K. ECKMAN, CONSULTANT,
Women in development service, FA
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SIKKIM IS A FORMER HIMALAYAN mountain kingdom that was, until recently, geographically and culturally isolated. It was annexed by India in 1975, becoming India's newest state. As part of India, it is now governed by the Indian constitution and national government and has its own state parliament in the Sikkimese capital city of Gangtok. Sikkim has historically had little contact with UN or other international development organizations. In 1994, a small FAO Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) in animal husbandry was started in Sikkim, and this had far-reaching impacts in terms of introducing new methods and approaches.
Project activities focused on livestock breeding and the training of agricultural and forestry extension staff and community development workers in a range of new approaches and methods. These included participatory assessment, planning and monitoring; gender analysis; and rapid appraisal of tenure.
The training took particular account of differences in access to various resources by gender and age. It also emphasized the use of applied, field-based practical tools and techniques to allow trainees to explore differences in the activities, constraints and priorities of adult men and women, boys and girls, and elderly men and women. The main outputs and results of this project were:
This project is particularly interesting because its positive impacts went beyond the original boundaries and scope of a TCP project. Although originally conceived as a conventional livestock production and training project, it evolved over its short life span into a more comprehensive initiative with impacts that were far wider-reaching than originally expected. Key to these expanded impacts were the participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) that were undertaken in several villages. PRAs significantly enriched the information base on: agricultural practices; gender roles and responsibilities; land and natural resource tenure in rural areas; natural resource use and conditions of use; and seasonal cycles of food insecurity, risk and indebtedness. Indeed, little applied fieldwork had ever been undertaken at the subsistence level in Sikkim, and only limited information was available about farming systems or gender roles. The PRAs yielded a wealth of new information that was shared with at least five government departments. The success of the small-scale livestock activities, particularly in village poultry, demonstrated the value of participatory, gender-responsive methods to policy-makers and field extensionists who attended a series of interactive meetings. As a result, the TCP project brought new insights, ideas and field methods to the attention of medium- and high-level policy-makers. This was probably the first time in Sikkim that these issues received such attention.
The Development of Small-Scale Livestock Activities in Sikkim, India project coincided with a period of renewed interest in development issues in Sikkim and the other northeastern Indian states on the part of the Government of India (GOI). Both GOI and GOS have recently put forward new policies of broad economic development, including the strengthening of rural agricultural sectors, in this isolated corner of India. The state and national governments have adopted policies of strong support for minority tribes and scheduled castes, who make up a majority of the population in Sikkim. The project also coincides with a period of renewed interest in locally based participatory and gender-sensitive approaches.
The PRA and gender analysis methods used in this project depended on a range of tools and techniques that were developed or adapted by various team members. The mix of tools and interdisciplinary techniques proved to be extremely useful and beneficial, not only in the PRA exercises but also during monitoring activities. The project was a powerful learning experience for all involved, including: the participants who improved their skills and initiated their own mutual assistance activities; the committed extension and community development workers who implemented the project on a day-to-day basis and were largely responsible for its success; the consultants and FAO technical officers who set up the framework and training and provided support services; and the decision-makers at GOS's Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department (AHVS) for whom this was the first experience of a project that targeted rural women and female-headed households. This case study reviews and compares the combined experiences of this project with others, in order to share what was learned in terms of:
SIKKIM IS A SMALL, EXTREMELY MOUNTAINOUS state in the Indian Himalayas with sharply defined and extremely steep watersheds. Although it is only about 65 km wide and 110 km long, its altitude escalates greatly from about 760 m above sea level, in the south, to about 8 200 m, along the Himalayan Kachenjunga range. Most agriculture is concentrated in the lower mountain reaches, primarily in the East and South districts. Nomadic high-altitude livestock herding (primarily goats, sheep and yak) is found along the borders with Nepal and Bhutan and in the North District approaching the Tibetan plateau.
Sikkim has very diverse ecological conditions, from subtropical to alpine, and is endowed with great biodiversity of plants and animals. A wide range of crops is cultivated in diverse agro-ecological zones, including upland rice, vegetables, pulses, potato and ginger. Its extreme topography and altitude mean that most agriculture is done on narrow terraced benches on very steep slopes.
The country is subject to torrential monsoon rains, which contribute to rapid runoff on the slopes, resulting in landslides and flooding in river bottoms.
Most arable land is already under cultivation. Sikkim's growing rural population is slowly expanding to higher areas, bringing the steeper forested slopes under cultivation. In addition, the demand for cardamom, as an export crop, has also contributed to the conversion of forests to agriculture. Among the villages, there are different endowments of various types of lands, and very different patterns of access to public and common lands. Average landholding size for poorer households is under 1.2 ha. Most agriculture is rainfed.
The most recent census data for Sikkim (1991) gives a population of 406 457 people. The population has been expanding very rapidly, from 316 385 in 1981 and 209 843 in 1971, representing an approximate doubling in 20 years. Overall population density was 57 people per square kilometre in 1991. According to the 1981 census, the literacy rates were 22.2 percent for females and 43.95 percent for males; by 1991 this number had risen significantly to 46.7 percent for females and 65.7 percent for males. In spite of GOS efforts, educational facilities, especially in rural areas, are still inadequate. The low level of female literacy also indicates the lack of motivation for social change and inadequate education facilities for women (Sudhakar and Gusain, 1991) compared with men.
The population is diverse in ethnicity, religion and language. At least 15 languages are spoken, but most people speak Nepalese. The majority of the population, 70 percent, is Nepalese, with Lepchas, Tibetans and Bhutias comprising the other major ethno-linguistic groups, and numerous other minor groups drawn primarily from minority or scheduled castes. The ownership of cultivable land, as well as cardamom production, was traditionally under the control of Bhutia kazis (landlords and aristocrats), and this continues to influence the distribution of land and natural resources even today. Nepalese immigrants leased land from the kazis and also gradually acquired land from the Bhutias and Lepchas. The result is a scarcity of arable land, with fragmentation of holdings and greatly expanded cultivation on very marginal steep slopes. The distribution of income and patterns of poverty are closely linked to landownership, with Bhutia families tending to be better off than other groups.
