmers’ organizations. opportunities, can be useful. This is • Programme impacts should again be especially the case when working with evaluated at a later date because many women and men who may not have benefits can be felt only over a longer had significant opportunity to reflect period of time. A future evaluation may on their priorities. Projects which allow also support continued momentum. enough time for priorities to emerge • The youth wing could learn from the should be encouraged; however, this experience of the women’s wings.

30 IFAD has already built upon the lessons Goals and objectives learned and included these in the gender- specific components of the SFOAP, cofinanced In Nepal, the two-year RWLP pilot project, by IFAD and the European Commission. IFAD with a budget of US$150,000, covered five will also do the same for other relevant districts in central Nepal: Chitawan, Lalitpur, upcoming programmes and projects. Kavre, Sindhuli and Sindhupalchowk, where most development programmes, particularly “ The emergence of rural women’s leadership those related to climate change, were in farmers’ organizations … arises from a concentrated. Local adaptation plans of action process of sensitization and information (LAPAs) represented an opportunity for from different actors, strengthening the women to benefit equally from opportunities leadership capacity of women and also, and to tap into available resources. importantly, their economic power. Women who are empowered economically RWLP aimed to: can then claim their rightful place in • Strengthen the capacities of rural decision-making spaces.” women, their associations at all levels and their professional organizations. Khadidja Doucoure, Regional Gender Coordinator, West and Central Africa • Enhance the quality of policy advocacy and dialogue.

Nepal Main activities Background and context 10 Programme activities focused on providing In Nepal, a decade-long armed conflict training and capacity-building for trainers through 2006 and the outmigration of men and women leaders at the national and local from rural areas increased the burden on regional levels. This included reviewing women and resulted in the ‘feminization’ of relevant policy frameworks with a gender lens agriculture. Policies, programmes and and organizing advocacy activities through development interventions support rural the media and international meetings. women to increase their capacities to RWLP was initiated with the All Nepal organize into groups to access opportunities Peasants’ Federation (ANPFa), a key umbrella more effectively. Policy initiatives include a association, together with two federations of constitutional provision (2007) to ensure that grass-roots women’s groups, HIMAWANTI women comprise at least 33 per cent of all and ASTHA. The women’s organizations aim state structures. However, despite government to promote solidarity among rural grass-roots support, women’s representation remains women to enhance their participation in limited; for example, until recently there were decision-making processes, their access to no women District Agriculture Development natural resources and a more equitable Officers in any of the 75 districts. distribution of the benefits deriving from Patriarchal norms typically relegate women these resources. to the home and limit their mobility, which WOCAN was the implementing in turn limits their economic opportunities. organization in Nepal and the Philippines. The Nepalese social castes create additional It was well placed to scale up RWLP impact inequalities; Dalit (often called ‘untouchable’) women are marginalized by women from other castes, preventing them from accessing available opportunities.

