Designing gender-responsive food and nutrition security ...men and women who are in a disadvantaged position, you will produce a gender-responsive design. During the analysis, it is

Gender in Food and

Nutrition Security

Programming

Designing gender-responsive food and nutrition

security projects and programmes

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This course is funded by the European Union through the EU-FAO

Improved Global Governance for Hunger Reduction Programme

© FAO, 2014

Gender in Food and Nutrition Security

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In this lesson

LEARNING OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................. 2

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 2

WHY ADDRESSING GENDER FOR SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS?....................................................................... 3

GENDER ISSUES DURING PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION ................................................................................... 4

USING THE RESULTS OF THE STAKEHOLDER AND GENDER ANALYSES ......................................................... 9

DEFINING GENDER-RESPONSIVE GOALS ..................................................................................................... 13

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE RESULTS - OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS ................................................ 15

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................ 18

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE ACTIVITIES IN EMERGENCIES ........................................................... 20

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE STRATEGIES .......................................................................................... 21

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE IMPLEMENTATION METHODS ............................................................. 23

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE MONITORING AND EVALUATION ........................................................ 25

STAFFING AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT ..................................................................................... 25

GENDER-RESPONSIVE BUDGETS ................................................................................................................. 27

CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 29

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 29


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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

understand the importance of addressing gender issues early in the project design process;

describe how to use the results of the gender, stakeholder and problem analysis to inform the

project’s design;

explain how to design gender-responsive goals, outputs, outcomes

and activities;

describe a gender-responsive budget.

INTRODUCTION

Women and men often have different rights (both legal and traditional), and access to and control over

resources. Women carry out specific tasks within the household, particularly with respect to food

production and utilization. Therefore, men and women acquire different types of knowledge, skills,

interests and points of view. They also allocate their time differently, and have their own needs,

priorities and goals.

Let’s see how. What happens if in our project design we don’t take into account the differences

between the various groups of beneficiaries, and those between women and men? Here is an example:

It is essential that the project design reflects these differences adequately, and that gender issues are

addressed very early in the project design process.

Example

In Peru, a project aimed to improve the yields of irrigated agriculture by increasing water-use efficiency. The agricultural technicians responsible for the project invited only male farmers to a training in different irrigation techniques. The trainer started explaining a new technique to the farmers on a plot in the field…

The wife of one participant said: “What are you doing in my field?” Her husband explained that the project was training men in new irrigation techniques. The woman answered: “But I am responsible for irrigating! Why didn’t they invite me to this training?” The men at the training confirmed that women - and not men - were responsible for irrigating the crops, and therefore should have been targeted by the training.


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By applying a gender perspective during the early design stage, you will be able to plan and

implement those activities that best address the needs of women and men, improving the

effectiveness and sustainability of projects and programmes.

WHY ADDRESSING GENDER FOR SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS?

Addressing gender issues is important for achieving quality results and sustainable projects.

Projects and programmes are designed to address a specific problem, or make use of an opportunity.

During the project design process, you must analyse the problem and define the results you would like

to achieve. Then, you need to determine what activities, strategies and inputs are necessary to achieve

these results.

How can a gender perspective improve this process?

Let’s have a look at each step:

• Problem identification

A gender perspective makes the problem analysis more differentiated and complete.

• Outputs and outcomes

This will lead to more sustainable and more equitable results.

• Activities

Activities will respond to the actual needs and priorities of women and men,

• Strategies

Strategies will be better targeted.

Project design

Different methodologies and tools are available for designing projects and programmes (e.g. logical frameworks, planning for results, etc.), and there are many terminologies used to define the various phases of the project cycle.

This lesson will focus on the elements to take into account while designing a project, regardless of the terminology. This approach should make it easier to adapt this information to your preferred framework.


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• Inputs

As the activities are better focused, the cost/benefit ratio of your inputs (staff, time and money)

will improve.

GENDER ISSUES DURING PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The best moment to start addressing gender issues is during the problem identification.

To do so, you can use (or combine) stakeholder1, gender and problem analyses: the results of these

analyses will inform all the elements of the project design.

Let’s briefly consider each analysis.

1. Stakeholder analysis

One of the challenges at the project design stage is that different groups have particular needs and

resources; therefore, each group must be represented while planning the development activities.

A stakeholder analysis helps you to:

• identify the individuals or groups that should be involved in the project design and

implementation;

• decide how to best address their interests and needs; and

• determine their priorities.

It can help you find out how the different stakeholders are likely to affect the project or be affected

by it, so that you can make the most appropriate decision about how to involve each stakeholder.

1 Stakeholders are those who affect and/or are affected by development policies, programmes and any kind of

intervention. They can be women or men, communities, socio-economic groups or institutions of any size and from any level of society. Types of stakeholders include men or women who:

• have or need a resource; • are affected by use of a resource by others; and • influence decisions about resources.

Example of questions for stakeholder analysis

• Who will be affected by the project? Who will benefit and who will lose out? • What different development activities do men and women propose? • For each development activity, who are the main stakeholders?

How big is their stake? • Is there conflict between stakeholders? Partnerships?


