Annex IV: Assessment of the project appraisal
(JULY 1990)
FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE
Kanchan Verma Lana
Consultant
Katmandu, July 1995
Under the rational of creating a framework for transferring a resource base to the poorest households in the community who are most dependent on the forest resources, the Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project was started with the twofold objectives of raising the income of the families who are below the poverty line and contributing to the improvement of ecological conditions of the hill areas.
The total project cost has been estimated at appraisal at US$ 20.41 million. The project is jointly funded by a loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD: about 63%), a grant from the Government of Netherlands (US$2.53 million) and the contribution of His Majesty's Government( 2.7 million: 13% of the project's cost).
The project has adopted the strategy to lease blocks of degraded forest land to groups of specifically targeted poor households. The project has adopted the criteria set by the Small Farmers Development Project (SFDP) to select the target farmers. Accordingly its target group are farmers' families with less than 0.5 hectare (10 ropanis) of private land and/or an annual per capita income of less than NRs.2500 (US$ 50). Priority has been given to the female headed households and ethnic groups like the Chepangs and the Tamangs.
Development of degraded Forest lands, on-farm fodder development, fuel wood trees on private land, livestock development, terrace improvement, off-farm income generating activities, supply of inputs, strengthening of technical support, training, applied research, stove programme and bridges and trails are the components of the project as have been envisaged at the time of appraisal.
The project is at present in its exploratory phase ( project year one to three) and covers four hill contiguous districts in the central region, namely, Kavre Palanchowk, Sindhupalchowk, Makawanpur and Ramechchap. The project period has been tentatively estimated for four to eight years.
The implementation of the project is done jointly by the Department of Forest (DF), Livestock Division of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), the Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal (ADBN) and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).
The Department of Forest is responsible for identifying blocks of land to be leased, processing the lease arrangement, assisting farmers to formulate their management plans for the leased blocks of land (together with the livestock staff) and providing technical support for 'forest development. The Department of Livestock Services is responsible for advising farmers on the incorporation of forage development into their management plans and on-farm forage production possibilities to meet animal nutritional requirements and for providing ongoing technical support on animal health, livestock husbandry/forage development.
ADBN through Small Farmers Development Project is responsible for identification of the target groups families, group formation, provision of credit and on-going support to project families. NARC is responsible for carrying out the applied research programme required under the project and providing important inputs such as grass and legume seed, rootstock and improved breeding stock.
The inter disciplinary project activities with the innovative approach is being assisted by the technical assistance (TA) team. This technical assistance unit has been established within the Department of Forest. It provides assistance to the project line agencies in the implementation of the project activities in its initial years. The areas of this kind of assistance include, among others, the lease process, adaptative research, extension, training, input supply, monitoring and evaluation.
The project is at present fully running towards achieving the targets set by it. 170 sites have been identified for 1160 households. The project area coverage has achieved at 942.55 hactres of land. 158 operational plans have been prepared and 146 leases have so far been approved by the MFSC. 62 sites have been handed over to the groups. Quite a significant number of training on technical matters have been conducted for the farmers and field staff. Seedlings and seed distribution is being done according to the need of the groups depending upon the availability. The project has developed extension materials. Baseline studies and applied research are conducted. NGOs are currently being involved at the implementation level.
For the purpose of assisting the project to integrate gender sensitivity into its strategies, actions and results, the consultant had to go through the project appraisal in detail. The objective of this assessment is to review and find out the relevancy of the various aspects of the project appraisal regarding gender sensitivity.
Forestry activities involve the participation of both male and females. The usual tendency of the surveyors to find out the actual beneficiaries has very often being influenced by the concept of the household head, the male member of the family. Since the most important factor in achieving success in the leasehold forestry as being envisaged by this particular project lies primarily on the maximum participation of the actual users of the forestry resources, a careful analysis of the role of the men and women of the target groups is basically important for the beneficiaries as well as for the planners and implementators. The identification of "Who actually does what in the context of forestry activities" is the most important factor in identifying the actual beneficiaries. Analysis of the gender roles must be done scientifically in order to understand "who does what", "who has access to what kinds of resources and benefits" and "who has control over those resources and benefits".
Usually people tend to think of "gender sensitivity" as the necessity of including of women in every aspect of the project cycle. The transition from the philosophy of Women in Development (WID) to Gender and Development (GAD) has been causing a kind of confusion among development workers. Hence the Consultant here would like to present a brief section on the issue of "Gender Sensitivity" with the purpose of enabling the readers to view at the topic from gender perspective.