10 Based on RWLP scoping study (2008).

31 32 through its other activities and global advocacy Leaders at the district level were trained by network of women leaders in agriculture. HIMAWANTI and ASTHA (about 300 women A ‘training of trainers’ approach was from six districts). adopted to trigger a cascade effect from Women leaders in rural organizations trainers to leaders at the district level and benefited from the following activities: then to women leaders in rural organizations. • Women received training on ‘Women’s The training focused on negotiation skills, Leadership and Organizational Change’. confidence-building, self-development and The women then became the focal technical knowledge on natural resource points for rolling out the leadership management. The capacity development also training within their groups at the had a very practical dimension – it was local levels. geared to enable women to access funds • This rollout included mentoring and earmarked for gender issues at the district coaching of rural women leaders by a level. RWLP raised awareness about these lead WOCAN trainer and trained RWLP funds and gave women the confidence and staff through workshops, field visits, practical skills to access them. individual coaching and exposure visits. Trainers were trained to roll out the capacity-development plan to lower tiers of organizations. Activities at this level targeted: Achievements • WOCAN staff, with a three-day training workshop on ‘Gender Mainstreaming • Engaging men in building acceptance of and Organizational Change’ for women’s leadership was regarded as key 18 ASTHA and HIMAWANTI staff and in a patriarchal society and is an district-level women members. innovative feature of RWLP in Nepal. • Partner organizations HIMAWANTI and Women leaders identified potential male ASTHA, with coaching and mentoring advocates and they were included in support from WOCAN as well as training activities. Some training workshops to develop organizational sessions for farmers’ organizations even vision and support organizational established that men should comprise change. Organizational change a minimum of 25-30 per cent of encompassed gender mainstreaming participants. An important outcome and a review of organizational structure. was the establishment of an informal RWLP also organized a five-day network of men to support women’s workshop to train trainers on ‘Rural leadership. RWLP’s engagement of men Women’s Leadership Development’. helped to bring about a transformation This workshop focused on leadership of gender roles in the household: concepts; the relationship between “ I remember there was one woman whose leadership concepts, masculinity and husband beat her… for going to adult femininity; and reframing ‘leadership’ literacy classes. But today her husband is and building strategic skills to support the one who reminds her to go to community it. Participants then shared their meetings. I have seen plenty of examples learning with other members of their to prove that change is possible.” organizations, with WOCAN’s support. Shova Sharma from Sindhuli, Nepal

Nepal

©IFAD/Rockey Prajapati

33 • A three-day conference on ‘Gender & wanted to perpetuate gender stereotypes. Climate Change’ was the focus of In other words, they began to be RWLP’s policy advocacy in Nepal. The empowered and women group leaders event brought together policymakers proved to be effective role models in and practitioners to interact with supporting other women members. women leaders at the grass-roots level • HIMAWANTI and ASTHA women from HIMAWANTI and ASTHA, who leaders were able to mobilize local shared their concerns and experiences. state and non-state resources for A concrete focus for policy advocacy led women’s issues. This was considered by to the inclusion of grass-roots women participants to be the most important voices in the policy debate. outcome of RWLP (see Box 7). • Rural women leaders from farmers’ • Some women beneficiaries at the organizations also had the opportunity grass-roots level were also involved in to make their voices heard in national, the Women’s Leadership Circle (WLC) regional and global policy processes, promoted by WOCAN in Nepal and such as the World Food Summit; the other countries. WLCs are national- Civil Society Organization consultation level platforms to develop women’s workshop on GAFSP; the tenth, fifteenth leadership and encourage regular and seventeenth sessions of the dialogue between women policymakers Conference of the Parties – Convention and professionals and women at the on Biological Diversity; and the IFAD- grass-roots level to promote policy and supported Farmers’ Forum in 2010, implementation that is more responsive where the women leaders took part to the needs of rural women. RWLP in a special session on ‘Promoting ‘graduates’ from the Nepal WLC were women’s leadership in farmers’ and able to connect with women rural producers’ organizations’. policymakers and put into practice their newly acquired leadership skills These activities triggered profound change in for the benefit of their communities. the women. • Women learned to see themselves beyond their usual roles of mother, Challenges wife and daughter-in-law. As they began to develop income-generating Some of the key challenges encountered by activities, they were able to see RWLP were the following: themselves as respected community • There is weak institutional capacity in members of society. The RLWP helped gender mainstreaming at the district and women take more interest in local levels. This has resulted in only community-level activities, see the limited efforts to close the gender gap benefits of being more informed and or enable women to access funds, demand services and resources for the technologies, information and decision- benefit of the community. making roles in farmers’ organizations. • Participating in training and working Funds earmarked for women are often together gave women the confidence to underutilized and diverted. advocate for their interests. Sharing • The initial choice of working closely their concerns and aspirations also kick- with farmers’ and producers’ started women’s groups. These groups organizations had to be reconsidered made them feel less alone and helped during the pilot. ANPFa was considered them overcome pressure from relatives to be too political, and so women’s and community members who organizations were chosen as partners

