“When I know there is a tool speaking for me, I feel stronger, I feel empowered”

This is an interview with Ms Margaret Nakato, coordinator at the Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) in Uganda, and executive director of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF). KWDI, who is a member of WFF, supports women in small-scale fisheries in Uganda, in line with the SSF Guidelines.

Margaret Nakato speaking at a needs assessment for women's engagement in the Nile perch fishery with the Lutoboka women’s group at the Kalangala landing site. ©KWDT

Margaret, first of all, can you please tell me a bit about how the Katosi Women Development Trust works in small-scale fisheries in partnership with FAO?

– Certainly. First of all, I’d like to underline that we in the Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) in Uganda get support from FAO through the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF). Linking up to bigger networks like we in KWDT have done is key for grassroots organisations! To be organised and linked up offers important entry points to different actors on different levels.

– Speaking more hands-on, FAO has supported us in how to reach communities. The fact that FAO Uganda invites us to their meetings has given us important recognition in Uganda. We in turn invite the FAO staff to our meetings at KWDT. You can say that we have close ties with FAO Uganda. We collaborate on awareness raising, capacity development, and more. Whenever anything related to small-scale fisheries come up, FAO reaches out to us and vice versa.

This sounds like a positive collaboration indeed. If you were to point out some of the key achievements related to the SSF Guidelines in the communities where you work, what would those be?

– I would say that having the SSF Guidelines is in itself very, very important for the women in the fishing communities. When I know there is a tool speaking for me, I feel stronger, I feel empowered, you see. Now we have much work ahead of us to make sure all the communities know the content.

– Having the SSF Guidelines have furthermore been key to how we in KWDT form collaborations with donors and partners. Whichever partner we work with, that partner needs to be aware of the SSF Guidelines and ensure that the joint work we do together contributes to implementing them. We literally put the SSF Guidelines in front of the partners and tell them “this is what we need to do!”

– Last year for example, we explored collaboration with a large donor and saw that they had not paid enough attention to women’s involvement in a small-scale fisheries project they were planning in Uganda and a handful other countries. We therefore mobilised them to work with us using the SSF Guideliens. To our joy, they agreed, and they made sure to educate their staff and consultants on the contents of the SSF Guidelines.

– A final examples is that the SSF Guidelines help us as practitioners in small-scale fisheries frame what we are doing. When the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) did a capacity building workshop for us and other members in the African region, in Tunisia, we were all asked to describe what we are doing, linked chapter by chapter to the SSF Guidelines. This exercise really helped us appreciate how our work contributes to the implementation of the SSF Guidelines.

Wow, thank you for these examples of what a difference it makes to have one strong and clear document to refer to.

Bugula women's group members have been supported by KWDT to access fish drying racks. They use them as a group, and community members pay user fees to meet maintanance costs. ©KWDT

 

If we come back to the women in the fishing communities that you mentioned briefly, I wonder, have the SSF Guidelines impacted their self-recognition? In my interview with SEAFDEC staff member in two months ago, the SEAFDEC staff suggested that the SSF Guidelines ‘helped many women realize that they are indeed part of the workforce in small-scale fisheries’. What has been the situation in Uganda?

– Well, self-recognition is in fact an area that is still not fully evolved in the communities KWDT work with. The women don't recognise their right to be in fisheries. They feel at the mercy of fishermen. We must inform them that they have rights! This is really important, and in fact something we were all set up to go out and do on a large scale around Lake Victoria, just before the Covid-19 crisis came. We were planning to gather women at landing sites and show videos and discuss the SSF Guidelines.

Such a tragedy that all is put on hold. What would you say are the consequences of women not feeling empowered to claim their space in fisheries?

– In its worst form, the consequence is the violence, abuse and threats. The violence against women in fishing communities is typically not reported, because the women are not sure if fisheries is their space. For migratory workers, the situation is even worse. Other fish workers tell them to go back to their region, although Ugandan law states that any Ugandan can work anywhere they want in the country.

