DesertificationGender and

Expanding roles for women to restore dryland areas

Enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty

This paper was prepared by Jeannette D. Gurung, consultant on gender and naturalresource management, in collaboration with Sheila Mwanundu, senior technical adviser forenvironment and natural resource management, Annina Lubbock, senior technical adviserfor gender and poverty targeting, Maria Hartl, technical adviser for gender and socialequity, and Ilaria Firmian, associate technical adviser for environment and natural resourcemanagement, from the IFAD Technical Advisory Division.

INTRODUCTION 2

IMPACT OF DESERTIFICATION AND 4DRYLANDS PROJECTS ON WOMEN

Workloads and responsibilities 4

Knowledge 4

Access to productive assets 5

Extension and support services 10

Financial services and markets 10

Participation and decision-making in community development 11

WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE 12

Restoring land productivity 12

Women’s organizations 14

Women’s voices and agency 15

INNOVATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED 16

Strengthen rural poor women’s organizations 16

Capacity-building to create enabling environments 19(enable the project enablers)

Apply a gender approach, while promoting the role of women 20

A WAY FORWARD 22

BIBLIOGRAPHY 24

BOXES

1 “Partial participation” by women in 6irrigation programmes in the Gambia

2 Vulnerability reduction in the Niger 7

3 Recognizing women as herders in the Tibetan 8 Autonomous Region of China

4 Men and women working together as extension 8agents in Mauritania

5 Rebuilding soil productivity and reducing the workloads 13of indigenous women in China

6 Revitalizing and enhancing women’s indigenous knowledge: 13an IFAD strategy

7 Women in water user committees in Brazil 14

8 Addressing women’s workloads first in Burkina Faso 17

9 An inclusive strategy for women’s empowerment 17in mountainous China

10 Achieving tangible benefits and financial independence in Chad 18

11 Strengthening gender mainstreaming in Latin American projects 18

12 Staff commitment and know-how for gender mainstreaming in 21Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Table of contents

Desertification refers to the process of landdegradation that results from various factorsin arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is a process by which drylands lose theirproductive capacity, leading to foodinsecurity and poverty, in a cause-effectrelationship. Characterized by climatevariability, these lands sustain pastoralistsand small-scale farmers, but are susceptibleto desertification as a result of increasinghuman population, inappropriate governmentland-use policies, settlement, climatechange, deforestation, expropriation ofrangelands, land clearance, overgrazing,inappropriate irrigation practices, politicalinstability and poverty. The livelihoods of over1.2 billion people inhabiting dryland areas in110 countries are currently threatened bydrought and desertification.

Over the past 23 years, IFAD hascommitted over US$3.5 billion to supportdryland development and combat landdegradation in developing countries. Of IFAD-supported projects, 70 per centassist pastoralists and small farmers inecologically fragile, marginal environmentssuch as rangelands and rainfed croplandsthrough small-scale irrigation, agroforestry,fruit-tree plantation, community-based naturalresource management, rural infrastructure andoff-farm income-generating activities.

Recognizing the link betweendesertification and poverty, the UnitedNations Convention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD) stresses theimportance of a “bottom-up participatoryapproach in identifying, implementing,monitoring, and evaluating projects thatcombat desertification and mitigate theeffects of drought”. The year 2006 has beendesignated the International Year of Desertsand Desertification to provide opportunitiesto highlight the difficult conditions faced bywomen and men living in areas affected bydesertification.

In many of the world’s drylands, includingmuch of Africa, women’s traditional roles andknowledge in natural resource managementand food security are particularly crucial. Theyare thus severely affected when erosion anddiminished soil fertility result in decreasedcrop and livestock productivity and lessen thesources of income derived from theseproducts. Yet, despite their roles andextensive knowledge, women living indrylands (who tend to rank among thepoorest of the poor) often face constraints intheir efforts to care for their families and forthe lands on which they depend.

Desertification has had an impact onwomen’s lives in various ways. Workloadsand responsibilities have increased

Introduction

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significantly, particularly if men have left thehome or migrated. In addition, women’salready limited access to productive assets,including land, water and livestock, hasdecreased, straining their abilities to assurethe survival of their families and managenatural resources. Because ownership anddecision-making over land and livestockhave remained predominantly the domain ofmen, women are often excluded fromparticipation in land conservation anddevelopment projects, from agriculturalextension work and from the overall policy-making process.

Since its adoption in 1994, the UNCCDhas been recognized as the only multilateralagreement on the environment thataddresses gender issues, because of itsexplicit focus on the roles of women(Poulsen, 2003). Though many countries haveimplemented activities to foster women’sempowerment or gender mainstreaming aspart of their national action programmes,others have not yet developed plans topromote gender equality. The MillenniumDevelopment Goals and the International Yearof Deserts and Desertification urgegovernments to take action on reducingpoverty and promoting gender equality. TheMillennium Declaration has reconfirmed thecommitment to gender equality already

embodied in the Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Discriminationagainst Women and the Beijing Platform ofAction and presents new opportunities to linksolutions to poverty with gender equality.

Over the years, IFAD has providedfinancial and technical support to initiativesthat specifically target women’s activeparticipation in the implementation of drylandmanagement. The experiences gainedthrough several of these projects, combinedwith reports of other agencies andindividuals, provide insights that encouragebroader and more significant support for thecommitments made in the UNCCD tostrengthen the roles of women at all levels ofimplementation of the Convention.

This review examines the impact ofdesertification on women, their role in themanagement of natural resources anddrylands, and the constraints they face.It presents the experiences of several IFAD-supported programmes and projects inaddressing women as natural resource usersand managers in dryland areas, andhighlights some of the approaches used toreach women more effectively. It alsopresents lessons learned from IFADprogrammes and projects, andrecommendations for expanding women’sroles in order to restore dryland areas.