Development policy in Sikkim was being guided by the Eighth Draft Five-Year Plan (1990-1995), which successfully fostered economic growth at about 8 percent per year. The Ninth Draft Plan, released during 1997, represents a continuation of policies that emphasize universal access to primary education, agriculture and rural development, and economic and industrial development.
Sections of the Eighth Plan dealing with livestock development and soil conservation did not specifically mention women as participants. However, the plan did mention the inclusion of women in two general areas:
"It will also be necessary for the State to pay increased attention to training of manpower particularly in the area of research, soil surveys, statistics, monitoring and evaluation as well as for training of farmers, with particular attention to women.... Extension services will have to be reoriented to carry the message of technological upgradation of agricultural practices to the very doorstep of farmers".
"In the Eighth Plan the programmes envisaged for implementation relate to introduction of a T&V [training and visit] system of extension service, created by mobile publicity and equipped with visual aids, establishment of two farmers' training centres for North and South districts, providing physical infrastructures to a farmers' training centre in East District and organization of training for farmers and farm women on a large scale".
While women and girls were not specifically targeted in the Eighth Plan, other policy statements and programmes have placed great emphasis on ensuring that women are fully engaged in the development process. The GOS Special Programme for Rural Development includes a range of activities such as: the promotion of biogas and chula stoves in rural areas, through the National Rural Energy Programme; a national employment programme with high recruitment of women and girls; and a housing scheme.
The Rural Development Department (RDD) has historically focused strongly on promoting various economic development and educational activities for rural women and girls, and collaborated in the TCP project by providing an experienced employee as the national project liaison and training officer (PLTO), working under the supervision of the national project director (NPD).
The policies of GOI in moving gender issues to the forefront have had an important, although delayed, impact in Sikkim. Centrally funded programmes are often introduced by elected politicians, who have made frequent statements about the need to include women and girls in the development process. Subsidized programmes, such as provision of housing and livestock, are often promoted by politicians.
In general, however, GOS agricultural policies, strategies and programmes have tended to overlook gender roles and responsibilities in rural farm communities, owing, in part, to a lack of gender information. Although there is some information about farming systems in Sikkim, there is almost nothing about the different roles of women, men and children at various ages in the life cycle. Prior to the project PRAs, there was essentially no study based on the analysis of difference or on the gender division of labour in agriculture and natural resource use apart from a few old ethnographies conducted by the previous United Kingdom colonial system.
The PRAs found that agricultural extension services have been weak or absent at the village level. The few village-based agricultural or forestry extension activities have tended to benefit adult men, rather than women, boys or girls. The PRAs have, therefore, made a very important contribution in documenting the significant roles of women and girls in rural agriculture, and in demonstrating that they too should be targeted by extension and other GOS-initiated agricultural activities. There is considerable room and need to decentralize extension services and messages to the village level, and to reorient extension efforts towards more gender-sensitive, participatory methods and approaches. Bringing the PRA findings to the attention of GOS senior officials and policy-makers is an important and logical next step in reorienting agricultural programmes towards the appropriate target groups.
IN 1994, FAO RECEIVED A REQUEST from AHVS of GOS for assistance in developing goat production and initiating a crossbreeding programme in Sikkim. That same year, FAO sent an international goat expert to Sikkim to explore project options with government counterparts.
FAO then initiated a two-year TCP as a pilot project. This was the first externally funded development project held in Sikkim, apart from a Swiss-funded dairy project in western Sikkim begun in 1993.1
While the FAO-assisted project was not originally intended by the AHVS to be a "women's" project, a strong participatory and gender focus emerged early on in the course of project planning. It was considered that most goats in Sikkim receive their day-to-day care from women, who also look after chickens. During the project formation phase the Women in Development Service (SDWW) at FAO Headquarters insisted that gender should be a significant part of the project. FAO therefore broadened the scope of the project to include village poultry production and a gender focus. The original project scope was expanded further to include agroforestry, soil and water conservation and fodder production elements. This was in response to FAO technical officers' and external consultants' concerns about conservation and sustainability issues, and also because later PRA research strongly confirmed that both gender responsibilities and natural resource constraints would influence the ultimate success of the project.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR IMPLEMENTATION of the project rested with AHVS, who provided the NPD. The day-to-day operational activities were coordinated by the PLTO who, together with Sikkim's only goat development officer, was seconded to the project for technical, training and monitoring activities. In view of the project's interdisciplinary nature, a steering committee/interdepartmental working group was established, with members drawn from several different GOS services. Technical backup, additional training and monitoring support were provided by the core team of international consultants, each of whom visited Sikkim at least three times. In addition, the FAO technical officer provided a monitoring visit towards the end of the project. The consultants and FAO technical officer helped to introduce, reinforce and reiterate the concepts of gender responsiveness and local participation, which were essentially previously unknown in Sikkim. There were no known non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Sikkim during the early stages of implementation, consequently there was no NGO involvement in the project.
Some administrative problems arose as a result of several different factors. AHVS does not have a functioning telephone or fax, so communications and coordination of project activities with FAO were extremely difficult. The department did not have previous experience in collaborating with an international donor, nor did the NPD understand donor requirements (such as reporting). The NPD, based in Gangtok, did not have a close relationship with the field staff, including the PLTO and extension staff, which also contributed to poor communications and less than optimum support to field activities. To resolve these problems, greater emphasis was placed on utilizing the steering committee/interdepartmental working group.
