M. SAIZ, CONSULTANT,
Women in Development Service, FAO
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IN HONDURAS, WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION in productive activities has been promoted since the 1970s in order to strengthen the "reformed sector" of organized farmers' groups that benefited from the agrarian reform. The Agrarian Reform Programme appropriated 225 000 ha of land, benefiting around 1 800 farming enterprises, although only 70 percent of them were allotted parcels of land. In the farming enterprises of the reformed sector, women usually participated in agricultural activities as men's assistants, cultivating the family or collective parcel of land. Sometimes women were paid for their work, but less than what men were paid.
In order to increase women's participation in production, the Government of Honduras entered into an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and FAO for a project on the Incorporation of Farmer Women into the Productive Process and Consolidation of the Reformed Sector Groups. The project was initiated in 1983 as the first link in a process that is still ongoing and that has been developed through five subprojects funded by the Government of the Netherlands and FAO.
This case study is about that project and would be applicable to similar cases involving the training of women farmers and the promotion of women's participation in grassroots groups, rural organizations (mixed-sex and women's) and public and private institutions aiming at increasing opportunities in the productive process, coordinating the farmers' movement and drawing up sector policies.
The projects were adapted as they progressed, addressing immediate problems without adopting a long-term strategy. Consequently, their long-term findings and results should be looked at carefully before they are applied to other conditions.
HONDURAS COVERS AN AREA of 112 492 km2 and has a population of around 6 million. It has abundant natural resources: 4.2 million ha of farmland and 7.7 million ha of forest land. Of all the Central American countries, it has the greatest forestry resources, the most agricultural land per caput, and fishing facilities in two oceans.
Agriculture is the most important sector of the Honduran economy. From 1989 to 1993, it contributed an average of 27.6 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) and generated 77.3 percent of foreign exchange through exports1. More than half of the country's population lives in rural areas, 56.7 percent of the economically active population is rural and 35.4 percent is engaged in agricultural activities2.
The principal export products are bananas, coffee, milk and meat, basic grains, fish, and poultry products. During the 1989-1993 period, bananas and coffee together represented an average of 38.7 percent of the mixed farming sector GDP at steady prices, milk and meat, basic grains, fish, and poultry products represented 13.2, 12, 5.1 and 4.6 percent, respectively (Government of Honduras, 1994). In recent years, crops have diversified rapidly into such non-traditional products as pineapples, melons, plantains, citric fruits, vegetables and cultivated shrimp.
An annual per caput income fluctuating around US$600 ranks Honduras as one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Social indicators show that poverty is more marked in rural areas; 71 percent of Honduran households below the poverty line are rural and 80 percent of all indigent households are found in rural areas. Of the 74.3 percent of rural households below the poverty line, 66 percent live in destitute conditions (SECPLAN, 1994).
In 1983, women represented slightly more than half of the country's population (51.2 percent), 47.6 percent of them lived in rural areas and most of them were younger than 25 years old. Most of the economically active female population was engaged in service and trade activities, 20 percent were craft, unskilled and manual workers, and only 4.9 percent were farmers, livestock breeders or forestry workers. They had a life expectancy of 61.7 years and a general fecundity rate of 6.1 children per woman (7.5 in the country). Rural women had an illiteracy rate of 52.6 percent.
In 1980, women farmers' movements started to join the strong farming federations. The Honduran Women Farmers' Federation (FEHMUC), created in 1978, joined the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and the National Association of Honduran Women Farmers (ANAMUCH), organized at the beginning of the 1980s, joined the National Association of Honduran Farmers (NAHF). The principal reasons for these moves were women's need of access to new resources and services and their desire to participate in income-generating projects.
The establishment of a Women's Decade (1975 to 1985) helped sensitize the population and the members of institutions to the importance of a more active and efficient participation of rural women in productive areas. Two agricultural sector government organisms - the National Agrarian Institute (NAI) and the Natural Resources Secretariat (NRS) - included elements of women's participation in their programmes. These organisms were supported by the Professional Training Institute (PTI) with regard to training, and by the Agricultural Development National Bank (BANADESA) with regard to credit management. While NAI framed its actions in accordance with the agrarian reform policy, NRS centred its policy on extension services and agricultural development.
In 1980, the Honduran government approved the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and, in 1982, the Declaration of Women's Participation in the Promotion of Peace and International Cooperation. In 1975 and 1983, respectively, the Department of Women and the Department of Rural Youth were created in the Natural Resources Secretariat of NAI, were they currently form part of the Farmer Entrepreneurial Reconversion Division of the Agrarian Reform.