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WORKLOADS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

In addition to caring for their families, womenacross the developing world spendconsiderable proportions of their time andenergy using and preserving land for theproduction of food and fuel and to generateincome for their families and communities.These activities include crop production,growing fruits and vegetables, raising smalllivestock, tending trees, processing productsfor food and markets, and managing andcollecting water and fuel. Women are usuallyresponsible for the plots in which food cropsare grown, while men are responsible for theplots on which cash crops are grown. Thelatter account for a major part of the threat ofsoil nutrient depletion and desertification.

Women are significantly affected whenerosion and diminished soil fertility result indecreased crop and livestock productivity,thereby reducing the sources of incomederived from these products. Beyond thedeterioration in the physical environment,women claim that desertification has changedthe entire context of their lives (Leisinger andSchmitt, 1995).

Besides the resulting increase inworkloads, women are particularly affected bythe migration of growing numbers of men. Asenvironmental conditions worsen, more menmigrate for longer periods, sometimes evenpermanently. Meanwhile, household and farmchores are becoming not only more difficult,

but also more crucial to survival. Themigrating men are contributing less and lessto family incomes. Women are therefore tryingto expand their productive role to earnincomes and ensure living standards abovemere survival for their households.

As women increase their contributions offarm labour and household maintenance, theyare also becoming responsible for moredecision-making if long-term migration meansthat major decisions, such as the purchase orsale of livestock or changes in croppingpatterns, cannot wait for the men’s return.Women are becoming de facto heads ofhouseholds, and this is increasing thevulnerability of families to extreme poverty aswomen assume traditionally maleresponsibilities without the same levels ofaccess to financial, technological and socialresources. Women’s workloads andresponsibilities have become greater, butwomen have not enjoyed a corresponding risein influence and opportunities.

KNOWLEDGE

Women in dryland areas, as in otherecosystems, are an important source ofknowledge related to environmentalmanagement for medicines, food and water.Indigenous knowledge systems are particularlyvital to the maintenance of these environments,in which residents have learned how to survive

Impact ofdesertification anddrylands projects on women

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in harsh and variable conditions. Through theirresponsibilities in relation to both crop and wildresources, women have developed valuableknowledge about environmental sustainabilityand – critical in areas of desertification – survivalmechanisms during times of drought andfamine. However, these knowledge systems arethemselves under threat, as dryland areas areaffected by modernizing forces that devaluetraditional practices and the special roles ofwomen in natural resource management.

ACCESS TO PRODUCTIVE ASSETS

As the Millennium Project Task Force onEnvironmental Sustainability has noted, “whenwomen lack the knowledge, means or authorityto manage the natural resources on which theydirectly depend, degradation of these resourcesis more likely to occur” (UNDP, 2004).

Women seldom have control overproductive resources such as land, credit,agricultural inputs, training and extensionservices. Their productive assets, includingtheir labour and output, are generallyconsidered to be less valuable than those ofmen, though this perception varies betweennomadic and sedentary societies.

LandSecure access to land and the relatedproductive assets is basic to lasting solutionsto hunger and poverty. In countries wherewomen do not have secure access to land forexample, women are effectively deniedaccess to the information, technologies andresources that would enable them to engagein more environmentally sustainable practices.

In dryland areas, there are differences inresponsibilities, user rights, legal status, thedivision of labour and decision-makingbetween men and women in relation to land.In many African societies, women’s lack ofrights to land ownership denies them userrights as well, including rights to plant treesand build soil control measures. This lackcan be based on customary or statutory law.The right to plant trees, for example, is linked

to one’s status as a member of anautochthonous population group (which haspriority rights of access to all naturalresources, including land and water), asopposed to an allogeneous population group,and thus applies in the same way to womenas it does to men. Of course, in patriarchal(patrilocal) societies, women “marry out” totheir husbands’ villages and are thus lesslikely to be autochthonous and have fewerrights (Messer, 2001). Nonetheless, womenare actually more likely than men to be incharge of tree husbandry, and investments intrees can be used as a vehicle for improvingthe long-term use rights of women to naturalresources. These rules are often tightened asthe resources grow scarce.

Women are often assigned the moremarginal, fragile and degraded lands. In traditional agrarian societies in West Africa,for example, the right to use a given plot ofland is earned by investing time and otherresources in the plot. This is why women’slabour constraints are of primary importanceand why techniques such as conservationistagricultural practices (zero tillage) hold muchpromise for contributing to secure women’sland-use rights.

Soil degradation results in less land foragriculture and more competition forrelatively good soil. From a survey ofSahelian women, we know that manywomen complained that, since the droughts,they had difficulty getting access to land: “aman first takes a field for himself…, then hegives us whatever is left. It is almost alwaysexhausted land on which equally exhaustedwomen toil” (Monimart, 1988).

Women’s enduring lack of land titlesmeans that most women are without thecollateral required by banks to receive creditand loans. This lack of access to credit isoften seen by women as the greatestconstraint on income generation. Secure landtenure is a basic incentive for undertakingagricultural investments, such as investmentsin irrigation, crop diversification and theexpansion of livestock holdings, that wouldbring greater gains to women farmers.