The main difference lying between WID and GAD is that WID focusses on "Women" only while GAD focusses on the relatonship of women and men in the areas of the activities performed, distribution of resources and benefits and the allocation of controlling authority, decision making role of women and men with regard to the resources used by them. WID regards women as the problem whereas GAD sees the approach of development as the problem. GAD is more towards empowering women and the disadvantaged section of the beneficiary population in the process of achieving the maximum participation of men and women both as participants and beneficiaries. GAD advocates for the mainstreaming of women in every step of a project cycle in an equitable way.
Sex Vs. Gender:
Sex is not Gender. Sex is pre-determined, biological and not changeable under the normal condition. Gender is the social role of the sex which is conditioned, constructed and shaped by external factors like socio-cultural norms, values, education, time, age, space, war, famine and above all, development efforts. It changes according to all such circumstances. The examples of the female headed household can be taken as an example. In the absence of the male head, the woman has to perform most of the activities that are normally performed by the male in other families in the community. Likewise, a male living out of home may have to perform some of the basic tasks falling under the household chores which is not normally done by the males.
Gender Analysis:
Gender Analysis is a systematic effort to document and understand the roles of both women and men within specific contexts. It is based on facts not assumptions.
Key issues include:
a. the division of labour for productive and reproductive activities;
b. the resources women and men both utilize to carry out their activities and the benefits they derive from them; and
c. the relationship of (8) and (b) above to the environmental, social, economic and institutional factors that are the context of development.
Purposes of Gender Analysis:
It serves two purposes:
1. It helps to predict how different members of the community or household will be affected by the development efforts and to what degree women and men will be able to participate as well as benefit from them.
2. The information derived from gender analysis can help planners and project staff to anticipate whether or not the development effort will be sustainable, effective and equitable.
Gender Analysis aims at Closing the gaps between contribution and benefits and also between the present contribution and potential contribution.
Gender Analysis Framework: Gender Analysis is an analytical tool consisting of four interrelated steps which can help us to analyze the facts of man and woman in a given context. The components are:
(a) Development Context Profile:
Helps to identify the constraints and the supports existing in the project area in Terms of environmental, economic, institutional, demographic, social and political norms, trends and changes, as well as the interrelationship among these.
(b). Activity Profile:
Makes the activities of both men and women of the project area visible, enabling the project to target its training and technologies appropriate to their respective roles.
The inclusion of both productive and reproductive activities of women and men in the profile helps the project personnel to identify labour bottlenecks, showing the activities and time periods where the introduction of improved methods would be most beneficial to overall productivity.
Helps to identify those activities that serve both productive/ reproductive/subsistence needs highlight those activities that may be most important to the well-being of rural households overall. Therefore these activities may be those that we need to exercise care not to undermine or those that may boost development most if we target them for training and inputs.
Time and mobility constraints can be identified in terms of where the activities of women and men are concentrated, both of which have implications for project delivery methods.
(c) Resources Profile:
It helps us to identify the resource base for both women and men in the project area, especially with respect to land, trees, credit, equipment and inputs.
The relative benefits derived by women and men from their work and their utilization of resources, such as income and food, and therefore their incentives for participation in project activities can be identified.
It helps to analyze the resource constraints of both women and men so that they can be incorporated into the project design.
(d) Project Action Profile
This profile assists us to analyze:
Whether the project objectives support the priorities and needs of both women and men in the project area;
If the project activities are presently targeted to the appropriate beneficiaries, whether women, men or both;
Appropriate and pragmatic actions for enhancing the success of the project in terms of gender analysis.
Together these four components provide the information that can lead to effective design and successful implementation of projects that will increase male and female participation and benefits, thereby maximising the potential for sustainable development.
Gender Needs:
There are two types of gender needs:
Practical gender needs (PGN) and strategic gender needs (SGN).
Practical gender needs are immediate, short term, easily identifiable by the beneficiaries, relate to daily needs such as food, housing, income etc.
Strategic gender needs can be seen as long-term, common to a specific class of people with the same interest (e.g., women, the deprived), relate to disadvantaged position (subordination, lack of resources etc.) and not easily identifiable by the beneficiaries themselves.
It is important for any developmental effort to address both the needs of the people; first PGN and then SGN. Without addressing SGN, the results cannot sustain.
By the concept of Gender sensitivity, all the above mentioned issues among many other relates issues are to be underatoot. It is more than talking about women’s development only. It is being able to develop the third eye perspective on the influential factors for the involvement of the really deprived section of the population in development programmes. Developing this kind of gender perspective is gender sensitivity.