Until 1991, direct beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reform Law included only those women who were single or widowed with children in their care, and only if they worked on the land. Also in 1991, changes in the law eliminated discrimination against women regarding access to land.
In 1992, an Agricultural Modernization Law for Rural Development was passed in accordance with economic trends and international policies, i.e. as a result of greater integration in world markets and privatization. Basic grain crops were discouraged, which had an adverse affect on small farmers' - both men and women - subsistence production and family food security.
IF SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT is to be achieved, poverty eliminated and food security problems solved, it is essential that all agents - users, public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international bodies - participate in the development process. But this is not always possible. Women, for example, are generally discriminated against and in a disadvantaged position compared with men, so not only do they not usually participate in the development process, they are also often excluded from it.
In Honduras, women play a fundamental role in agriculture, subsistence and family food security. They contribute to food production and the generation of income as well as carrying out their reproductive tasks. Nevertheless, and in spite of actions that have been initiated since the mid-1970s to promote rural women's participation in productive areas, women farmers' contribution to the productive process is unknown and undervalued
Within this context, it was decided to support the Government of Honduras in its attempts to relieve poverty and food security problems by strengthening the role of women farmers as producers. Five projects were developed as a coherent group. These were executed one after the other, and adjustments were made according to the experiences acquired, objectives reached, difficulties encountered and current needs. Although long-term planning was not used in the design of the projects, they did share certain concepts and elements. In effect, two approaches emerged as a conceptual framework: women and development, and gender equality.
The overall process of the five projects was divided into three stages. The first two were based on the women and development approach and the third on the gender approach. This decision had clear and specific motives. At first, work was carried out directly with women and grassroots groups through a bottom-up process (women and development) to create conditions that would subsequently permit the integration of the gender perspective into institutional/organizational structures and government/private policies and programmes (gender equality).
During the first stage, emphasis was on access to production resources and the execution of small productive projects and, in the second stage, the stress was on training. In spite of these differences, both stages had elements in common.
The target population was rural women. This meant that most of the proposals were designed to benefit rural women directly, as part of the family, social, economic, political, cultural and institutional context. It was decided to work with women and not families as was done in traditional approaches. In programmes based on family-centred methodologies, men, as heads of households, were usually the direct beneficiaries of the proposals. Positive impacts were then expected to spread to all household members, including women. However, in many cases the results of this process were not satisfactory, so the women and development approach selected women, and not families, as the target for actions. Promotion of the project's activities among women farmers helped to identify more clearly their real needs, interests and concerns, and gave them the opportunity of participating in development strategy.
Development of the process was bottom-up. Project participation was centred on local communities, directing initial actions towards women farmers and grassroots groups. In the early 1980s, when the projects started, women played traditional roles and participated in production to a very limited extent owing to their high rate of illiteracy, lack of self-esteem, motivation and time and limited access to resources, among other factors. The situation of Honduran women was such that great training and education efforts had to be made, both to encourage women's participation in the projects and to increase their opportunities to take advantage of what the policies, programmes and laws could offer them.
Reinforcement of grassroots organizations was considered fundamental. Women's participation in these organizations would open up new communication options, provide more possibilities for action and involve women in decision-making mechanisms. In addition, the role and power of local organizations would be strengthened, facilitating the creation of links with institutions and national rural organizations.
During the first two stages, the women and development approach led to a better appreciation of the productive and organizational roles of women, the execution of specific productive projects, and access to financial mechanisms and production resources.
Ten years after they were first implemented, the actions developed were analysed, leading to the conclusion that, in order to consolidate the results already achieved, it was necessary to introduce gender concepts and methodologies to public and private institutions, NGOs and rural organizations. A new phase was entered in which attention centred on strengthening the results and making them sustainable.
It was considered essential to adopt a strategy directed towards:
Although during the entire process the development objective was to help improve the incomes and standards of living of rural women, in particular, and rural families in general, by supporting and reinforcing the role of women as productive agents, the instrumental objectives varied from project to project according to prevailing needs.
At the beginning of the process, attention was focused on developing the entrepreneurial skills of resource-poor farming women through the implementation of small-scale productive projects. Women benefited from training and technical and financial aid. The projects had a positive impact since they satisfied basic needs related to food security, reduced the domestic workload through service projects, and increased access to production resources.
This made it easier for society, in general, and women, in particular, to recognize the productive role of women, and encouraged them to organize themselves into small groups for specific tasks. Women's participation in grassroots groups led to the emergence of their role as communicators, which gradually gained acceptance and became stronger. Society's acceptance of both roles - productive and communicative - increased women's self-esteem, both individually and as a group, and this was progressively transformed into more assertive decision-making with regard to what, how and with what means to produce.