34 because their members were often • Women’s workloads are holding back members of farmers’ organizations. their productive potential. Family • Gender roles are hard to change in expectations from parents, husbands Nepalese rural society. Men are resistant and mothers-in-law result in a heavy to women’s leadership and resent having domestic workload for women. Male to defer to female authority. outmigration and water/food scarcity “ My father-in-law, who wanted me to deriving from climate change have become a traditional daughter-in-law, was further increased women’s workload and vehemently opposed to my involvement in responsibilities. It is often impossible community work. He tried to stop me from for women to balance their traditional going out and made my life miserable.” roles with participating in training, taking up leadership positions and RWLP participant, Nepal realizing their economic potential. For • Gender stereotypes limit women’s this reason, changes in household potential: dynamics are needed to enable gender- - In addition to gender inequalities, equitable participation in farmers’ women face caste-based organizations and other institutions. discrimination. Dalit women were excluded, marginalized or not informed by other women about Lessons learned capacity-development activities. - Women often have to work harder • Social capital supports economic than men to prove themselves and be empowerment. The WLCs model accepted as leaders. This is even more allowed regular dialogue between so for socially excluded groups such women officials in government and as dalits and poorer women. women farmers/entrepreneurs, which - There is a widespread misperception created an important new space for rural that women leaders do things for women’s voices to be heard. RWLP their own personal advantage and not participants in Nepal reported that it for the benefit of the communities. was easier for them to access funds and - Women’s unequal access to education establish a dialogue with the authorities results in lower self-esteem and/or when they were able to talk to women prevents them from being entitled to in government structures. The training take up certain professional roles. sessions also strengthened women’s • Women’s mobility is often constrained confidence and voice, ultimately giving by cultural norms and by their greater them greater bargaining power. family responsibilities, which prevent • The ‘training of trainers’ approach them from attending training and can only trigger a sustainable cascade realizing leadership roles. Unlike men, process if it is supported by technical women do not use motorbikes, which support throughout the whole further limits their ability to attend training period to trainers and trainees meetings in other districts and stay long at all levels. Without this support, hours; taking rides with male colleagues there is little chance that learning will is culturally unacceptable. be acquired and consolidated by beneficiaries. In Nepal, district-level trainers were not able to replicate the training they received because of lack of follow-up support after the completion of the ‘training of trainers’.

35 36 BOX 7 Mobilizing women into groups to access productive resources

Between 2010 and 2011, HIMAWANTI and ASTHA were able to mobilize about Nrs. 400,000 (US$4,546) from the District Development Committees, District Agriculture and Irrigation Office, District Forest Office and community forestry user groups. Although these bodies have specific policies and mandates to invest in women and social activities, in reality these funds usually remain unallocated or are spent on infrastructure projects, such as roads and micro- hydro projects. Not only did RWLP enable participants to access funds allocated for women in Village Development Committees and District Development Offices, but the newly strengthened and more vocal women’s groups also managed to change allocations of funds that had not been earmarked. This meant that alongside the usual investments in infrastructure, women’s literacy and the development of income-generating activities were given priority. This was because women were better able to explain the return on these investments in terms of community and family benefits – and to argue their case.

This can mean that women at the applications; yet without leadership grass-roots level might receive lesser skills, women lack the capacity to access quality training, and yet that is the necessary resources to fulfil their arguably where there is the greatest potential. Women need to practice and need for skilled trainers. Training consolidate their acquired leadership sessions also need to be backed up by skills , for instance, through forums, longer-term coaching and mentoring platforms and events. Projects workplans with the farmers’ organizations and should include this. women leaders to ensure sustainability • Women role models inspire others. For – which requires an adequate instance, trainings delivered by women investment of resources. leaders were described as motivating • Training should cover leadership skills because they presented a leadership style as well as technical knowledge. which was different from the more Strengthening self-confidence, advocacy traditional masculine one. and negotiation skills are important • Women can be leaders without examples of leadership skills, and these challenging gender norms. Women in need to be backed up by technical skills, Nepal generally preferred to develop a such as financial literacy, forestry, leadership style that was in line with climate change, etc. Without technical their gender roles, rather than attempt to knowledge and a goal of economic imitate male styles. For example, one empowerment, leadership skills are training participant said that the biggest insufficiently rooted in practical contribution of RWLP training was to