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A rapid stakeholder analysis can involve these initial steps:

a. Focus on one specific issue or activity of concern in the project. Identify those who have a

concrete "stake“ or interest in it (i.e. not only those who will benefit, but also those who will lose).

b. Develop a list of possible stakeholders. Identify a small group of people in the community who can

support you, preferably with varied perspectives and backgrounds, to brainstorm with all the

stakeholders or interest groups. You should consider all possible stakeholders in the public or

private sectors and in civil society.

c. Carry out a stakeholder mapping. The long list of stakeholders can be analysed to determine which

stakeholders have the highest level of interest and what are their levels of influence over the issue.

A detailed gender-sensitive stakeholder analysis should be done in a participatory manner2 to

ensure that the decision-making is not done only by one particular economic or political group.

2 For more information and field tools, see the Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis Programme’s (SEAGA’s) Field

level handbook.

• What organizations work most closely with community members? Which offer the most

support to women? • What are their ties to other levels of systems, such as government and/or private

institutions? • What are the priority problems of men and women in the community? • Are there gender-linked differences in the distribution of the costs and benefits resulting

from the project?

Stakeholder mapping

Placing project stakeholders on a stakeholder analysis grid quickly illustrates how much involvement should be ensured for certain groups.

A combination of stakeholders with the highest interest and power are critical to achieving your purpose. As your primary audience, you should include both the immediate decision-makers and opinion leaders.

Stakeholders with high interest but low power, or high power but low interest, should be kept informed and satisfied. Ideally, they should be supporters for the proposed programme or policy change. These stakeholders are your secondary audience.

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2. Gender analysis

A gender analysis helps you understand the differences in access to and control over resources and

services, and the power relations between men and women, belonging to different groups. It also

helps you find out which of those differences are the underlying causes of food insecurity.

If you manage to address these gender differences by developing activities that help empower those

men and women who are in a disadvantaged position, you will produce a gender-responsive design.

During the analysis, it is important to examine women and men of different age, socio-economic class

or ethnic groups, in relation to their:

• different tasks (who does what);

• resources (who owns/has access to land, water, etc.);

• services (who can access training, extension services, credit facilities, etc.);

• decision-making power (i.e. who decides what, not only within the household but also in public

areas).

3. Problem analysis

Problem analysis is a tool for exploring:

• the community’s main problems related to FNS

(as perceived by men and women in different groups);

• how problems affect men and women differently;

• the causes and effects of each problem;

• how problems can be addressed.

Stakeholder mapping

Power measures people’s degree of ability to help or have an impact on your project’s efforts. Interest measures their degree of support or opposition to your project’s goals and objectives.


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Since you want to formulate gender-responsive project results, you should carry out the analysis using a

gender-sensitive and participatory process. Community meetings and group discussions with women,

men and youth (which can occur separately if needed), allow for an understanding of the different

perspectives.

Tip

If you are the project leader, you may not be the one who carries out this analysis;

nevertheless, you will have to interpret the results to inform the project design, and you will

need to make sure that the analysis is carried out in a gender-sensitive way.

Once the priority problems of all the different groups in a community are identified, it

is useful to bring everyone together for further analysis. To conduct a problem analysis in a

participatory way, one can follow this five-step process:

1. Identify strengths and capacities

Plan and organize a meeting for the entire community. Make sure that it is scheduled

for a time when both women and men can attend, including a mix of socio-economic

groups. Ask the key informants/group members to describe the existing capacities in their community.

Key questions to identify priority problems of the different groups

• What key problems are shared by men and women? • What problems are perceived to be a high priority by women, and which ones are important to

men? • What key problems are related? Is there consensus or disagreement about which problems are

the most important for the community as a whole? • Are there additional causes of the problems? What are they? • What are the current coping strategies? Are there any differences between men and women?

(For example, women go further than men do to fetch water). • What are the opportunities to solve the problems? What opportunities are suggested by the

community members? By women and men? By the technical experts (if any)? Are these opportunities available also for women?

• What actions can be implemented locally? Which ones require external assistance?


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2. Identify problems

a. Ask each group member to write, on separate pieces of paper, two or three problems he or she is

facing at present.

b. Reach consensus on the priority problems taking into account the needs of both men and women.

c. Make a list of all problems identified, and count the number of times each problem is cited. Use this

list to rank the problems in order of importance.

3. Develop a problem tree (optional)

a. Prepare a problem tree to explore the possible interrelationships among problems. For example, one

person may note low yields as a problem connected to food insecurity, while another may note a lack of

fertilizer or poor soil fertility.

b. Develop the problem tree around a core problem, its causes, the factors that give rise to those causes

and, ultimately, the root causes.

c. Note both the immediate effects of the core problem and their link to subsequent effects.

Make sure you note down the different effects the problem has on women and men.

d. Use the problem tree to identify the main root causes of problems facing the community, and rank

them in order of importance.

Example of problem tree

Visualization: Draw the trunk of a tree with roots and branches. Stick the pieces of paper where you have noted the causes of the problems on the roots, and stick the effects noted on the branches. Then, identify the relationships and hierarchy among the different problems. Repeat the process for solutions. You may want to have separate meetings with men and women, as their perceptions of the problems might be different.