However, it is also important to know that gender analysis itself alone cannot bring success to the project. It is rather a tool to help the project team to develop effective strategies. It needs a lot of other kinds of support ,mainly the organisational support to carry out the gender sensitive strategies into implementation. Therefore, it calls for the necessity of gender sensitization throughout the project structure, administrative, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
During the appraisal of the project, consideration of the involvement of both women and men in the project activities as direct beneficiaries has been identified. Emphasis has been given on a "husband -wife partnership" concept for their involvement in the project. There is a separate section in the appraisal addressing "women's involvement" (Article 60, Main Appraisal report, 1990) where it is clearly mentioned that given due consideration to the fact that women being traditionally the main collectors of fuelwood and fodder and the main workforce involved in livestock tending, they will be the principal active participants in the project activities. Focus will be given in integrating women in the mainstream of forestry development rather than developing a specific women's component. The project approach will be concentrated in a family enterprise approach. There will be efforts on enhancing the status of women through emphasising the development of an equal husband-wife partnership within the family. The means for achieving this objective to be adapted are perceived as to be
a. involvement of women along with men in all discussions on the proposals for development and management of the leased land;
b. organising training/workshops for both husband and wife as a team for both Forestry and livestock activities.
Husband-wife partnership
This is an innovative approach in forestry development in the country. The underlying purpose of this approach seems to be to empower women by transferring knowledge and skill in a direct form and to create an opportunity for women to participate in collective decision making process.
It also aims at creating a common forum for consulting women as well as men at the same venue, providing opportunities for women to share an equal social status as their husbands.
Findings/Recommendations
The result of such partnership programme will of course enable women to participate formally in the project activities and their role in the project activities will be counted and be highlighted as the subjects of development. But when it comes to the matter of giving self-decision, there is doubt how Far a woman can make her own choice in front of her husband. Although in the Appraisal Report containing working papers, it is mentioned that women have a major say in the family decisions and are frequently the initiators of ideas and actions for the well being of the family, in reality the family economy is highly influenced by the powerful male than that of woman. Thus, the female voice and decisions are highly influenced by the choice of the male members of the family. It is true not only in the village but also in the city.
Therefore the success of such an objective depends on improving the gender relationship which centres around the power relationship between the husband and wife. One is far ahead and the another is left far behind. Unless the trainers/project staff are fully skilled in participatory communication including gender issues, the honest objective of the project will be very difficult to achieve.
If we see to the actual practice in the field, in several places, the wives could not even attend the farmers training regularly. In stead, they sent their daughters (not daughters-in-laws) to attend the training. The wives were busy doing their household chores.
There is scope for involving wives in all the project activities since there is monetary benefits in the form of daily subsistence allowance. But still the target group females are so busy with their household chores, such as-food processing, cooking, cleaning, washing, caring the children, the elders and the sick etc. that they hardly get time to attend the training/workshops regularly.
The more effective would be direct conversation with them in their homes through home visit by female extension workers. The female extension workers should be involved in the trainers team and also for the follow up programme after the training are over.
Raising Awareness of Men on Women's Contribution
Article 61 addresses the requirement to raise the awareness of men about an appreciation of women's contribution to the family by providing training to the group leaders and the promoting agents who are supposed to be the change agents for the community.
Findings/Recommendations
However' the clause does not indicate whether it is male or female's role in case of the group leader's concept. There are evidences that women are also not used to count their activities (productive as well as reproductive) in terms of labour, duration involved. The clause may be reviewed so as to build up effective strategies for motivating the beneficiary communities through gender sensitization. This will help them to assess the hidden contribution of women in rural economy. Everybody's activities and role will be visible through participatory analysis.
Moreover, during consultation with the group of husbands and wives, the necessity of sharing the responsibility of household chores could be emphasised. Due to the development effort of this project women have to come out of their houses which needs lot of physical and moral support from the other members, including husbands in the family. If this type of objectives are met by such an approach, there will be some achievement on changing the status of women in the family.
No Exclusive Women's Group/Leasing of land to Women
Article 62 clearly states that the formation of exclusively women's group and leasing the land to women would not be emphasised in order to avoid negative reaction of the society. This is due to the consideration of the socio-cultural norms and values of a section of the ethnic communities where divorce and separation are in practice. At the same time it states that there will be efforts on mainstreaming the de-jure and de-facto female headed households into the project, through a mixed group approach. The provision for creating additional loan facilities for hiring labour for land development is being considered so that they don't become a burden to the other members of the group.
Findings/Recommendations
However, within the present status of gender relationship related to power structure, this kind of an arrangement may not prove to be a practical one. The group if made up of heterogeneous section of the population, cannot be effective due to the differences lying in the nature and degree of their specific interests which is inevitable to bring the scenario of richer becoming more richer and the disadvantaged section becoming more and more disadvantaged with the burden of increasing loan only. Therefore, this section can be reviewed on the ground of learning experiences so far:
a. How many such female headed households are already benefiting from this programme ?
b. What is the rate of loan disbursement and repayment of such households related to the stated objective?
