gender relations and innovation îfrom below ï in cocoa and...
TRANSCRIPT
Katarzyna Jaskiewicz and Anna Laven WOTRO Inclusive Value Chain Collaboration
M a y 2 0 1 6
Gender relations and innovation from below in
cocoa and oil palm growing communities in Ghana
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has been conducted as a part of the Inclusive Value Chain
Collaboration project (WOTRO Science for Global Development) and funded by
Lindt Cocoa Foundation. Our appreciation goes to the University of Energy and
Natural Resources (UENR) in Ghana, especially Dr. Mercy Derkyi, Martha Ataa-
Asantewaa and Professor Daniel Obeng-Ofori. It would not have been possible
without the help of Evelyn Affreh, Emmanuel Jesse Sarbeng and Samuel Asiedu
the invaluable research assistants. Thanks also goes to the Armajaro Ghana
Limited (AGL) team based in Tepa. Last but not least, we would like to give credit
to all the women farmers that shared their time and stories with us.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... II
ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................. IV
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS ............................................................................................. 1 WOTRO INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAIN COLLABORATION PROJECT ............................................................ 2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................. 3 RESEARCH OUTPUTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................ 3
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 4
RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCESS ......................................................................................................... 4 RESEARCH LOCATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 5 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 7
ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK .........................................................................................................10
GENDER ANALYSIS IN AGRICULTURE ..................................................................................................10 GENDER AND INNOVATION IN AFRICA ...............................................................................................11 BACKGROUND ON GENDER ISSUES AND POLICIES IN GHANA............................................................13
FINDINGS ...........................................................................................................................................15
GENDER RELATIONS IN COCOA AND OIL PALM GROWING COMMUNITIES ........................................15 WOMEN S INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES.....................................................................................26 INVENTORY OF INNOVATIONS .............................................................................................................32
DISCUSSION AND REFLECTIONS................................................................................................41
GENDER RELATIONS AND INNOVATION..............................................................................................41 GENDER IN INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAIN COLLABORATION ..................................................................44
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...............................................................................45
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................48
ANNEX 1 PRODUCTION STEPS IN DIFFERENT INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES 50
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ABBREVIATIONS
CAP Community Action Plan
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
CPO Crude Palm Oil
FFB Fresh Fruit Bunches
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
LBC Local Buying Company
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
MoFA Ministry of Food and Agriculture
MOGCSP Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection
MOWAC Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs
PC Purchasing Clerk
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
VC Value chain
VCC Value chain collaboration
VSLA Village Savings and Loan Association
1
INTRODUCTION
In Ghana women are the most important actors in the food chain beginning with
farm production, marketing and intra-household distribution of food. They
constitute 52% of agricultural labour force and play a key role in post-harvesting
activities, storage, transportation, processing and marketing (FAO, 2012). Due to
male outmigration from rural communities women are also becoming
increasingly visible in tasks which were traditionally considered men s task such as land preparation and cultivation of cash crops like cocoa and oil palm. Hence,
nowadays women are not only responsible for food security, but also
increasingly so for household economics.
Even so, women are often ignored in top-down services and knowledge transfer
that does not seem to reach women and men equally and overlooks specific
challenges women face. They have much more limited access to and control over
resources than men and are often restricted in their decision making. At present,
in Ghana the poor quality of women s land and women s land tenure insecurity coupled with shortage of labour, capital or credit to buy inputs are their major
constraints.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS
This research aims at understanding the position of woman in cocoa and/or oil
palm growing communities involved in different agricultural and non-
agricultural income generating activities in Ghana and identifying innovations
embraced by women in these activities. In most rural communities in Ghana
women tend to combine farming with a wide variety of agricultural processing
activities for both household consumption and the market (FAO, 2003).
Therefore, departing from livelihood diversification perspective this study focuses on examining how gender relations shape innovations from below by
female farmers. Livelihood diversification refers to the process in which rural
households construct a diverse portfolio of activities and social support
capabilities in order to improve their lives (Ellis, 1998).
Due to the scope of the research project, two crops; cocoa and oil palm served as
our starting point, however through our subsequent data gathering in the field
the focus was considerably broader including the following areas (see Figure 1).
2
Figure 1. Research scope.
We constructed the areas by clustering together income generating activities in
which most women were involved in at the four field work sites we visited.