Although the lack of long-term planning or programming in the process of incorporating women was, in many ways, a limiting factor for a development programme, it also had positive elements. In fact, this type of methodology allows great flexibility in adapting projects to the real needs of the population. In addition, it is a trial-and-error process in which positive experiences are evaluated and problems and errors contribute to the learning process.
DURING THE PROCESS, THE STRATEGIES and tools used varied according to the specific conditions and needs of the moment, and were adapted to the experiences and training derived from the results of the five projects. An outline of the main features of each project is given in the Annex to this case study.
The first project was initiated in 1983 and aimed at strengthening group organization and supporting the execution of small-scale productive projects to promote the participation of women in production.
The regions of Olancho, Comayagua, Choluteca and Francisco Morazán were chosen as working areas. The main tools adopted were:
Credit was granted to 74 small productive and service projects, benefiting 55 groups and more than 1 000 women farmers. A total of 370 NAI officials were trained during 21 separate events.
Unfortunately, lack of attention to illiteracy and the absence of previous training initiatives for women limited the success of these actions. In fact, the mistaken belief that women simply needed credit led to the award of a training budget that was only 5 percent of the total available resources. Moreover, arising from this same misconception, it was considered that the methodologies used to train men could be applied to women without any modification, and that the technology involved, which was sophisticated and demanded purchased inputs, could easily be assimilated by illiterate women. In other words, no research had been made into the development and/or transfer of technology that was appropriated for women.
At the same time, women farmers' fear of assuming credit liabilities, their illiteracy and the demands of domestic work led both to the poor performance of some productive projects and to the low turnover of the revolving fund.
One lesson derived from this project was that women's participation in productive activities demands, as well as credit and technical assistance, substantial alphabetization and training activities.
The second stage was essentially centred on training and developed through the implementation of three separate projects. In order to provide continuity to the process started in the first stage, and based on the difficulties and lessons derived from it, a new project was prepared that extended coverage to two new regions, Copán and Paraiso.
The main objectives of this programme were to:
As a result of these actions, 840 women were taught to read and write and 141 alphabetization facilitators were trained. Training was provided to 1 700 participants. Most of these were field personnel - women farmers' support groups and grassroots groups - and project advisers and coordinators (women and men). Staff members were technically qualified and chosen on the basis of their capacity to support groups of women in entrepreneurial projects through workshops and events. The training included the organization of promoters, technical-productive training for grassroots groups, and the strengthening of rural organizations.
However, the most significant aspect of this project was the adoption of a new methodology; "link producers' training". This strategy allows women to carry out the paratechnical functions of local extension workers to complement the professional work of institutional extension workers. It helps women farmers acquire knowledge that allows them to:
The link producers carry out voluntary work, using knowledge and experience acquired during the training programme. Some of their more important duties are to:
Performance of these functions gives link producers: a new status within the community; institutional acknowledgement which, in some cases, is provided by paid work; management of accounting and financial instruments that contribute to the improvement of productivity in their activities; and an opening into the labour market. Some women link producers were hired for the Trifinio, Support of the Agricultural Activity of the Choluteca Farmer Groups (SAACFG) and Integrated Development of the Otoro Valley projects.
Modular training provides a meeting space where women, whether as part of their link producer role or not, can share problems and experiences and explore potential solutions and obstacles. Training sessions in closed centres ("boarding school-type") are particularly favourable to this process.
In 1989, the experience acquired during training, and the need to consolidate the results already achieved with the beneficiary groups, encouraged FAO to support a six-month bridging project, Support to Farmer Training for Participation of Women in the Development Process. The objectives were to provide continuity and to reinforce the knowledge of the trained women farmers, as well as to support their role as agents of socio-economic development in rural areas.
Subsequent project aims were the definition of a strategy for taking training activities to other regions and the design and initiation of a link producer methodology in the food and nutrition area. Improvements were also made to the working practices of more than half of the link producers who were trained through follow-up workshops.
The second stage of the process concluded with a project (the Promotion and Training Programme for the Incorporation of Women into Rural Development) with the aims of strengthening women farmers' groups, training extension workers and new link agents and intensifying the practical training of women farmers. Nevertheless, the central axis was link producer training and one of the main results of this project was ratification of the efficacy of the link producer methodology. It was shown that the productive and entrepreneurial capacity of women farmers can be strengthened to increase production and, consequently, income levels. Specifically, 114 new link producers were trained and complementary training was given to 48 who had been trained during previous projects. A link producer methodology manual was prepared which described the selection process for participants, the contents and mechanisms of modular training, the follow-up/evaluation phases and the supporting didactic material.