Three international consultants in the areas of goat production, chicken production, and socio-economic and gender analysis and community forestry visited Sikkim for five weeks in March to April 1994. In addition, an Indian national socio-economic/gender analysis consultant joined the team during the first mission. During this period the conceptual framework and project design were developed, and project implementation began.
During the initial briefings at FAO it was realized that the external team recruited for the TCP project was comprised entirely of women consultants, all with previous experience of working with PRA and gender analysis methods. This was probably the first time that an all-woman project formulation mission had been fielded by FAO. The external team, although drawn from various disciplines and from four continents, was already very sensitive to the need of using participatory, gender-responsive approaches. A cooperative and productive working relationship quickly emerged among the international and regional team members, and the division of field responsibilities was agreed upon.
As little was known about farming systems, gender roles and development needs in rural Sikkim, it was decided to carry out an assessment of rural conditions related to possible project activities. Training needs were also to be looked into at the same time. A strong participatory, gender-responsive approach was adopted to learn about the general socio-economic context, household roles and environmental conditions related to livestock rearing. The objective of this action-oriented PRA was to describe how goats and chickens are kept in villages in south and east Sikkim and to identify constraints and opportunities in order to plan improvements through TCP activities.
As one of the project's first steps, the international consultants organized an initial orientation followed by a three-day training course in participatory rural appraisal and gender analysis techniques for government counterparts. Trainees included 14 GOS staff who later worked closely with the external team members during the village-based PRAs. Extension staff from AHVS, the Forest Department (FD), and community development workers from the Sikkim Rural Development Agency Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas Programme (SRDA/DWCRA) attended training workshops. The training started by defining the main factors that directly and indirectly affect goat and chicken production in Sikkim. Key concepts in problem analysis and participatory approaches were introduced, followed by training in participatory field methods. Topics covered in the training included:
A few GOS team members had previous exposure to RRA techniques through their assignment to the Indo-Swiss Project-Sikkim during its initial RRA phase. However, most had no previous experience of RRA and few had even heard of participatory approaches and methods. Consequently, training placed strong emphasis on the rationale and justification for participatory and gender-sensitive approaches and methods.
After the formal training, the trainers worked individually with team members for a few days to reinforce concepts and techniques. One male AHVS extensionist proved reluctant to accept the gender concepts, preferring to interview only village men about poultry production, and avoiding women. The Sondeo approach (using interdisciplinary and mixed-gender teams) aided in overcoming these biases.
After the PRA training workshop, trainees and consultants were split into two interdisciplinary teams to initiate PRAs in the East and South districts. Each team, guided by a team leader, used slightly different approaches. Some of the conventional RRA techniques used are not generally considered to be truly participatory, such as key informant interviews and environmental scoping methods. However, both teams placed much emphasis on participatory approaches that would enable outsiders to understand the constraints and possibilities from the perspective of farms and households. Each team used a wide range of PRA and gender analysis tools. Different team members, using different tools, were able to corroborate or triangulate information through a mutual information-sharing process. Key to the success of the PRAs was the adoption and adaptation of the interdisciplinary Sondeo method. This method was very useful in integrating lessons about gender analysis through direct interaction between male and female members of the PRA teams. This was especially important for successful interactions between male and female team members and, more importantly, for interaction between team members and women and girl participants. A summary of the tools used is presented in the table on the following page.
Efforts were made to work with local officials and village panchayats, and to solicit their interest and involvement in the PRA process. In the East district, the local panchayats and village officers were involved in consensus-building discussions intended to summarize the villages' needs and opportunities and to identify means of addressing issues that were beyond the scope of the FAO-supported TCP project.
The intensive work done during the PRAs yielded a tremendous amount of new, relevant and important information on farming systems, gender roles and responsibilities, rural households' goat and poultry management, environmental conditions, land tenure and ownership, grazing patterns, and patterns of poverty, risk and indebtedness.
The PRA/gender analysis framework |
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STEP |
QUESTION(S) ANSWERED |
TOOLS USED |
The context |
What is getting better? |
Document review Factor summary Group interviews Village maps Environmental assessments Interviews with key informants |
Activities |
Who does what? |
Gender-differentiated task calendars Group and individual interviews Participant observation |
Resources |
Who has what? |
Document review Rapid appraisal of tenure Group and individual interviews Mapping |
Working plan |
What should be done? |
Ranking techniques Consensus-oriented group discussions Sondeo team method Participatory impact monitoring |
The highest human and livestock population densities occur in east and south Sikkim, so it was decided to concentrate on these districts. Among the many factors influencing agricultural production in Sikkim, it was agreed that altitude and aspect (the direction that a slope faces) were two of the more important ones. Therefore PRA sites were selected that covered the range of these characteristics (population densities, altitude and aspect). It was hoped that the PRAs would help to identify villages that were relatively poor and had less access to services, where the project might have a potentially greater impact. The four PRA sites chosen were Aritar and Salgari in the East district, and Phongla and Pamphok in the South district.
There was a strong emphasis on several different types of training activities in this project. After the initial stage of formal training and activities in, for example, PRA and gender analysis, training activities in other areas were organized for GOS staff and other project participants. GOS staff and extensionists were trained in improved small-scale poultry and goat management in Sikkim. Several staff attended study tours and training workshop in various subjects.
GOS extension staff conducted a series of training activities in poultry and goat management. Training materials were translated into Nepalese for use at the village level. Ongoing monitoring and demonstrations by extension staff helped to reinforce lessons learned during training among the participants. In the South district, where the project's goat breeding activities took place, the goat development officer trained participants in stall-feeding and zero-grazing, and collaborated with participants to experiment with different tree and field fodder. The project also planned to carry out participatory on-farm research with farmers, so that they and extensionists could learn from each other about what worked and why. Unfortunately, however, this did not happen, as the national consultant recruited at a later date did not understand participatory methods and conducted all fodder trials on a research plot under controlled conditions.
