Theme: Gender integration within a forestry project in Nepal became an element in the success of the project.
Recently, IFAD conducted a study of the gender mainstreaming strategy of the IFAD-financed Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project (HLFFDP) in Nepal. The study found that the gender mechanisms and activities of the project had changed gender attitudes and the related behaviours and enhanced the project’s impact on poverty.
The implementation of the HLFFDP began in 1993. In 1999, the existing gender objectives of the project received new impetus through grant support from the Government of the Netherlands. The main objectives of the HLFFDP were to contribute to the improvement of the ecological conditions in the hills and to raise the incomes of families in the hills who were living below the poverty line. The project was to achieve both these objectives through the lease of areas of degraded forest lands to poor households, which would be assisted in the regeneration of the land. The project specifically targeted poor woman-headed households. A third project objective explicitly highlighted the integration of gender, as well as ethnic issues.
The project strategy was implemented by a three-member “gender team” composed of experienced and dedicated Nepalese women, who had the full support of project management. In turn, the women enlarged the number of women group promoters, gave them considerable gender training and motivation and set up a support system of gender focal persons in the collaborating line agencies. Communications and networking were used strategically.
The HLFFDP strategy resulted in changes in attitudes and behaviour at both the community and technical-professional levels within an environment in which the social and cultural context was hierarchical and traditionally dominated by men. At the community level, the approach led to the development of a strong cadre of group promoters1, a forceful, outspoken group of women who influenced some of the line agency staff by their persistence in the mobilization of resources for women. Changes in attitudes and behaviours were also evident among the men and women in the leasehold groups that the promoters established. Women farmers now commonly take the lead in group meetings, as well as in forestry planning, along with the men. In some cases, men have also begun to share household work and childcare tasks so that women can attend group meetings, visit banks and engage in other project activities.
Changes in attitudes also occurred among district forest officers, who had initially not felt positive about the gender team. Many of the officers now express strong support for the women group promoters and for the gender focal persons. They have also changed their own practices. They now encourage village women to speak out at forums attended by the staff of the Department of Forest Research and Survey. The gender focal persons, mainly men who were mid-level technicians, have become a support system for the group promoters. They provide gender training and on-the-ground supervision and support and show respect for the work of the group promoters. Some have also applied their new gender sensitivity in their own homes and changed their behaviour towards their wives.
The integration of gender into the project also had an impact in terms of the allocation of project resources and benefits. Women’s participation increased in all project activities. The rural women leasehold members gained expertise and confidence in working together and in managing environmental resources. The potential for monetary gain has been an important incentive for the continued involvement of these women in the leasehold groups. Women-managed savings and credit groups have become very effective, qualifying them for access to formal credit. In turn, women’s efforts have been a major factor in the dramatic increase in forage resources. Women have also saved considerable time through the easy accessibility of nutritious grasses and other forest resources planted close to their homesteads. With the increase in the quality and quantity of animal feed, women have been able to keep larger and more valuable livestock. The higher income from fodder and livestock sales has helped to provide for family needs. Often, this income is under the control of women. This greater income-generating potential has also strengthened the position of women within their households.
Even the male staff of the collaborating line agencies have recognized the importance of the gender staff and gender activities to the project’s success. In the words of one ranger from Hetauda:
“These group promoters are like our own family. If we had not given them this support, the project would not have been successful. . . . They are our messengers to the leasehold communities. . . . Since they came, women’s participation has increased. . . . Through gender training, we have become aware of women’s knowledge and roles in natural resource management. We believe we need them.”
The gender activities of the project have empowered women. They have also helped to achieve the two main project objectives of environmental improvement and increased income.
Lesson: The integration of gender into a development project can have an impact at two levels: on the achievement of the project’s poverty objectives and on women’s empowerment.
Endnotes:
1/ Female Group Promoters (GPs) were inspired to build a sense of solidarity, to encourage and depend on one another for support - a behavior modeled by the Gender Team themselves. Thus evolved a very high degree of the GPs' trust in the Gender Team, as they a gained a sense, as one of the Gender Team put it, that "we had a mission, we were willing to take risks, even to lose our jobs." GPs felt proud to be associated with such a group of women, and they themselves gained in status through such linkages to high level Project staff and government officials.
Main source:
IFAD Technical Advisory Division, 2002, Jeannette Gurung with Kanchan Lama, Empowered Women and the Men behind Them: A Study of Change within the Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project in Nepal, Rome: IFAD, April.