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4. Analyse problems

Select a number of problems that may be addressed by the proposed project and for each one identify:

• its causes;

• its effects (on men and women);

• coping strategies of men and women (i.e. how people have responded); and

• other possible solutions at the community level, that may or may not require external

assistance.

Where relevant, draw on the strengths and capacities identified in step 1. Prepare a ‘problem analysis

chart’ and record information in the relevant cells

5. Consolidate the different views

a. Consider how the information differs among different groups within the community, and among men

and women.

b. Ensure that the views of poorer households, women and youth are represented in the priorities.

c. You may ask additional questions such as: What problems affect most people? Which ones affect

women and girls, in particular? What are the most urgent? What problems are the easiest for the

villagers to solve with their own resources, and which ones are the most difficult?

USING THE RESULTS OF THE STAKEHOLDER AND GENDER ANALYSES

Tip 2

You can use the results from the initial analyses to inform all phases of the project design.

Imagine that you are developing a project in a country that is food and nutrition insecure.

The main reason for lack of FNS is insufficient crop production, and the project goal is to increase the

production by 20 percent.

The project team is considering a few priority activities:

• improvement or development of irrigation facilities;

• use of fertilizers and high-quality seeds;

• training of farmers in improved agricultural techniques.


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After completing your stakeholder, problem and gender analysis, you have learned more about the

specific needs and priorities of men and women from different groups in the same community:

1. Large landowners grow crops for the market and for household consumption, and they own

water pumps to irrigate their crops. Their main problem is how to get high quality seeds, as

these are not locally available. The large landowners do not farm the land themselves, but use

labourers to do so. They are like managers of the farm. This management is done by the male

family members; women are more involved in food processing and marketing of the produce.

2. Small landowners have difficulties in growing sufficient crops, due to limited access to irrigation

water, fertilizer and quality seeds. Men and women have differentiated tasks in food

production. Men are in charge of ploughing, whereas women are involved in planting, weeding,

harvesting and food processing. A few of these small landowners are women, and for them the

situation is even more difficult: they are usually the head of the household, but cannot access

extension services or credit. Water rights, too, are connected to registered land ownership, and

as women cannot own land, they cannot get access to irrigation water.

3. The landless who are sharecroppers and tenants are often not able to grow sufficient food to

sustain themselves and their families as they have to give a share of their produce to the

landowner. They might not have the right to irrigate or to decide on the type of crops grown on

the land. They have less incentive to invest in the improvement of the land (as they do not own

it and do not know if they can farm the land in the following year) and cannot access credit for

lack of collateral. For women labourers the situation is worse since they get paid less for the

same work, and like the women who are small landowners they have less access to agricultural

inputs.

4. The landless who are not involved in agriculture need to buy most of their food with the

income they earn, as they cannot grow it themselves. Female-headed households are more

vulnerable because they represent the largest portion of the landless, given that it is difficult for

women to own land. Some are able to earn an income that is sufficient to buy (extra) food,

while others do not have the necessary resources to do so. Women are over-represented in this

last category because they have less access to resources and do not enjoy the same job

opportunities that men have.


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The analysis shows that increasing crop production by 20 percent will only improve food security for

part of the population living in that community.

Who will be able to improve their situation?

The large landowners will be able to produce more for the market. This production will probably

lower food prices enabling a larger group of people to buy additional food. However, those with

insufficient incomes will not be able to access food despite the lower costs. Also, smallholders,

sharecroppers and tenants might be able to increase their production to reach food security, or will

be able to purchase less additional food.

By being aware of the specific implications of the FNS problem for men and women within the same

groups and the obstacles to overcome, you will be able to design targeted strategies and activities. In

our example, this would mean that you must have different approaches to achieve FNS for all targeted

groups.

How would your approach differ for each group?

1. Landless (not in agriculture)

For the landless who are not able to grow crops and have insufficient resources to buy food, you will

need to think of off-farm activities that can increase their income. These activities will probably be

different for men and women. For example, landless men are more likely to migrate to the city or other

areas to find work or to hire themselves as labourers, leaving their wives and children behind in the

village. Therefore, you could develop activities closer to home for men to increase their income. At the

same time, you must focus on women when developing your activities as there might be many female-

headed households.


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2. Landless (tenants)

For sharecroppers and tenants you could formulate activities that increase their access to irrigation

water, extension services or credit for investments. You should pay particular attention to ensure that

the solutions meet the specific needs of women and female-headed households.

3. Small landowners

Small landowners will be able to increase crop production through activities aimed at increasing their

access to these resources and services. In these two groups you will probably find that men and women

have different tasks in food production. In many cases men will be in charge of ploughing, whereas

women will be involved in planting, weeding, harvesting and food processing. It is, therefore, important

to target your activity to the group that is actually performing the task (as the example from Peru

shows). Furthermore, women and men might experience different obstacles in accessing services or

credit. For example, services often target the head of the household which is assumed to be a man, and

therefore women do not get access to extension services. In other contexts, water rights are connected

to landownership and women cannot get access to irrigation water if they are not entitled to own land

(just like tenants or sharecroppers for that matter). Therefore, when providing services and credit,

special attention must be directed to strategies that enable both men and women to obtain these

resources.