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The experience of IFAD, for example inBurkina Faso and Ghana, has shown that,where a negotiated approach to publicinvestments in soil fertility improvement hasbeen used, it is possible to secure land-userights for landless women and women’sgroups in a sustainable fashion and thuscontribute to the creation of the enablingenvironment necessary to combatdesertification. According to this approach:• men who are the de facto landowners

must benefit proportionally from thevariety of investments offered by therelevant project

• there must be a consensus in the localvillage that enhancing soil fertility anderosion-control activities are a “publicgood” of intergenerational value

• a tripartite deal (between the landowners,the women and the project) must bestruck in the presence of traditionalauthorities (who provide the oralguarantees) and local governmentrepresentatives (who provide the writtenguarantees in the form of minutes)

• the resulting social control must be such that, if women abide bycommunity rules and continue to usethe land provided by the landownersevery season according to these same rules, it will be unacceptable for the landowners to reclaim it (WorldBank, 2006)

WaterLack of access to water is also a seriousconstraint that has grown dramatically inrecent years due to the privatization of waterservices, poor service delivery andincreasing population. It is dependent onland rights, control over resources, capacity,and social networks, all of which are moreseverely restricted among women thanamong men. Land allocation policy is thuscrucial to understanding water rights andallocations. Local norms can curtailwomen’s ownership and rights of access towater resources (Gender and Water Alliance,2003). Experience has shown that waterrights are generally appropriated by the

1Efforts undertaken through development initiatives have usually not been entirely successful inproviding women farmers with secure access to irrigated assets. Sometimes, women obtainaccess indirectly or acquire irregular or seasonal access, but, even when they do obtain use ofirrigated land, they may end up losing this access. When IFAD-funded drylands projects haveattempted to ensure better access for women to irrigated land (for example, by designating theland only for women’s crops), the crops are sometimes taken over by men, as in a rice irrigationproject in the Gambia. And, yet, “partial participation” by women in irrigation projects may stillbenefit women. Women’s consumption of water improved, for instance in the case of theGambia, even though their control of assets and status did not increase. Women may also beable to use water for their livestock or their domestic needs even though they cannot use it fortheir crops. The indirect or poor access of women farmers to irrigation water is better thannothing, but it is not enough.

Source: IFAD, 2001b.

“Partial participation” by women in irrigation programmes in the Gambia

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more powerful, and this does not lead to aproper distribution and use of waterresources. There is often fierce competitionfor irrigated land, and, because they haveless social or political power, women tend tobe disadvantaged. The commonly held viewthat women cannot contribute fully toirrigation system maintenance excludesthem. However, in some countries, womenare as active as men in digging irrigationcanals and maintaining them (IFAD, 2001a).In areas of water scarcity, women lose outunless gender-sensitive policies have beenadopted (Venkataswaran, 1995). In addition,desertification forces poor women andchildren (most often girls) to travel evergreater distances from home to fetch waterfor domestic use and livestock (as well asfor fuelwood), sometimes exposing them toviolence and forcing girls to drop out ofschool to assist in these tasks. Thealternative that many overburdened womenare forced to accept is a severe shortage ofwater for consumption, which threatens thehealth of their families.

LivestockThe migration of men and the displacement ofpastoral households (especially in Africa)increase women’s role in livestock production;this trend is not usually recognized bygovernment officials or extension workers. In arid and semi-arid areas, women’sworkloads in livestock production can often begreater than those of the average male farmer.

Women in Africa, Asia and Latin Americaare involved in petty trading, especially of milkproducts and live animals, and may havecontrol over the revenues generated by suchsales. Thus, livestock helps provide a safetynet when other sources of income are notavailable. To break the cycle of women’spoverty, focus should be placed on small-scale activities, milk-based products, smallruminants and other small stock.

In most pastoral societies, milk is a maincomponent of household nutrition. As aconsequence of sedentarization, drought andland degradation, herd sizes are declining,resulting in increasing malnutrition amongchildren and women. In addition, where milk is

2 Vulnerability reduction in the Niger

In the Project for the Promotion of Local Initiative for Development in Aguié, the Government of theNiger and IFAD have inserted a gender component, to address vulnerability more effectively. The projectarea is characterized by drought, chronic malnutrition and low incomes that are the major causes ofvulnerability. Vulnerability affects more women than men because of the increasing economicresponsibilities, lower educational levels and heavier workloads of women.

The project has introduced innovative approaches based on existing strategies proposed by the localcommunities. Those approaches having greater impact on women are:

• Support for small and medium livestock breeding. Women’s groups have received inputs to startgoat breeding and have participated in testing innovative initiatives, for example, the use of goatmanure as a fertilizer. This approach resulted in income generation and also in improved yields.It had the advantage of being inexpensive and easily accessible to all social groups.

• Support for seed multiplication. Because of the scarcity of rain, short-cycle, high-production seeds wererequired. Women farmers were provided with seeds of a palm that prevents soil erosion and increasessoil fertility. The by-products are used for handicrafts production to augment household incomes.

• Development of income-generating activities among women. Existing grain banks have beenused to build up rotating funds for women’s groups. Women have also been involved in income-generating activities, such as soap and hair cream making, knitting and embroidery.

In this particular environmental context, where crops are subject to climatic hazards and other naturalconstraints, the diversification of crop biodiversity greatly contributed to the success of the project inimproving food security. In addition, sensitization about development issues and gender mainstreaminghave been useful in mobilizing groups of women and men.

Source: IFAD, 2004a.

A project documented by IFAD and conducted by Oxfam Hong Kong, in a highland desert areain the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, has enabled women to participate actively inproject planning and implementation by recognizing their roles as herders and reducing theirlabour burdens. Project staff first studied the gender division of labour related to projectactivities. The staff identified fertilizer application – a key issue for rangeland improvement – asa traditional task of women. Given the large size of the pastures, the project would have greatlyincreased women’s workloads in fertilizer applications had no consideration been made at theoutset of the project to the gender-related division of labour. Instead, the staff encouraged mento collect and apply fertilizer and offered technical training to women and men in fencing andgrass propagation so as to reduce the labour required to apply manure to open, degradedpasturelands. The staff learned that gender integration was most successful when the projectoffered separate opportunities by adapting to women’s schedules so that women could receivetechnical training and engage in decision-making. This participation led to a reduction inwomen’s labour and raised the social status of women.

