2. Potential Impact of Targeting Women
Improving Agricultural productivity
Women do 85% of the planting,
85% of the weeding, 55% of
land preparation and 98% of all
food processing in Uganda -
IFAD
Alleviating food Security
Women in rural areas produce
at least 50% of the world’s
food – FAO
Improving livelihoods
In Uganda, 72% of all employed
women and 90% of all rural
women work in agriculture. Only
53% of rural men do so - IFAD
The hungry are farmers, most
of the farmers are women and
nearly all farmers are
smallholders – 2010 Action Aid
Uganda Report
3. Challenges of Targeting Women
Cultural norms and domestic
demands reduce women’s
mobility and therefore their
likelihood to seek information
away from home
Can’t afford information
resources
Less likely to approach male
agricultural extension workers
who form the majority of the
tradition extension network
Out of Reach
88% of Uganda women live in
rural areas – UBOS. Poor
infrastructure makes them
hard to reach
5. Network of village-level field agents
Available at the grassroots .
One CKW covers:
4-6 villages
500-800 households
5-10 km radius
Goal is for women to make up a
considerable proportion of the
network:
35% women composition
in the first phase
40% women in phase 2
Emphasis on poor farmers
50% poor farmers among
all reached
6. Shared Technology Platform
18,551 information tips disseminated via mobile
phones since June 15th, about 30% of them to
women
Database with 4,234 (and growing) on-demand tips
on 35 crops, 32 markets, 50+% of the information is
on crop lifecycles and food crops to target women
530 WFP baseline survey responses from Oct 1-28,
25% of them from women.
Real-time support to 192 (33% women) CKWs
Farmer databank with 6,005 registered farmers
Salesforce.com based analytical tools and dashboard
for M & E, and reporting purposes
8. Dynamic Feedback Loop
CKWs: Feedback Relayed
from farmers, use case
stories, mobile surveys
(farmer registration &
poverty stats (1CKW:500
SHFs)
Salesforce.com: Farmer
Databank Analytics
Central Database: Usage
Reports
9. Layered Over Existing Ag Ext To Reach More Farmers
CKW candidates are nominated by local agricultural service organizations but
the network is more dense/deeper and further reaching than the traditional
extension service
CKW Source/Partner
Organizations
World Food Program (WFP)
Kapchorwa Commercial
Farmers Association
(KACOFA)
National Agricultural Advisory
Service (NAADS)
Uganda Agricultural Input
Dealers Association
(UNADA)
Stability Peace &
Reconciliation in Northern
Uganda (SPRING)
Agency for Technical
Cooperation and
Development (ACTED)
Traditional
Extension Agent
CKWs
10. An Engendered Approach
With our Gender M&E consultant,
we developed an approach for
ensuring gender and social equity
in the project outcomes
An engendered Results
Framework and Balanced
Scorecard
A Gender Needs Assessment for
CKWs and SHF is conducted for
every district we operate was
conducted in Kapchorwa
All Staff Training on gender
mainstreaming
Program & departmental gender
metrics reviewed on quarterly
basis
Women
33%
Men
67%
Gender Composition of
CKW Network
Some CKW Gender Targets
40% women of total farmers served*
35% women composition of CKW
network of agents in Phase 1
70:30 male to female CKW profit ratio
35% very poor farmers of total
reached
15% repeat users among both male
and female farmers
11. Early Results: Who we are Serving
Females
below $1/day
11%
Males below
$1/day
35%
Females
above $1/day
18%
Males above
$1/day
36%
Gender & Poverty Status of Registered Farmers
(Kapchorwa SHFs)
12. Early Results: Strong Demand For Information
54%
39%
5%
2%
Information Services:
Frequency of use by farmers
(Sept 1 – Oct 21, 2010)
1
2-5
6-10
>10
Performance Against Key Indicators
Indicator Target Actual
Farmers Reached
Female
Male
3,536
1,414
1,237
4651
1,030
2,939
Total Interactions 11,520 14,616
Total CKWs
deployed
200 192
13. Early Findings: Gender Dynamics in Outreach
72%
28%
82%
18%
Gender dynamics in SHF
outreach
•30% female CKWs
•Female CKWs more likely to
reach female farmers
(28%:18%)
•Female farmers return to
female CKWs 3x in 6 weeks
•Targeting women’s groups
•Researching female demand
& barriers to usage
•Exploring incentives for
outreach to female farmers
14. Early Findings: Information Needs for Female Farmers
61
21
71
18
118
70
81
38
17
41
210
16 13 20 21
11
36
0
50
100
150
200
250
Topics Searched by Female Farmers
15. Early Findings: Female Farmers’ Preferred CKWs
78
42
11
22 22
37
25
8 9
23
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 2 3 4 5>
NumberoffarmerswhoconsultedtheCKW
ofgivenGender
Number of farmers consulted a CKW of given gender
Rate at which female farmers consult Female and Male CKWs
Female
CKW
Male
CKW
Female
CKWs
63%
Male
CKWs
37%
16. Early Findings: Summary
Our Network of CKW is 33% female
Of all the farmers reached, only 29% are female
Female CKWs drive outreach to female farmers
Female CKWs served 63% of the female farmers served between Sept,
1 to Oct 25
Registered more than half of the female farmers in the system
Register higher repeat usage among female farmers than the male
Female farmers are very interested in market
information, a diversion from early hypotheses
17. Challenges in Meeting Gender Targets
Greater Inclusion of Women in the CKW Network
Low literacy levels among rural women
Stronger male competition
Heavy Domestic Demands
Greater Outreach to Female Farmers
Low numbers of female CKWs
Unanswered questions around gender information needs and
barriers to usage
Skepticism regarding technology
Based a lot on the farm – hard to reach unless extra incentive is
given to CKWs to do house calls
18. Some Solutions to Gender Challenges
Using gender disaggregated data to get better visibility on
what our gender impact looks like
Qualitative research to
give context to the
numbers/data
Gender mainstreaming
training for all staff
Recruiting from
women’s organizations
Affirmative action in
recruitment
Exploring incentive
bonus to CKW for
reaching women
19. Questions that Remain
How to incentive CKWs to go the extra mile to reach
immobile women
Understanding women information needs and use
barriers better
How to include more women given the barriers like
illiteracy and domestic demands
Understanding women’s attitudes towards technology
solution
We are learning that equipping a network of village level
intermediaries with the right technology can lead to greater
reach of the rural poor. We still need to understand how to
ensure the benefits spread equitably among both men and
women as well as the poor and non poor
20. 20
CKW “Information Hub”
How do I deal with
this yellow pus on
my banana stems?
Appendix 1: Mobile Information Service
21. Appendix 2: Survey Application
Select survey
Take GPS
location
Begin survey