4. Large landowners

Large landowners could produce more crops through better access to quality seeds. In this socio-

economic group you might find that men are the ‘managers’ of the farm, hiring labourers to do the

actual work. Women might be more involved in food processing or in the marketing of the produce.

Apart from increased access to seeds, this group might need information about the best cultivating

practices, and the best options for food processing. Here, again, you have to target your activities to

those that will really use the information you are providing.

By using the issues that have emerged from the gender analysis, you are in a better position to

plan for gender equality and to address the most vulnerable men and women (as opposed to

designing your project on the basis of a general problem analysis alone).


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In fact, gender analysis in project design will help you :

address the specific needs of men and women, boys and girls from different socio-

economic groups.

target the “right” group of men and women.

focus your activities and strategies according to the differentiated priorities of the target

group.

When using a gender approach you will be able to carry out a more comprehensive and

differentiated analysis of the problem and of the local context. This will enable you to design

separate strategies and specific activities for different socio-economic groups, and will help you

work with the stakeholders who will be able to carry out the activities after the project has

finished. This will make your work more effective and will ensure that the desired results are

more equitable and sustainable.

DEFINING GENDER-RESPONSIVE GOALS

Once you have carried out the three types of analyses, which helped you identify how women and men

from different groups are affected by the problem, you can formulate the goal of the intervention.

The main goal of FNS policies, projects and programmes, often involves increasing FNS for all. We know

that this cannot be achieved without taking into account the existing differences and inequalities, in

order to provide equal access to resources and services, and to empower the most vulnerable women

and men. Therefore, we need to formulate a gender-responsive goal. The main difference between a

gender-sensitive and a gender-responsive goal is that a gender-sensitive goal takes into account the

gender issues, whereas a gender-responsive goal goes a step further and takes specific actions to

address gender inequalities through tailored activities.

But how is a gender-responsive goal different from a generic goal?

Let’s look at an example.

Imagine that the goal of a FNS programme at regional level is formulated as a broad development goal:

to increase FNS for the country, through sustainable development.


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However, the access, availability and utilization of food is different for women, men, girls, boys, rich,

poor and different ethnic groups. FNS is also affected by gender inequalities, as the following

statements of different women show:

”The market is far away from my village, and it is difficult for me as a woman to come here. There is

no public transportation, and I must walk long distances with the children on my back.”

”I live in a rural area, my husband takes care of food production, while I do the market activities. ”

” I live in town, have no land and must buy food in the market. When I don’t work, I don’t have

enough money to buy it. ”

”When there is little food, my husband and my boys eat first, and we are often left without food. ”

” I am a widow, have no land and must buy food for my two children. But in my region, women are

not allowed to go to the market alone, and when I cannot come here, we don’t eat. ”

In this example, it is clear that:

• Rural people depend much more on self-sustaining food production than city dwellers who

buy their food in the markets. (This fact might lead to differences in FNS between urban and

rural areas).

• The access to the market is different for women and men, especially in rural areas.

• There are also differences in terms of access to food within the household.

A gender-responsive goal recognizes these differences and inequalities between groups of people,

and specifies how they will be addressed.

In our example, a gender-responsive goal must acknowledge the differences between FNS at the

national and household levels, and between the household members.

A challenge in the formulation of gender-responsive goals is that it is difficult to be specific. Often data

available at country level are not collected in a sex-disaggregated way, making it difficult to get insight

into the differences between women and men. Furthermore, gender relations are context specific and

culturally determined. There might be great diversity between different regions or various ethnic

groups in a country.

How to address this challenge?


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Try to make explicit who or what group will benefit most from your intervention, and how the goal

can be achieved (in a general way).

For example: by empowerment of poor men and women; by paying attention to the diversity of people

in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, caste or socio-economic class, urban versus rural, ability, etc.; by

ensuring equitable benefits for women and men, etc.

Here’s an example of a goal formulated in a gender responsive way:

1. Achieving food security for all men, women, girls and boys in the country (at all levels), by

ensuring equitable access to agricultural inputs and services.

A gender-responsive goal is specific in defining who exactly to target and how inequalities will

be addressed. Mentioning a level of intervention will allow you to identify the different target

groups, and can help you make your goal gender-sensitive.

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE RESULTS - OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS

Once you have analysed the problem and identified the goal, you must determine what results

(outcomes and outputs) the project aims to achieve to overcome the problem.

For example…

Gender-responsive goal

Increased FNS for all men, women, girls and boys in the region by ensuring an equitable access to agricultural inputs and services.

Example of outcome 1

Crop production increased by 30 percent for small landowners, tenants and sharecroppers.

Examples of outputs for outcome 1:

• Improved irrigation

• Equal access to microcredit extension services

• Enhanced opportunities for women farmers

Example of activity for output 1:

Training smallholders (both women and men) in irrigation techniques

You should formulate these results on the basis of the information gathered during the gender, problem and stakeholder analysis, to ensure that both women and men in the various socio-economic groups will benefit, and that the planned results address their different needs and capacities.