By the end of the second stage, conditions made feasible the transfer of the link producer training methodology to other institutions interested in adopting it as a work strategy. Nevertheless, the absence of sustained support from the NAI and NRS extension workers to link producers, owing to frequent personnel turnover and cuts, limited the success and reduced the possibilities for institutionalization of the process. Moreover, changes in the areas of responsibility of the institutions involved in the process established new priorities and general work outlines that subsequently conditioned the expected effects.
At the end of the second stage, intensive thought was given to the scope of the projects already executed. The conclusion was that, after ten years of activities centred basically on women and grassroots organizations, conditions now allowed actions and efforts to be directed towards institutions. In this third stage not only was the emphasis changed but a new conceptual approach was adopted. Thus, the women and development approach prevailing in the first two stages was replaced by one of gender equality.
A new project (the Women Support Project for Access to Production Resources), which is still ongoing, was conceived in view of the needs to: institutionalize the training methodology of link producers in order to guarantee expansion, consolidation and sustainability of the results achieved in previous years; strengthen organized women farmers' groups through technical follow-up of their activities by NGOs and rural organizations; promote the more extensive and effective participation of women in the agrarian reform process through revision and efficient application of the policy regarding women; and define the roles of NGOs and rural organizations.
In order to reinforce and institutionalize the link producer training methodology, some NGOs that were already active in the areas of execution were identified. In the event, Save the Children was the only one of these that had the necessary capacity to adopt the training knowledge and methodology into its programmes. The lesson learned was that the capacity of NGO's to adopt a training model of this type should not be overestimated, since it is difficult to adjust the modalities and execution deadlines to their own programmes, unless they have specific experience of doing so.
In spite of the difficulties and limitations faced in the previous stage, institutional transition was achieved by the inclusion in ongoing activities of three rural development projects financed internationally and by the collaboration of the Honduran Foundation for Mixed Farming Research and six rural organizations (see Annex). The rural organizations then undertook follow-up of the groups through their project-trained personnel.
The project generated and/or strengthened the self-management capacity of grassroots and national rural organizations, eliminating the main barriers that limited women's effective access to production resources. These organizations participated, through their male and female leaders, as permanent consultants, actors directing the project, and beneficiaries of training, credit, monitoring and evaluation. The leaders of rural organizations throughout the country supplied valuable information about experiences, needs and expectations related to women's participation, thereby acknowledging the need to promote systematic action with a view to increasing women's opportunities in participation. On this basis, the first training programme for women farmer promoters was structured, involving 90 women members and 11 farmers' federations. The promoters were included in the national management staffs of mixed and women-only farmers' organizations to watch over the interests of women farmers in the country.
An alternative financing plan was adopted to facilitate women's access to financial resources. Initiatives directed towards promoting women farmers' participation in investment projects were fostered through the establishment of rural savings and credit banks (RSCBs), which are communal entities offering savings and credit services to their associates and people in the community. Some 69 grassroots groups with more than 800 members from the operation zones of Choluteca, Valle, Comayagua, Intibucá and Copán have access to alternative non-traditional forms of credit. More than half of the resources granted came form the associates' savings and from the profits of intermediary activities.
The associates of rural banks were trained in administration and accounting but, owing to the low scholastic level prevailing in rural areas and the lack of experience, it became essential to complement the RSCBs' efforts with interventions from the trained personnel of other specialist rural organizations.
In order to improve the conditions of Honduran rural women, who face both discrimination over access to resources and unequal treatment that limits their efficient performance as mixed farmers, a national survey was carried out, in coordination with NAI, regarding the opportunities and limitations that women farmers face in the issue of access to land and other production means.
As a result of joint action on the part of NGO representatives, public institutions, rural organizations and women's groups, agricultural sector policy was revised to incorporated gender and equality of gender concepts.
The efficacy of the link producer methodology as a tool for promoting agricultural and rural development with a gender approach has encouraged the Honduran government to copy this methodology in six regions of the country through a project to be funded by the Government of Japan.
After completion of the project, FAO and the national authorities continued the process through a new project (Women Farmers and Surmounting Rural Poverty) that would aim at copying the link producer methodology and strengthening technical capacities to integrate gender analysis and the gender approach into rural development in Honduras. A preliminary version of this project is expected to last five years (until 2003). The general development objective will be to contribute to the reduction of rural poverty levels through practices and policies based on an equality and gender approach. This will be achieved through two intermediate objectives: to support integration of the gender approach into mixed farming public-sector programmes, strategies, projects and policies; and to strengthen and evaluate the productive and management capacities of women farmers given the basic role they play in food security and, therefore, in household living conditions.
