Current activities

Bioversity International

New Gender Webpage!
Visit Bioversity’s new ‘Gender-responsive forestry research’ web page to find out more about the gender-related research and activities Bioversity and partners are conducting within CRP-FTA.

Gender capacity-strengthening underway in Bioversity International
By VB Johnson, process manager and scientific editor

It is argued that women are not equitably rewarded for their key roles in global agricultural production. Poverty and gender gaps are not being closed as effectively as they ought to be, considering the history of substantial investment in agricultural research for development (AR4D) programs. However, the new results-based ethos driving the CGIAR’s AR4D requires all scientists and other stakeholders to integrate gender into their work. The CGIAR system is now poised to better analyze and integrate the roles and needs of women as well as men within much of its research design. Gender integration should lead to more effective AR4D. There is also a clear need for strategic gender research to help better understand those gender issues which are fundamental to successful AR4D.

Partly in light of this new context, Bioversity International is committed to ensuring gender is more effectively integrated into its research design. Supported by the CGIAR’s CRP-FTA, Bioversity’s program on Forest Genetic Resources is running a series of ‘hands-on’ gender capacity building workshops. On 22 October 14 participants attended one of two workshops run by Maria Fernandez and Arwen Bailey from the Bioversity Rome office, with remote participation of staff from Benin, Malaysia, Switzerland, France, Italy and South Africa. Working alternately in pairs and then in plenary discussions, participants reviewed a specific concept note (CN), highlighting non-differentiated people-related terms in the CN text. Pairs then reformulated each term to express gender differences. The plenary discussion highlighted that in most cases this would have then required re-writing the whole CN from a different perspective, with a different focus, and so demonstrated the need to integrate gender at the very beginning of the research design process. In a second task, using the same CN, pairs identified references to research methods, and considered how such methods generate information about differentiated knowledge, skills and access to resources, as well as the opportunities and constraints presented by each method. The glaring absence of gender and of more participatory methods became clear in many of the randomly chosen CNs, and in their proposed methodologies.

I recently attended a gender capacity-strengthening workshop run by the CGIAR research programme on Roots Tubers and Bananas. This included a gender clinic that reviewed existing research proposals through a gender lens. In Bioversity’s follow-up workshop, I found the specific focus on gender differentiation for stakeholders and methodologies significantly deepened my insights on how to better integrate gender in research design. Apart from reinforcing some basic principles on how to better include gender in our work, I was particularly impressed by the sense of commitment of the participants and their willingness to reflect on how we might improve or sharpen our approach. Bioversity’s next steps for gender integration are likely to include: wider engagement with Bioversity colleagues with key roles in research design and support; incorporating a gender lens in any future research idea/proposal designs and reviews; staff development support for participatory and gender methods in 2014; a shared ‘gender space’ on Bioversity’s intranet; and setting up specific mechanisms that allow people to share and deepen their learning (e.g. meetings/ seminars).

Gender-responsive research
Bioversity’s CRP-FTA scientists and many of their national partners have recently received training to strengthen their capacities in gender-responsive participatory research. They have since been putting their skills to good use across a portfolio of research projects. Below are three examples of gender-responsive data collection activities conducted within Bioversity-led collaborative projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Gendered inventory of non-timber forest products in Cameroon and Gabon
As part of the project Beyond timber: Reconciling the needs of logging industries with those of the forest-dependent people, Bioversity scientists and national partners from theInstitut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale(IRET) conducted gender-disaggregated participatory rankings of tree species to understand which species are most important to the local women and men in their study sites in Gabon.

In Cameroon, the research team analyzed gendered patterns of non-timber forest product (NTFP) collection and use through a GPS inventory of trees whose products are commonly collected by forest dwelling communities. This exercise was part of a larger project designed to assess the impacts of commercial logging on forest-dwelling communities. In four villages, local women and men separately guided the scientists to the trees from which they collect tree products, with a focus on three priority species (B. toxisperma, E. cylindricum and E. suaveolens) that provide nutritionally important NTFPs and are commercially felled for timber. Scientists used a GPS to record the coordinates of the trees and measured the distances travelled from the village to collect NTFPs from these trees. Men and women participants also answered a short questionnaire to establish who collects what product from each tree and how they use the resources.

Gender-sensitive analysis of honey gathering practices and beekeeping in the Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique
As part of the project Sustaining forest resources for people and the environment in the Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique, Bioversity and partners from the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique sought to understand practices of harvesting wild honey by local populations living in the Niassa National Reserve. The aim of this investigation is to promote more sustainable honey harvesting practices, as current practices involve the use of fire and tree felling, undermining the sustainability of the resource and negatively affecting the woodland. Working separately with women’s and men’s focus groups, researchers examined the gendered processes of harvesting wild honey, managing hives, and processing and selling honey in the Reserve.

Preliminary findings showed that in Niassa men are responsible for managing traditional bark hives and harvesting honey from natural hives in woodland trees. Women knew little about the practices of harvesting wild honey and expressed safety concerns about having their husbands or sons climb trees to collect wild honey. They also did not want to have beehives located near their homes as they considered the bees dangerous to themselves and children. Women are occasionally involved in honey processing and sale, but generally do not decide how to use the money earned from these sales.

