Experience sharing on TRANSFORMATIVE HOUSEHOLD METHODOLOGY (THM) - Process and impacts -

Based on practical experience and lessons of Send a Cow

April , 2015 Addis Ababa OUTLINE

• BACKGROUND • WHY • WHAT • HOW • IMPACT • LESSONS LEARNED • NEXT

Project Background

• Location: Wolyta Zone, , and Soddo Zuria Woredas • Implemented: February – November, 2014 • Target: 20 Self Help Groups (400 households) • Financial support : IFAD • Total budget: USD 15,000

Project Background con…

Major Activities: . Baseline and impact survey . THM training . Experience sharing . Group dialogue . Documentation and sharing . Monitoring Why THM

• In Ethiopia women disproportionately bear the burden of poverty mainly as a result of: ▫ unequal and unfair gender based division of labour; ▫ lack of access and control over resources (and benefits). • Women and girls are responsible for most of the household chores, in addition to the support they provide to agriculture (40% labour) and livestock production; their efforts are rarely recognized and valued; • They have limited control over resources; • The situation of women in (Boloso Sore, Damot Sore and Zuria) is not different Measures taken to minimize challenges by SACE before THM Gender mainstreaming • Training manuals include strategies applied: gender issues • Gender policy • HR manual is gender sensitive • GSD department is member of SMT However, the changes we • Staff gender composition brought to household gender 40% female relations were not as expected • Target: 70 %women As a result, SACE started to use • Cornerstone values include the THM ‘gender and family focus’

THM is developed from Harvard Gender Analytical What: HHGAtools methodology and PRA tools.

Harvard tools: PRA tool:

• Activity profile • proportional piling • Access and control/benefit profile

Its purpose is to transform household gender relation Baseline Survey: How much shall a female adult be involved in: 0.9

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0.3 not at all 0.2 very little 0.1 a lot fully 0 Con….

120% How much shall a male adult be involved in:

100%

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40%

not at all 20% very little a lot fully 0% Con….. How much shall a female adult be involved in deciding: 0.9

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0.3 not at all very little 0.2 a lot 0.1 fully 0 Con: How much shall a male adult be involved in deciding: 100%

90%

80%

70%

60% not at all very little 50% a lot 40% fully

30%

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10%

0% what to farm which animals how to use how to use which food food storage food education of to purchase / petty cash large money items to distribution children use (>1,000) purchase How

25 Volunteer

Peer 80 Peer Peer Peer farmer farmer farmer farmer

320 HH HH HH HH HH (20 SHGs) How 1. THM is delivering training within the household context (rather than simply at group level)

2. Then the trained household is sharing THM with a set number of other households through a pyramid model so that more households are reached.

This household approach speeds up impact by 'personalising' the conversation within the actual household - making it easier for the reality of the gender relations of the house to be seen, and harder for the man to take any responsibility for changing his behaviour.

Con…

How: Entry How: Targeting & logistics

• 4 peer farmers were • Locally available materials selected from each self-help such as sticks, gravel or group (both FHH and seeds, were collected for the MHH) exercise • A convenient time for • Facilitators and household training was set members sat in a semi circular manner to carry out

the exercise Con..: Explaining the Method

The facilitator explained and demonstrated how to make a grid and how to pile up stones or beans proportionally to the relative size of workload or access and control over resources inside the grid.

Con…: Explaining the Method

• A fixed number of beans or stones (10 or 20) was used per activity against the members of the household. • Following the exercise, the family counts the number of beans or stones placed on the symbol for each activities and correlates this with the gender of the person responsible.

Analysis: who does what?

• Household maintenance, agriculture, income and employment were analyzed • Participants explored why some activities are specifically left to women, men, boys or girls • Effect at time, death of parents, children’s education, health, etc. were analyzed • Solutions were discussed Analysis: Who ACCESS/CONTROL What?

• The same exercise was repeated focusing on access and control over resources

Action Plan • Household members listed action items • The development of action plans was facilitated Follow up

• The first 4 peer farmers who did the analysis facilitated the THM methodology for their fellow self- help group members.

• Group dialogues have continued over coffee ceremonies on a monthly basis (farmers take turns and meet in a previously agreed common place ) Monitoring

• Group dialogue • Group cell system • Volunteers and supervisors monitor the progress at household level • Quarterly reports are submitted to SACE country office • SACE country office staff conduct regular field visits Challenges

• husband tend to dominate as some women are shy/reluctant to talk (The facilitator must make sure all household members equally participate)

• Some household members lose interest or focus as the exercise can take a long time (more than one hour) (The facilitator can divide the activities, for example doing the activity profile at one time and the access and control over resources some other time ) Impact

Lessons learned

• Simple tool: the THM makes use of locally available materials, is illiterate friendly and visual. • Effective: the THM stimulates discussion among family members and creates awareness and consensus around critical issues such as division of labour, access and control over resources and benefits for different household members. Farmers can disseminate THM knowledge and skills among their peers at low cost. • Impact: the THM has proven to have a fast impact at household level as women, men, girls and boys change their attitudes towards family relationships. After having conducted THM exercises, workloads are more equally shared by family members and women’s involvement in decision making has increased. Lessons learned

• Family-focused: the THM is inclusive as it works at household level and all family members can equally participate, contribute their opinions, be heard, and develop common action plans for improvement. • Sustainability: the THM triggers mindset change that lasts beyond project implementation. Action plans are followed up by community/group dialogue that sustains the impact in the long term. Trained households become role models of change within the community. • Scalability: the THM can be easily adopted by different development actors (government, NGOs) for replication in various contexts as it is cost-effective, easy to understand and participatory

Next

• Documenting the impact and process

• Share learning with likeminded organizations and within other Send a Cow Country Programmes

• Scaling up best practices in Ethiopia and beyond through training and experience sharing Thank you