Project staff received additional training in other specialized areas throughout the project. The PLTO was given training in PRA and RRA techniques and in more technical environmental activities, such as compass techniques, surveying, monitoring canopy cover with a spherical densiometer and the rationale and methods for on-farm research.
As already mentioned, the project was originally conceived by the AHVS to focus only on goat production, with male farmers as target beneficiaries. However, the PRAs strongly indicated that the project needed to incorporate more gender-sensitive, participatory, environmentally sustainable and interdisciplinary approaches. There were several reasons for this.
First, it was learned that all household members have important and different roles regarding the ownership and care of goats and chickens. There was concern that more and larger goats (through selective breeding) would increase the workloads of women and girls. Girls tend to be withdrawn from school at an early age to tend goat flocks. The PRAs also confirmed that women and girls have a primary role in agricultural production, water transport and poultry production. Therefore, the project was reoriented to include all household members, particularly in training activities related to livestock management.
Second, the PRAs suggested that poultry rearing and egg sales are important sources of income for women, and that poultry productivity could be improved by training and monitoring. As women and girls are the primary owners and caretakers of poultry, male AHVS poultry extensionists were sensitized in how to work with women. None of the villages had women's groups, other than recently organized groups for the distribution of DWCRA subsidies. Community development workers and extensionists used these groups as a basis for training and outreach, but also included other women and children who learned about the project from neighbours. Strong emphasis was placed on participatory impact monitoring of these activities.
Third, the availability, source and type of fodder is a major constraint to expanding the size of the goat herd. The PRAs and subsequent environmental monitoring showed that rapid deforestation at an average of 11 to 13 percent per year is occurring in most project villages owing to harvesting of the forest understorey, primarily for livestock grazing, fodder and bedding. Virtually all forest cover will be lost in Salgari and Phongla by the year 2001 if the current extraction rates continued. Expansion of the area under cardamom production is another contributing cause in wealthier villages. To relieve the pressure on adjoining forests, the team (including staff from the Forest Department) proposed that experimental fodder trials be initiated on farmers' fields in Salgari, Phongla and Pamphok. Stall-feeding and zero-grazing were also promoted by the project staff. These new participatory and environmental focuses had not been anticipated at the onset of the project.
The project encouraged staff from different government services to work closely together in an interdisciplinary team approach, because complex problems in the villages could not be solved by a narrow disciplinary focus or single departments working alone. It was also clear that a project that focused narrowly on goat breeding and poultry production could not address all of the rural villages' issues and needs that were uncovered during the PRAs. Consequently, a referral system was developed during the PRAs in the East district so that issues could be brought to the attention of the appropriate GOS officials for alternative treatment.
The fourth reason for reorientating the project was that the PRAs clearly showed that some villages were much better off than others. Aritar village emerged as a wealthy village with abundant water and forest resources. It also had a low percentage of scheduled castes, and many of its better-off households derived income from export-oriented cardamom production. It was decided that the project should concentrate its resources on villages that were isolated and had limited resources and a high percentage of scheduled caste households. Consequently, Aritar received less attention as a project village, and Salgari, Phongla and Phamphok were more strongly targeted. Participatory impact monitoring was adopted to ensure that project benefits reached the appropriate people and to track project impacts, both negative and positive.
Fifth, the governments of Sikkim and India have long supported a number of programmes that distribute free goods (livestock, cement, roofing materials, cash, etc.) to scheduled castes. The PRAs revealed that a climate of dependence on government subsidies had developed. Villagers were sometimes reluctant to start self-help activities and expected the government to provide goods and services without any remunerated contribution or participation. This attitude was less strong in poorer and more isolated villages which were not as politically influential and, consequently, received fewer subsidies. Nevertheless, the PRA teams found that government subsidies were a disincentive for local participation. This had to be overcome, by concentrating resources in isolated villages that received few subsidies, to help create a spirit of mutual support, pride and group determination.
A strong monitoring element was emphasized in this project. Decentralized, participatory monitoring was key to the documentation of both positive and negative impacts and to adjusting project implementation. Monitoring did not simply focus on conventional quantitative input-output indicators, such as numbers of participants trained or receiving benefits. Extension staff and external consultants often visited participants' households to encourage and support them in their project activities, discuss the project and its impacts in an informal setting, and learn about emerging issues, needs and opportunities.
Unintended negative consequences, as well as unexpected positive results, were documented. This led to the discovery of the poultry component's great value to village women. Many participants described the importance of the high egg-laying capacity of the Rhode Island red (RIR) hens that were introduced to marginal subsistence-based households (often headed by women). In many instances, RIR eggs provided a greatly needed source of income and nutrition on at least a weekly basis. The income, although modest by developed-country standards, meant that women did not have to borrow from local moneylenders at high rates of interest. It allowed them to invest and save on a small scale. One woman was able to save and invest enough egg money to build, stock and run the first small shop in Salgari village.
The income and nutritional benefits contributed to household food security and, most importantly, to the growing self-confidence and management skills of the women participants. The participants initiated their own self-help activities by lending roosters for breeding and giving RIR crossbreed chicks to other women. They also shared their new knowledge and skills in poultry management with others (sometimes outside the village at town markets), thus expanding the project's impacts beyond the original design.
The TCP project was successfully completed as scheduled in October 1996. AHVS and SRDA/DWCRA proposed follow-up projects to continue the successful initiatives of the pilot TCP project. Tentative plans for follow-up projects and activities were developed with GOS. Unfortunately, funds were not immediately available to refine the project methodology, expand project impacts to new villages or initiate additional activities that were identified as key to resolving problems of resource degradation in Sikkim. Efforts are under way to identify possible donors to sustain the momentum initiated by this small but successful project.
