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Empowering women in agricultural markets through collective action. Tarekegn Garomsa and Dr. Berhanu Denu, 18 th September 2012. Introduction to WCA Research in Ethiopia.
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Empowering women in agricultural markets through collective action Tarekegn Garomsa and Dr. Berhanu Denu, 18th September 2012
Introduction to WCA Research in Ethiopia • Collective Action, a powerful means for smallholder farmers in markets. Increasing awareness of women’s important contribution in agriculture. • Jimma: Maize, Coffee, Spices; West Gojam: Vegetables, Dairy, Honey; In-depth analysis of the honey sub-sector Amhara National Regional State (Mecha and Dangila woredas). • Case studies -‘Effective collective action’ helping women smallholders to access markets. • The research studied: Formal and Informal groups • Single sex and Mixed groups • A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods were used.
The Research Questions To what extent and under what conditions does women smallholders’ engagement in market-focused collective action lead to gender equitable outcomes ? • Who benefits? • What are the benefits? • How does collective action overcome constraints? • Which development actor strategies are most effective?
Methodology: How we did it • Qualitative Research Methodology • A combination of field methods and documentary sources: • Review of documentary sources/ records. • Key informant interviews with market actors, government officials, and other development actors. • Focus-group discussions with members of both women-only and mixed groups used participatory exercises, e.g. Timeline analysis and Venn diagrams. • Individual semi-structured interviews – Life Stories. • Market, household and farm visits. • Pilot study of 12 days.
Methodology: How we did it • Quantitative Research Methodology • Propensity Score Matching (PSM) used to compare WCA members (treatment group) with non-members (control group). • Compares like women to like women to minimize potential bias. • Women were grouped in 5 development domains based on ecological zone, market access and population density. • We interviewed 920 women: 332 WCA-members and 588 non-members.
A. Collective Action in Agricultural Markets benefits women and delivers wider Economic and Social Benefits • ETHIOPIA: • Economic benefits for women Ethiopian WCA members included a higher quality product, higher volumes, and higher prices(6.26 birr/US$0.35 more than non-members for honey). • MALI & TANZANIA – • Also improved and diversified production, improved product quality, higher volumes, securing better prices. • Tanzania : 50% increase income from marketing. • Mali: Women involved in marketing through various channels; diversification of income-generating activities – resilience.
A (2) Collective Action in Agricultural Markets benefits women and delivers wider Economic and Social Benefits • ETHIOPIA: • Wider Economic/Social Benefitsin the Ethiopian groups: • More mobility, voice, visibility and leadership skills. • Increased decision-making power at household level. • Using time more efficiently, managing money, culture of savings. • Solidarity, social insurance in times of hardship. • MALI & TANZANIA : • Across all countries, women members were found to have improved status, increased community participation and leadership. • In Mali, women cooperative members reported being invited to consultations on community development, they advise each other on household management and have a strategic vision of their own development.
B. Women’s collective action in agriculture is helping to change Unequal Relations between women and men • ETHIOPIA: • Relations in Households/Communities • ‘No longer confined to the kitchens’. • Women actively decide household matters jointly with their husbands. • More ‘legitimate for women to have a space in value chains’. • “Without a woman’s hand in it, success in beekeeping is like a dream of having a milking cow in the sky”. • MALI & TANZANIA – • Also in Tanzania, a sense that women have new roles in agricultural markets. • Yet – restrictions by husbands still limit women’s benefits and leadership.
C. Governments, Donors and NGOs’ Interventions help CA deliver benefits for women where they… • ETHIOPIA: Successful NGO Interventions have included: • Setting up women-only spaces within mixed organisations (SHGs). • Rotational leadership within these groups has allowed (marginalised) women to develop confidence and exercise leadership. • Quotas of women at membership and leadership level. • Technological changes – e.g. the promotion of modern beehives. • Mechanisms to prioritise the most vulnerable women – poorer women and female-headed households. • However, interventions tended to focus on production and finance rather than marketing. • MALI – • Long-term external support: Training in governance, group management • Support on national marketing, networking, market information
C. (2)Governments, Donors & NGOs’ Interventions help CA deliver benefits for women where they… • Successful interventions: • Provide a package of services, including technology, finance, organisational management, market information and literacy. • Recognise a range of formal and informal groups, address multiple dimensions of women’s empowerment • Introduce rotational leadership • Intentionally work with men (husbands), involved in promoting WCA • Address gender dynamics in groups, including creating women-only spaces within mixed groups • Support collective marketing, not just production and finance. • Explicitly promote good governance so women’s equitable benefits are secured.
D. Not all women are Benefitting from market-focused collective action • ETHIOPIA: • WCA members were younger than non-members (34 vs. 37 years). • Poorer economic status with smaller plots of land and fewer cattle. • Mostly single women and female-headed households. • MALI & TANZANIA – • Women involved in CA tended to be older, married women with fewer household responsibilities and a higher status. • Overall: Few women reached by interventions on collective marketing, mostly production & finance.
E. ‘Positive exceptions’ that address additional Barriers facing women smallholders • Collective action overcomes common barriers to markets • Barriers specific to women may remain: mobility and time constraints, illiteracy, land & limitations imposed by husbands • ‘Positive exceptions’ - innovative interventions – can address these issues and reach new market niches. • Ethiopia: consultation process with men/husbands to discuss benefits for women in CA, and raise the acceptability of women’s increased participation in CA; dual household membership • Tanzania: informal collective action to hire vehicle for trading.
Conclusions Implications of findings • For women’s collective action to maximise benefits, innovative interventions can support the following: • Recognition and support of informal groups and SHGs, providing assistance to informal as well as to formal groups. • Strategies to engage women in marketing, as well as improving production. • Mechanisms that facilitate women to have fees or assets to become a group member – especially access and control over land. • Interventions to address illiteracy, and to provide a wider range of services. • Labour-saving technology and infrastructure to address time poverty, especially to facilitate participation of married women.
Questions? For more information, visit us at: www.womenscollectiveaction.com