Gender and Sustainable Development: Case Studies from NCCR North-South Gender and Sustainable Development Case Studies from NCCR North-South Edited by Smita Premchander and Christine Müller NCCR North-South Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South University of Bern Switzerland Citation: Premchander S, and Müller C, editors. 2006. Gender and Sustainable Development: Case Studies from NCCR North-South. Perspectives of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South, University of Bern, Vol. 2. Bern: Geographica Bernensia, 364 pp. Copyright © 2006 by NCCR North-South, Bern, Switzerland. All rights reserved. Published by: NCCR North-South c/o Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) University of Bern, Institute of Geography Steigerhubelstrasse 3, 3008 Bern, Switzerland. ISBN: 3-906151-87-5 Geographica Bernensia, Bern. English language editing: Ted Wachs (CDE). Layout: Simone Kummer (CDE). Printed by: Staempfli AG, Wölflistrasse 1, 3001 Bern, Switzerland. Printed in Switzerland. Distribution: Additional copies may be obtained from NCCR North-South, c/o CDE, Bern: [email protected]. A downloadable PDF version of this publi- cation is available at: www.nccr-north-south.unibe.ch Cover photo: The picture illustrates a “couple” of maize cobs: the female mamasara (mother-maize) on the left and the tatasara (father-maize) on the right. In the context of Andean culture, ‘nature’ is gendered too. Those who find these maize cobs in the field perceive this as a lucky charm of Pachamama (earth’s mother). The subsequent rituals expressing gratefulness to Pachamama involve treating these maize cobs with special affection such as kissing, celebrating, and taking them to church for blessing. Photo by AGRUCO. Table of Contents Table of Contents Foreword 7 Preface and Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 15 Christine Müller Part I Conceptual Section 1 Gender and Transdisciplinarity in Research for Sustainable Development Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn 31 2 Integrating Gender-Sensitive Approaches: A Challenge for the Natural Sciences Franziska Pfister 45 3 Developing Gender, Transforming Development: Epistemic Shifts in Gender and Development Discourse over 30 Years Sabin Bieri 57 4 Engendering Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Mainstreaming Gender in Development Policy Smita Premchander and Roshni Menon 87 Part II Case Studies from NCCR North-South 5 Gender-Based Analysis of Vulnerability to Drought among Agro-Pastoral Households in Semi-Arid Makueni District, Kenya Chinwe Ifejika Speranza 119 6 Beyond Economics: Analysing Micro-Finance from Women’s Perspectives Using a Sustainable Livelihood Framework Smita Premchander and Jason Klinck 147 7 Local Knowledge and Gender in Ghana Christine Müller 171 8 Gender Relevance in Environmental Conflicts: A Gender Analysis of the Cauvery Dispute in South India Susanne Fleischli 189 5 North-South Gender and Sustainable Development: perspectives Case Studies from NCCR North-South 9 Gender and Family Planning in Urban Underprivileged Areas: An Analysis of Contraceptive Practices in Precarious Slums of Yopougon (Abidjan, Côte d‘ Ivoire) Mohamed Doumbia 207 10 Women in Organisations for Poor, Unemployed Working People: Reshaping Female Roles through Political Commitment Ada Freytes Frey, Cecilia Cross, Florencia Partenio, Karina Crivelli and Maria Inés Fernàndez Alvarez 233 11 Development Interventions, Gender Dynamics and Fertility in Rural Nepal Kate Molesworth 249 12 “We could show the men that we are able to do it”. A Women’s-Development Approach in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project, East Nepal Martina Locher 267 13 “I am the head of the household now”: The Impacts of Outmigration for Labour on Gender Hierarchies in Nepal Heidi Kaspar 285 14 Incorporating Gender in Research on Indigenous Environmental Knowledge in the Tunari National Park in the Bolivian Andes Elvira Serrano, Sebastian Boillat and Stephan Rist 305 Part III Synthesis and Conclusion 15 Synthesis and Conclusion Christine Müller 331 Annexes Annex 1 Guidelines for Gender-Sensitive PAMS 355 Annex 2 List of Abbreviations 357 Authors 361 6 Foreword Foreword Mainstreaming gender has become a core concern in international develop- ment cooperation, similar to other transversal themes such as environment, governance, and human rights. Despite efforts to mainstream gender in most development activities, however, huge disparities still persist from the local to the global level, between men and women and boys and girls belonging to different age groups, social groups, classes, and nationalities. Gender is a field of research as well as a social category that informs all development-oriented research. Thematically, all research activities