– One of the worst forms of violence and abuse, where women have sex with fishermen to secure access to fish, persists.* In fact, the problem has escalated! It even happens that women have children with fishermen, hoping to “secure a marriage” so to say, and thereby secure their access to fish, but it doesn't work! There are also high instances of domestic violence, even rape, as a form of ‘payback’ for when women fish processors are ‘not paying enough’ for a fisherman's fish. The women cannot report this. So you see, we still have very long way to go to reach gender equality.

Margaret Nakato at a needs assessment for women engagement in the Nile perch fishery with the Fena Tukole women’s group at the Buzindeere landing site. ©KWDT

 

Even more important then that organizations like KWDT exist! Can you elaborate more on what the current overall situation looks like right now for the fishing communities and the women’s groups you work with?

– A pressing issue at the moment is that the Lake Victoria waters are currently rising, and the surrounding lands are right now flooded, with houses submerged. We have had flooding since February. These floods affect women the hardest, because many women have rented the land, whereas some bought and built on the marginal land near the shores with the higher risk of flooding.

– Also, fish catches are currently low. Subsequently, many women are out of fishing activities right now, which increases their vulnerability to loss of income, hunger, violence, etc. Previously, the fishery had recovered thanks to intensified efforts to curb engagement in illegal fishing practices. We don't know whether the current decline is as a result of rising water volumes, so we must engage with the Ministry to find out why the fish caught right now is below the recommended size. A benefit with us being organized is that we have greater chance of engaging with the Ministry.

And what about the Covid-19 situation, have you worked with information or support related to that?

– Yes, we have. Thanks to the fact that we are a trusted organization, we could successfully raise awareness on COVID-19. The people in the communities behave differently now, they have stopped the risk behaviour. One man in a community said to me that “now I see the value of having women's organisations in the communities, because we could not get this important information without the women's groups!”. This makes me happy.

– You see, trust is so important. The only thing we have in the community is to trust! Before KWDT formed the women’s groups and helped women gain access to training and technology, people in the communities just asked us for funds and favours. Now they ask for our advice instead. Through our work in KWDT to organize women in groups and offer opportunities to access trainings and productive resources, we have earned their trust. Building such trust is simple on paper, but in reality, it is hard work!

Indeed. This brings me to my next question, how have you worked with the women’s groups until now, and what effects can you see?

– We do a lot of advocacy and awareness raising. So far, we have made achievements sensitizing the women on issues related to water and sanitation, safe handling of fish, better fish processing practices, marketing, business, bookkeeping, etc. We also have trained women into forming advocacy clubs, and then we have sent the women to local government meetings to represent the communities, and to report back to the communities after the meeting. Thanks to the advocacy clubs, we have for instance been able to identify a bribe takers and stop them. In this case local officials took bribes to allow fishing nets that caught undersized fish. Now we want to keep making sure these is a dialogue between the grassroots and government level, that is our ambition.

Margaret Nakato at a needs assessment for women engagement in the Nile perch fishery with the Baja Basaga women’s group at the Kibanga landing site in Uganda. ©KWDT

 

That is so important, and also an ambition you share with FAO and others. Tell me, if you look to the future, for instance to the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture coming up in 2022, what are your plans?

– For the International Year, I would like to speak from the perspective of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF). We in WFF want to explore this opportunity and integrate it into our work. We especially want to take this chance to elevate fisherfolks’ importance to food security.

– Then overall, I would say that our continued work in KWDT and WFF on implementing the SSF Guidelines is really important. You don't just have SSF Guidelines, and then you are done. You must keep asking yourself what you can do and change to make the SSF Guidelines a reality, to keep them relevant – and we remain committed to doing just that!

 

Article by Åsa Ljusenius, FAO.

*The exchange of ‘sex for fish’ and women fish workers’ vulnerable position has been highlighted by FAO and others in a number of publications. See for instance this extract from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2006 this Review of women’s access to fish in small-scale fisheries, and this guide on Good practice policies to eliminate gender inequalities in fish value chains.

 

A KWDT led training for the Muwumuza women's group on how to use an improved PAH-safe fish smoking kiln to increase food quality when processing fish. ©KWDT