Source: ICIMOD, 2003.

Men and women working together as extension agents in Mauritania

Recognizing women as herders in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China

The IFAD-financed Oasis Development Project in Mauritania provides a noteworthy successstory involving the provision of technical knowledge and services to women and men. Aninnovation of the project was to bring several couples (men and women farmers) from a similarecological and socio-economic environment in Morocco to work for several months on aMauritanian oasis. This exchange addressed men and women differently. Men and womenlearned new techniques and skills in irrigation, water conservation technologies, vegetablegardening, traditional crafts and the establishment of a bakery.

The project focused on the diversification of incomes in order to reduce vulnerability.• Different kinds of seeds were brought from Morocco and plant testing was conducted.

The agricultural extension component was addressed more at men, but new techniquesin vegetable growing (in particular, carrot growing and date palm cultivation) were alsotaught to women’s groups.

• New women’s groups were created to learn and carry out the various income-generating activities introduced by the Moroccan couples. Among the innovations intraditional crafts were: weaving using camel hair, mat-making, food preparation (use ofvegetables instead of meats) and the establishment of a bakery. The bakery had animmediate impact on the population and was generally accepted not only by women,but also by men. The huge number of ovens built by the Moroccan couples raised theproblem of fuelwood, which is a scarce resource in the oasis areas, and some collectiveovens using gas were tested to confront these environmental constraints.

One of the most interesting and successful aspects of this exchange has been the culturalimpact. This revolved around not only the positive interaction between Moroccan andMauritanian couples, but also the increase in the status of the Mauritanian women, who werefully involved in the new activities and demonstrated that they could contribute in a highlyproductive way.

Source: IFAD, 2000a.

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scarce and most of it is sold to raise cashincome women, more than men, tend tolower their consumption. This self-sacrifice,which is a typical response by women,increases their nutritional vulnerability in timesof drought, civil strife and other stresses(Niamir-Fuller, 1994).

EXTENSION AND SUPPORT SERVICES

Despite their multiple, major roles inagricultural, water and forestry management,women are not able to access the full rangeof extension and advisory services, inputs andknowledge of new technologies that areprovided to men in the same communities.This is due to many factors, including: • high rates of illiteracy• lack of land ownership• cultural restrictions on women’s mobility

and participation in public events• an extreme shortage of free time to attend

training sessions and meetings• women’s own lack of confidence• commonly held gender biases in

institutions related to these sectors thatview only the men as the farmers and thuslimit their outreach activities to men,wrongly assuming that somehowknowledge will be conveyed to women

A shortcoming of many agricultural extensionproviders is their neglect of women’s multipleroles related to farm management, as well ashousehold management. Many of theseproviders still assume (despite thecontradicting empirical data) that men are thefarmers, while women play only a “supportiverole” as the spouses (Jiggins, Samanta andOlawoye, 1997).

The widespread tendency to target womenfor income generation and microenterpriseinstead of agricultural extension services maybe due in part to the lack of land titles amongwomen. This neglect of the roles of all ruralwomen (not only the landowners) as farmersand livestock managers represents a missedopportunity that is common to many

agricultural projects. However, this is graduallychanging as economists and agriculturalprofessionals who design and implementprojects become more knowledgeable aboutgender issues in development.

A scarcity of women extension agentshas been reported in some IFAD evaluations.It was noted that project results could bemuch enhanced through the use of womenextension agents and lead farmers todisseminate agricultural technologies andknowledge (Niamir-Fuller, 1994). In mostcountries of the world, professionals workingin these sectors are usually men and oftenface difficulties in communicating effectivelywith women. As a result, existing supportservices and mechanisms are ill suited towomen users.

In addition, many agencies involved inland-use and water management lack staffwho are knowledgeable about genderconcepts and tools, which limits the ability ofthe agencies to understand and respond tothe gender aspects of project design andimplementation.

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS

Because of inheritance patterns or genderroles, women often undertake activities thatrequire less capital. As both a cause and aneffect of this, women’s activities are often lesseconomically profitable than those of men.This limits the potential of expanding women’sactivities and increases women’s vulnerabilityin the face of shocks such as suddenshortages in food and water supplies,incomes, crop failures and natural disasters(Lambrou and Laub, 2000).

Farmers in drylands are disadvantagedby the lack of transport and limited accessto markets and marketing opportunities. In addition to these disadvantages, womenalso face particular constraints becausemarkets are rarely geared towards small-scale production or the crops grown bywomen. Another constraint is the lack ofaccess among women to farmer

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organizations and commercial networks,which tend to be controlled by and mediatedthrough male relations. This can lead to aneglect of women’s specific needs.Nonetheless, women very often have theirown forms of organization, managerialcompetence and commercial acumen thatcan be tapped.

In many regions, women play animportant role in traditional trade systems, butthis role is tending to diminish as the modernmarket economy expands. Women’smarketing opportunities may also beconstrained by cultural limitations on theirmobility. When marketing is done by men,women do not have control over the sale oftheir products and may not receive the fullamount of the profits they have generated.

PARTICIPATION AND DECISION-MAKING IN COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT

Women and men do not usually participate onan equal basis in decision-making on themanagement of community natural resources,which has led to the neglect of the specificroles and needs of women farmers. This hasgenerated a fresh focus on women’s groupsas a means to grant women opportunities forcapacity-building and decision-making. A recent study of 33 rural programmes in 20 countries found that the capacity for self-sustaining collective action was significantlygreater in women’s groups (Westermann,Ashby and Pretty, 2005).