This project was apparently the first development project in Sikkim to complete the entire cycle of PRA, planning, implementation and completion. The preliminary stages of project design were undertaken by the FAO lead consultant on an initial fact-finding mission to Sikkim. The consultant recommended that a rapid appraisal be conducted by a team comprised of both GOS and FAO experts. It was realized that GOS is a hierarchical organization of services and line departments, based on the old United Kingdom colonial structure (as are state governments elsewhere in India). Certain departments, such as forestry, agriculture and animal husbandry, are highly centralized and hierarchical. Policies and programmes are administered in a conventional, top-down manner and are heavily oriented towards the distribution of free inputs and materials (fertilizers, seeds, livestock, construction materials, etc.) to farmers.
The FAO TCP project in Sikkim introduced an alternative model of development based on a process of bottom-up planing, decentralization, participation and sensitization. Although this approach brought some initial resistance from GOS policy-makers and department staff, it came to be appreciated for its effectiveness and relevance to rural development needs and issues. The main point of friction was the intersection between centrally administered and controlled logistics and bottom-up requests for supplies, transport and extension support. A few higher-level officials were accustomed to making decisions in a top-down manner and were reluctant to cede control of the decision-making and administrative processes. As a result, they did not respond to requests from the field. Field staff who were carrying out activities did not receive inputs or transport on a timely basis, although they were extremely efficient in dealing with the situation, and often used their own resources for transport and materials. From this, it was learned that more attention needs to be paid to sensitizing higher-level officials, who have a decision-making role in the project, and their staff on the use of PRA, participatory approaches and gender analysis methodologies.
The project had a farmer-oriented, bottom-up approach from its earliest days. The entry point was therefore capacity building, not only of the agricultural and community development staff working at the most grassroots level but also of the participants themselves. The focus of participants' training was to develop their management and decision-making skills, to encourage mutual assistance activities in remote villages, and to encourage women to save and invest their earnings from poultry production.
The choice of who to train became evident early in the PRAs. Training needs were considered during the PRA training and later during the field PRA exercises. From the outset it was clear that training should focus on extension staff (training of trainers) followed by training of participants. The focus of various training activities was to increase the knowledge and skills of extension and community development staff working directly with rural communities. The intention was to broaden the analytical, problem-solving and interdisciplinary skills of GOS staff, and to help communities develop interventions in a participatory, gender-sensitive manner.
Opportunities for training outside of Sikkim (in Bangalore and Kenya) emerged during the project. Unfortunately, higher-level GOS employees not active in project villages were nominated for these training courses. Close vigilance by FAO helped to ensure that the appropriate people at the appropriate levels were able to take part in the international training.
An important lesson learned was that facts from the field are the most powerful tools for convincing technical staff and policy-makers to give attention to gender and participation issues for more effective and successful working practices. When a project demonstrates that positive outcomes can occur in a short period of time (less than two years), both technical staff and policy-makers will take notice, and be less likely to reject the new and unconventional approaches and more likely to give them a chance.
The following is a summary of the important lessons learned regarding entry point:
The team utilized a range of participatory rural assessment tools and methods to maximize project impacts.
Gender analysis training. Training in gender analysis was provided by the national Women in Development (WID) consultant during the PRA training. Classroom training was supplemented later by practical in-field training from the other international consultants. It should be noted that the national WID consultant's approach to gender analysis was, unfortunately, based on her experience in Rajasthan and Gujarat. An assumption was made that, because Sikkim was a state of India, socio-economic and gender relations would be identical to those existing in other Indian states, so there was no need to conduct any PRA or gender analysis activities in Sikkim. There were also significant caste differences between the national WID consultant (an Indian Brahmin) and the participants (Nepalese minority and scheduled castes), so the consultant was reluctant to enter into direct discussions at the village level with lower-caste participants and, in one case, with a low-caste AHVS extension agent.
The consultant was also in poor physical condition and was not able to walk to remote sites without assistance.
The national WID consultant's attitude was immediately challenged by GOS field staff who were sensitive to differences not only in gender, but in caste, religion and other socio-economic factors. This experience was repeated when the national fodder consultant visited Sikkim. As one PRA team member noted, there should be "caste no bar, race no bar, gender no bar" when doing PRAs. These different world views, in fact, resulted in a surprisingly positive outcome - both male and female GOS staff quickly developed a heightened sense of difference not only among Indians from different states, but also based on gender, age, caste, economic and social background and rights of access.
The national WID consultant withdrew from further work with the team. The gender analysis training and fieldwork were subsequently shared among other members of the team, primarily the remaining international consultants and the PLTO. Gender analysis training and fieldwork in the Sikkim project then evolved in an iterative way to include the following:
The following is a summary of the main lessons learned regarding gender analysis training:
A number of tools useful for analysis of difference were introduced during the PRA training, including gender-differentiated seasonal task calendars and rapid appraisal of tenure. Immediately before the PRAs started, additional training, role playing and field practice were organized to give trainees first-hand experience in real-life settings. During the PRAs, team leaders monitored the use of tools, and reinforced the training and methods. The gender- and age-differentiated seasonal task calendars were key to documenting roles and responsibilities by age and gender in the project villages, and in helping to identify needs and constraints related to labour.
Gender analysis and PRA for field-level agricultural extension training. The agricultural extension and community development trainees demonstrated that they had learned a great deal from applying PRA and gender analysis techniques to field research. Trainees showed a greater depth and breadth of understanding of rural farming systems and, over time, learned which subgroup(s) to target in particular interventions. For example, extension workers realized that a demonstration of growing fodder grasses would be best targeted to elderly men and young girls, as they were often the groups most involved in collecting and growing fodder for goats.
Combining the gender analysis activities with other PRA activities proved to be a very powerful tool for learning about and documenting gender issues in agriculture in Sikkim. Both the AHVS livestock extension and the DWCRA community development workers learned from each other as well as from participants and gained a more all-round understanding about farming systems in different villages. The AHVS extension staff, in particular, began to change their patterns of visits, shifting from contacting only adult males to contacting women and children as well.
