Anu, I really agree. VSLAs can be be an effective entry point to engage men and women in discussing women’s rights. They can also enable women to gain respect and voice in their communities, and sometime greater financial and decision-making power in their households.
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@HannahClark which countries does Farmers Voice Radio operate in?
Thank you for sharing this Suzanne - it’s a powerful example of the importance of cultural issues. There were some great learnings from ELF and it’s been really encouraging to see companies changing their practices as a result of the pilots. There’s more information on the learnings here: https://views-voices.oxfam.org.uk/2020/08/working-with-companies-on-womens-economic-empowerment-in-value-chains/
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We currently have projects in Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sierra Leone. We are also making all our resources and learning available on our website- so any organisation that wants to use radio to improve its engagement with smallholder communities can access the Farmers Voice Radio approach and methodology
Great Points @Suzanneleigh and Stephanie, one of our best practices in investing in financial literacy programmes for smallholder tea farmers that take a household approach where all adults in the households i.e men, women and adult children level are trained, the results of this approach has seen women have more decision-making power over the household income and resources.
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Julie, those are great options for women !.
Regarding non traditional women work, I have two questions:
During covid, how those programs and support were delivered?
How men are involved?
Learning and experience
Most stakeholders-government, companies, civil society organization seems to draw programs that puts the female behind if not ignored.
Most projects, programs and business models do not include the women smallholder farmers as a core object.
They should design a holistic and systemic gender issues and include women as a core and not an aftermath.
Stakeholders should invest in building capacity of women to empower them in order to better their livelihoods.
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Hi Hannah radio is a brilliant medium for sensitisation and behaviour change. We have had great results in using it around deforestation messaging. Would love to learn from you on specific gender radio programming. Stay in touch please
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I would like to share with you that one of lessons that I learnt during my work on women economic empowerment in many low income countries, but notably from my seven years working on this topic at grassroots as a social entrepreneur in impoverished Timor-Leste, is that to enhance the Livelihoods of ‘Hidden Women’ it is absolutely key to involve their entire community in the empowerment process, including (and I know this is controversial to some) the men who being an huge part of the problem have to become also of the solution. Otherwise, impact is limited and empowered women are often put aside by their own community, including from other women, and there are studies that alert for the risk of increased GBV. I might be one of the few men participating on this forum and maybe I should not be for me to raise the issue of how important is to involve men in this process of women economic empowerment but if you have any experience that you like to share in this regard, it would be great to learn from you. Thanks. https://www.linkedin.com/in/filipe-alfaiate/
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Hi Sandra, absolutely. We are finalising the indicators for our new strategy, however happy to share when these become available. In the partnership with Unilever and Oxfam that aims to improve climate and economic resilience of smallholder women farmers in Kenya we measure the following indicators #income generating activites started, additional income from those activities, improvement in household decision making and increased savings
@Stephanie_Daniels - we have introduced psychosocial support into the work which we have been doing in smallholder households in Gaza. It was really important as the difficult circumstances there meant that households were under high levels of stress which was leading to tension in the households. Psychosocial support enabled household members to have a healthy space for dialogue which reduced the household conflict.
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Yes, agreed @juliegreene and @Anu.Huhtisaari - and also the need for sustained support as VSLA groups mature and a subset of the members want to invest in new businesses. For those women, they also need the start-up capital and more professional business coaching to go beyond the stages of savings towards business ownership and management.
Totally agree Inge. We are exploring the concept of Husband Schools with PSI. It will be great to swap notes.
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Wonderful to have you in the forum @Filipe_Alfaiate and agree we need male leaders like yourself involved to be successful.
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Our current Farmers Voice Radio projects are focused on the shea supply chain (Ghana), cocoa (Sierra Leone) and coffee (Uganda and Ethiopia). The recent shea project focussed on women shea producers resulted in 38% increase in volume of shea nuts sold - and as thishea is a women’s crop this income was kept by the women. It also resulted in 43% increase in use of protective clothing, thus making the work safer and more enjoyable. In DRC, a project focused on cocoa resulted in 68% increase in volumes of premium cocoa sold and a positive change in the perception of women as cocoa farmers amongst the wider cocoa farming community
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Inge, I agree. It has to be a holistic approach for gender equity. Men and women, boys and girls. Otherwise, it’s a lopsided application.
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The biggest learning has to be the importance of conducting a gender analysis before implementing any programme. Findings of our previous gender analysis are used to understand where there may be constraints that may affect the uptake of our programmes. Based off our previous gender analysis we have been able to identify issues like unequal roles in decision-making, unequal access to land and finances. This has led us to implementing programmes that are beneficial to smallholder tea farmers mainly by using approaches that promote equitable access to resources and participation in household decision-making.
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Our third question today:
When designing partnerships, it is important to engage with all stakeholders, especially those that can enhance the sustainability of interventions, to ensure sustainable, resilient livelihoods. For example, this could include building relationships with local or national governments that may have specific support programmes already available to women farmers.
Thank you @ilariaidawalton. Our current Farmers Voice Radio projects are focused on the shea supply chain (Ghana), cocoa (Sierra Leone) and coffee (Uganda and Ethiopia). The recent shea project focussed on women shea producers resulted in 38% increase in volume of shea nuts sold - and as shea is a women’s crop this income was kept by the women. It also resulted in 43% increase in use of protective clothing, thus making the work safer and more enjoyable. In DRC, a project focused on cocoa resulted in 68% increase in volumes of premium cocoa sold and a positive change in the perception of women as cocoa farmers amongst the wider cocoa farming community. I would love to talk to you about this some more!
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