Some case studies, such as thoseconducted in the Sahel in the 1980s (Rochette,1989), demonstrate that women haveperformed desertification-related work intendedfor men, but without receiving the same trainingor other immediate benefits. In one case,women, not men, carried rocks and water forthe construction of dikes to protect fields thatbelonged to men. In this case, women wereproud of their work and seemed to overlook thefact that they would not be allowed to till theland that they helped rehabilitate.

This is substantiated by other reports ofSahelian women’s pride in their new roles ashousehold managers, and the increased self-confidence and strength that emanates fromthis status (Monimart, 1988). These examplesof women’s voices present an alternative imageof women as decision-makers and managers,rather than merely as providers of labour.

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IFAD combines gender mainstreaming withspecific measures for women’s empowermentand perceives women as agents of change.IFAD aims to concentrate its investments,research and knowledge management efforts,policy dialogue and advocacy on theattainment of three strategic objectives:• strengthening the capacity of the rural

poor and their organizations• improving equitable access to productive

natural resources and technology• increasing access to financial services and

markets

Investing in women is considered the mostimportant approach in dryland areas, basedon the need for high levels of povertyreduction and women’s ability to work well ingroups to manage external resources such ascredit and natural resources.

Recognizing that women’s vulnerability isexperienced as an inability to influence thedecisions affecting their lives, negotiate betterterms of trade and barter, and makegovernmental organizations and NGOsaccountable to them, IFAD seeks to enablerural poor women to take development intotheir own hands. Concretely, this implies: • developing and strengthening

organizations of poor women to confrontthe issues they define as essential

• increasing access to knowledge amongwomen so that women can graspopportunities and overcome obstacles

• expanding the influence that women exertover public policy and institutions

• enhancing the bargaining power of womenin the marketplace

By funding the types of development andpoverty-reduction initiatives needed to changethe structures that generate vulnerability andinequality and in partnership withgovernments and local institutions, IFADseeks to play a catalytic role in encouraginginstitutions to put rural poor women at thecentre of their efforts.

RESTORING LAND PRODUCTIVITY

Within many IFAD projects, women’s groupsare re-establishing soil and land productivityby blending indigenous and newly introducedtechnologies. For example, a project inEthiopia supports the development ofwomen’s vegetable gardens through theprovision of seeds, hand tools and technicalsupport (IFAD, 2004b). A project in the Sudanhas responded to the needs of women byprioritizing community and extension activitiesthat have eased the duties of fuelwoodcollection among women through theprovision of energy-saving gas cylinders andstoves. Women in this desert area who hadlost the seeds of valuable crops to droughtwere provided with indigenous peas toreplace the seeds and crops (IFAD, 2004c).

Women as agents of change

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5The IFAD-sponsored Wulin Mountains Minority-Areas Development Project focused on one ofthe steeper, less fertile, less accessible and less developed mountainous areas of the People’sRepublic of China. This joint IFAD-World Food Programme project had a strong gender focus,and the loan agreement between IFAD and the Government clearly stated that women were amajor target group; indigenous women were especially targeted due to their low literacy resultingfrom gender discrimination, inadequate access or lack of access to credit because most of theirwork was unpaid, and inadequate participation in leadership. The main project thrusts were:

• food and cash crop production, through a range of land-improvement activities,including the conversion of dryland to paddies

• livestock and fish production, through technical and financial support• a women’s programme: functional literacy and numeracy training, which focused on

basic agricultural and husbandry skills, handling credit and improving nutrition andhealth care

Due to the area’s desert-like character, the project emphasized organic farming so as to rebuildsoil productivity, while reducing the need for costly fertilizers. Other factors contributing to theproject’s success were the association of credit with training designed to improve farming skills.This improved the ability of the farmers to repay loans and put a strong emphasis onempowering indigenous minorities by recognizing their specific poverty position and issues.

As a result of the project, women’s workloads were reduced by two to three hours per daydue to improved drinking water supply systems and the introduction of labour- and time-savingtechnologies. Small livestock husbandry provided additional income for food, school fees andclothing; drinking water systems and training improved hygiene and health; and women's self-esteem and social position improved due to the entrepreneurial success of the women.

Source: IFAD, 2005.

6 Revitalizing and enhancing women’s indigenous knowledge: an IFAD strategy

Rebuilding soil productivity and reducing the workloads of indigenous

women in China

Indigenous women have long been custodians of valuable indigenous knowledge related to themanagement of natural resources in dryland areas. They often create their own locally adaptedand accepted rules for the use of the forests that frame their local institutions. Through aprocess of learning, IFAD has realized the importance of building on these strengths byrevitalizing indigenous knowledge and blending it with modern technology. Starting with theAndhra Pradesh Tribal Development Project in India, IFAD-supported initiatives have aimed atrevitalizing traditional soil and water conservation methods in its areas of intervention. Severalefficient and low-cost indigenous technologies, such as percolation ponds and pitcher irrigation,have been revived, leading to assured water sources and considerably improving the livelihoodsof indigenous women and their communities.

Source: IFAD, 2004d.

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WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS

Many women’s associations, including self-help groups, have been established at thevillage level, mostly for the sake of enhancingthe welfare of the families of these women.However, women’s groups are also partnerorganizations in the implementation ofnationally and internationally initiatedprogrammes to combat the advance ofdesertification, reclaim lost croplands andreplant trees and shrubs. Developmentagencies have recognized the increasedactivity on the part of women and havemade good use of it, while women are alsowilling to be drawn into community workbecause they have no other choice, giventheir efforts to ensure the survival of childrenand elders who depend on them.Nonetheless, without a change in genderrelations and an increase in women’sauthority and decision-making power, thereis a possibility that such projects will increasewomen’s workloads, while claiming to havemet targets for women’s participation.