Ultimately, this study seeks out innovations adopted by women within particular
income generating activities that help them overcome their constraints, in order
to understand the dynamics of innovation from below and learning embedded
in gender relations. Subsequent findings inform a discussion on the potential of innovation from below to transform gender relations. Hence, the central
research question reads as follows:
WOTRO INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAIN COLLABORATION PROJECT
The aim of the Inclusive Value Chain Collaboration (VCC) project is it to examine
how VCC involving smallholder tree-crop farmers in Ghana (cocoa and oil palm)
and South Africa (macadamia nuts and avocado) can be made more equitable and inclusive of the farmer s wants, needs and capabilities. Depending on the
context we understand inclusive VCC as collaborations having potential to
transform existing power dynamics. Gender relations are at core of
understanding the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion.
Knowledge generated in this project contributes to achieving more fair terms of
engagement in VCCs for the farmers and ultimately greater autonomy over food
production and marketing. The nature of the project is action research oriented
How do gender relations shape innovation from below in cocoa and oil
palm growing communities in Ghana and what is the potential of
innovation from below to transform gender relations?
1. Farming (cocoa, oil palm & food crops)
2. Value adding in cocoa and oil palm VCs (eg: oil processing)
3. Secondary VCs (eg: soap making)
4. Other income generating activities (eg: trade)
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meaning enabling and stimulating arenas for joint learning and knowledge
creation bringing multiple stakeholders together. This study fills in a particular
research gap in the project, namely understanding gender relations in cocoa and
oil palm growing communities. Secondly, it lays ground for peer learning and
sharing of knowledge coming from the field level on the subject of bottom-up
innovation.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Both the scope and the length of the research put limitations to the extent to
which the findings are representative for the whole of Ghana and to which the
findings are evidence based. The field work period included four days per four
different field work sites (communities) located in two different regions in
Ghana: Ahafo Ano North District in the Ashanti Region and Kwaebibirem District
in the Eastern Region. The results are only representative of those four
communities. Due to limited time in the communities in some cases not enough
data could be collected on a particular subject. Since the research scope is very
broad the full understanding of certain issues might not be complete. Therefore
the relevance of innovations observed should be verified further in the project
timeline.
RESEARCH OUTPUTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY
Outputs of this research include three pieces of work. First comprises of the
following report. In addition to the introduction this report includes five
chapters: research design and methodology (chapter 2), analytical framework
and background on gender relations in Ghana (chapter 3), findings (chapter 4),
discussion and reflections (chapter 5) and conclusion and recommendations
(chapter 6). The second output consists of an inventory of innovations in a form
of a digital presentation that serves as a basis for sharing the findings with
farmers and other relevant stakeholders. The presentation is complementary to
this report. The third output is a policy brief in a form of an information sheet 1.
1 All the outputs can be found on the project website: https://inclusivevcc.wordpress.com
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RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCESS
In order to understand the position of women in the cocoa and oil palm growing
communities this research adopts a bottom-up approach following several steps
outlined in this section. Findings from each phase informed the next one, based
on data gathered through qualitative interviews with farmers, focus group
discussions and key informant interviews with both women and men in four
communities in two research areas.
This study follows a comparative approach examining two communities in the
Ashanti Region, which is primarily a cocoa growing area and two communities in
the Eastern Region where both cocoa and oil palm is present. It is important to
bear in mind that differences between men and women exists, but also between
different types of women and households.
Research design, as summarized in Figure 3 follows four steps making it a
multiphase research design (Creswell, 2007).
Figure 3. Research design.
The first research step included understanding gender relations in Ghana and particularly how they influence women s involvement in the agricultural and non-agricultural income generating activities. The second step involved
examining what are the main income generating activities that women are
engaged in and why, based on the findings from the gender relations framework. Then, the pains and gains of women were recognized in the activities they
1 • Understanding gender relations
2 • Recognizing women's 'pains and gains'
3 • Identifying innovations 'from below'
4
• Determining the potential for transformation and sharing
5
undertake. The concept of pains and gains is borrowed from the value
proposition canvas see Figure 4 . We see the women s pains and gains as a potential triggers for innovation based on the bottom of the pyramid thinking
(BOP). Prahald (2011) suggests that external constrains can be utilized to build
innovation. The third step was identifying innovations in different income
generating activities that came from below as a response to a particular pain or gain . We looked back to see if there is anything that women are already doing
differently to overcome their constraints. This led us to understating innovations
created and adopted by them. These included innovations in terms of product,
process, market and organization (OECD, 2005). Our aim was to grasp how the innovations appear knowledge transfer , how they change women s position and identify who are the change makers.