Impact of the programme on enhancing the status of such female household heads, economical, social and political ! By political the consultant refers to the power of exercising decision making role (meaningfully) in the community meetings as well as within the household.
No Female Extension Workers/Women Motivators
Article 63 makes an assumption that since the approach will be based on a family approach, the inclusion of female extension staff or women motivators is not very important.
Findings/Recommendations
However, facts derived from experience in Nepal, mainly in the hill areas, although women have access to mobility with regard to performing household and community activities, very few of them feel free to speak freely in the presence of the males only. They are allowed to go out for performing "physical activities" but their opinions are rarely valued. There is a famous local proverb which is the practice in almost everywhere in Nepal which when translated says, "How can the hen crow like that of a cock?" this is the scenario of recognition of the voice of the Nepalese women. There has always been the assumption that women know less than men. This kind of inferiority feeling discourages women to speak freely in front of male officers unless they have a very strong female leader with them. The male members also do not always favour their wives, daughters and daughters-in-law talking frankly with other male outsiders.
A CASE An incident was observed by the Consultant in this respect in Kavre district, Sirishghari leasehold forestry group, Twelve women and ten males participated in a farmers' training (May 1995) provided by the project. Most of them were husbands and wives. The training was delivered by SFDP personnel (two male officers) on bank loan procedure. During the training which continued for four hours, altogether twelve questions were asked by the male ! participants whereas not a single woman expressed anything, not to say about putting questions. When asked privately why they remained silent, many of them said that they felt embarrassed to speak in front of the males, both their husbands and the trainers. ii They expressed that it would have been easier if one of the trainers were female; "We are women, how can they understand our problems'" This was the answer of most of the female participants. Thus in order to empower them with technical knowledge, there is the need to create an appropriate environment for self-expression. Without achieving effective communication, how can one expect for effective transfer of knowledge and skill to this dominated and marginalised group? |
Target Group Formation
Group formation is the basic task of the project. The project appraisal states (Article 72) that the groups will be formed under the policy of SFDP applied for small farmers with less than 0.5 ha of land, marginal farmers with less than 0.1 ha of land, landless/near landless with 0.05 ha of land and tribal people. The article specifically states that women who are below poverty line, particularly female headed households, both de-facto and de-jure who shoulder the burden of responsibility for the family, either permanently or temporarily.
Findings/Recommendations
Although the group formation is a task performed by NGOs, Forestry staff, Livestock staff along with the Bank staff, yet the whole philosophy of group formation is influenced by the SFDP policy and mainly the task of the Group Organiser of the bank. During group formation, the bank staff has to look for the guarantee of loan repayment and has to avoid the risky group.
The project appraisal gives a golden opportunity for the disadvantaged group of women to join leasehold forestry activities. Certain specific credit facilities are also designed for such groups. However, with regard to the banking conditions, the provision of collateral can prove to be a constraint for the women of this group to join the programme. Provided the legal entity to land by women is available, this provision will work wonderful but the extra loan for hiring labour may prove to be an additional burden for them which could negatively affect the degree of their participation in the long run.
Since the objectives of the project concentrates on the economic development of the beneficiary group there are chances of upcoming competition rather than cooperation within the members of a group itself. In that context, the female households heads will face problems of discrimination in many aspects Therefore, two options are suggested:
a. formation of separate group of female headed households (having the same kind of interests) where there are possibilities; (In the project districts it is estimated that about 10-152 of the households are headed by women, Appraisal Report, Working Papers) b. creating provision for soft loan specific to the women included in the mixed group;
In fact as the project appraisal guides, the integration of women into the mainstreaming of forestry development is the main focus but it is important to keep it open for the decision of the beneficiaries depending on the need and interests according to the contextual requirement. Identification of these requirements should be done through Participatory Rural appraisal in every project site. As Hr. Laurent Umans pointed out in his paper, "Gender sensitivity and the project" the daughters-in-laws along with the daughters can also be included. However the decision should be taken by the beneficiaries themselves, provided the objectives of the project explained to them very clearly.
It will also be helpful if the group formation is done by a mixed team of a sociologist and the bank staff, one of them possibly woman.
