Nepal: Women's participation in leasehold forestry

THEME: Women do much of the work in leasehold forestry, in spite of having little access to training.

In the context of an IFAD-funded technical assistance grant, the Asian Institute of Technology conducted a study in 2000 on the gender impact of a leasehold and forage development project in the hill areas of Nepal. It found that women easily lost out on many of the benefits of participation and ended up doing most of the work Nepal-Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project
Young trees planted on steep slope in the highlands. IFAD Photo by Martine Zaugg

The project aims to raise the income of the population living below the poverty line, with priority given to the disadvantaged ethnic groups such as the Tamang, Praja, Majhi and Magar. Degraded lands are leased out to the community with the idea of forest regeneration and the expansion of the forest resource base. The project also supports community development works and off-farm income-generation. The block of degraded land is leased to a leasehold group comprising poorer small farmers from the community. Each member household receives a small part of it. This arrangement makes group membership critical in targeting.

In the three study villages in the Kavre Palanchok District, it was found that women did not participate as actively as men in the leasehold groups, but gradual improvements were noted:

Initially the groups were formed with more male members, with single women such as widows or separated women being asked to join in as time went on.
The number of women legal members in the groups was still very low, thereby resulting in low participation by women in training and credit, which are available only to legal members. Family members of legal members are not allowed to access the credit facility and do not have land deeds or group collateral.
The extension workers also tended to deal primarily with legal members, usually males, with the result that women were less informed. In turn, this lower level of information among women resulted in men taking the leadership in decisions.

Sometimes when male legal members of the group are absent, as a result of their migration to seek work in India or the plains (as is common), women replace them, but only until the men return.
Gradually, the few women members are beginning to participate more actively in group discussions and meetings. They are even sometimes challenging the extension workers and their group partners. The men point out sarcastically that the women are becoming ‘queens’ or ‘officers’.

Although there are few women who are legal group members, when it comes to maintenance of the leasehold forests, women were found to participate more than men.

Men usually received the training for forestry activities, but women ended up contributing more labour.
Women were found to do more forest watching, with the argument that they had to visit the forest more anyway, to collect fuel wood and fodder.
Women also often do the pruning and thinning of trees and are involved in the nursery in raising fodder species. The reason for women’s work in the nursery garden could be that garden work is labour intensive, as the garden requires constant weeding and watering. Men also do not consider fetching water as their responsibility.

It takes time to introduce changes in women’s formal participation in community or group affairs, but there are encouraging improvements. However, low levels of legal membership undermine women’s benefits.The mismatch between who is trained and who does most of the work can also threaten the effectiveness of activities implemented.

Adapted from:

Subba, Suman. & Babar, Aneela Z. 2001. Strengthening Gender Initiatives in IFAD Projects: Case Study of Hills Leashold Forest and Forage Development Project in Nepal (Draft). Rome: IFAD.

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