A recent study
undertaken by CARE International examines IFAD’s performance fostering gender
equality and women’s empowerment, observing a selection of eight projects in
the Adaptation for Smallholder
Agriculture Programme (ASAP). The study is a reality-check on how
ASAP-supported projects are translating gender mainstreaming commitments into
implementation practice.
The study highlighted a number of projects that offer
demonstrable benefits for women. For example, the staff of the Adaptation to
Climate Change in the Delta (AMD) project in Vietnam reported that investments
in irrigation technologies have enabled women, who formerly spent half a day
irrigating their fields, to complete the task in just 15 minutes.
The Post-Harvest Support Project (PASP) in Rwanda has similarly
trained 160 GALS champions (women and men) who have in turn trained another 200
women and 200 men. Participants spoke of the benefits of the experience,
including improved relations with their spouse, pooling money for shared
benefits within the household, and making joint decisions about household
expenses.
The main findings and recommendations provide additional insights
into how investments, capacities and processes can lead to better outcomes for women
in smallholder adaptation projects. Among the findings, the study highlights
the need to move beyond tracking women’s participation in project activities,
and develop a more thorough understanding of what participation means in these
cases. Participation may be important for women’s economic empowerment through
increased access to inputs such as land and capital, but the evidence that
participation necessarily leads to improved economic outcomes is anecdotal
across most projects.
In addition, the study makes the case for additional
investment in staff capacity. IFAD’s Gender Marker System (a method to assess
gender sensitivity of IFAD projects) advocates for applied practices such as
conducting gender and power analyses to inform project design and
implementation. However, gender analyses and action plans need the attention of
a dedicated gender focal point on staff whose job it is to ensure that gender
mainstreaming is a high priority. The study notes, ‘one danger is that when
gender mainstreaming is considered everyone’s responsibility – with no specific
budgets, roles, responsibilities and/or plans assigned – it will fall between
the cracks of project commitments.’ It goes on to state that the most promising
ASAP projects in terms of gender equity are those that have a full-time gender
focal point trained in gender transformative methodologies such as Gender
Action Learning Systems (GALS).
Finally, the study points to the necessity of building capacities
of local partners and institutions. Since IFAD projects are largely managed by
government ministries and departments, and are strongly integrated with
government strategies, sustained attention should be given to promoting the
skills and capacities within the ministries that would ensure gender issues are
sufficiently mainstreamed in programme activities. Critically, supporting
local commitments to foster gender equity and women’s empowerment can in turn
influence the political will and the overall investment in gender mainstreaming
by government ministries and departments.
All ASAP projects were found to be aware of the different
practical needs of women and men. However, the study argues, more needs to be
done to understand how project activities foster equitable decision-making
within the household.
The gender assessment produced by CARE is an important
critique and reflection on the organizational processes that are in place to
mainstream gender concerns over the project cycle. While notable milestones
have been achieved, the literature cautions that much work remains to be done
to ensure that, operationally, support for gender transformative activities are
embedded in climate change adaptation efforts.
Related links
How to do note on gender transformative smallholder agriculture adaptation programmes
Info note on Achieving Gender Equality and Women’sEmpowerment in Smallholder Adaptation
Info note on Achieving Gender Equality and Women’sEmpowerment in Smallholder Adaptation