Figure 4. Value proposition canvas (adapted from https://strategyzer.com )
The last step involved analysing the potential of the innovations for transforming
gender relations and assessing possibilities for sharing and scaling up. This
process was repeated four times in four different communities being adapted
and improved each time.
RESEARCH LOCATIONS
The study focuses on one of the two countries in which WOTRO Inclusive Value
Chain Collaboration project is present. In Ghana up until now the project is active
in three districts (Kwaebibirem, Akyemansa and Ahafo Ano North) in two
regions (Eastern Region and Ashanti Region). In each of the three districts six
communities were selected to be involved in the research project.
This study, focused on two communities in Kwaebibirem District (Darmang and
Pramkese) and two communities in Ahafo Ano North District (Tanokrom and
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Mfanibu). This allowed us to make a comparison between sites where oil palm
was the dominant crop (Darmang and Pramkese) and where cocoa was the
primary crop (Tanokrom and Mfanibu). In Kwaebibirem District due to the
presence of Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) and international and national oil
palm companies (GOPDC, Obooma, Seredipalm) the majority of farmers are
cultivating oil palm, with many of them also involved in local oil palm processing.
The major commercial crop in the Ahafo Ano North District is cocoa and most of
the household grow food crops for market and household consumption. The four
selected communities differ in population size with the biggest being Pramkese,
followed by Mfanibu, Tanokrom and Darmang.
Districts
Kwaebibirem Ahafo Ano North
Population (M, F) 113 721 (49%, 51%) 94 285 (51%, 49%)
Rural population 57% 81%
Average household size 4.1 (45% children) 4.4 (45% children)
Females married by the age
25-29
60% 62%
Males married by the age
25-29
40% 39%
Widows at the age of 65 and
above
55% 50%
Widowers at the age of 65
and above
11% 8%
Households engaging in
agriculture
71% 74%
Table 1. Population census (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014)
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Figure 4. Map of research locations (maps.google.com)
LEGEND
Kwaebibirem District in the Eastern Region (capital: Kade)
Ahafo Ano North District in the Ashanti Region (capital: Tepa)
METHODOLOGY
This research relies on qualitative methodology. The strengths of qualitative
methods lay in a holistic approach allowing for understanding of social reality
from the way it is experienced and expressed by the people themselves, as
opposed to being guided by predefined categories and analytical instruments.
SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION
Sampling in qualitative research does not aim at representing total population,
but needs to capture a specific phenomenon under study, therefore it is a social
process. We chose only two locations in each district in order to ensure that the
researchers had as much time as possible for data collection and engaging with
respondents, as opposed to traveling. Therefore, we spent four days in each
location, which allowed us to speak with some respondents multiple times in
order to verify findings and involve them in the research project. This was
particularly the case, when we identified women that were change makers and
tried to understand the processes of how innovation takes place.
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Figure 5. Data collection procedure.
In each location we followed a daily schedule to establish our presence in the
community. On day 1 we started with introductions in the community, key
informant interviews with important figures in the villages (district assembly
officials, chiefs, cocoa purchasing clerks) followed by two focus group
discussions (one with men and one with women). On day 2 and 3 we followed up
with individual interviews with women involved in different income generating
activities that we identified on day 1. Additionally, we conducted participatory
observations of many of the activities we studied. On day 4 we aimed at
understanding different coping mechanisms we found in order to verify if they
could be classified as potential innovations. This was done by conducting
individual interviews and in some cases focus group discussions. Moreover, we
conducted participatory observations during market days in Tepa and Kade, due
to the fact that many respondents were involved in trade on those days and
travelled to the district capitals.
The data collection was a reflexive process where we tried to process data at the
end of each day in order to make informed decisions the following day. In total
we spent 25 days in the field. Data was gathered with the help of two local
research assistants acting as translators, in the first research site (Darmang) we
had the help of an additional research assistant hence the differences in sample
size (see Table 2).
DATA ANALYSIS
In this study data analysis focuses on identifying dimensions of social
phenomena (gender relations and innovation) and understanding how they
related to each other. The analysis follows an inductive approach meaning that
the dimensions are not predefined, but instead emerge from the data. The
gender relations framework serves as a guide to assists the researcher in
addressing the questions to the data set. Qualitative analysis follows three steps:
data reduction, data display and verifying conclusions (Miles and Huberman,
Da
y 1
Key informant interviews
Focus group discussions
D
ay
2
Individual interviews
Observations
Da
y 3
Individual interviews
Observations
Da
y 4
Individual interviews
Focus group discussions
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1994). In this study data reduction is done in order to focus, simplify and
abstract the data gathered in field notes. Data display is done through
structuring the findings in a form of text, tables and figures. Then, those two
steps allow for verifying conclusions by identifying possible regularities,
patterns and propositions through open coding.
