Presented by Ephrem Tesema at the Livestock and Fish Gender Working Group Workshop and Planning Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14-18 October 2013

1. Gender inclusion in the LIVES project: Gender mainstreaming
approaches and areas of interventions
Ephrem Tesema
Livestock and Fish Gender Working Group
Workshop and Planning Meeting
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14-18 October 2013

2. Outline
•
Overview on LIVES Project
• Gender Inclusion and Exclusion Dynamics
• Why Gender Mainstreaming is indispensable?
• Approaches to Mainstream gender in Livestock and Irrigation
Value Chains
• LIVES Gender Strategy
• A Gender Lens in commodity/ Enterprise Development
• Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive Interventions in
LIVES
• Possible Areas of Interventions
• Concluding Remarks
• Food for Thought

3. Lives Objectives
• Introduction/adaptation of tested and new value chain
interventions for targeted value chains/areas (value chain
development)
• Capacity development of value chain actors, service
providers and educational institutions (capacity
development)
• Introduction/adaptation of tested and new knowledge
management interventions in support of value chain
development (knowledge management)

4. Objective of Lives Cont’d
• Generation and documentation of new knowledge on
value chain interventions through diagnosis, action
and impact research studies (research)
• Promotion of knowledge generated for scaling out
beyond the project areas (promotion)
Project Focus
• Commodities: - Livestock (dairy, beef, small ruminants,
poultry, apiculture) and high value irrigated crops
(vegetables, fruits, fodder)
• Geographical - Ten (10) zones with clusters of Districts
producing selected commodities

6. TABLE: Priority commodity value chains and their zonal locations selected by the four Regional
States
Region/Zone
Amhara
- Gondar
N/S*
- South Wollo
- West Gojam
Oromiya
- E Shoa
Beef
/live
animals
Chicken
meat/eggs
Honey
& bee
wax
Milk
SR meat/
live
animals
Fruits
Vegetables
Total
-
-
-
√
-
(√)
√
(10)
2
-
-
-
√
√
√
4
-
-
-
√
√
√
√
√
4
(12)
4
-
-
-
- W Shoa
√
-
√
- Jimma
-
-
√
SNNPR
- Gamo Gofa
-
√
- Sidama**
-
√
√
-
√
√
√
√
-
√
√
√
√
√
-
-
-
-
√
-
-
Tigray
- Central
-
-
-
√
- Eastern
-
-
Total
1
2
√
4
√
8
√
-
√
√
√
√
-
6
6
√
8
Note: N – North, S – South, E – East, W – West; *growth corridor ** Hawassa milkshed
4
4
(5)
3
2
(8)
4
4
35

7. Direct value chain beneficiaries LIVES
Actors
Input
Producer/
Supplier
Output
Producer
Trader/
Processor
Extension
Research
Education
Public Support Services
P
O
L
I
C
Y

8. Research LIVES
Rapid assessment of value chains and
public support services
Value chain interventions on supply/production of Knowledge Mngt and
inputs, production/processing/marketing of
capacity development
outputs
interventions
Learning
Learning
Diagnosis
Action
RESEARCH/STUDIES
Impact

9. Gender Inclusion and Exclusion Dynamics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Framing Gender within the socio-cultural milieu
Ideologies, activism and gender in our time
The Language of Research and Development
The Language of Farmers and Others
Communicating Gender to inspire inclusive
transformation
Gender in Ethiopia: The burden of History, the dynamics
of socio-cultural Change and striking the balance
Commitment, Accountability and Professionalism
Understanding the specific context
Allowing the locals to articulate gender Issues
Diagnosing, Documenting, Analyzing, Synthesizing
evaluating and Sharing for scale up and out