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37 make her realize that the type of community or other institutions; and leadership she was practising (i.e. non- (ii) have the motivation and resilience masculine/relational/with empathy) was to lead or take on leadership positions a legitimate form of leadership. and the potential social challenges they • Leadership is contextual. RWLP may face in doing so. Adequate time activities in different locations showed should be set aside for identifying that different support strategies have to participants – they may not always be be developed according to the prevailing the most vocal ones, or see themselves social structures and norms. as leaders even though they are • Behavioural change takes time. practising aspects of leadership. Trainings required more coaching than initially envisaged during the rollout stages to backstop and support the Recommendations newly trained women trainers. Training methodologies had to be adapted • Build on the success of the RWLP model by local trainers to meet the different and scale up the adapted approaches training needs, capacities and in the new COSOP (at the time of communication styles of farmers’ writing, this is indeed the case in the organization members, grass-roots draft COSOP). This should include leaders and trainers. For example, a documenting and sharing lessons and participating farmer leader said that self- achievements as they emerge. reflection and storytelling were very • Include the core group of people who powerful tools to help women open up, were extensively trained during bond and gain confidence. As a result, RWLP into IFAD programmes and WOCAN’s coaching and mentoring had projects, especially those concerning to be stepped up to enable local rollout, farmers’ organizations. which meant increasing the number • Extend RWLP to the mid- and far-west of visits to farmers’ organizations and regions of Nepal, targeting women at grass-roots organizations, which had the district level. The LAPA districts are budget implications. mostly concentrated in these areas and • Activities are more effective at the local they offer the opportunity to scale up levels. In the spirit of the cascade RWLP learning. methodology, the programme first • Pursue the ‘gender and climate change’ focused on the national level, but agenda in Nepal, capturing experiences activities proved to be more effective to make LAPAs gender-responsive. when targeted to the local and • Scale up the network of men supporting district levels. women’s leadership and disseminate • Engaging with men helped to manage this experience in relevant forums. perceptions of power shifts within and • Identify potential synergies with the outside the household. Potential male FAO/IFAD/UN Women/WFP joint change agents need to be identified and programme in Nepal on Accelerating included – which may take time and Progress towards the Economic dedicated resources. Empowerment of Rural Women. • Take time to target the most effective potential women leaders. In Nepal, it was found that the most effective women leaders were those who: (i) are already practising some form of leadership in their homes, the