PRA to support macrolevel policy analysis and formulation. The original project design had not envisaged PRA as a means of supporting macrolevel policy analysis and formulation. However, the benefits of using gender-responsive and participatory methods were brought to the attention of policy-makers and senior staff in at least three departments (AHVS, the Forest Department and RDD). This occurred not only in large, interdepartmental meetings but also in smaller meetings with high-level officials, where methods and findings were discussed in more detail.
The bottom-up, gender-sensitive approach used in the TCP project fit well with the thinking of several "new-generation" policy-makers, including the new heads of AHVS and GOS Planning Department, who strongly agreed with the scope and methods used. Several of these policy-makers have become project allies and supporters, and it would be worthwhile to foster a continued supportive relationship with them through field visits, departmental publications and brochures about how the project was organized, and through follow-up brainstorming sessions.
Important lessons learned during this process include the importance of:
Modified Sondeo team approach. The East district PRA team used the Sondeo approach to encourage cross-disciplinary assessment of a situation, corroboration of results and pairing of less-experienced team members with colleagues who have PRA experience. The Sondeo approach (Hildebrand, 1981) has long been used, modified and adapted by RRA and PRA practitioners. In this instance, the team using the Sondeo method was comprised of a veterinarian, two livestock extensionists, two community development workers, the national WID specialist and a community forester, who also acted as team leader.
The Sondeo approach proved to be a flexible and appropriate method for organizing PRA activities. Every day, each team member was paired with somebody from a different discipline so that three two-person interdisciplinary teams could work on PRA activities in the village. An important modification of the Sondeo method was the use of mixed-gender pairs, so that male and female team members worked together as much as possible. In this way, maximum diversity and interdisciplinary exchange could be gained among team members.
The team leader "floated" from team to team as needed, and also reinforced PRA concepts learned during the PRA training. Each day the pairings changed. Several team members had no previous PRA experience, and were therefore paired with more experienced colleagues from different disciplines. Team members learned from each other and broadened their understanding of local farming systems beyond their own disciplinary backgrounds and boundaries.
At the end of each day a team debriefing was held, lasting about one hour. Each two-person team shared their findings with the group, enabling others to interact and share common points. The most important lessons of the day were summarized, the team leader serving as secretary to record important points. In this way, emerging issues could be discussed and a consensus reached about needs and opportunities in the villages. These were then probed in more detail during successive PRA activities. Towards the end of each assessment, group meetings were held with villagers, panchayat members and the team. These were held in the evening, after villagers had completed the day's tasks and, generally, after the evening meal. During the meetings, PRA findings were summarized and a consensus reached on:
The Sondeo approach also helped to reinforce lessons learned during the gender analysis and PRA training. For example, after the first day of fieldwork, one male team member (an AHVS extensionist) met only adult men to talk about household poultry-rearing practices, even though women and children have the primary responsibility for poultry. The evening debriefing session provided an opportunity to discover, understand and address this problem. The team leader improvised some sensitization exercises to reinforce basic gender analysis concepts and, on the following days, the reluctant male team member was paired with the team leader or experienced female community development workers. By the end of the PRA in the first village this extensionist had come to appreciate the need and rationale for gender analysis and PRA.
Use of the Sondeo approach helped in the breaking down of disciplinary boundaries and built consensus among the team, participants and panchayat members about prioritizing problems and responses.
Gender- and age-differentiated seasonal task calendars. This tool was introduced during the PRA training and applied during the PRAs. Development workers have devised a number of frameworks for gathering information about seasonality in rural farming systems. There are also several methods for preparing labour calendars that document who does what and during which season. The gender- and age-differentiated task calendar (Eckman, 1994; 1996b; 1996c) or, indeed, any task calendar, combines both the gender and relative age or life stage (child, adult, elderly) of individual household members to learn about who does what and when they do it.
The task calendar is divided into sections that can describe different areas of work commonly undertaken by rural households in developing countries (e.g. crop production, post-harvest activities, livestock tending, water and fuelwood collection, domestic tasks). It also contains sections on major food security and income cycles. The task calendar can go into great detail, covering many aspects of household, farm and off-farm labour in graph form using simple symbols.
In the project, task calendars were useful for demonstrating to AHVS staff and policy-makers the significant roles of women and children (not just male heads of households) in managing goats and poultry. They documented and described patterns of labour for livestock watering, fodder cutting and carrying, herding in public and private forests, periods of fodder scarcity, and periods of labour constraint (particularly when girls are withdrawn from school for farmwork). The tool was also extremely useful for learning about survival strategies during times of hardship, periods of food insecurity and water scarcity, and cycles of indebtedness and migration. Learning to make the task calendars was an important skill learned in the Sikkim TCP project. These were key to documenting who does what in livestock management and in other agricultural activities.
Participatory impact monitoring. Monitoring is a frequently overlooked and underused tool in many development projects (Eckman, 1994). The Sikkim TCP project encouraged frequent informal and participatory monitoring visits by project staff and FAO consultants. Close monitoring enabled the staff and consultants to track both positive and negative trends and to become aware of emerging issues. Perhaps more importantly, it demonstrated to the participants that the staff were genuinely concerned with and interested in their progress, and were committed to supporting them in their efforts.
GOS extension staff and community development workers made frequent visits to the project villages to provide training and inputs and to monitor progress. The three international consultants spaced their visits over the two-year period so as to ensure a visit every three to four months - changes could be seen after only a four-month period. By the time of the last visit (January 1997), considerable progress had been made since the previous visit in September 1996. One participant had been able to save and invest her egg money and had constructed and stocked her own store - the first shop ever in Salgari panchayat.