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Key actions while formulating gender-responsive results include:

1. Formulate the solutions together with the stakeholders

It is very important to formulate a project together with the targeted stakeholders, and to

involve all of them in the decision-making process. Very often, the most powerful people and

socio-economic groups are the ones that make decisions, leaving out vulnerable groups, poor

people or women. If that happens, their voice is not heard, their needs and requirements are

not addressed, and the existing inequalities are replicated.

2. Consider how the solution will affect men and women differently

When identifying the potential solutions to a problem, you need to anticipate how women and

men will be affected. At this point, you need to refer again to the results of your gender

analysis where you have:

• examined the different tasks (who does what), resources (land, water, livestock, etc.),

services (training, extension services, credit facilities, etc.) that women and men of

different age, social class or ethnic group have access to;

• considered the question of who decides what.

This information will give you insight into the specific needs and requirements of different

women and men to solve the problem.

3. Answer the question: Who will benefit and who will lose?

Another important question to answer is who will benefit from the project and who will lose.

Identifying gender-responsive results means that you do not want to reinforce existing

inequalities, so you need to pay special attention to vulnerable people who must:

• profit equally from the project;

• be not expected to do more uncompensated work nor are overburdened in any way; and

• be not left out during the project design.

Once again, you need to ensure that you get the views of both men and women on the problem and

that their needs and priorities are taken into account.


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4. Identify results that address gender inequalities

Choose interventions that equitably address women’s and men’s needs, and do not confirm the

status quo. Interventions must lead to gender equality through the empowerment of

disadvantaged groups.

For example, activities aimed at: increasing the access to or ownership of resources and the

participation in the decision-making process; or developing the capacity in non-traditional tasks.

Consider that a gender-responsive project result does not necessarily have to mention the word

gender, but can nevertheless address gender inequalities (also think of class, ethnicity, ability,

age, etc.) as part of its strategy or approach.

Consider the example below:

Example

A government wants to increase food security and decides to expand some existing irrigation projects. The land that will be irrigated is not officially owned by anybody, but is used by women of the village to herd their goats. The crop farmers will benefit from the increase in irrigable area, but women will lose their herding ground. A gender-responsive project would ensure that the need for herding ground for women’s goats is taken into account, even though the land is considered ‘unused’. It might be possible to use another piece of land to expand the irrigation project, or to look for other options for the women to herd their goats in the area. You could also include a component in the programme where women have the opportunity to look for other options for feeding their goats, e.g. by using the stalks of the extra food produced in the irrigation project.

1 - Example

In a certain province of the country many people make their livelihood out of fishing. Men go out to sea in small boats to fish, while women process the fish for sale at the market. Men decide the price of the fresh and processed fish and then the middlemen take the fish to the market.

However, some large trawlers have started catching so much fish near the coast that the fish stock is declining. Small fishermen can no longer catch sufficient fish, and it has become harder for poor men and women in the district to sustain their livelihoods. 2 - How would you formulate the project results? Support fisher families, both women and men of the province, to increase their income from fishery-related activities throughout the value chain and through the creation of a cooperative.


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DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE ACTIVITIES

After formulating your project outcome, you identify and formulate the activities that will lead to the

desired outcomes. Once again, a gender approach is essential. While defining outputs and activities, you

must diversify them according to the specific needs and priorities of men and women of different age,

class, caste, socio-economic status, ability, etc. This is the point to better address gender equality.

Furthermore to ensure that the voices of the less powerful are also heard and taken seriously you need

to include the opinions of vulnerable groups in the decision-making process in order to change existing

gender inequalities. During this phase you should design your outputs, tailor your activities and identify

the required inputs for the target group on the basis of your gender analysis.

As an example, let us again consider the case in Peru, where technicians were training men only to improve irrigation efficiency at field level, when actually it was the women who were responsible for irrigation.

3 - How does the project leader address this problem?

He is responsible for the project that will address this problem. He and his team conduct a participatory analysis of the problem. Men in the community suggest that they would like to learn how to grow fish in ponds.

This option will mean that they will not have to go out to sea and depend on how much fish is left by the big trawlers. They suggest the construction of ponds in part of the coastal area, and they want to be trained in aquaculture.

On the other hand, women would like to learn other processing techniques to increase their income. Both women and men are interested in starting a cooperative so that they can sell their fish and processed products themselves, instead of going through middlemen.


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The original formulation of a training activity in the example from Peru, “training of irrigators to

improve irrigation efficiency”, was too general and not gender specific.

Which training activity would you formulate for men and which for women?

In fact, to have an impact in terms of improving the irrigation water management, the activities

should have been formulated differently. Those addressing more efficient water use at field level

should have targeted the women, and those for more efficient water distribution in the irrigation

system should have been targeted at men.

Nevertheless, it might be even more beneficial to target both men and women with both types of

training activities (e.g. in the case of migration of either men or women, this training might prove

beneficial).

A gender-sensitive project design consists not just of outputs and activities that confirm the status quo,

but entails activities and outputs that lead to gender equality and the empowerment of disadvantaged

groups. Consider this real case and then answer the question.

What gender-transformative activities do you think the project should have

introduced?