Community management AND community politics Community Management Role Activities undertaken at the community level for enduring provision and maintenance of scarce resources for family needs: water, health care, education etc. This is voluntary unpaid work, undertaken i, free time, often seen as an extension of tie reproductive role. Community Politics Role Activities undertaken at the community level often within framework of national or local politics: local government activities, village level decision eating etc. This is generally rewarded directly or indirectly, through cash or status. |
Community Decision Male/Female
The analysis of the roles of female and male related to their activities, on- farm, off-farm, forestry or productive, reproductive has been dealt with by the Appraisal Report and the project inputs designed in terms of extension services, training etc. have to be appreciated.
However, the most important factor required for the long term continuation of the project activities is the spontaneous participation of the target group in developmental activities. This again depends on empowerment of the every single member of the beneficiaries by enhancing his/her capacity of self-analysis and self-confidence.
The women of Nepal are found to be very much dominated in these spheres. Until and unless women can take up the role of community decision makers, their empowerment only to participate more and more in their traditional role of fodder, fuelwood plantation cannot merely improve their status.
In this context the assumption made by the Appraisal Report that "women would also be involved in all discussions pertaining to livestock, plantings etc. .." needs to be restressed from the point of view of collective decision making in theory and practice.
Assumptions Vs. Facts
The Appraisal Report is full of assumptions about the status of women. In totality it implies that the Nepalese women has comparatively a liberal social status to that of other neighbouring countries. It gives a very positive image of the Nepalese women in the sphere of having control over self-decision.
Findings/Recommendations
The Appraisal Report however, does not address the vulnerability of women to domestic violence. Even if forestry development is purely a technical matter, the persons engaged in such activities are all human beings. The lack of control over most of the physical resources by women discourage them from participating in activities outside their normal routine work confined to the homestead, forest and the crop field.
The most important matter to be considered by the project in this respect is that women are guided by the elderly family members, husbands, bounded by their children, elderly and sick people at home, their decisions being controlled and influenced by all these factors all the time.
On the basis of this background it can be recommended that an intensive gender specific study of the older project sites to analyze the impact on men and women of the project activities should be done immediately. By this the assumptions about men and women as beneficiaries of the project can be reviewed for further improvement of the strategies of all the four line agencies.
Project Benefits, Men and Women
The major immediate benefits from the project received by both men and women are training, study tour, forestry inputs like seeds, fertilizer etc., bank loan for land improvement and to buy improved livestock.
Findings/Recommendations
When these benefits are analyzed in the context of male female relationship, it is found that training, forestry inputs etc. are in easier access to both of men and women. Bank loan is possible only when there is a collateral. The women, being the partner attendants in the training get access to this as because their husbands are part of the process.
The most important benefit which has a long term impact on the environment and economy of the society as a whole is the allocation of leased plot of land. Even if degraded, land is the most important incentive for the participants. They can use it for a long period. However, since there are many evidences (in this country) of females facing lots of problems on acquiring land in their own names, the provision cannot turn out to be very promising benefit for women.
In this context if we see to the legal arrangement, women cannot get collateral in the way men can. Therefore, certain specific provisions for creating women's access to collateral and bad loan should be designed as an alternative. The group loan facility without any land mortgage but on the guarantee of the skill training or group mortgage could be established.
Village Promoters/Women Motivators/Veterinary workers
Under the "Implementations chapter, article 161 refers to the concept of "Self-reliance where it points out that "some of the experienced group leaders or members, willing to volunteer as "village promoters" would promote an interface between the small farmers and the GO. Likewise, there is the provision of "women motivators" and also "village veterinary workers" in each VDC.
These will be working as the local frontline volunteers. They will not receive any kind of salary so that they can remain "independent from those of the paid project staff but there will be indirect incentives in the form of prizes.
Findings/Recommendations
These kind of provisions can help promoting leadership among villagers which could be long lasting benefits derived from the project services in the field of human resource development, both men and women.
This kind of scope can be utilized to develop front line female volunteers in an equal number to those of the males. It is not very easily socially acceptable for women to move around most of the time. But the lessons derived from experiences of quite a significant number of women motivators in forestry, watershed management projects in Nepal that women motivators can work better in group rather than in single. Moreover, the proposed prizes for these volunteers can include study, exposure tours to other similar type of community managed successful forestry projects. In order to encourage confidence building of women along with the community they can be developed as village veterinary workers, as is being demanded by the change in time.
Time/Labour Saving devices
The Appraisal Report when addresses the women specific problems does not include provisions for initiating time saving, labour saving technologies (except smokeless stoves) which can enable women to participate in the project activities with full spirit. The project should consider for such inputs.
Conclusion
Nevertheless, the Appraisal Report provides ample opportunities for developing guidance and scope for focusing on the integration of women into the project activities. Since the role of women as well as men is very clearly recognised in connection with the forest use, livestock management the strategies can be modified according to the specific requirement based on gender analysis for further operation.