Exploring gendered indigenous knowledge of tree crop reproduction
Bioversity researchers are examining the botanical knowledge repertoires of men and women farmers related to four locally important crops in Côte d’Ivoire and Papua New Guinea: coconut (Cocos nucifera), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), banana (Musa spp.), and cassava (Manihot esculenta),so as to learn how much people understand about regeneration processes, such as pollination, that are important to improving the qualities of their tree crops. Interviews held separately with men and women farmers focused on understanding farmer perceptions of the mode of reproduction of these crops. Further research in India will be carried out in 2014 in collaboration with local NGO Peekay Tree Crop Foundation to provide a comparative perspective on women’s and men’s perceptions of tree crop reproduction and varietal preferences for coconut , banana, drumstick (Moringa oleifera), nutmeg (Myristica spp.) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus).

Center for International Forestry Research

The Rights and Resources Initiative’s (RRI) gender justice scoping study, 7-8 November 2013
Dr. Esther Mwangi participated at the RRI’s gender justice scoping study from 7 to 8 November 2013. The purpose of the workshop was to advance RRI’s coalition’s understanding of relevant issues related to gender justice and women’s tenure rights, and identify gaps and opportunities for value addition to the Coalition’s ongoing work on these themes.

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) conference on the ‘Future directions of small-scale and community-based forestry’, 8 -13 September 2013, Fukuoka, Japan
Dr. Esther Mwangi presented a keynote presentation address titled Sitting beneath the canopy: Messages on gender, participation and community forestry. Bimbika Sijapati Basnett also discussed her research on the nexus between gender, migration and forest governance.

Gender café at the CIFOR annual meeting, 7 – 8 October 2013, Bogor, Indonesia
The gender café was open throughout the duration of the Annual Meeting, from the 7th to the 11th of October. The Café showcased posters, publications and videos on gender and landscapes. Both CIFOR’s work as well as those of some of our partners were included. The Gender Café was officially opened by Peter Holmgren, DG of CIFOR. A "have your say" space was also introduced for the first time where participants and observers could provide comments and feedback on the Gender Café and/or share suggestions for further directions for gender research at CIFOR.

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
Purabi Bose, CIAT, (25-28 September) was invited to speak at the second regional workshop on Gender justice and women’s rights in collective forest tenure and territories in Latin America, organized by NITLAPAN and The Rights and Resources Initiatives (RRI) in Managua, Nicaragua.

CIAT partnership on integrating gender in forests-agriculture/landscape mosaic

• Wageningen University, the Netherlands: Under the CRP-FTA Gender program at CIAT, we had a visiting scientist (mid-July till September, 2013), Prof. Han van Dijk, from the Rural Development Sociology group of Wageningen University. Among several joint initiatives there is the potential for collaboration in mentoring regional (Latin American) students on gender focused studies, and developing a write-shop in 2014 in collaboration with CIFOR’s Peru office on a priority topic decided by the regional partners.
• Fundacion PROINPA, Bolivia: We are in the initial phase of exploring regional partners who are interested in working with the CRP-FTA Gender team and CIAT in integrating gender activities. The Bolivian Government is in the process of implementing a policy Rules of Mother Earth policy regarding equal rights with regard to humans and nature (‘Ley Marco de la Madre Tierra y el entorno en el que vivimos’ (15 October 2012)). During Purabi Bose’s field trip some of these challenges observed which in turn could be the focus of future research in the region included: (i) the need to explore gender relations with regards to tenure rights to land in the tropical forest areas of Cochabamba, and (ii) in the Lake Titicaca region, the need to understand how the small-farm indigenous women who are the managers of indigenous crops (local varieties of potatoes and cañahua) and key actors in the value-chain, face the challenges of changing institutional governance.
• The Rights and Resources Initiatives (RRI), United States and NITLAPAN, Nicaragua: There is a plan to strengthen our (CRP-FTA Gender at CIAT) regional collaboration on various issues related to capacity building and policy advocacy on integrating gender in forests in Latin America.
• Africa Study Center, the Netherlands: A joint collaborative research on dryland forests is in development and an immediate outcome will be an edited book, Dry land forests: Gender and management in Africa and Asia. Purabi Bose and Han van Dijk, editors, have formalized the procedure by accepting the publisher’s contract for book publication.

World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

ICRAF monitoring and evaluation framework for gender-mainstreaming process
By Ana Maria Paez Valencia, ICRAF

In contribution to achieve gender-related Intermediate Development Outcome (IDO), ICRAF is currently developing a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for our gender mainstreaming process. We are aiming at developing a set of indicators to assess gender integration in our organizational processes, outputs and outcomes. In preparation of a baseline for the M&E framework, the Centre has recently conducted a staff survey on gender awareness and capacity development needs, and is currently promoting a gender stocktaking exercise.

Compilation and publication of gender research methods
A compilation of 15 research methods used to analyze gender differences by ICRAF scientists will soon be published in a book edited by Delia Catacutan entitled, ‘IN EQUAL MEASURE: A user guide for gender analysis in agroforestry’.

Esther Mwangi
Program coordinator

Center for International Forestry Research
Jl. CIFOR, Situ Gede, Sindang Barang
Bogor Barat 16115
Indonesia
Email: e.mwangi@cgiar.org

Bimbika Sijapati Basnett
Gender resource persons

Center for International Forestry Research
Jl. CIFOR, Situ Gede, Sindang Barang
Bogor Barat, 16115
Indonesia
Email: b.basnett@cgiar.org

Marlène Elias

Bioversity International
PO Box 236
UPM Post Office, Serdang
43400 Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia
Email: marlene.elias@cgiar.org

Purabi Bose

International Center for Tropical Agriculture
A.A. 6713, Cali, 4450032
Colombia
Email: p.bose@cgiar.org

Delia Catacutan

World Agroforestry Centre
No.8 Lot 13A, Trung Hoa road, Cau Giay District, Hanoi
Vietnam
Email: d.c.catacutan@cgiar.org