Target men in the awareness-raising activities, so that they also come to know about the

importance of breastfeeding and can better support their wives.

In fact, the real success of the programme came when men were also targeted, and the importance

of breastfeeding and what this implied for their wives was explained to them. As women could not

decide independently about the use of their time, men needed to be targeted. By doing so, the

Example

In a programme designed to decrease the malnutrition of young children, women were informed about the importance of breastfeeding.

This approach was not as successful as expected. The main obstacle was not the lack of knowledge on the importance of breastfeeding by mothers, but their lack of time to do it. While breastfeeding a child, women could not carry out other chores (e.g. fetching water, preparing food).


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existing gender relations were also addressed. Men started to do more of the household work that

had been considered a woman’s job until then.

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE ACTIVITIES IN EMERGENCIES

Let us briefly consider projects addressing FNS in emergencies. Even during critical times, it is important

to keep in mind that it is often still expected of women to provide daily meals for the family, even

though this is increasingly difficult or dangerous.

An emergency situation can be an opportunity to promote gender equality, as the need to survive can

be stronger than keeping the traditional divisions of labour, decision-making, taboos, etc.

An emergency project should, therefore, look at the urgent specific needs and priorities of

different groups of women and men, but also create opportunities to achieve more equal gender

relations, and to support the most vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Example 1

In Darfur, villages were burned down and the inhabitants grouped together in camps to protect themselves. Men did not dare to venture out of the camp for fear of being murdered, while women had to work in the fields as they needed to provide food for their families, even though they also ran the risk of being killed and/or raped.

Example 2

In the West Bank and Gaza many Palestinians face food and nutrition insecurity due to limited access to natural resources, the recurrent conflicts with Israel, breakdown of livelihoods and insufficient institutional capacity to respond to their needs.

To address this emergency situation, a programme was formulated to improve FNS, with the following expected outcomes: i) to restore and improve the fruit tree orchards and vegetable production of vulnerable farming families through increased availability of and access to water and land; ii) to enhance small-scale farming systems and cottage industries to improve livelihoods for the most vulnerable and food insecure groups (including female-headed households and large households without resources); iii) to empower women to contribute to their household’s food security and enhance their role in the agricultural sector through the transfer of improved skills and knowledge. By enabling women to become active food producers, they gained self esteem, and some of the existing gender inequalities were reduced.


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DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE STRATEGIES

Once you have clearly defined your project’s results, it is time to determine how these results will be

achieved: who will do what, and according to what timeline? Using what resources?

In other words, it is time to design the project strategy: to develop an overall framework of what you

aim to achieve and how it will be managed and implemented.

What are the aspects to keep in mind when designing a project strategy?

It is important to consider that your work will take place within a certain context. There may be

existing laws and regulations (that can help or hinder your project), other organizations working on

the same problem and external factors that you cannot control.

In fact, some actions to take during this phase are:

1. Take into account existing laws, rules and regulations

Laws, rules and regulations shape the context of your project. Some might contribute to achieving the

expected results, while others could limit your success.

It is important to make this explicit and formulate how you can deal with this risk in achieving your goal.

You can also take advantage of laws that are not yet enforced to achieve your project’s goals.

For example…

…in many countries, women, by law, cannot own land. Any FNS project that addresses issues related to women farmers will be affected by this law. This issue should be kept in mind when formulating your project. For example, one could focus on activities that do not need a land title while carrying out advocacy work for land rights for women.

For example…

…In several countries quotas have been set up to ensure women’s participation in decision-making bodies like water users associations in irrigation systems.

You could develop a strategy in your programme to ensure that the seats will be filled by knowledgeable and confident women by training them in public speaking or improving their negotiation skills and self-confidence.


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2. Clearly communicate your objective of addressing gender issues

Mention explicitly in your strategy that you are addressing gender issues, and that your project

is trying to promote gender equality. This is very important, as it will help ensure that gender-

responsive outcomes, outputs and activities, and gender-sensitive indicators for monitoring and

evaluation are formulated.

Make explicit mention of the gender approach you are using (for example, a women’s

empowerment approach).You can refer stakeholders and partners to this approach, and this will

help you when choosing strategic partners.

3. Always include participatory approaches

Make sure that you always put in place participatory approaches, because you need to know

people’s priorities, and want to empower your target groups. Participatory approaches are not

only used in the development of the project design, but also during implementation, monitoring

and evaluation. In these processes it is important to include women and men of different age,

socio-economic class, caste, ability, etc. and to ensure that the most vulnerable socio-

economic groups are speaking out and are being listened to.

4. Consider carefully how to work with partners

When defining your strategy for working with partners, you can either:

• make one organization responsible for the gender-related work; or

• request that all participating organizations and staff are responsible.

When collaborating, first assess the level of gender expertise within the different organizations

and what would be the minimum requirement. In case a partner organization lacks the

minimum requirement, you could develop a joint training programme.

You could also use the available expertise of local organizations that are not working on the

same problem, but who are knowledgeable on gender issues at your level (e.g. women’s

organizations, line agencies of the women’s ministry or gender ministry, etc.). They can help in

reaching the more vulnerable and identifying the specific needs of local men and women.