The preliminary version of the General Outline of the Strategic Plan of Action on Gender Equality in Honduran Farming 1996-20003 was concluded in September 1997. The plan aims at identifying and adopting measures directed towards creating/extending rural women's access to social, economic and political opportunities on an equal basis.
The following is a summary of the main results achieved during the three stages of the overall process:
In 1983, when initiatives aimed at reinforcing the participation of women farmers in Honduran agricultural production were adopted, the situation of rural women was characterized by:
In addition to these, there was a lack of institutional mechanisms for working with women farmers as productive agents.
The project's first actions were aimed at women in various communities in the expectation that they would gradually form themselves into groups. It was thought that the organization of groups and the granting of credits would strengthen the agricultural and entrepreneurial work of women farmers.
Lack of timely and adequate technical assistance led to the paralysis of some of the productive activities, making it clear that training tasks needed to be fostered in rural institutions and organizations to increase rural women's knowledge.
At the same time, space was being obtained at the institutional level. Based on the experience and actions of the project, NAI created the Department of Women and Rural Youth to coordinate and boost institutional policies for the participation of women.
Institutional space gradually grew and the Natural Resources Secretariat became a co-executor of the project. Its attention was directed towards alphabetization and training, not only for women farmers but also for government extension workers and leaders of rural organizations, since it was evident that credit alone was not sufficient to reinforce the productive role of women.
A change of mentality - institutional, community and family - was necessary if women were to assume new roles and be accepted socially. To achieve this, long-established cultural and social limitations (machismo, illiteracy, insufficient training to manage small-scale productive projects, lack of project proposals based on women's true situation), institutional barriers (lack of complementary services, misconceptions about the needs of women farmers, the use of productive techniques inadequate for women) and legal restrictions (those hindering women's access to land, Article 79 of the Agrarian Reform Law) had to be overcome.
The methodology was centred on training at all levels, beginning with women farmers and grassroots groups and continuing with NGOs, rural organizations and public institutions, to permeate the concept of gender in all public and private organisms and to link grassroots groups to organizational and institutional management.
Training in undervalued traditional areas and in those where performance was poor (family and collective orchards) helped to establish and reinforce the productive role of women. As these agricultural developments were made, the demand for credit and technical assistance from women farmers increased. Women's progressive participation in productive areas led to an increase of production, which in many cases generated surpluses that could be sold and, therefore, additional income for the family unit.
The training methodology of link producers produced excellent results and was the central axis of the entire process, which was aimed at developing the position and condition of women farmers by improving their leadership skills, knowledge and access to technology and production resources. The strategy consists of training link producers as a prototype of women farmer extension workers representing grassroots groups and trained to share their knowledge and experience to benefit other women.
The creation of link producers takes about five years and involves systematic research, promotion, training, technical assistance and resource management actions. Specific results included changes of attitude, behaviour and participation opportunities arising from increased gender equality in the family and the community, the management of financing mechanisms and the execution of specific sustainable productive projects. These results, in turn, led to the improvement of the standard of living of the participants and their families.
Among the tools used were the RSCBs that the project created to promote savings and access to credit for associates and women so that they could raise their personal and family standards of living through individual and collective productive activities. These banks mainly finance mixed farming activities with seed capital, promoting activities that are of interest to women, such as agricultural projects, highland vegetable and fruit tree planting. They operate in accordance with savings and credit bylaws and regulations and provisions originating from the assemblies. Regulations establish that they must be participatory and democratic organizations with effective, efficient, self-sustaining management, and that the number of associated members cannot be more than 50 or fewer than ten. However, although these banks were established within an existing legal framework, the absence of specific regulations limits their efficiency.
Other tools were regional surveys of the factors that condition women's access to land and services. The surveys were prepared according to a gender and ethnic approach and their findings were communicated through feedback workshops for officials of counterpart institutions, NRS regional leaders and the directors of rural projects throughout the country. The regional surveys generated a national survey.
Capacities at the individual, group and institutional levels were stimulated and strengthened through training and participation.
At the individual level, training in productive, organizational and self-esteem issues led to the strengthening of women farmers, raising their level of knowledge, facilitating and making more efficient their traditional roles, improving their living standard and lightening their workloads. Women also acquired leadership status within their areas of action, demonstrated their productive and community roles within traditionally male structures and handled accounting elements and obtained credit through the RSCBs.
At the group level the multiplying effect of women link promoters allowed the development, organization and consolidation of grassroots groups. However, the most significant development was the opening of new opportunities in the decision-making structures of rural organizations, NGOs and government institutions.