An important feature of participatory impact monitoring is its emphasis on issues that the participants view as significant. This means that it concentrates on quality rather than quantity. Although such quantitative measures as 10 000 trees planted or 5 000 pullets distributed are necessary for many administrative purposes, they do not help in assessing the impact of a project on household incomes or food security. Quantitative indicators tell nothing about who owns the trees, who maintains them or who will eventually benefit from them. In participatory impact monitoring, on the other hand, the emphasis is on who benefits, and in what way.
Frequent participatory monitoring revealed that there had been many positive outcomes. Participants no longer had to go to moneylenders with high interest rates to borrow small amounts of money. They no longer skipped a meal or cut back on portions because of food insecurity; instead they simply sold a few dozen eggs to buy food or medicine. It became clear that the project had profoundly changed women's lives, making them more self-confident in their abilities. Participation in the project's training activities had formed new bonds among women who began to collaborate with their neighbours in aspects of poultry management and labour exchange. For some women, the training given in poultry management by the extension staff was the only education that they had ever received.
An important lesson learned is that participatory monitoring can detect positive and negative outcomes for rural women and girls that were not necessarily part of the original project goals and objectives. Such positive outcomes would have gone undetected had participatory impact monitoring not been used.
The PRAs undertaken in Sikkim were highly successful in documenting roles and responsibilities in agriculture and livestock management in terms of who does what, and when they do it. The PRAs constituted the first such research known to have been done in the East and South districts, and therefore contributed greatly to the knowledge and information base about farming systems, gender- and age-based roles, land and resource tenure systems, seasonal cycles of poverty and survival, and environmental conditions and trends (such as deforestation rates) in rural Sikkim.
The main gender-related findings are roughly summarized below. As the project focus was goat and poultry management, the most detailed findings relate to gender roles associated with livestock management.
Every village is different in its labour-gender patterns. Labour constraints differ from one village to another, and probably depend upon household size and composition, holding size, the basic natural resource endowment of the village (e.g. proximity of water sources, fodder sources and agricultural fields) and the cropping system. It was found that in some cases the size of the goat flock is limited by water and feed/fodder availability, which in turn affects labour availability - i.e. who does what.
The sexual division of labour for both agricultural and domestic tasks varies greatly by village and by ethnic group, and it is difficult to make generalizations about the roles of men, women and children that apply universally to all villages. However, it is clear that all household members are heavily involved in agriculture and subsistence tasks and that all contribute long hours each day to the household economy. Most households have serious labour constraints. The following overall patterns tend to prevail, although with variations:
All household members are involved in goat rearing. Who has the responsibility for such tasks as cutting and carrying fodder, grazing, kidding, watering and decision-making about slaughter and marketing varies by village and ethnic group, from family to family and also by season. It is, therefore, not possible to say that any one household member has primary responsibility for goat rearing in any of the villages surveyed. Goat rearing appears to be very much a family endeavour, with all family members contributing to flock management.
With regard to poultry rearing, women and girls have primary responsibility for management. Women tend to have responsibility for flock management and rearing, although all household members may join in some tasks (such as housing construction, decision-making, marketing, etc.).
Girls are often withdrawn from school after two or three years to work full-time in agricultural and subsistence tasks. This was one of the most important gender disparities uncovered during the PRAs - girls are withdrawn from school but boys are not and, although participants understood the benefits and expressed the desire of educating all children, preference for schooling was given to boys. This pattern held throughout both the East and South districts. Of the tasks girls are involved in, fodder collection appears to take a considerable share of time.
The few village-based extension activities undertaken by AHVS in Sikkim have benefited mostly men. For example, of 53 farmers participating in farmers' field days since 1988, only two or three were women. The selection process for participation in such events is organized by AHVS in collaboration with the local panchayats. Only a share of total farmers (e.g. male farmers) were invited to participate in extension activities. More work needs to be done to encourage the participation of women and girls at the panchayat level, as well as within the AHVS.
Building field-level capacity within GOS. A key finding of the PRAs was the complete absence of GOS-supplied extension services (from, e.g. AHVS or the Forest Department) in the project villages. Only RDD has a strong presence in even the most remote rural areas, with its cadre of trained community development workers. This lack of AHVS extension presence and veterinary support in the villages was one of the project's main concerns. AHVS staff wait for villagers to bring sick animals to them, rather than teaching preventive management at the village level. Few veterinary officers have any understanding of or training in extension. Before the project, none had prior exposure to participatory methods or gender analysis, or any training in the socio-economic aspects of rural development, and only a few had university-level education or had travelled out of Sikkim. Villagers have no information or knowledge about livestock disease treatment and lack sound information about poultry management.
The project sought to develop appropriate extension messages and materials about village-based goat and chicken rearing, and to train participants at the village level in livestock management. More importantly, it sought to reorient and train AHVS veterinary staff in decentralized village-based animal health care and preventive work. By participating in the PRA training and fieldwork, AHVS field staff and staff from the Forest Department and RDD gained practical, hands-on experience of participatory rural assessments, working with farmers in prioritizing, problem-solving and gender analysis. Emphasis was also placed on creating links among field extension workers from different services to share information and knowledge, avoid duplication and, if possible, foster field-based collaborative efforts at the village level.
Capacities built at the field level |
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STEPS IN THE PROCESS |
MAIN OUTPUTS OF THE PROCESS |
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PRA gender analysis training PRAfieldwork Training at Bangalore, India, in poultry management Training in Kenya and Ethiopia in PRA, extension approaches and soil conservation Interdepartmental working groups at the district level Study tour to Nepal to learn about participatory on-farm research (proposed) |
A small group of AHVS livestock extensionists and staff from the Forest Department and RDD have learned how to work with farmers to identify the constraints of women, men and children, and to identify their activities, resources and priorities for extension. Extension outreach to female and male participants in four project villages has greatly improved. At least two key project staff are now qualified and prepared to train other colleagues in this approach. Key policy-makers from at least five departments (AHVS, Agriculture, Planning, Forest and RDD) are now aware of the approach and its impacts at the village level. |
Sensitization of policy-makers. Sharing the findings from the PRAs with senior staff from AHVS and other departments had an important impact on GOS policy and programmes. Project staff and consultants constantly raised issues of gender roles, the problem of deforestation associated with goat keeping and the need for appropriate targeting (to poorer rather than better-off or more politically important households and villages). This process helped to convince AHVS management of the need for broadening the scope, targets and disciplinary boundaries of the project.