Table 2. Overview of complete data set in four sites.
As presented in Table 2 our respondents mainly consisted of female farmers.
Most of the women and men we spoke to were between 40 and 50 years old and
thus were the household heads. Interestingly, in all four communities we spoke
to many women who were the head of the house mostly due to the death of their
husbands or divorce. On average they had between 4 and 6 children. In addition,
in Kwaebibirem District the respondents origin was mainly native, while in the
Ahafo Ano North District most of them were migrants from other areas. In both
districts farmers indicated that they were growing food crops (cassava, plantain,
maize, rice, yam and vegetables) additionally to cash crops as well as having
alternative income generating activities. This was more prevalent in the case of
women. On average men had larger plots than women in all of the communities
we visited. This was true for both oil palm farms as well as cocoa farms.
2 For further reference: Darmang FDGs number: 1(F) & 2(M), Pramkese FDGs number: 3(F) &
4(M), Tanokrom FDGs number: 5(F) & 6(M), Mfanibu FDGs number: 7(F), 8(M), 9(F), 10(F) &
11(F).
Data type Darmang Pramkese Tanokrom Mfanibu Total
FGDs (no.)2 2 2 2 5 11
Total no. of
FGD
participants
15 women
8 men
8 women
12 men
7 women
7 men
22 women
7 men
52 women
34 men
Key informant
interviews
1 man 2 men 2 men
1 woman
1 man 6 men
1 woman
Individual
interviews
26 women
2 men
15 women 14 women 5 women 60 women
2 men
Total respondents 41 women
11 men
23 women
14 men
22 women
9 men
27 women
8 men
113 women
42 men
52 37 31 35 155
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ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter provides a justification of the gender analysis framework (van
Eerdewijk & Danielsen, 2015) and its value in conducting agricultural research.
It has served as an analytical lens for this research throughout the whole
process. The next section focuses on conceptualizing innovation and linking it
with gender relation in the African context. The last section gives general
background information about gender in the Ghanaian agricultural context based
on a literature review. Additionally, a brief overview of gender policies in Ghana
is presented. In Chapter 4 gender relations are looked at in the specific context of
cocoa and oil palm value chain.
GENDER ANALYSIS IN AGRICULTURE
Gender relations affect what women and men do, what they have access to and
what decisions they make. They are dynamic and subject to constant change due
to planned interventions, policy changes, changing behaviours and other
influences. Further, gender relations are constantly produced and reproduced
through norms and values in different institutional spaces at different levels such
as household, community, national and global (van Eerdewijk & Danielsen,
2015).
There is a vast body of research on gender issues in agriculture and at the same
time a reoccurring critique that gender issues remain ignored and
misunderstood in mainstream agricultural research, policy and practice (van
Eerdewijk & Danielsen, 2015). Literature suggests that women often have lower
yields than men in agriculture, but these patterns are not universal
(Croppenstedt et al. 2013). However, these yield differences tend to disappear
when women and men have the same access to productive resources, suggesting
that in terms of economic efficiency women and men do not differ. Therefore, the
evidence implies that women are facing more constraints in terms of access to
productive resources such as land, inputs, labour, financial credit that would
allow them to have yields equal to men (Croppenstedt et al. 2013). Importantly,
the gap between men and women does not automatically close with national
economic growth or increase in household income. This suggests that there are
more aspects to be taken into consideration when addressing gender equality in
agriculture.
Interestingly, Vigneri and Holmes (2009) find in the context of the cocoa sector in Ghana that there are no significant differences between women s and men s yields despite women s lower level of input use. They argue that if women were to use the same level of fertilizer and insecticide as men, their land productivity
could increase further. Their findings confirm that women have the potential to
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be better farm managers in the cultivation of the export cash crops, suggesting
that female farmers use hired labour and land more efficiently than men (Vigneri
and Holmes, 2009).
In this study we chose to use the gender relations framework (van Eerdewijk &
Danielsen, 2015) as analytical tool in order to understand the complex relations
women and men are embedded in, and how those influences innovation from below and knowledge transfer at individual, household and community levels.
This framework looks at four different dimensions of gender relations and the
interplay between them (summarized in Figure 3):
1. Roles men and women play in agricultural production
2. Access and control over resources men and women have (in both
commercial and food production)
3. Norms, values and institutions, and how these structures shape what
people are supposed to do, their access to resources and how decisions
are made in relation to agricultural production
4. Intra-household decision-making
Figure 2. Gender relations framework (adapted from van Eerdewijk & Danielsen, 2015).
