1. Transformative learning among communities and extension workers through
an interdisciplinary “Dialogo de Saberes” approach: a case study of gender
and food security interventions in Bolivian Amazon fisheries.
Macnaughton, A., Ward, E., Coca, C., Rainville, T.K. and Carolsfeld, J.
Presented at: International Food Security Dialogue 2014
May 2, 2014
Sponsored by:
Hosted by:
Session Theme: Enhancing Food Production, Gender Equity and Nutritional Security in a
Changing World

2. Presentation overview
1. An Introduction to Fisheries in the Northern Bolivian Amazon
2. Methods and tools
3. Results
1. Baseline information: Household survey, Gender and Diversity Analysis:
Capacities and Vulnerabilities
2. Integrated Value Chain Mapping
3. „Dialogo de Saberes‟ focus groups and workshops
5. Discussion

4. Study population
North Amazon
Fishing Families

5. An Introduction to Fisheries in the Northern
Bolivian Amazon
• > 60% of Bolivia‟s land area
• 850 + documented fish species (more in under-studied reaches)
• >10 000 est. people in full-time commercial fisheries (60% male, 40%
female), more in subsistence fishing (est. $ 7M/year)
• 100% artisanal-levelfleet, lowtechwithmanybottlenecks
• Diversity of fishers: Urban-based, campesinos and indigenous peoples
(Takana, Esse Ejja, Cavineño, Chacobo, Pacahuara, etc.)
• Women at alllevels of value-chain (fishing, owningboats,processing and
distributing), strongestpresence in pre and post-harvestactivities and
subsistence.
• Some social stigmaassociatedwithfishing, butnotgenderspecific
• Beingtransformedbyintroducedspecies - paiche

9. Changing context: living
with/through transition
• land reform
• increased access
• increasing demand
• Infrastructure projects
• changing climate and extreme weather
• Introduced species

10. Imágenes extraídas de Miranda-Chumacero et al. (2010)
Main commercial species in
Bolivian Amazon (to 1970s)
Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum (surubí)
Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum (chuncuina)
Colossoma macropomum (pacú)
Piaractus brachypomus (tambaquí)

12. paiche
especies
nativas
Urban fisheries
landings
(Riberalta-based
boats)
Rural fisheries
landings (indigenous
and campesino)
Total landings: 24 927
kg/month
20 %
(25 spp.)
80 %
65 %
(>60 spp)
35 %
Urban and rural commercial catch composition in the
Bolivian North Amazon (low water season 2011)
Impacts of paiche on fishery production

13. Methods and Tools
1. Baseline information:
1. Household survey,
2. Fisheries Data Collection,
3. Gender and Diversity Analysis: Capacities and Vulnerabilities
1. Integrated Value Chain Analysis
2. „Dialogo de Saberes‟ focus groups and workshops

14. Household Survey: Determinants of
Food Security
811 households
2 phases
Low water: 2011
High water: 2012
HFIAS
DIETARY DIVERSITY
FISH CONSUMPTION
LIVELIHOODS

15. 50%
RURAL (Indigenous + campesinos)
HFIAS

16. FoodInsecurityCorrelates
Baker-French thesis, UBC
RURAL (Indígenas + campesinos)
P-value
Odds
Ratio Lower Upper
Self-identifies as indigenous
(mother)
(Binomial: si/no)
<0.01 2.87 1.71 4.83
Works in fishing/agriculture
(mother)
(Binomial: si/no)
0.02 0.43 0.21 0.86
Social Assistance recipient
(Binomial: si/no)
0.03 0.43 0.20 0.92
Collection and consumption of
forest products in past year
(Binomial: si/no)
<0.01 3.85 1.92 7.69

17. Fisheries Data, gender and identity
• 5 communities
• High-water and low-water
• 154 fishers (16 F, 138 M) observed in landings records
• 100% of regional women focus group participants (n=54) expressed
detailed knowledge of fishing techniques (learned from husbands,
fathers, or occasionally mothers) and engaged in at least occasional
fishing, especially during dry season.
• 0 of the same women considered themselves even part-time „fishers‟.
• Similarly, in individual interviews of men locally recognized as „fishers‟,
and whose annual income was derived almost exclusively from fishing
in the last year (n=28), >50% considered themselves „primarily farmers‟
or „mixed farming and fishing‟ livelihoods.