Many traditionally educated AHVS staff were reluctant to accept such unconventional approaches as PRA, gender analysis and rapid appraisal of tenure. Indeed, a few senior staff probably never fully accepted the concepts. However, the majority of AHVS field staff came to adopt participatory, gender-sensitive approaches. They were joined by colleagues in the Forest Department and RDD, who entered into fascinating dialogues in the interdepartmental workshops about why the services should change traditional programming and policies. The project clearly had an impact on raising the awareness of bottom-up planning and gender roles, and enabled enthusiastic staff members to express their views and encourage their more reluctant colleagues.
The project also received verbal support from a new generation of managers, appointed to policy-making positions within AHVS. These individuals had moved up through the ranks, and had years of field experience as village-based extensionists. Several had been raised on small rural farms. Through their own personal and professional experience, they understood the gender division of labour existing in rural Sikkim and expressed immediate support and confirmation of the gender and participatory approaches emphasized in the project during workshops and at staff meetings.
Horizontal capacity building. GOS is the main agricultural and rural development institution in Sikkim. The state has no universities or other educational organizations and, accordingly, there are few opportunities to build internal capacity with educational or research institutions. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) facility at Gangtok does some, albeit limited, research in agro-forestry, and there are points of contact between the Forest Department and ICAR. There is only one NGO in Sikkim, a World Wildlife Fund for Nature suboffice that was recently established to monitor the biological diversity of wildlife in the Himalayas. This organization was contacted and conservation education materials were shared.
GOS staff at all levels have been isolated from the global development community and have little or no access to development literature, international conferences and fora, publications, the Internet, gender and participatory networks and associations, or other means of international communication. For this reason, study tours to the rest of India and to Kenya, Ethiopia and Nepal were viewed as a means of fostering contacts between Sikkimese extension staff with a diverse group of development organizations and professionals. Horizontal capacity building, therefore, has been encouraged across government services and departments, as well as internationally.
The project also encouraged interdepartmental collaboration and cross-fertilization. GOS departments had little formal contact with one another even though many staff members knew each other socially and many were former classmates. The hierarchical nature of the GOS bureaucracy did not encourage collaboration or sharing of information across departments and disciplines. The project drew together, for the first time, GOS staff from at least three departments (AHVS, Forest Department and RDD/DWCRA), and fostered collaboration at the senior, middle-management and field extension levels. There are indications that such informal interdisciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration will continue in the future on other issues as well.
Although lessons from the field have filtered up towards policy-makers, there is as yet no major or formal policy impetus to create a mandate for extension services aimed at women and female heads of households. Nevertheless, the TCP project clearly demonstrated the need for a reorientation of extension services in several departments (AHVS, Agriculture, Forest) towards a much more gender-responsive, decentralized and participatory approach. The project brought participatory and gender issues to the direct attention of senior policy-makers in the departments of AHVS, Agriculture, Forest, RDD and Planning. There was unexpectedly strong support from the new directors of AHVS and Planning, and this would seem to be an opportune moment for initiating the institutionalization of gender-sensitive policies and programmes. The lack of necessary funding to continue and expand project activities, however, remains a critical issue.
IN SPITE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE and logistical problems encountered along the way, this small pilot project to promote livestock production had many positive outcomes at several levels which could not have been anticipated at its outset. Even modest pilot projects such as this can have policy and programme impacts that extend beyond the original project scope. In this case, the project constructively introduced many important development concepts (e.g. gender considerations, fostering of local participation, on-farm participatory research). It also introduced applied new interdisciplinary research methods in Sikkim (e.g. PRAs, gender analysis and gender-differentiated seasonal task calendars, rapid appraisal of tenure, participatory impact monitoring, Sondeo teams). Finally, it introduced key higher-level staff at the policy level to the concepts of participation and gender, and won their support and interest by positively demonstrating that such approaches bring successful results.
Based on the experience in Sikkim, the following advice is offered to others who are interested in fostering participatory, gender-responsive processes and programmes:
Funding for this case study was provided by the Government of Norway. The author acknowledges the substantial contributions that were made by key project staff. The PRA team and extension staff responsible for village-based participatory activities during implementation were an exceptionally committed group, and deserve much credit for the successful completion of the project. They include: P.H. Chettri, H. Chettri, B.B. Garung, P. Kafley, M. Rai, K. Ongmu, O.T. Namchoo and R.K. Tamang. The Goat Development Officer, N.T. Lepcha, and the Project Liaison and Training Officer, D. Upreti, were outstanding in their dedication to the project and in their resourcefulness under difficult circumstances. FAO staff, including C.L. Koenraadt and S. Mack in Rome and R. Thaimni in Delhi, also recognized the importance of this project and worked hard to support it despite difficult communications and limited funding. The professionalism and expertise of fellow consultants Dr C. Peacock and D. Chandra Devi Baral also deserve recognition. Finally, the participants themselves were able to improve the well-being of their families through their willingness to learn, and to work together towards a common goal.
The original language version of the document was edited by Sally Sontheimer.
1 The Indo-Swiss Project Sikkim (ISPS) conducted a rapid rural assessment in the West District in 1994-1995 with a view to initiating diary, cheese making and horticultural activities. While this project continues to exist, it has undergone a protracted period of planning and redesign, and has not yet implemented many activities.
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