Women obtained the right to vote in all elections in rural organizations. Female leadership of rural organizations, traditionally dominated by men, increased through women's participation in the public agricultural sector's policy-planning consultations and through pressure for legal changes and more opportunities for women in programmes and projects. Women assumed responsibilities in following up the financial activities of grassroots groups and, as a consequence, the Rural Organization Coordinating Committee adopted the rural bank model.
At the institutional level, coordination was encouraged, fostered and supported by the process, and several commissions and committees were created. These included the Commission for Women's Issues and the Permanent Women's Forum founded in 1991; the Committee for Integration of Rural Women in the Agrarian Reform (under the auspices of NRS); the Commission for Coordination and Development of Rural Women (CCDRW) (a mechanism for coordination among rural organizations, NGOs and government institutions); the Government Office for Women, assigned to the Presidency of the Republic in 1994; and the Subcommission on Women's Participation in Agricultural Development, which gave rise to a sector interinstitutional technical committee with the express mandate of revising mixed farming policies and recommending reforms aimed at ensuring greater equality for rural women.
Although generating information on women's contribution to agricultural and rural development was not one of the project's aims, some of its activities had a bearing on the gathering, processing and analysis of information for the planning, preparation and execution of mixed farming policies. Among such activities, three stand out in particular. First, the events that were held to sensitize and train the executive staff and technicians of public institutions and the leaders of rural organizations on the subject of gender and development led to participants becoming more aware of women's invisibility in official statistics related to production and the impact of rural development policies. Second, the technical assistance received by NAI in its efforts to incorporate the gender perspective into the Land Title Award National Programme (thus improving rural women's access to this resource) contributed to the disaggregation of the Institutes' statistics through the modification of some of the Programme's mechanisms. Among the new mechanisms used were: the inclusion of men and women in the Programme's information and promotion activities; the adoption of institutional measures to gather information; and the Programme's use of gender-disaggregated statistics to modify and adjust mechanisms and tools for the research, request and approval of property titles. A specific example regarding this last tool is the inclusion of women's names on producers' certificates and the property deeds of small farms, so that the heads of household are automatically considered beneficiary title-holder and so that all data can be disaggregated by gender.
Finally, the gender analysis of mixed farming policies, which was developed with the active participation of technicians and executives from NGOs, public institutions and rural organizations, helped to fill the gap in gender-disaggregated information. A proposed additional project, Strategic Outline of the Action Plan for Equality of Gender in Honduran Agriculture 1996-2000, would include sector planning.
Actions have been directed towards reviewing the prevailing gender bias, both in sector planning and in official statistics, regarding women's participation in and contribution to agricultural and rural development. This is an important task since gender bias is one of the main causes of the deficiencies in present agricultural strategies, plans and policies for ensuring the equal participation of men and women.
Mechanisms, methods and procedures to correct the severe problems of underrecording and undervaluation in official data should also be developed. Such mechanisms would also: standardize and regulate the sector's gender-disaggregated statistics; draw up a typology of women in agriculture that acknowledges the multiple functions of rural women as the target population; institutionalize gender equality; and strengthen institutional capacity with regard to the introduction of gender analysis to sector planning.
Women's productive role is gradually being valued by a slow and complex process that includes the establishment of women farmers' autonomy within a context that is socially and culturally adverse. Link producers have been able to participate in non-traditional areas (credit, productive activities, gender training, management outside the household) with the support of their spouses, families and communities. Women's contribution to the income and work of the production unit was acknowledged by their spouses, as was the fact that they are responsible and persistent.
Women's roles in organization and promotion were acknowledged by extension workers and social promoters who, as a result, have changed their organizational and promotional roles to ones of supervision and support. Furthermore, the new powers of women to make productive and financial decisions, both inside and outside their households, and of women's groups within communities have generated links with male producers and rural organizations.
The training of link producers was the central axis of the project process, and this fostered and favoured the establishment of various linkages. Adoption of this methodology, aimed at promoting the re-evaluation of women's role as productive agents, generated a valuable relationship with two organisms of the mixed farming sector - NAI and NRS. Collaboration with NAI ensures that the regularization of landholdings really benefits women, while NRS participation will contribute to ensuring that a gender approach is incorporated into the generation and transference of mixed farming and forestry technology, within the framework of the National Policy for Women. The projects supported and participated in the definition of this policy which, among other developments, led to the creation of women units and departments throughout the country and across the sector.
At first it was believed that the institutionalization of this training would be carried out specifically in the non-governmental sector, to take advantage of its capacities and direct experience in the field. However, only one NGO, Save the Children, could adopt the methodology into its programmes. The process proved to be sufficiently adaptable to various situations, and efforts were aimed towards achieving the participation and support of rural organizations through the Rural Organization Coordinating Committee (ROCC), development projects in various regions, agricultural research funds, social investment funds and the Lenca Native National Organization (LNNO), although these last two entities adopted only the RSCBs.