38 The Philippines their operational, financial and Background and context organizational systems. • Promoting sustainable integrated area The Philippines has a broadly gender-sensitive development, so as to build a solid national legal and policy environment. The framework for development with its Philippine Commission on Women is an member organizations. advisory body to the President, mandated to mainstream women’s concerns in policy, PAKISAMA has sector-based rural women’s planning and programming of all government groups called LAKAMBINI, which implement agencies. There is a strong tradition of women’s its Gender and Development Programme. In movements, and an active civil society the past, the LAKAMBINI had successfully pushes for change and strives to hold the launched a series of gender-awareness Government accountable to its commitments. seminars for women and men leaders at the Despite all this, women in the Philippines provincial and national levels. RWLP aimed still have significantly less access to and at reviving and strengthening the Gender and control of the productive resources that would Development Programme and the effective enable them to improve their livelihoods. functioning of the LAKAMBINI. Notwithstanding their contribution to the RWLP also addressed issues related to rural labour force, women’s influence in rural women’s leadership and economic organizations at the national and local levels empowerment within PAKISAMA member is very low and there are few women in organizations and women’s organizations, leadership positions. providing credit and consultancy services for income-generating initiatives. The programme was implemented in the Goals and objectives provinces where PAKISAMA and LAKAMBINI have members, namely: Agusan del Sur, RWLP in the Philippines had the same two Agusan Norte, Bukidnon, Lan ao del Norte objectives as RWLP in Nepal: and North Cotabato in Mindanao; Albay, • Strengthen the capacities of rural Aurora, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and women, their associations at all levels Sorsogon in Luzon; Iloilo and Capiz in and their professional organizations. Visayas; and Oriental Mindoro in Mindoro. • Enhance the quality of policy advocacy RWLP’s main activities in the Philippines and dialogue. are summarized below. Training in leadership for women and men in support of gender equality. Main activities A total of 239 women and 88 men were reached through: WOCAN implemented the programme in • Training of trainers. partnership with the Asian Farmers Association • Training sessions on leadership and for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and gender for farmer members of its Philippine member PAKISAMA, a national PAKISAMA and LAKAMBINI . In an effort confederation of 28 peasant organizations of to develop a critical mass of women small-scale farmers, fishers and indigenous leaders to take up leadership positions at peoples. PAKISAMA’s goal is to empower the national level and male leaders to Filipino farmers by: support women’s leadership, 200 women • Strengthening member organizations’ and 50 men farmer-members were capacities to effectively participate in trained. The trainings were carried out at agrarian reform and rural development national and provincial levels over the implementation, including improving two years of implementation.

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40 Providing organizational development to • Farmers’ Forum at IFAD (2010) as well PAKISAMA for enhanced gender as the special session on ‘Promoting mainstreaming and support to women women’s leadership in farmers’ and leaders. A WOCAN consultant supported the rural producers’ organizations’. revision of PAKISAMA’s gender policy as well • The Assocation of Southeast Asian as a monitoring and evaluation system. Nations (ASEAN) Peoples’ Forum (2010). Several meetings on gender mainstreaming • National and subregional steering took place among the team of trainers and committee meetings of the Medium- PAKISAMA’s Management Committee and term Cooperation Programme, a National Executive Committee, resulting regional IFAD capacity-building project in a S trategic Plan for Mainstreaming Gender for farmers’ organizations in 10 countries in PAKISAMA. The strategic plan sets out in Asia. 11 several commitments: • The fin al RWLP learning workshop • PAKISAMA will conduct an in Nepal. organizational assessment of the gender sensitivity of all its programmes and projects. Achievements • The plan commits to develop women’s leadership skills and conduct gender- • PAKISAMA started to form its sensitivity sessions for both women and commodity cluster for some products men members. (e.g. Philippine lemons), and more • PAKISAMA will identify roles and women members were able to take responsibilities for all staff members in leadership in the various activities of the the implementation of the plan. cluster. Some of these women members • PAKISAMA will review its code of ethics. have started paralegal clinics to better understand their rights to land. Strengthening PAKISAMA’s knowledge • Training has proven to be a powerful management. An audio-visual presentation change catalyst both for participants ‘Women Farmers as Agents of Change’ was and PAKISAMA trainers themselves, produced, featuring leadership moments, who now have a better understanding challenges and enabling factors of nine of gender issues. Additional demand women. In addition, a research report entitled for training came from PAKISAMA ‘Women and Men Farmers as Agents of member organizations. Change on Gender Equality: Leadership • Participants’ increased awareness about Moments, Challenges and Enablers’ was laws that exist to protect women and produced, capturing the main findings and women’s rights has strengthened their lessons learned on leadership stories collected motivation to take action, take from 45 women and 15 men. The research advantage of opportunities and stand was complemented by lessons learned from up to violence. a validation workshop on the research. • Participants developed an understanding The workshop was conducted with women of power and leadership dynamics, as leaders to encourage reflection on women well as different types of leadership, and leadership, as well as to document experiences of women leaders’ motivations, styles and perceived changes brought by RWLP training. Involving AFA members at regional and international policy events. AFA members attended the following events: 11 See http://asia.ifad.org/web/mtcp/mtcp-at-a-glance.