In many countries, it has been foundmore effective and socially acceptable towork with women’s groups rather than withindividual women. This is often the only wayfor poor women to obtain sufficient resources(material, capital and labour) to initiateactivities. The group approach throughwomen water user associations and income-generating groups has proven successful inbuilding women’s capabilities to self managefunds, increase the social networks ofwomen, share knowledge and build solidarity.

An understanding of the social contextmust include an awareness of the impact ofdirectly targeting women in the community. In some cases, this targeting may lead toconflicts within the community, particularly ifentrenched interests of dominant groups arethreatened. In practical terms, this is evidentin some projects that focus on building theorganizational capacities of the poor togovern their own water user associations,income-generating associations and otheruser groups. When women’s participation inthese or other autonomous groups of women

7 Women in water user committees in Brazil

As part of IFAD strategies to build the organizational capacities of the poor, projects in severaldrought-affected countries, including the Community Development Project for the Rio GaviaoRegion in Brazil, require that new and existing water user committees take in women members.Women play a crucial role in the harsh environments in these project areas, performing taskssuch as ensuring the water supply of households. The project in Brazil has a strong trainingcomponent on the rational use of water (water distribution from the source according to thevarious purposes such as washing, livestock and domestic use). Separate water user committeesfor women have been formed both to develop women’s leadership and organizational capacitiesand to reduce the dominance of men. Over 190 groups have been set up to provide training ingroup work; 15 groups have been specifically created by and are made up of women. Over7,300 participants (32 per cent women) have attended 539 courses on rural organization andthe management of associations. Women’s participation has reached 43 per cent inenvironmental training courses; this figure demonstrates the interest of women in this issue.Measures taken to achieve water security among producers and communities have resulted in asignificant increase in the water now available for use in the home and for livestock, thusfacilitating work in the home and alleviating the workloads of women and young people.

Source: IFAD, 2003a.

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users is weak, project implementers mayfocus specifically on developing thecapacities of these groups.

It is difficult to gauge the quality ofwomen’s participation and decision-making ifprogress is reported in terms of numbers orpercentages only. While the involvement ofwomen in water user committees isencouraged through a number of policies,the precise role that women should play israrely specified. Projects with a gender focusfrom the beginning are more easily able toengage women as participants rather thanas indirect beneficiaries.

WOMEN’S VOICES AND AGENCY

The perspectives of rural poor women arenot incorporated in decision-making,policies and institutions related todesertification and dryland management. At the local level, this may be explained bytime constraints, as well as culturalrestrictions on the participation of women in

public events, but, at the national andinternational levels, gender biases still existand hinder the incorporation of women’svoices and gender perspectives in theformation of policies and programmesrelated to land and water management.

At the national and international levels,women have participated, in the design anddevelopment of the UNCCD, by helping toinsert specific steps to mainstream gender inthe implementation of the Convention at thenational level by member states. Nonetheless,to date, voices of women are few and weak(Lambrou and Laub, 2000).

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This review has highlighted lessons learnedbased on experiences within IFAD projects thatpoint to a few strategic actions for the future:• strengthen rural poor women’s

organizations• capacity-building to create enabling

environments (enable the enablers)• apply a gender approach, while promoting

the role of women

STRENGTHEN RURAL POOR WOMEN’SORGANIZATIONS

Despite the supportive policy statements inthe UNCCD and among international agenciesand governments that understand theimportance of a focus on gender equality andgender balance within desertification anddryland projects, women fail to reapsignificant benefits from most projects andremain neglected in many other projectdesigns. If they are recognized, it is oftenbecause they are heads of households, agroup often portrayed as disadvantagedrather than, more positively, as managers ofhousehold and farm productivity.

The focus is primarily on women’s burden oflabour. Projects must address the basic practicalneeds of women so as to reduce theirworkloads in order to gain the genuineparticipation of women in project activities.Women must also be involved in the planningand selection of measures to combatdesertification. When the participation of women

is assured not only in the work of a project, butalso in the conceptualization and planning of themeasures to be taken, this considerablyenhances the chances of success of a project.

Most IFAD projects address women’scredit needs through the formation ofwomen’s groups. Group-based lending hasenabled some women to overcomerequirements for collateral, although, in manyregions, formal financial institutions still requireofficial land titles. Overall, women havedemonstrated their propensity to save and toaccumulate funds as a group. The creation ofself-help groups (or the strengthening ofexisting ones) has enabled women’s groupsto establish dossiers with banks.

Many projects with a financial servicescomponent give priority to women becausethey are good savers, prudent investors andconscientious borrowers. Credit activities havebeen used as an entry-point for organizingwomen for broader activities related todesertification in many countries. Thepreferred investments among women indrylands areas are in small livestock, such asgoats, and petty trade. Yet, projects must beable to move beyond the development ofwomen’s groups as savings and credit orincome-generating groups. To achieve greaterlevels of self-governance and power amongwomen, women’s groups must be more thanmere instruments used by planners andexperts who want to achieve their own goalswithout taking into account women’s interestsor advancing women’s agendas.

Innovations andlessons learned

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8 Addressing women’s workloads first in Burkina Faso

The promotion of women’s activities through 300 women’s groups in a dryland area ofBurkina Faso involved the provision of transportation equipment, training and support forincome-generating activities by means of microcredit. The effort also involved the training of8,265 women in improved cook stove techniques, while 1,129 women received literacy training.Some 233,000 people benefited from improved access to drinking water thanks to theinstallation of 261 wells. Women benefited from a village water component, as well as fromother measures taken to relieve their workloads and enable them to engage in revenue-generatingactivities (1,197 wheelbarrows and 688 carts were distributed through partial or full subsidies).Short-term credits for these activities were provided, and a total of 292 local savings and loanorganizations were created with 76 per cent of the members being women. The position ofwomen within village society has improved thanks to the economic weight and the newknowledge they have acquired.