Links were strengthened between communal groups and rural women's organizations and, as the organizations and the links among them expanded, a coordination strategy had to be designed and established. Workshops were held with executives to outline which elements to take into account in preparing the plan of action on gender equality in Honduran agriculture.
Other relationships fostered among the various agents involved were those among:
During the development process, close relationships were established with various institutes of the mixed farming sector (from those in charge of planning to those in charge of financing) to ensure that their proposals and programmes were in keeping with the aims of the projects. The Table lists these institutions and the purpose of the project's links with them.
Institutional links and their aims |
|
INSTITUTION |
AIMS |
NAI |
To ensure that the regularization of landholdings really benefits women. |
NRS |
To ensure the development and adoption of mixed farming and forestry technologies adequate for women. |
BANADESA |
To define regulations for the rural banks as an alternative financing mechanism. |
To strengthen women's participation in productive tasks and decision-making, it was considered vital that a change of attitude be introduced in NAI, where rural development tended to be aimed at men's production. The training of institutional technicians in methodologies to promote and organize women was directed towards developing new perspectives regarding women farmers' fundamental role in productive activities, encouraging extension workers to accept the idea of working with women in rural development programmes, and reinforcing institutional capacity to continue the work after conclusion of the projects. At the end of the process, NAI technicians' conception of gender had been significantly changed by the project's sensitization work regarding differences and inequalities of gender.
Important institutional changes came about with the new government, which in January 1994 established a series of measures related to modernization of the state, reduction of public systems and redefinition of public functions. As the governing organism of the mixed farming sector, NRS underwent a restructuring process that resulted in the reduction of its size and personnel, as well as in the privatization of research and mixed farming extension services that had been provided by NRS technical personnel. Two important technical offices were created in the new NRS; the Mixed Farming Science and Technology Office (MFSTO), including the National Research System and Transference of Mixed Farming Technology (NRSTMFT); and the Rural Development Office.
Parallel to and in accordance with the reforms made by the Mixed Farming Sector Modernization Law, NAI's actions were limited to awarding land titles and to the productive reconversion of enterprises established by the agrarian reform. Within this context, farmers, particularly women farmers, ended up with fewer opportunities for obtaining new lands.
The Women's Technical Unit achieved a higher status when NAI created the Department of Women and Rural Youth, incorporating it within the Entrepreneurial Reconversion Division and endowing it with working resources.
This office also coordinates actions with the Land Title Award Division and has managed to improve women's access to property titles.
With regard specifically to gender, in 1994 the government created the Government Office for Women, whose function is to coordinate policies and actions in favour of women within the framework of the National Policy for Women adopted in 1989. The office has carried out sensitizing work in the public sector regarding equality of opportunities and benefits among men and women.
Subsequently, two women's units were created within NRS and integrated into the MFSTO and Rural Development offices. Even though these were the counterpart in the last stage of the strengthening process of women as productive agents, they could not carry out adequately their technical functions owing to lack of resources.
The Agriculture and Livestock Breeding Secretariat (ALBS), which replaced NRS in January 1997 as the governing entity in agricultural policy and the coordinator of the public mixed farming sector, contributed to the revision of sector policies to create more equitable participation conditions for rural women.
DURING THE COURSE OF THE PROJECT, the women and development approach gradually gave way to the gender equality approach, which is the reference framework for facing the challenges imposed by modernization of the agricultural development process. The women and development approach led to the valorization of women's productive, organizational and promotional roles in productive projects and in the management of mechanisms for financing and obtaining access to production resources. Ultimately, these roles can be seen as elements of financial and other power for women farmers. The gender approach, on the other hand, has been introduced gradually into various institutions, leading to modification of the institutional framework and the revision of mixed farming sector policies to include the concept of equality.
One of the most important lessons learned was that the consolidation of women's role as productive agents' demands, as well as credit and technical assistance, significant alphabetization and training initiatives. The development of a training procedure was particularly relevant to this issue. Results have been very successful since it was possible to put into practice and validate the link producer methodology.
The link producer model follows a training-intensive, comprehensive approach and requires that support and follow-up be provided to the groups involved. The model aims at empowering people, improving their status, extending their access to resources, and reinforcing social relationships at the organizational level so that, in the end, poverty can be reduced and food security improved (see figure below). When adopting it, the interested organizations must take an integral approach and have sufficient time to put it into practice properly.
