This document summarizes the IEIDEAS Project in Egypt, which aims to enhance employment of women fish retailers. The 3-year project is approved and funded by SDC. Main activities include disseminating an improved tilapia strain, developing best management practices, supporting women retailers through CARE, expanding aquaculture in Upper Egypt, and improving policies. The project aims to increase aquaculture sustainability, incomes, employment, and nutrition. To date, activities include surveying women retailers, forming women's committees, and providing proposal-writing training. Challenges include the political context, focus and scale of intervention, and fully integrating a gender transformative approach.

1. Enhancing the employment of
women fish retailers in Egypt
Paula Kantor
Livestock and Fish Gender Working Group
Workshop and Planning Meeting
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14-18 October 2013

2. The IEIDEAS Project
• Project approved December 2011 (SDC funded; 3 years)
• Main activities:
– Dissemination of ‘Abbassa strain’ genetically improved
tilapia
– Development of Best Management Practice guidelines
followed by BMP training
– Support for women retailers (managed by CARE)
– Expansion of aquaculture in Upper Egypt (CARE)
– Improving the policy environment for aquaculture

3. Project impact pathway
IEIDEAS Project
Dissemination
of improved
tilapia strain
Strengthen
institutions &
improve policy
Implementing at
scale
Increased aquaculture
sustainability
(productivity, production, quali
ty, flexibility in harvest
strategies)
Best
management
practice training
INCREASED INCOMES
Pilot testing & research
Widespread
adoption of
‘desert’
aquaculture
Develop
technologies
for use in
Upper Egypt
Research on
pro-poor
aquaculture
INCREASED
EMPLOYMENT
Piloting
Women
retailer
approaches
IMPROVED NUTRITION
Uptake of propoor
aquaculture
technologies
Spread of
women retailer
approaches
IEIDEAS Project partners

4. Project governorates
• 5 governorates
• Concentration of
aquaculture in the
Delta
• Expansion into
Upper Egypt

5. Support for women retailers
Entitlement to control assets,
own income; decision making
Increased
incomes
Improved nutrition
Higher profits?
Retained employment
Increased
consumption
Improved working conditions
Increased fish sales
Improved government
relations
Individual women
more engaged in
the market
Value addition
Reduced losses
Knowledge
gaps
RCs represent retailers interests
(advocacy, training, inputs, capit
al…)
Form retailer committees (RCs);
provide support & training
Improved fish
quality
Improved CDA management and
effectiveness as RC platform
Capacity development of CDAs
Situational analysis of women & men retailers
CDA situational analysis

6. Activities to date
• Retailer survey in 5 project
governorates (July 2012)
– Women retailers only
(gender analysis?)
– Occupation of last resort
– Challenges of regular
supply; handling & storage;
space to vend; transport;
lack of market power/info
– Little economic data
collected
• Women retailer committees
formed
• Proposal-writing training in
Mineya, Fayoum & Kafr ElSheikh

7. Activities to date
• Shakshouk (Fayoum) CDA
proposal:
– 120 iceboxes distributed
– tricycle investment
– marketplace in Shakshouk
– training, capacity building
for RC members & retailers
• New retailer survey, women &
men, non beneficiary women
– Value added
– Decent work
– Control over income and
HH level outcomes

8. Challenges
• Political context and ability to form
organizations, advocate for change, work on gender
equality
• Doing and paying directly versus developing sustainable
organizations, value chains
• Focus and scale of the intervention and mindset about
scale
• Implementation versus research/RinD
• Gender accommodating versus transformative
– Extent of gender integration capacity

9. Pro-poor aquaculture production
Improved nutrition
Increased incomes
Increased fish production poor HHs
Increased
consumption
Large-scale uptake of homestead aquaculture by
poor families
Increased control of
income by women
Women’s entitlement to control
income, assets increases
Partners promote expansion of aquaculture among poor
families using HH approach
Design scalable intervention, integrating GTAs
Develop technologyspecific BMPs
Identify and test technologies and
develop guidelines for pilot tests
Identify constraints, potential interventions and
technologies eg homestead catfish tanks
Monitoring of pilot and adoption
assessment
Implement pilot schemes
Identify potential sites and HHs for
pilot scale interventions

10. Activities and potential research
• Developing tank AQ system that will work for catfish
– Struggling with the system; assessing potential of
tank culture of tilapia
• Once system is identified and pilot testing in process:
– Research on gender, risk and uptake of new tank AQ
technology

11. Future opportunities: Egypt & Bangladesh
• DANIDA funds for value addition/ market expansion
(EG)
– Developing processing industry
– How to ensure poor & women can benefit from
these new opportunities?
• Research on conditions under which fish retail can be
transformative for women (EG)
• Research on transformative employment in the AQ
sector (EG and BG)
• Test GTA VCA tools in Bangladesh