GENDER AND INNOVATION IN AFRICA
A vast body of gender research focuses on innovation in terms of improved technologies that for instance increase the productivity of women s labour and how they benefit women and improve their well-being (Doss, 2001). Various
studies address the adoption rates of new technologies by female farmers and
why they differ between men and women. It seems that often women do not
adopt technologies because they face different constraints than men and may
Division of labour Norms, values and
institutions
Control over/access to resources
Intra-household dynamics
Innovation
'from below'
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have different preferences than men. However, the simple dichotomies of women s crops and men s crops, cash crops and food crops or male and female headed households do not provide adequate understanding (Doss, 2001).
Gender relations are dynamic and respond to changing economic circumstances.
Women contribute significantly to cocoa production in Ghana. In oil palm
growing communities, women tend to be involved largely in value adding
activities in the value chain. Additionally, they are active in secondary value
chains such as soap making from the cocoa husks or palm oil. In oil palm women
constitute 80% of the labour force in the local processing mills often being
exposed to negative effects of the process in terms of health and safety. Recently,
the strategy of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has focused on
supporting local value adding activities in the value chain and hence capturing
more value nationally in Ghana. However, specific needs of women are
repeatedly overlooked. On one hand there is hardly any service provision for
local processing of oil palm in Ghana, while on the other hand it is not
discouraged due to the income it generates for women. In case of cocoa, only
20% to 25% of the participants of training programs are women. Moreover,
extension services designed to target women focus mostly on nutrition and
health related aspects (FAO, 2003).
Despite the need for more participatory approaches to agricultural research and
development, the technology transfer model still dominates in most African
countries (Reij & Waters-Bayer, 2014). It implies a top-down structure where
scientists generate new improved technologies which are then transferred by
extension agents to the farmers. The problems with this model are widely
acknowledged such as; being too expensive, standardized and reaching only the so called low hanging fruit . This means that it benefits only the farmers who are
easily reachable and in this case resulting in a male bias.
This research takes a different definition of innovation and seeks understanding
of the bottom-up processes. We conceptualize innovation as a complex process,
based on interactive network learning and process of trial and error (Reij &
Waters-Bayer, 2014). This study looks at innovations from below embedded in
local gender dynamics and aims at understanding how they can be capitalized
on, to design more inclusive service delivery models. This bottom-up approach recognizes the farmer s capacity to innovate and provides an alternative to the
conventional transfer of technology model.
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BACKGROUND ON GENDER ISSUES AND POLICIES IN GHANA
Ghanaian women are considered to have a greater degree of economic and
personal autonomy than women in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (Vigneri
and Holmes, 2009). Ghana scores relatively well in the Gender and Equity Index
in terms of education and economic activity, but less so in terms of
empowerment defined as percentage of women in decision making-positions
(Vigneri and Holmes, 2009). Baden et al. (1994) suggest that particularly in rural
areas women are constrained in terms of ownership of assets, lack of upward
mobility and unequal decision making power and control over resources within
the household. These gender equalities limit agricultural productivity and
efficiency as evidence from all around the world suggests (World Bank, 2008).
In Ghana the majority of women in agriculture are food producers and their
labour participation in agriculture is very high with over 90% of women being
self-employed or work as unpaid labour (FAO, 2003). With regional differences
around 30% of cocoa farmers are women, 70% of food crops growers are
women, 80% of labour force in oil palm processing are women (Vigneri and
Holmes, 2009; Ofosu-Budu and Sarpong, 2013). Patterns of division of labour on
the farm exists strongly between female tasks (requiring skill and patience) and
male tasks (requiring strength and endurance). Women are more engaged in
tasks such as planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, transportation of farm
produce, agro-processing and marketing of small amounts of farm produce. Men
are involved in the initial land clearing and marketing of large amounts of farm
produce (ADF, 2008). (ousehold responsibilities are entirely women s domain and often go unrecognized (Baden et al., 1994).
Women have much more limited access to resources, especially in terms of
education, land, agricultural extension, access to credit and inputs. Modes of land
ownership differ between regions. Husbands remain the most common source of
land to women farmers. However, women manage to combine work on their
husbands farm with their own separate farms (often sharecropping
arrangements), their marital obligation reduces the amount of time they can
spend on their own farm. The security of land tenure for women using husband s land ends upon divorce or death of the spouse (Duncan, 1997). Interestingly
differences in access rights to land exist, not only on the basis of gender, but also
between different types of women such as widows with children, widows
without children, daughters, stepdaughters and adopted daughters, women in
consensual relationships and women with physical disabilities (FAO, 2003).