Source: IFAD, 2004e.

9 An inclusive strategy for women’s empowerment in mountainous China

The feminization of agriculture in a drought-stricken area in mountainous northern China due tothe high level of outmigration by men and heavier workloads at home and in farming requiresactivities with a strong impact on women. More women than men are illiterate, and mostgovernment services are provided by men; thus every activity must have a specific focus on:

• time-saving technologies in agricultural and rural infrastructure construction andrehabilitation

• extension and training services (with 50 per cent women staff members) responsive to women

• empowerment of women through literacy and skills training• promotion of high-value crops with low labour input and income-generating activities

near the homestead• better access to credit• easy access to drinking water, which is usually located at a great walking distance, through

the provision of individual household tanks to capture runoff during the rainy season• special programmes for women’s health

The Women’s Federation, the primary organization mandated to assist women in China,coordinates education support for rural women, enabling them to enrol in functional literacytraining and to acquire technical skills. The various training programmes, together with theinstitutional approach of participatory village development plans, are leading to greaterawareness and assertiveness among women in all matters relating to the social and economicsituation of the individual, the household and the community.

Source: IFAD, 2002a.

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With the assistance of an IFAD project in a drylands area of Chad, women have benefited fromaccess to drinking water wells (the establishment of 100 village water points), improved cookstoves, transportation equipment (support for the purchase of 372 camels) and the 78 milletseed banks for dune crops that the project established. Women in the project area have foundeconomic interest groups to be a powerful and effective mechanism to strengthen their financialindependence within their families, which is a significant achievement in a society based ontraditional hierarchical structures. Some 2,600 women members of 248 economic interestgroups have received funds for agricultural and market activities. Their success in accessingcredit and literacy classes (371 women out of 842 persons completed literacy training) hastranslated into successes in goat raising and petty trade. They have also undergone nutritionaleducation training, which has led to the introduction of vegetables in their daily diets, improvedtheir health status and helped decrease child mortality rates. These tangible benefits haveprompted women to perceive that they are the real beneficiaries of the project, which is a rarityamong technical projects in the drylands.

In their own words, “this project has made it possible to be more and more financiallyindependent from our husbands.”

Source: IFAD, 2003b.

Strengthening gender mainstreaming in Latin American projects

Achieving tangible benefits and financial independence in Chad

IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division executed the Programme for theStrengthening of Gender Mainstreaming in IFAD Projects to support efforts in all projects,including those related to desertification, to develop gender awareness among technical staffand management. The programme’s achievements included:

• gender sensitization among key technical and management staff in IFAD projects• commitment on the part of project-level management to a gender approach in project

implementation• concrete actions to achieve gender equity in ongoing investment activities

Each programme phase involved the formulation of a subregional action plan, consisting ofclearly outlined short- and medium-term activities aimed at ensuring gender equity andconsolidating gender-sensitive actions at the project level. The principal, recurrent demands offield staff, as reflected in the action plans, included gender training, support for thedevelopment of gender-sensitive baseline studies and technical assistance for the construction ofgender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems.

Source: IFAD, 2000b.

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Women’s constraints in gaining access tomarkets are recognized and addressed inIFAD projects, which often provide training inmarketing skills and assist women to buildrelationships with suppliers and buyers.Promoting women’s home-basedmicroenterprises is an important first step.Although often not profitable enough to raiseincome levels significantly, microenterprisesare important in diversifying women’s sourcesof income and reducing their vulnerability,while building their confidence in dealing withmarkets, credit repayments and cash flows.

CAPACITY-BUILDING TO CREATEENABLING ENVIRONMENTS (ENABLETHE PROJECT ENABLERS)

In order for women’s groups to becomeeffective partners in natural resourcemanagement, significant levels of capacity andsupport are needed for women themselves,and for staff of local or national authoritiesresponsible for project implementation. Thisshould include capacity-building in participatoryapproaches, as well as gender mainstreaming.

While many institutions have started torecognize the importance of includingstakeholders and have adopted participatoryapproaches to land-use and watermanagement, gender aspects have oftenbeen neglected. A participatory approach mayprovide a window of opportunity to includegender perspectives, but persistent levels ofgender blindness have, to date, madeprogress in gender mainstreaming in thesesectors elusive. For this reason, anorganizational analysis of implementingagencies should be undertaken in preparationfor the development of a strategy to fostergender-sensitive enabling environments.

The institutions responsible for land-useand water management are characterized bycentralized decision-making. This has notbeen conducive to enabling ruralorganizations to receive services as needed.Many implementing agencies maintainrelationships that are hierarchical and often

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paternalistic with grass-roots groups andassociations, thereby marginalizing thecontributions and initiatives of villagers. A change in deep-seated attitudes is requiredtowards the target population so as to build atrue partnership between the variousstakeholders, including farmer organizations,NGO service providers, project managementunits, cooperating institutions and financinginstitutions (IFAD, 2001c).

Another weakness is the isolation of thesesectoral institutions from trends in the largerrealm of development assistance and fromother relevant institutions. In most developingcountries, dryland development needs are stillbeing evaluated in an isolated sector-by-sector manner, despite plans for integratedland and water management. But thisproblem is not limited to developing countries:international development institutionsthemselves are infused with narrowperspectives and gender biases that restricttheir views on and actions to achieveparticipatory approaches and gender equality.

