Giving the rationale and progress made so far with regard to improvement of gender responsive data collection and use in Africa

1. Improving Gender Responsive Data
Collection and use in Africa; Rationale
and Review of Progress
Hannah Nyota
ReSAKSS-ECA
Gender Framework Workshop
Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi
04/09/2013

2. Outline
• Definitions
• Rationale for gender statistics
• Agricultural gender data collection initiatives
• African initiatives
• Conclusion

3. Definitions
• Gender-social construction
of the roles and responsibilities
of males and females
(Quisumbing, 1996.)
• Gender statistics- separate data
on women and men, boys and
girls across a wide range of topics
and areas, reflecting mostly
quantitatively, the scope of diverse
realities for different population
groups (UNECE, 2010).

4. Definitions contd’
Components of gender statistics;
• Sex-disaggregated data - data collected
primarily by biological and physical attributes
(FAO,2005)
• Gender-sensitive indicators-information
derived from sex-disaggregated data to assess
gender relations in the population(FAO,2005).

5. Rationale for gender data in agriculture and
rural development
• In Africa, women constitute 50% of the agricultural
workforce (Doss&FAO,2011)
• Existence of gender disparities in access to and
control of productive resources - land, seeds, water,
agricultural extension services, training,
credit(FAO,2011)
• Narrowing the gender gaps in agriculture would
increase agricultural output, enhance food security
and reduce poverty

6. Cont’d
• Gender statistics provide the inter-linkages to
understand gender related challenges in food
security, market access and economic
productivity.
• African countries face technical and institutional
constraints in generating and using gender data
• Isolated and scattered efforts to develop
tools/framework but not very successful

7. Why are gender statistics important?
• Provide evidence and unbiased foundation for gender responsive policies
and interventions;
• Monitor and evaluate policies and livelihood interventions with a gender
outlook;
• Increase awareness, convince policy makers/statistical bodies and
promote change
• For the achievement of national, regional and international goals for
promoting gender equality; SDGs, MDGs, Beijing Platform for
Action, among others
• To reveal gender based differences in roles/activities, access to and control
of resources, constraints, opportunities and benefits at the micro-level

8. Agricultural gender data collection
initiatives
• Several initiatives developed for generating
and analyzing gender-relevant information for
agriculture and rural development
• A lot of work by FAO- SEAGA, Agri-gender
toolkit, GASF etc.

9. Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis
(SEAGA) framework
Developed by FAO work to provide a gender perspective
in data collection schemes, formulated upon 3 guiding
principles (FAO,2010);
• the importance of gender roles and relations
• the need to prioritize disadvantaged people on policy
agendas
• the crucial need for multi-stakeholder consultative
processes

10. Cont’d
• Uses a combination of quantitative and
qualitative methods for collecting gender-
relevant information
• Gender relations analysed at the micro, meso
and macro levels
• Help identify relevant gender-based indicators
and sex-disaggregated data variables.

11. Key questions of the SEAGA:
• Who does what?
• Who owns what?
• Who has access to/controls what?
• Who knows what?
• Who benefits?

12. Global strategy to Improve Agricultural
and Rural Statistics
Developed through joint collaboration between MoA, NSO,
international statistical bodies and government institutions.
Articulated around three pillars :
• Identification of a minimum set of core data and national
priorities
• Integration of agriculture into national statistical systems
• Sustainability of agricultural statistics through governance
and capacity building

13. Key aspects of the global strategy
• Analysis of agric issues should show clear
interaction between the economic, social and
environmental dimensions
• Integration of gender issues in the three
dimensions

14. Agri gender toolkit/database
A statistical toolkit for supporting the production and analysis of
gender statistics in agriculture
Reflect upon the;
• Roles and contribution of men and women farmers in the
agricultural sector
• Socio-economic status of agricultural populations in rural
settings
• Efforts made to address issues of food security, poverty
alleviation, gender equality and women empowerment (FAO,
2007).

15. Data items from the
Agri-Gender database
Emphasis/scope Data categories
Roles and contributions of men and
women in the agricultural sector
Agricultural population and
households
Access to productive resources
Production and productivity
Labour and time-use
Efforts to address development
issues
Destination of agricultural produce
Income and expenditures
Membership in agricultural/farmer
organizations
Food security
Poverty indicators
Source: FAO, 2007

16. Gender and Agricultural Statistics
Framework (GASF)
• Developed by FAO and pilot tested in several
South East Asian countries.
• Is unique as it combines several other
frameworks in its 5 stages of data collection and
use.
• GASF gives an overview of data collection and
analysis systems and describes different types of
activities involved in the production of gender
statistics in agriculture

17. Stages of the GASF

18. African initiatives
• Only one framework developed; Africa
Programme on Gender Statistics (APGS)
• APGS-brings together current and planned
initiatives aimed at the development of gender
statistics to avoid duplication of efforts and
optimize the use of available resources
• Indexes exist e.g. African Gender and
Development Index (AGDI) by UN

19. Conclusion
• Despite providing guidance on gender integration, these
initiatives don’t factor in measurement issues, country
context
• Gender analysis is important to capture the contributions of
both genders at all levels
• For evidence based policy making, there is need for gender
statistics;

20. Thank you!
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