18. Division of labor in Fishing
Relative Participation
Activity Women Men Youth Comments
Net construction and mending xxx xx
Not done by all women, some help husbands in
this task
Clean & scale fish xxx xx xx
Primarily women older than 15 yrs; "we are the
fisherwomen of fish products"
Prepare cooler xxx
Gutting xxx Mostly men
Salt xxx xxx Done by both
Scale fish xxx Scaling fish is more difficult
Put fish in cooler or freezer xxx
Take the fish to selling point XXX
Buy ice and materials in Riberalta XXX
Preparing fish for sale x
Sell fish xx xxx
Men sell fish outside of community, most women
don't drive
Sell fish in community xxx xx From 6 am to 1 pm
Manage finances xxx xxx
Women are responsible for children; Men act like
they “don't even know if they have kids”

19. Gender and Diversity Analysis: Capacities and Vulnerabilities
Dimension Vulnerabilities Capacities
Material High Flood vulnerability (M, F)
Limited livelihood options, high dependence
on fishing (M, F)
Lack of health services (M, F)
Chronic infection due to untreated water,
poor hygiene (M, F)
High diversity of fish resources availabile,
relatively abundant (M, F)
Communal access rights to land and aquatic
resources rights (M, F)
Social Dependence on middlemen for „habilito‟
loans to cover fixed and variable costs, lack
of transparency, high exploitation (M, F)
Not participating in financial transactions,
dependence on men for income (since men
take fish to port to sell) (F)
High levels of community solidarity (M, F)
also with neighbouring communities (shared
community association for fishing)
Attitudinal Defeatist attitudes regarding flooding
vulnerability, lack of mitigation measures (F,
M)
Self-identification as „farmers‟ (F, M)
Strong identity with community (M, F)
Strong identity as „farmers‟ (M, F)

20. Gender
Transformative
Approaches
in
Fisheries

21. Some conceptual references
Social learning:
• Balbin (1986) – Dialogo de Saberes
• Freire (1968) – Pedagogia dos oprimdos
• Thiollent (1984) – Action Learning
• Friedmann (1987) – “Planning as Social Learning”
• O‟Sullivan et al (2003) Experiential Transformative Learning
Gender analysis and approaches:
• Moser (1993) Gender Planning and Development
• Kabeer (1999) Gender and Empowerment
• Kantor (2013) Gender Transformative Approach in Aquatic Agricultural
Systems (CGIAR-AAS)

22. Gender Transformative
Approach Model (Kantor, 2013)
Practice
• Engages with both women & men
• Addresses unequal power dynamics
• Crosses scales
• Challenges oppressive norms
• Integrates w/ practical interventions
Outcomes
Inclusive & Sustained
socio-ecological
transformation
Gender Equitable
system (social enabling
env.)
More & Better life
choices for poor women
and men
Research
Understands People & Social diversity in
their context
Dynamic and Iterative, Enables critical
learning, reflection & questioning
Multi-scale

23. Points of Reflection
OPTIMIZACIÓN
DE LA
CADENA DE
VALOR
Investigación-acción
Indicadores
de resultado
Indicadores
de resultado
Indicadores
de resultado
Indicadores
de resultado
Indicadores
de esfuerzo
Indicadores
de esfuerzo
Which
method
works
better?
2011-2012 2013
Impossible
to measure
short-term
results of
social
learning
Integrated Participative Value
Chain Analysis

24. „Dialogo de Saberes‟ in the
Value Chain
Four levels of interaction and reflection –
„para dentro‟ (collective consciousness and group identity
construction),
„para fuera‟ (consolidating identities and testing approaches in
engagements and negotiations with other actors),
„para arriba‟ (intersection of technical-local and new knowledge)
and
„para bajo‟ (knowledge application) including working together in
hands-on projects in the community, generation of
appropriate solutions for locally identified priorities and a
focus on engaging families.