The reluctance of land-use and wateragencies to look outside their narrowprofessional interests has limited theirknowledge of social movements led by civilsociety actors that could assist them inlearning about new approaches and practicesfor building stronger relationships with therural poor, including women. It has alsocontributed to their lack of knowledge ofpolicies and instruments pertaining towomen’s rights, such as the Convention onthe Elimination of All Forms of Discriminationagainst Women.

Women are largely absent from theseinstitutions. Without gender balanced staff,decision-making within national organizationsis affected by communication flows throughformal and informal networks dominated bymen that exclude minorities and non-powerful groups. Women extension agentsshould be hired and trained in all technicalaspects of dryland management, not merelyin health and nutrition, as is often the case.All extension agents, women and men,should be trained in gender analysis andparticipatory methods.

Government agencies have found ways to enhance rural women’s capacities bystrengthening their links with governmentservices that provide knowledge and technology.Gender-sensitive professionals have played akey role in the delivery of these services. The initiatives have produced stellar results interms of environmental sustainability and genderequality (Gurung, Lama and Khadkha, 2005).

APPLY A GENDER APPROACH, WHILEPROMOTING THE ROLE OF WOMEN

Most countries and many internationalagencies have been slow to mainstreamgender in development programmes andprojects in drylands. An analysis of fieldexperiences in drylands found an absence ofthe use of a gender approach, though manyinitiatives focused on women (FAO, 2003).Many governments and sectoral agencies areclearly motivated to address gender,desertification and poverty in their nationalaction programmes on desertification, policiesand legal frameworks, but lack the specificknow-how. The United Nations EnvironmentProgramme found that obstacles to national-level actions to bolster the participation ofwomen and fulfil the commitments of theUNCCD include a limited understanding ofgender issues and of ways to move frompolicy to action, a lack of gender expertise,lack of and limited use of gender-disaggregated data, and prevailing traditionalviews on gender roles (UNEP, 2004).

A gender approach in sectors related todesertification implies an understanding of howmen and women share complementary rolesand responsibilities regarding the use andmanagement of natural resources. Anorganization that incorporates a genderapproach has mechanisms for localparticipation in the planning, management anduse of land and water resources in anintegrated manner, as well as an organizationalstructure and a culture that promote womenand rely on a gender perspective to exemplifythe principles of gender equality in accordancewith organizational goals.

12 Staff commitment and know-how for gender mainstreaming in Venezuela

(Bolivarian Republic of)

The Support Project for Small Producers in the Semi-Arid Zones of Falcon and Lara States inVenezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) was one of the first IFAD projects in the region (in 1993) tobe designed to incorporate gender mainstreaming. Based on the Women in Developmentapproach, the project had a separate women’s component during its first few years that wasdirected towards women’s reproductive and domestic roles. The mid-term evaluation in 1997put the project back on course by redesigning it to rely on a gender and development approach.Project practitioners have been trained to take account of gender issues in the project’smanagement information system and to include gender-disaggregated data in project monthlyreports, operational plans, data collection tools and monitoring and evaluation indicators. Thiswas possible because staff had come to realize the advantages of working with women. A lessonfrom experience is that gender-sensitive evaluation is unlikely to be successfully implementedunless project staff fully appreciate what is to be done and have the tools and know-how to doit. Absence of commitment or know-how is one of the frequent reasons for the gap betweendesign and implementation that is so common in dryland projects.

Source: IFAD, 2003c.

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Women in the Sahel and other regions maybe ready to be partners in the fight againstdesertification, but this should occur only onterms that provide them with economicsecurity to ensure survival and access toincome, information, productive assets andgood health so as to achieve enhancedlivelihoods. They therefore requireenvironments that can enable their growthand development.

Beyond the three strategies discussedabove, this review points to the following keyrecommendations that address desertificationand sustainable development for international,regional and national organizations and theprogrammes they implement.

Development agencies:• improve women’s social status through

adequate financial and technical supportfor women’s groups

• undertake portfolio reviews of activitiesrelated to UNCCD objectives so as toenable greater mainstreaming of genderand UNCCD objectives into operations andin advocacy and budgetary allocations

• strengthen capacities through affirmativeaction and training to undertake participatorydevelopment and gender mainstreamingduring all phases of dryland project design,implementation and evaluation

• form regional or country review teams ongender and dryland management involvingwomen leaders who have expertise ingender and poverty issues in land use andwater sectors in order to accelerate theformation and implementation of gender-sensitive policies and projects

• learn from experience for effectivereplication and scaling up

• develop mechanisms for better reportingof UNCCD-related activities, for monitoringprogress through gender-disaggregateddata and for evaluating changes in genderroles within dryland areas

Programmes:• conduct a gender analysis for project

design, policy reforms and countrycapacity-strengthening using appropriatediagnostic tools

• reduce women’s workloads so as toenable them to find time to diversify intoother activities

• improve women’s access to and controlover land and water, technological inputs,extension services, information and credit

• ensure that land-use planning takes intoconsideration gender roles (especially, thatthe enclosures frequently used asconservation measures do not represent anundue burden on women’s access to land)

A way forward

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• increase women’s leadership capacities,economic power and confidence byimproving their abilities in self-management and the management ofgroups and by strengthening theirentrepreneurial capacities

• increase women’s involvement in policiesand programmes in order to improveland use through participation in publicdecision-making

• ensure that legal frameworks forenvironmental conservation and therelated organizational structures clearlyprovide for women’s representation

• ensure that conservation efforts addressmultiple uses of resources (for instance,tree nurseries, timber production, fodderproduction and medicinal plants may allexist in a single ecosystem, but need tobe managed differently to provideeconomic benefits to various users)

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