41 supported by concrete examples of “ We were away for a one-week training women leaders as role models. This on entrepreneurship. I went home at nine helped them become aware and in the evening because it was far and was confident that their leadership style also raining. My husband did not want to was valid. open the door. He said, ‘ Better stay there • RWLP stimulated concrete follow-up because you love your women’s action; for example, participants organization more!’ I could not keep my developed action plans to use in their patience anymore. I got mad and I banged communities, and in Aurora, local on the door of our house. I said, ‘If you do women leaders negotiated a loan with not open the door, I will break it down!’ My the Department of Agrarian Reform to husband was shocked that I suddenly support a rice mill. became very brave. When I entered, I said, • PAKISAMA identified new potential ‘What is the problem? We are not doing women leaders at the national level. anything wrong. What is wrong with helping • PAKISAMA had several trainers’ teams others? And with knowing what to do so at the decentralized level which rolled we can help with our livelihood? We are not out the training in 12 provinces under just wasting time loafing. We talked some the supervision of the regional more, and he just fell silent.’” coordinators. These teams were in close Cheryl Oyoa, Chairperson of AGUKAKABA contact during the implementation (a provincial federation of women organizations stage, learning and supporting each in Agusan del Norte), Treasurer of AKBAYAN other to challenge their own ideas Division 2, Agusan del Norte about roles, stereotypes and concepts of femininity and masculinity. This • Self-confidence is a key barrier. fostered better understanding among Participants reported that it was difficult PAKISAMA staff and improved to overcome their own feelings of teamwork in the organization. insecurity and incompetence. Women • An extensive body of information, often do not see themselves as leaders: lessons learned and leadership stories “ At first, I was just a simple woman. I did were created, many of which can be not want to join in any community used for PAKISAMA and AFA advocacy activities. But they were organizing a activities on gender equality. women’s organization and so I joined. Even if I did not want it, the women wanted me to become their President. Challenges So I accepted. When I went home, I did a self-reflection. Why did they elect me as • Most of the challenges related to the President? What am I capable of doing? difficulties presented by cultural norms I was challenged. I said, can I do this? and stereotypes that prevent women So I tried it.” from becoming leaders and genuinely Cheryl Oyoa, Chairperson of AGUKAKABA, exercising their voice. At a practical level, Treasurer of AKBAYAN Division 2, Agusan if women want to become leaders in del Norte organizations and their communities, they first must gain a stronger voice • RWLP-supported activities helped to within the family by negotiating support kick-start PAKISAMA’s efforts to improve from their husbands and/or brothers to gender outcomes after almost eight years attend meetings. Women also struggle to of inactivity; however, the training balance work and family and face provided was not sufficient. mobility restrictions:

