This presentation was given by Sarah de Smet (SNV), as part of the Annual Scientific Conference hosted by the University of Canberra and co-sponsored by the University of Canberra, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research. The event took place on April 2-4, 2019 in Canberra, Australia.
Read more: https://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/aisc/seeds-of-change and https://gender.cgiar.org/annual-conference-2019/
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Revisiting women's empowerment through a cultural lens
1. Revisiting women
empowerment through a
cultural lens
An in-depth analysis of empowerment
methodologies in horticulture in rural Ethiopia
Authors: Sarah De Smet; Smaranda Boros
1
2. Research
• Collaboration between SNV Ethiopia and Vlerick Business School through ICP
programme (prof. dr. Smaranda Boros)
• Research on PALS in the GYEM project with the objective to:
o Assess the validity of the intervention
o Assess the impact of the intervention
o Assess the unforeseen side-effects of the intervention
o Draw lessons about the larger system
• Data collection:
o Semi-structured interviews
o Observation in the field
o Assessment checklist of farmers trained in PALS
o Own reports from field activities
2
3. Theoretical background
• Women empowerment:
o A process by which disempowered women acquire the ability to make strategic life
choices (Kabeer, 1999)
o Increase choice and agency at individual level AND address structural inequalities
o External facilitators needed to challenge power inequalities
o Avoid cultural and value based tensions + approach social change as open ended
• Power distance:
o Hofstede (1984): the degree to which individuals, groups, societies accept
inequalities in power as unavoidable, legitimate or functional
o Implications on perception of justice, on emotions, on behaviour and leadership
3
4. PALS: Participatory Action Learning for Sustainability
• Gender is simple and “means women and men treating each other like equal
human beings with equal human rights and social responsibilities”
• Catalyse discussion, reflection and motivation from ‘within’ the participants
themselves – based on drawing tools
• Key principles:
o Start with vision and the positive
o Everyone can be a leader
o Action from day 1
o Inclusion
o Facilitation from the back
o Make it fun
• Advocacy and policy
4
7. Findings
• Mission:
o PALS: empowerment in order to reach social justice
o Community: “Her son questioned the utility of the training, ‘if she did not receive
the water pump she wants’”
• Input:
o Selection of the champions
Men and women from different households: unequal sharing
People with ‘issues’ (70%) mixed with people without ‘issues’: inspirational for others but risk of failure
threatens credibility – gap in pace and understanding during the workshops
4 champions from 5 different villages: little coherence at times, too low number to be influential
7
8. Findings
• Throughput:
o Facilitation from the back and do
not hold the pen of anyone else:
Staff level
Creative strategies at farmer level
• Output:
o Champions understanding of the
steps of the tools was mixed
o Champions able to provide content
to the the tools was mixed
o Champions sharing with peers and
stakeholders was very animated
8
9. Findings
• Outcome
o Many changes at micro level:
Increase of savings (56% women, 50%
men)
New source of income (60% women)
New investments (60% men)
Increased respect (50% women, 20%
men)
o Meso level:
Improved relationship (40%)
Less strict division of household tasks
(25%)
9
10. Findings
• Impact:
o Upscaling:
Frequent copying
Uncoordinated facilitation
among the trainer farmers,
no uniform explanation
Lively discussions among
champion trainers and 2nd
round champion trainees
10
11. Recommendations
• Mission:
o Clarify mission from both sides
o Taking into account power distance between external facilitator and community
• Input:
o Selection of the champions
Enough people in number
Who are more or less equal in power
Involve both husband and wife of the same family
• Throughput:
o In-depth coaching of staff who facilitate the process
o Facilitation from the back: avoid correcting / organize the workshop in such a way
that the need to display power is reduced
11
12. Recommendations
• Output:
o Make the tools as simple as possible, disintegrate the steps
o Reduce various possibilities for interpretation
o Do provide examples – as many as possible
o Alter reflection with more discussion in groups with individuals equal in power
• Outcome:
o Timing of gender agenda?
o Separate structure of women
• Impact: Follow up research with second round champions
12
Hinweis der Redaktion
Output Clear guidelines are important in high power distance cultures, people need direction. All staff focused heavily on getting the steps and content correct since those champions were responsible for upscaling. Therefore there was a high focus on explain the steps instead of possible content. Therefore, we suggest that the tools would be simplified much more or split up in different parts before integrating, in order to avoid ending up in discussion about the steps. We also suggest to alter reflection – needed to fill the tools - with more discussion. Because of time pressure, most champions were slow at grasping the steps, following them and drawing the content, more time was allocated for individual work rather than group discussion. Discussion and exchange might have altered the reflection process and give ideas, even if it would be partly copying. It is a matter of getting the reflection process ongoing.