This document discusses the importance of conducting a gender analysis of agricultural value chains. It defines key terms like gender and value chains. It presents examples of different types of agricultural value chains and notes that women often have less visible roles. The document outlines a preliminary theory of change for how gender-transformative agricultural development programs can benefit both women and society by better including women and analyzing gender relations. It reviews the current limited state of knowledge around gender and agricultural value chains and calls for more collaborative efforts to address issues and gaps through tools, skills building, and policy changes.

2. agri-
Advancing agri-practice: Adding Value
for Women
Making the Case for Gender Analysis of
Agricultural Value Chains

3. Session Outline
• Important terminologies
• Why focus on gender analysis of agricultural value
chains
• Current state of knowledge and practice
• A preliminary theory of change

4. General definitions
• Gender
– Gender: socially and culturally defined meanings associated
with being a man or woman
• Gender analysis of agricultural value chains
– ID different roles of men and women; outcomes to men and
women at different nodes of VC
• Value chains
– A value chain encompasses the full range of activities which
are required to bring a product or service from conception
through the different phases of production to delivery to the
final consumer and final disposal after use – Asareca
nodes”
– “value added along the chain at the nodes”

5. Typical agricultural value chain
Seed suppliers → Farmers → Traders → Processors →
Exporters/importers → Retailers →Consumers →
Waste

6. Preliminary map - HONEY
Some visible/ Honey export Mothers might buy nutritious
invisible market products on local markets?
women
stakeholders
Marketing
Women shopworkers/wives of
finished products traders?
Traders Women shopworkers/wives of
honey traders?
Women and girls on family
Production
farms?
honey
Women homeworkers in hive production?
Daughters helping with protective clothing?
Inputs
- hives Provide the protective
- protective materials clothing Modified from Mayoux and Mackie 2007, ILO

7. Jon Hellin and Madelon Meijer - FAO

8. Many types of agric value chains – simple to
complex, depth, width and breadth
• Demand managed value chains – big
commercial markets, national, international
commercial value chains
• Supply driven value chains -
• Micro value chains – localized, simple and
short

9. Why Focus on Gender Analysis of
Agricultural Value Chains
• GAAVC
– Applying a gender analysis to agricultural value chains –
• analyzing gender relations, power, roles and outcomes,
and not just describing differences but assessing their
causes (apply definition of gender analysis);
– it differs from gender and ag VCs – not just describing where
women are, what they do
• analyzing gender relations within chains
• those where women have roles and where roles are less
visible
• ID opportunities in chains women are less visible and in
nodes where women are less visible

10. • Significance of agriculture in SSA
– Driver of economic development
– Globalization
– Food security
Small holders
– Commercialization of agriculture
– Disproportionate distribution of benefits between men and
women
Need for better, gender transformative programming
– Smart economics
– Remunerate and incentivize for enhanced participation and
food security
– Justice

11. Theory of change for knowledge- based gender- transformative agricultural development
knowledge- gender-
Better Impact
•Women share (with men) benefits of improvements (e.g. food security, yields, income)
•Families, communities & society benefits
•Women more empowered; gender relations improve
Monitoring data used Program Evaluation
to “fine-tune”
intervention •Evidence on promising
practices
•Program staff capacity
strengthened on gender,
agriculture & M&E
Knowledge Collection and
Improved Program Dissemination
Engagement of Implementation &
Women (and Men) Monitoring
Farmers •Databank on gender roles &
Gender-based Knowledge
relations in commodity chains
Knowledge & shared with:
•Inclusive outreach •Gender strategies •Databank of promising
Capacity
•Inclusive access to •“Learning by doing” programmatic practices • Communities
Building in
development •Technical assistance •Synthesis of best practices, • Women & men
Agriculture
resources lessons learned farmers
•Dissemination via
conferences, web-for a, etc.
Gender-disaggregated data informs
Program & M&E Design
More & better
•Gender-transformative evidence informs
approaches practice
•‘Learning by doing’
Women and men farmers consulted

12. • Recent literature review of GAVC - ICRW
– Lit scanty and scattered
• Gaps
• Who are involved
• How to

13. Current State of Knowledge and Practice in Gender and
AVC
• A gender analysis of AVC:
– Types of value chains
• Roles of men and women
• Opportunities
• Obstacles
• Institutional issues
• Program and development
• Outcomes

14. “Micro” Value Chains
• Small in scale
• Largely localized
• Use local resource
• Entail value addition at a cottage industry level
• Potential for scaling up
• Many under control and management of women
(either as individuals or organized in groups)
• Faces many challenges – recognition, skills,
equipment, capital, markets

15. • Based on our presentations, AVC is way to go, but
we must examine them from a gender lens; e.g.
• Participatory and collaborative efforts among
interested parties to promote GAAVC to
address issues on GAAVC
• Participatory review and development of tools
• Need to re-examine the skills and capacity to
drive this agenda forward
• Examine policy gaps and determine a way
forward of addressing them?

16. • The end
• THANK YOU