5. Create a coordinating body

For larger projects a coordinating body called an ‘implementation unit’ for the management of

the project can be created.


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It is important that the members of this committee support a gender-aware approach during

implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, to measure progress.

It can be helpful to mention this in their terms of reference.

Alex is designing a development project to help improve the FNS situation of a rural community.

Could you advise him on what to do while designing the project strategy?

Include an explanation of what gender approach is used.

Incorporate a description of the laws and regulations of the country that may help or limit

the gender approach.

Include participatory approaches.

Including an explanation of the gender approach used will help Alex to ensure gender-sensitive

project planning, and he can also share this approach with possible partners and donors.

Including participatory approaches is always important; however, Alex needs to be aware that

these methodologies are not gender-sensitive, as such. He still needs to ensure that all

stakeholders are included and he must pay special attention to the most vulnerable groups by

listening to their concerns.

Although it is preferable to work with gender-sensitive partners, Alex can also choose to work

with partners who do not have much knowledge about gender, making it part of the project to

develop and strengthen their capacity on this issue.

DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE IMPLEMENTATION METHODS

During the previous phases of project design, you have identified the outcomes, outputs and activities

and defined the overall project strategy. Thanks to the results of your analyses, you were able to define

what kinds of activities would be implemented for which group of people.

When defining the details of how these activities will be carried out, you have to adjust your

implementation methods to the different groups of people, taking into account their needs and

priorities, as they emerged from the previous analyses.


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Imagine that one of your project outcomes is “improved farming practices to reduce sensitivity to

climate change”, in a rural area. Activities include a training programme on changing specific farming

practices.

Men:

already literate;

responsible for purchasing seeds, land preparation, planting and harvesting;

have limited means of transportation and too little income for public transport (women

experience the same problem).

Women:

mostly illiterate;

responsible for weeding, pruning, water-fetching and irrigation;

cannot travel alone;

cannot stay out overnight;

30 percent are heads of household;

60 percent have young children.

Considerations:

• The training methodology should target the different knowledge and skills of men and women.

• Avoid workshops of several days, since women cannot stay away for the night.

• Avoid locations that are too far because poor people will not be able to reach them and women

cannot get there alone.

• Organize childcare facilities during the workshop.

For example…

For example, the analysis of ‘who does what’ reveals that women are responsible for spraying the land with pesticides, and your goal is to have them use these chemicals properly. Most of the women are illiterate and cannot read instructions on use and storage. Providing leaflets is, therefore, not sufficient and you might need to organize a hands-on training, explaining what certain signs mean and how spraying can be done safely.


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DESIGNING GENDER-RESPONSIVE MONITORING AND EVALUATION

As part of your project design, it is important to plan how to monitor the project implementation and

evaluate the results. In particular, ask yourself:

• Who is participating in the monitoring and evaluation?

• Are we considering the views of all (women, men, young, old, vulnerable groups, etc.) to assess

the impact of the interventions on their livelihoods?

This work should be done at the beginning of the project, when you formulate a few gender-sensitive

indicators, together with your stakeholders. This will allow you to see if you are on track towards

achieving your gender equality results.

STAFFING AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

When designing FNS projects, you also need to think about staff requirements.

Follow the dialogue between these colleagues responsible for a project on integrated pest

management:

“Our technical staff don’t have any experience in gender analysis and are not aware of the gender-

related issues in their technical field. What do you suggest? “

Gender-sensitive indicators

Gender-sensitive indicators are used to assess progress in achieving gender equality by measuring changes in the status of women and men in the project area, over a period of time.

We recommend formulating one to three indicators per output (depending on the number of outputs and the magnitude of the output), and one or two indicators for the outcome.

You should try to take care that the indicators you choose are relevant in showing the changes within existing gender relations.

It is essential to disaggregate the data of your outputs by sex, age, etc. You can monitor how many men and women have been trained, instead of referring only to the total number of people. You could also monitor the age group of trained people or their socio-economic class, depending on what is relevant for the gender sensitivity of your project.


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“We could think about on-the-job training to focus on gender-related topics in our staff’s

field of expertise.“

This is the most correct answer. In fact, apart from specific technical expertise (e.g. knowledge on

integrated pest management, a background in animal husbandry, etc.), it is important that staff

have some knowledge and experience, if necessary, in gender analysis. They need to be aware of

the gender-related issues in their field of technical expertise and how to use this knowledge to

make the project gender responsive. If staff do not have these requirements and are already

employed, on-the-job training could be considered to develop these gender skills and competences.

This implies the planning of capacity development of staff on gender-related topics in their field of

work.

“I suggest hiring consultants for all gender-related work as this would ensure the highest possible

quality. Besides, our technical staff don’t want to become sociologists!“

This answer is not really correct. As gender relations are specific to the context where activities will

be carried out and to the relevant aspects of your project as well, it is important that this

knowledge is retained in the organization. You will be able to build upon it in other projects and will

increase the gender sensitivity of your staff, in general. This is why you need to be extremely

careful when outsourcing your gender-expertise.