42 Lessons learned my family, I presumed that it was normal not to consult your wife on decisions at • Training for women should include home as the head of the family. But I relevant skills, such as advocacy, realized that we need to consult our facilitation and negotiation. An wives. So now, I call even my kids to a important starting point is basic gender- meeting and ask, “I have money, what do sensitivity training, without which I buy: a motorcycle or land?” women’s leadership training and Rogelio Sarilla, 43 years old, President of behavioural and institutional change PALAMBU, Chair of PAKISAMA Mindanao processes cannot progress. It is Regional Council, Bukidnon important to convey the concept of gender in a culturally sensitive way; • Seminars enhanced men’s awareness some rural communities regard the about gender differences as issues concept of ‘gender’ as a western concept affecting both women and men. They that disturbs the traditional harmony helped tackle preconceptions that it was between women and men. “all about women becoming stronger • Technical content is also important and more aggressive.” In several cases, because most women have limited both the husband and wife took the formal education. For example, same training together, resulting in PAKISAMA provided its members with reduced domestic violence, more training on financial management equitable ways of taking decisions and and accounting. allocating resources within the • Training delivery methods must be household. This even translated to the designed around the cultural public sphere and increased women’s characteristics of the audience. voice in local government and farmers’ Storytelling proved to be particularly organizations. However, there was also a effective to convey how gender roles are need for some separate training, as men defined by traditional beliefs. One-to- tended to dominate discussions. one and group mentoring and coaching • Concepts and skills learned during the have also proven to be very effective. training need reinforcement through Similarly, concrete models of women practice, and opportunities for putting leaders were a powerful motivation for newly acquired skills to use should be women to challenge stereotypes and actively sought as part of any support. build their confidence. • Documentation is very important for • Involving men in some training and organizational and personal learning. awareness-raising sessions was key. Trainees could keep a diary and a When carried out effectively, this can be process narrative should be drafted as genuinely transformational: one of the outputs of the training. “ I became aware of the issue (gender) • Developing women’s capacities to when I became a PALAMBU officer and access funding and mobilize resources attended a BALAOD Mindanao training. is important in order for them to The training raised awareness among the become autonomous and pursue community because domestic violence at their plans. that time was not commonly discussed. But the training opened the eyes of RWLP participants identified strategies parents and teachers. After the training, other than capacity development to support incidences of violence against abused women’s access to decision-making positions children and wives lessened. I myself and effectively exert leadership in farmers’ realized this (what gender is all about). In organizations. These strategies included:

43 BOX 8 The training of my dreams

RWLP participants in the Philippines articulated key elements for effective training and provided recommendations for future training programmes: • Adapt design to the local context, needs and capacities of the group. • Encourage relevant and creative methodologies using audio-visual materials that appeal to reason, emotions and values, such as active sharing of experiences, storytelling and reflection. • Resource persons/trainers should have adequate knowledge of gender equality; they should be able to share their own stories, ready to change approaches according to the context, able to handle sensitive topics and able to make jokes that are not sexist and are culturally appropriate. • The training should result in increased knowledge and a concrete action plan and there should be opportunities for participants to demonstrate what they have learned.

• Supportive policies within farmers’ • Creating networks to sustain organizations, which are supported by achievements and enable women to gender-sensitive leaders (see Box 9) support each other. In the Philippines, • Affirmative action/quotas for leadership women’s networks at the village level positions (e.g. the President of have collaborated to formulate gender PAKISAMA’s women’s wing is action plans and develop project automatically a member of its national proposals for donors. executive and legislative committee) • Stipulating that at least 40 per cent of training participants should be women Recommendations • Providing support for women to attend activities outside the home by, for • Move from training individuals to example, providing day-care centres, institutional change. Trainings should be technologies that reduce housework seen in the wider context of institutional and funds to pay for transportation change, where improved gender equality to meetings; is a goal in itself and a mechanism • Providing support to develop income- to make farmers’ organizations more generating activities for women. effective. The wider enabling framework Women’s economic empowerment is key in the Philippines is a good foundation for them to gain confidence, self-esteem for consolidating gains achieved so far and skills, which increases their chances in women’s leadership. of accessing leadership positions • Follow up on PAKISAMA’s Strategic Plan • Supporting women’s continuous for Mainstreaming Gender to ensure its learning in their communities through, implementation. This requires that for example, community radio and visits action plans for gender mainstreaming from agricultural extension workers in organizations be developed and to their farms/village implemented, with financial support,

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44 45 BOX 9 A recipe for an effective, gender-sensitive leader in farmers’ organizations

During RWLP training, PAKISAMA members described how they saw the key qualities of an effective leader. These span both interpersonal and technical skills, as well as both ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ qualities in their local context. Such a leader… • knows how to make decisions based on analysis, consultation and consensus anchored on local values • communicates effectively with men and women to push forward the agenda and access available resources • is able to communicate to the wider public a complex concept such as gender, clearly explaining its relationship with human development • is able to read and understand financial statements and organize documentation • effectively facilitates meetings, resolves conflicts, builds consensus and works for the empowerment of others.