The sustainability of the link producer model is based on its own organizational dynamics of farmer leaders as people, producers and providers of real and potential services.
Pay-offs of the link producer model |
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At first it was believed that training public institution extension workers would be an effective way of institutionalizing the training model. However, the results of this were not as expected, not only because of the high turnover and, in some cases, reduction of personnel, but also because of changes in the institutional areas of responsibility. Consequently, to transfer the link producer training model, the projects were directed mainly towards strengthening the self-management capacity of national and grassroots rural organizations.
Owing to the various activities developed throughout the process, the following have been established in Honduras:
The following are some of the positive results of the project:
Some of the limiting factors of the project were:
INCORPORATION OF WOMEN FARMERS INTO THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS
AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE REFORMED SECTOR GROUPS: PROJECT HON/82/007 (1983-1986)
To help improve the living conditions of rural women, in particular, and rural families in general.
FARMER PROMOTION AND TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR INCORPORATION
OF WOMEN INTO THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS: PROJECT GCP/HON/013/NET (1986-1989)
Entrepreneurial strengthening of rural women with few resources and, consequently, improvement of farming households' family income.
To provide qualified technical support in the four project regions through:
At the end of the project, training had been provided to:
At the end of the project the following had been planted:
Recommendations to extend the geographic coverage and serve the non-reformed sector led, in mid-1997, to the inclusion of the Natural Resources Secretariat as a co-executor entity. The project extended coverage to six regional NAI and NRS offices.
SUPPORT TO FARMER TRAINING FOR PARTICIPATION
OF WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: PROJECT TCP/HON/0051 (1990)
Based on the experience acquired and the programming initiated within the framework of Porject GCP/HON/013/NET, consolidation of the training process was aimed at through the following specific objectives:
The follow-up actions reactivated the interest and improved the work of approximately half of the previously trained link producers.
In each project region (Choluteca, Comayagua and Copán) a minimum of three follow-up workshops were held which complemented or reinforced the training of 60 link producers on subjects related to biological agriculture and the handling of poultry. In addition, 11 technicians and nine women farmer promoters were trained to propose projects for turnover of the Revolving Fund. As a result, 55 projects were approved in 1990, the largest number of projects approved since the initiation of the process. Three courses were held for the Honduran Women Farmers Federation (FEHMUC), the National Association of Honduran Women Farmers (ANAMUCH) and the Farmer Alliance Secretariat for Women's Issues (FASWI). A total of 70 leaders participated in these courses.
Through Letter Agreement NAI/FAO90, didactic material on food and nutrition was designed and validated.
FARMER PROMOTION AND TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR THE INCORPORATION
OF WOMEN INTO THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS: PROJECT GCP/HON/015/NET (1990-1992)
To help improve the living conditions of women farmers and their families through training and follow-up of link producers and extension workers. "Improved living conditions" are understood to be greater satisfaction of the basic needs of food security, lightening of the domestic workload and access to sources of productive resources.
SUPPORT OF WOMEN'S ACCESS TO PRODUCTION RESOURCES:
PROJECT GCP/HON/017/NET (1993 ONWARDS)
To help improve the living conditions of women farmers and their families through access to land, credit and technical assistance resources aimed at food security.
An inter-institutional technical strategy was designed and approved for revision of agricultural sector policy based on gender perspectives. The project carried out three regional studies in the western, central and Atlantic coast areas and prepared a national survey through analysis of regional results at three feedback workshops for officials of relevant institutions, NRS regional directors and directors of rural projects throughout the country.
The author would like to thank all the FAO personnel in Honduras for their cooperation, especially Carlos Zelaya and Haydeé de Martinez, who coordinated part of the process, for their comments. The original language version of the document was edited by Martha Osorio.
This case study was sponsored by the Norwegian Government, which funded an inter-regional project on Improving Information on Women's Contribution to Agricultural Production for Gender-Sensitive Planning (GCP/INT/ 602/NOR), carried out in Namibia, the United Republic of Tanzania and Nepal between 1995 and 1997.
1 Figures obtained from the Banco Central de Honduras (BCH).
2 Figures obtained from the DGEC Survey, averaged for the 1989-1992 period. Information obtained from the Agricultural Sector Planning Unit-UPSA-Honduras Agricultural Plan for the Development of Fields, Agricultural Development.
3 This proposal was the result of a joint action of the Support for Women's Access to Production Resources project coordination and the Technical Inter-institutional Commission, established by NRS.
Government of Honduras. 1994. Agricultural Plan for Field Development, 1995-1998.
SECPLAN. 1994. Poverty potentiality and municipal focusing of attention. Honduras.