We just considered how important it is to build up gender expertise within your organization, as

opposed to always hiring external consultants. You need to plan capacity development of staff on

gender-related topics in their own field of work. This is possible only if the organization supports these

capacity development initiatives. The organization should be fully engaged in addressing gender issues.

In particular, senior management should be committed to:

ensure that gender is part of the project implementation;

make staff, time and funding available for gender-sensitive project implementation;

provide guidance and gender training for staff;

issue gender-responsive organizational policies.

Gender analysis can be time-consuming and needs specific expertise. Not every staff member should be

able to do it; however, they need to understand it and be able to use the results.


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GENDER-RESPONSIVE BUDGETS

What about the budget? The budget reflects the priorities of the project in terms of the amount of

money spent on different activities. The more money is spent on a certain activity, the more important it

will be considered to be. Therefore, budgeting your gender-related activities is vital to ensure that they

will be carried out. You can budget your activities through:

Specifically, a gender-responsive budget is a helpful tool in making your project gender-sensitive, as it

helps you to ensure that the investments made are benefitting women and men equally, and do not

replicate existing inequalities. A gender-responsive budget depends on your understanding of the

priorities and needs of women and men, and, once again, on the results of your analyses.

Example: a gender-responsive budget in a project for an irrigation system – part A

Your project aims to improve the infrastructure of an irrigation system. Some canal lining and intakes at field level need to be replaced. Gender analysis has revealed that in the irrigation system rice is grown for sale at the market, and profit goes mainly to men. However, their wives carry out the planting, weeding, irrigating and harvesting. Both women and men are members of the Water Users Association; however, the steering committee deciding on water distribution and canal maintenance has only 1 female member out of 15. This woman is often approached by female irrigators who express their wishes with respect to water distribution, but she does not feel secure enough to speak out in discussions and to put forward the requests of the female farmers. Instead, other members of the steering committee ask her to collect membership fees, which is a lot of work.


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Here a few ways to make a gender-responsive budget:

• address issues that are of specific importance to women, to overcome existing gender

inequalities;

• provide an enabling environment for women’s participation in the project’s activities such as

offering childcare during training workshops, or transport to the venue;

• ensure that both women and men are able to participate in activities relevant to their interest,

to target both men and women for extension services;

• involve both women and men in non-traditional activities, e.g. training women as masons for

canal construction or men in nutritious food preparation.

• ensure that women can participate in decision-making, for example, by training them in how to

speak in public.

It is also important to incorporate gender-specific financial indicators into the monitoring process,

so that expenditure outcomes and outputs for gender equality can be periodically tracked.

Example – part B

The investment in the irrigation project will mainly benefit men, (because they will probably get more crop yield to sell at the market), so you should think of a possibility for women to profit from this project too, by considering the following activities:

• Train women in the technical maintenance of lined canals and intakes, and ensure that their technical expertise is paid for.

• Train the woman in the Water Users Association to speak in public, so that she will have the confidence to take part in decision-making in the meetings, and will be able to identify and address the wishes of the female irrigators.

• Provide women with agricultural inputs to increase their productivity.

This way, your budget is made gender responsive by ensuring that both men and women benefit from the project.

For example…

…the list of outputs might include the following items of expenditure, given as a percentage of the total budget and disaggregated by gender:

• training of women and agricultural extension workers; • research into male and female-managed crops; • subsidized credit to poor women and men producers; • training in gender sensitization of line/project managers/service delivery personnel; • expenditure on irrigation for female-managed and male-managed crops; • expenditure on male-defined priorities and female-defined priorities.


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We can say that a gender-responsive budget allows us to look retrospectively at how expenditure has

contributed to reducing gender inequalities. Therefore, a gender-responsive budget is a budget where

men and women benefit equally from the investments of the project. This can also imply that more

activities are geared towards women to decrease existing gender inequalities.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a global consensus on the importance of addressing gender in development, even though this

is often neglected when it comes to field project design and implementation.

We considered how designing gender-responsive development programmes and projects involves

taking into consideration the underlying gender-related differences, which are not always obvious at

first sight.

Addressing gender differences and empowering the most disadvantaged groups during all phases of

the project is a fundamental step towards gender equality.

SUMMARY

• Projects and programmes that are gender-responsive both in their problem analysis and execution

attain more sustainable and equitable results.

• A gender-responsive goal will make explicit which groups of people will benefit from the

intervention and how it will reduce existing gender inequalities.

• The outputs and activities address the different needs and requirements of women and men of

different age, class, caste, socio-economic status, ability, etc. and lead to gender equality.

• The strategies used are often participatory, describe the context with respect to gender, and adopt

a gender approach and methodology to ensure that partners also work in a gender-sensitive

manner.

• Project implementation and monitoring and evaluation also have to be planned in a gender-

sensitive way, as this will affect your methodology, staff requirements and budgets.

• The organizational commitment to gender-sensitive planning and implementation is essential, and

requires that experience on gender topics is available within their own organization.

• Gender-responsive budgeting will ensure that women and men benefit equally from the project’s

investments.

Documents

Designing gender-responsive food and nutrition security ...men and women who are in a disadvantaged position, you will produce a gender-responsive design. During the analysis, it is