“ The Local Government Unit in our village in San Miguel was always against us. Sometimes, when we were following up on something, we would be fighting. We also got mad. We said, ‘Why are you not giving importance to us and our objectives? This is our village. If we accomplish our goals, we can help through the taxes that we pay.’ I was able to perform my role as leader because I was the one who guided our members in the process on what to do and how.”

Elizabeth Valmores, 53 years old, Secretary of BUNGA, a cooperative in Bukidnon

technical backstopping and monitoring. • Reach out to RWLP’s network of The experience should also be women’s organizations which are not documented, as it may be of interest to yet members of PAKISAMA to create a other countries. In addition, mainstream wider membership base of women. gender into other PAKISAMA policies RWLP reached women’s organizations (e.g. its code of ethics). and women leaders at the local levels, • Integrate the LAKAMBINI within and they could be supported further to PAKISAMA to support the inclusion of be more active at the national level. gender activities and women’s support within the main structure. The separation of the two structures hinders gender mainstreaming because women’s issues are always automatically assigned to the LAKAMBINI and PAKISAMA leaders feel no obligation to address them as part of their overall agenda.

46 References and resources

FAO. 2012. Agricultural cooperatives and gender equality. International Year of Cooperatives, Issue Brief Series . Gurung, J. 2012. Making the Voices of the Invisible Heard: Challenges for Gender Transformative Change in Organizations. Paper submitted for the Building Coalitions, Creating Change Workshop, 3-5 October 2012, Penang, Malaysia. IFAD . 2010. Promoting women’s leadership in farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations . Special Session of the third global meeting of the Farmers’ Forum in conjunction with the Thirty-third Session of IFAD’s Governing Council. IFAD . 2012. IFAD and Farmers’ Organizations: Partnership in progress: 2010-2011. Report to the fourth global meeting of the Farmers’ Forum in conjunction with the thirty-fifth Session of IFAD’s Governing Council. IFAD . 2013. IFAD’s Engagement with Cooperatives: A Study in Relation to the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives. (Rome: IFAD). Oxfam . 2013. Researching women’s collective action: Findings and recommendations. Available at: http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/womens-collective-action-findings-and- recommendations-294502 . WOCAN . Resources on women’s leadership, at: http://www.wocan.org/resource-keywords/womens-leadership-0 .

Country-specific resources

Madagascar IFAD’s projects in Madagascar give women more opportunities, but the struggle continues. http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/voice/tags/madagascar/women_mdg . Rural women entrepreneurs’ network born out of an IFAD south-south exchange. http://www.capfida.mg/site/spip.php?article276 . Madagascar /IFAD: PHBM – Targeting the Vulnerable (No. 5 Pt 1) (video). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg44q3XskFo . Senegal CNCR. 2010. Introduction to communications. (French language) http://www.cncr.org/IMG/pdf/002_Introduction_communication.pdf. CNCR . 2010. How to organize a press campaign and participate in radio/television sessions. (French language) http://www.cncr.org/IMG/pdf/003_Rel_Presse.pdf Nepal and the Philippines Penunia, E.A. 2011. The Role of Farmers’ Organizations in Empowering and Promoting the Leadership of Rural Women, paper for Expert Group Meeting ‘Enabling rural women’s economic empowerment: institutions, opportunities and participation’, Accra, Ghana. Organized by UN Women in cooperation with FAO, IFAD and WFP. WOCAN. 2012. Final Report Year 2. Rural Women’s Leadership Project in Nepal and the Philippines, January 2011-January 2012. http://www.wocan.org/sites/drupal.wocan.org/files/Final%20Report%20RWL%20Project% 20Year%202%20.pdf .

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