10. Why Gender Mainstreaming is Indispensable?
• The reality pops up out their even for the gender blind
ones
• Value addition in market oriented agriculture needs the
skills and dexterities of both female and male producers,
traders, input and service providers etc.
• More than 50% of the smallholders are female farmers
• Female and male farmers own skills, resources and
inalienable entitlements to grow and transform
• Gender equity and equality justifies the final outcome of
R&D interventions
• Ignoring gender in R&D intervention is a way to
reinforcing socio-cultural, economic, political and societal
decadence and multifaceted disarticulation

11. Approaches to Mainstream gender in Livestock and
Irrigation Value Chains
•
•
•
•
Capacity Building, Team Building and Partnership
Stating Generic Gendered Directives
Identifying Possible areas of Interventions
Commodity and VC nodes Analysis/synthesis

12. Team Building Matters

13. LIVES Gender Strategy
• Capitalize of IPMS findings and Lessons
• Findings documented during PIP
• LIVES Baseline Survey
• Capitalize on CIDA funded project experiences
• Reviewing documented evidences in the agricultural
development sector

14. Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive
Interventions in LIVES
• Set specific Gender targets for LIVES Intervention that
captures the imagination of staff and partners and
facilitate support for its successful achievements.
• Learn from and share the experience of successful
gender sensitive VC Governance
• Present evidence and facts to raise the awareness of
project partners regarding the Importance of gender in
value chain development initiative. Do not preach!!
• Prepare a gender action plan and scan the plan and all
project activities with a gender lens, share with partners
and project staff

15. A Gender Lens in commodity/ Enterprise Development
• Commodities and value chain nodes traditionally
dominated by women
• Commodities and value chain nodes conventionally
involve men and women
• Commodities and value chain nodes conventionally
dominated by men only.

16. Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive
Interventions in LIVES
• Learn and share Gender analytical tools and approaches
for successful delivery
• Work in partnership with the respective Women’s Affair
Offices and other women focused public and private
service delivery organizations
• Understanding the gender context of the priority
commodity/ value chains through diagnostic process and
by making continues follow up studies
• Collecting and analyzing site and priority value chain
specific information on gender differences in division of
labor in producing and marketing priority commodities

17. Directives for Successful Gender Sensitive
Interventions in LIVES
• Identify the extent of access to and control over resources
and benefits accrued to men and women from specific
commodities and value chain nodes
• gender participation in decision making capacity needs to
be engaged in priority commodity value chain development
• Developing strategies to address gender issues in
commodity chains with partners.
• Identifying opportunities and implementing strategies to
enable women and men to have equal opportunities in the
project activities
• Identifying constraints and opportunities for women’s
participation in the selected value chains

18. Possible Areas of Interventions
• Targeting women from female‐headed households who
have land for vegetable production
• Targeting women to engage in input supply systems like
fruit tree nurseries, pullet production, feed block
preparation
• Involving women and women groups in value
addition/processing (e.g. juice and honey processing)
• Giving more focus and support to women in
women‐dominated enterprises (e.g. dairy and poultry)
• Adapting enterprises to more effectively engage and
increase benefits to women, e.g., honey production in
modern beehives

19. Concluding Remarks
• Gender Mainstreaming in the Livestock VCD has implications
on:
- Design Gendered Capacity Building
- Design Gendered Knowledge Management
- Design Gendered Technology Uptake
- Generate lessons for practitioners and researchers
- Ensure Gender Empowerment and inclusive VCD
- Increase financial gains for Men & Women Smallholders
- Sustain inclusive livestock and Irrigation VC Development
intervention
- Improve the existing gender inequality in the livestock and
Irrigation Agriculture.
- Transform gender concerns from rhetoric to strategic ends
- Add value to Livestock products more than ever

20. Cocktail for Thought
• Do Countries have feminine and masculine identity
• Who is an influential man or women who play a visible
role in the recent past of your countries history
Source of the questions: A few non workshop participant but
who attended last nights cocktail

21. Involve women: LIVES Gender Tools Pretest in Lome District

22. Thank You!
www.lives-ethiopia.org