address- ing human dimensions should automatically include gender as a scientific approach and a means of differentiation, in order to better understand the nature of social interaction, decision-making processes, the dynamics of sustainable development, and the dynamics of relationships within and between society, institutions, and social groups in general. Moreover, very often gender is still not automatically included in research projects dealing with human interaction with the environment. When a programme based on research partnerships spanning major regions of the world attempts to better understand core problems of human development in different political, social, cultural, historical and environmental settings, it must include gender as an important transversal dimension: as a distinct field of research, an element in a conceptual research framework, a methodological component, a focus of data collection, a perspective in analysing and interpret- ing knowledge production, and a way of generating new insights. Developing meaningful research partnerships for mitigating syndromes of global change in different contexts worldwide is the general direction of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (NCCR North-South). In its first volume in the Perspectives Series (Hurni et al., 2004), the NCCR North-South laid the conceptual basis of the long-term research programme – in particular, by introducing and describing the trans- disciplinary process chosen for assessing major core problems of non-sus- tainable development and their clustering into three typical ‘syndrome con- texts’in 9 regions of the world. The present publication is the second volume in this Perspectives Series. In mid-2004, two researchers took the initiative to prepare and edit a publica- tion that would constitute an initial compilation of main results from a num- 7 North-South Gender and Sustainable Development: perspectives Case Studies from NCCR North-South ber of case studies with a focus on women and gender that had been carried out within and in relation to the NCCR North-South programme. This was done in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Women and Gender Studies (IZFG) at the University of Bern. Dr. Smita Premchander from India, and Dr. Christine Müller from Germany, were both applying results from their own research, with a strong focus on women and gender, within the framework of the NCCR North-South. They felt, however, that other researchers in the programme, predominantly women, were also deal- ing with gender as a research topic, so that synergies should be found to bring these studies together. The programme’s Board of Directors gladly accepted their proposal to publish a special book on Gender and Sustainable Development, and provided the necessary funding. In addition to the numer- ous case studies, a select number of female scientists were invited to write papers for the conceptual section (Part I). This section includes a paper situating gender in contemporary research and literature by one of the editors, Smita Premchander. In the final section of the book (Part III), the other editor, Christine Müller, developed a synthesis of, and drew conclu- sions from, the two preceding sections. I am particularly proud of this initiative, as it gives our programme the much- needed momentum to carry on, and further develop, gender as a field of research and a transversal dimension in the NCCR North-South programme. Sceptics might challenge the need for a book that culls gender issues from research that necessarily should integrate gender. This reflects the ongoing tension between ‘mainstreaming’ and ‘integrating,’ and the accompanying risk of losing perspective or giving special attention to gender, thereby also sanctioning its exclusion and marginalisation. Because this tension is ongo- ing, we in the NCCR North-South choose to give special attention to the issue, until such time as gender is fully integrated in research processes in the programme, and no longer remains the domain largely of women researchers. I especially hope that in future, many more men will join in this effort, and fully incorporate a gender perspective in their own research. The programme’s policy is to guide and support gender-specific research and gendered research, i.e. gender as a full-fledged field, and a focus for main- streaming of development-oriented research. Bern, Switzerland Hans Hurni February 2006 Director, NCCR North-South 8 Preface and Acknowledgment Preface and Acknowledgements A book is above all a labour of love, and this is what it has been for us, Christine Müller and Smita Premchander, as editors. The present volume emerged from our work with several researchers in the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (NCCR North-South),