Empowering Women in Equitable Agricultural Systems at Scale

1. Empowering Women in Equitable Agricultural Systems at Scale Beating Famine Conference 14th – 17th April, 2015, Lilongwe - Malawi Salome Mhango

2. ABOUT CARE • Humanitarian action - preparedness and early action, emergency response and recovery, future resilience and equitable development • Promoting innovative solutions for sustainable development - through essential services, building capacities, reducing risk, and empowering the most vulnerable, particularly women & girls. • Multiplying impact - use evidence and learning from humanitarian action and development programs to influence social change. • CARE works in partnership with a wide range of actors from civil society, government and the private sector.

3. Women and Girls at the CentreImpact population is rural women small holder farmers and adolescent girls; - but works through Men and boys and a number of stakeholders

4. CARE’s Women Empowerment Framework A woman’s own aspirations and capabilities -Skills, capacities, information -Self-confidence -Decision making confidence -Knowledge of laws and rights The environment that surrounds and conditions her choices -Customs, traditions, norms -Laws, policies -Rules for accessing services, resources-extn, natural resources The power relations through which she negotiates her path -Male partners -Market Actors -Community leaders, gate keepers -Collective action, group solidarity -Change agents

5. Pathways Approach to Gender Integration • Empowering Interventions: • Women’s empowerment: agency, relations and structures –productivity & efficacy • Engaging men and boys • Collectives and groups: -social empowerment • Towards Gender Transformative Strategies: Moving the bar in 5 years • CARE and partners: Building the organizational systems and culture that ensure we are partners of choice for poor and marginalized women

6. The Gender Continuum

7. Gender Continuum Explained • Exploitative: Using existing gender roles for efficient project gains (which reinforce gender norms or inequalities) e.g. market committees, mechanized weeding-India • Accommodating:Working within existing divisions. Compensates for gender differences but doesn’t try to challenge underlying norms. Eg selecting women friendly value chains • Transformative: Recognizing and changing fundamental inequalities. - Challenge the false dichotomy of the breadwinnervscaregiver - How?? FFBS Gender component

8. Farmer field and Business Schools - A Pathways programming approach • A learning by doing approach through which farmers meet regularly during a cropping cycle to experiment and learn about new production and marketing options • Builds on FFS • FFBS is unique in that it includes community approaches to visioning and planning, sustainable agriculture, market engagement, nutrition, gender and performance monitoring

9. Farmer Field and Business School approach’ - an innovative agriculture extension and delivery approach • Improved knowledge, skills and relationships • Improved access to productive resources, assets and Markets • Improvement in yields and income • Increased contribution to and influence over household income and decision making • More enabling attitudes behaviours, social norms , policy and institution

10. FFBS Demonstration Plot FFBS Demonstration Plot Male change agents Postharvest technique: Mandera Cork Gender and Nutrition role play

11. THANK YOU…….