25. IPVCA – Economic Feasibility Study with El Sur communities
Indicators Numbers
Meetings 90+ planning and
mobilizaiton meetings
Analysis workshops 7
Participants >90% of adults and
adolescents from 3
indigenous communities,
invited participants from
additional 10 communities
Proportion female and
male participants
60% female
40% male
Numero de instituciones
involucradas
5 instituciones
Results indicators Metric
Improved income at
producer level
New pricing table
approved, considering
production costs
Institutional strengthening
Change in Attitudes
Collective equipment
purchase (netmaking
supplies)

26. Resultado EVE
160 kg 160 kg 160 kg
628,6 bs 628,6 bs 628,6 bs
5,53 bs 5,53 bs 5,53 bs
12,60 bs 15,0 bs 17,0 bs
CENÁRIO ATUAL PROPUESTA 1
Precio Promedio de Venta al Comercializador
PROPUESTA 2RESULTADO DEL EVE
Volume do Pescado (mensual)
Costos Fijos
Costos Variables
TABELA SÍNTESE VALORES UNIDAD DESCRIPCIÓN
Volume de pesca 160 kg 40kg X 4 faenas = captura mensual
Costos Fijos mensuales 628,6 bs TABLA DE DEPRECIACIÓN
Costos Fijos /kg 3,9 Bs/kg costo fijo mensual / 12 meses
Costos Variables/kg 5,53 bs/kg TABLA DE LOS COSTOS VARIABLES
Costos Totales/kg 9,45 bs/kg costos fijos + costos variables
Precio Promedio de Venta 12,60 bs/kg precio actual de la tabla
Ganancia Liquida/kg 3,15 bs/kg precio promedio de venta - costos totales
GANANCIA LÍQUIDA/MÊS 503,4 bs/mês ganancia liquida/kg X 160 kg/mês
PRECIOS ACTUALES E PROPUESTA DE PRECIOS MAS JUSTOS
12,60 15,0 17,0
CATEGORIAS DE PESCADO
Categoria 1
Categoria 2
Categoria 3
PROMEDIO
13,23 15,00 17,00
7,67 10,00 12,00
PRECIOS ATUALES (Bs) PROPUESTA 1 (Bs) PROPUESTA 2 (Bs)
16,90 20,00 22,00

27. “Dialogo de Saberes”
Food Security Interventions,
• Integrated with other
livelihood-focused interventions
• Valuing local diversity
• Strengthening support networks with
public health agency
• Building self-confidence and community
organizing

29. • Local dietarydiversity poster createdbyyouth –
“Familiescookingtogether, healthy and diverse!”
• Schoolgardens – engagingfamilies
• Community-school workshops (everyoneparticipates)
• Practical training in hygiene and processingfor use
at-home and in commercialfishing (everyone)
• Improvedknowledgeregardingbreastfeeding, infant
and youngchildfeeding and development,
recognizingsigns of infection, treatmentoptions
(women and men)
“Dialogo de Saberes”
Results

30. Results
- 95% workshop participation rate
- New link with Municipal Health Network
- Increased attention from municipal heath services
(50% increase in frequency of community visits)
- 100% of women and men engaged in discussion
about women‟s and men‟s health rights
- 90% of families implement kitchen gardens for
improved dietary diversity and additional income

31. Three levels of workshop and focus
group activity:
Key features that made a difference
Learning together with local people
about their priorities for development
Trust-building and integrated entry points
that promote opportunities for inclusive
participation in areas that might otherwise
be assumed to be „for men‟ or „for women‟
Creating spaces for leadership
development and empowerment through
the co-production of knowledge and valuing
of contributions of women, men and
families,
Including special initiatives to identify the
strategic contributions and needs of
women in the fisheries and aquaculture
value chains; and
Applying locally-adapted training and
learning-by-doing capacity building to
address bottlenecks, (fisheries
management, improved hygiene and
processing, recognition and and ultimately,
to improve food security.
valuing the participation of females, social
organization

32. Gender Transformative
Approach Model (Kantor, 2013)
Practice
• Engages with both women & men
• Addresses unequal power dynamics
• Crosses scales
• Challenges oppressive norms
• Integrates w/ practical interventions
Outcomes
Inclusive & Sustained
socio-ecological
transformation
Gender Equitable
system (social enabling
env.)
More & Better life
choices for poor women
and men
Research
Understands People & Social diversity in
their context
Dynamic and Iterative, Enables critical
learning, reflection & questioning
Multi-scale

33. Reflection questions
• Howcan social learningorgendertransformative
approaches usingaction-learningtoolsbetterassistin
buildingenabling social
environmentduringthebaselineassessmentstage? How to
measurecontributionsatthisstage?

34. Thank you!
alison@worldfish.org
www.pecesvida.org