In Ghana men hold leadership positions and since independence women have
been under-represented at all levels of the government (FAO, 2012). Cultural
and administrative issues affect access to agricultural extension services by
14
women and their ability to participate as extension service agents (Duncan,
1997). According to the customary law within the Ghanaian households the
husband is obliged to maintain his wives and children. In return they have to
assist him in his profession and in wealth accumulation, however that does not
grant them property rights over matrimonial possession (e.g. farm land) (ADF,
2008).
)n both private and public spheres, women s decision making power in Ghana is constrained since women are effectively under the authority of men (FAO, 2012).
Within a household income streams and other sources of livelihood tend to be
highly segregated by gender. Pooling of resources and joint decision making
between men and women in the household is not the norm (Kiewisch, 2015).
Conventional divisions of responsibility for household expenditure remain,
however are subject to economic pressures (Kiewisch, 2015). Women are
responsible for intra-household distribution of food and therefore are key in
ensuring food security. Women are making disproportionate contributions to the
household welfare in terms of childcare, cooking, washing, fuel wood and water
collection. When all non-market work is accounted for women work on average
substantially longer hours than men (Baden et al., 1994).
In August 2015 the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP)
launched National Gender Policy themed Mainstreaming Gender Equality and
Women s Empowerment into Ghana s Development Efforts. It focuses on five areas
of commitment: (1) Women Empowerment and Livelihoods, (2) Women Rights
and Access to Justice, (3) Women Leadership and Accountable Governance, (4)
Economic Opportunities for Women, (5) Gender Roles and Relations (National
Gender Policy, 2015). The policy sets out a framework for implementation and
monitoring and evaluation. Prior to that the National Gender and Children Policy
ratified in 2004 set out strategies for the improvement of living standards of
women and children. It was the first national gender policy in Ghana developed
by the ministry then known as the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
(MOWAC). Additionally, article 17 (clauses 1 and 2) of the 1992 Constitution of
Ghana guarantees gender equality and freedom for women and men, girls and
boys from discrimination on the basis of social or economic status among others.
Ghana has committed to meeting targets set out by international protocols such
as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (ratified
1986), the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995 and the
protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of
Women in Africa (ratified 2007).
15
FINDINGS
This chapter is divided into three sections presenting findings from the data. The
first section discusses dimensions from the gender relations framework and how
they relate to each other. The second section focuses on the income generating
activities women are involved in cocoa and oil palm growing communities and the pains and gains embedded in them. The third section presents an inventory
of innovations found in those activities.
GENDER RELATIONS IN COCOA AND OIL PALM GROWING COMMUNITIES
In this section the four dimensions from the gender relations framework serve as
analytical dimensions for presenting the findings. We start with looking at the
division of labour on the cocoa farm, oil palm farm and processing mill, in food
crops cultivation and within the household (see Table 3). Secondly, access to and
control over resources is discussed in relation to farming in general. Then, we
examine intra-household dynamics by looking at the decisions regarding
agricultural production. Lastly, norms and values emerging from the findings are
presented.
DIVISION OF LABOUR
The division of labour on a farm seems straightforward at a first glance. Men are
responsible for activities requiring a lot of physical strength such as initial land
preparation, pruning and transport of heavy loads. In terms of transport of
smaller weights, it is women who carry them on their heads. This holds true for
both cocoa and oil palm farming. Women are often engaged in all the other
activities on the farm and assist the husband in his work. This is represented by
the quote: Women are not naturally strong but men are. That is why men do most
of the difficult tasks on farms, while the women are involved in tasks that require
less effort. That why they mostly assist the men rather than the men assisting the
women. (FGD 4, male respondent).
When it comes to planting it is the men who dig the holes and the women put the
seeds or seedlings in the ground. In terms of weeding it is often women s job to establish weeding circles, but when the weeds are high men help. Women are the
ones who fetch the water to the farm for application of insecticides and
fertilizers. However, it is usually men who apply the chemicals. In terms of
harvesting on a cocoa farm men cut the pods from the trees and women carry
them and pile them together. Fermentation of the beans is mostly the man s job;
women assist in scooping the beans out of the pods, while men pile them up and
cover with leaves. Drying of the cocoa beans is done in the proximity of the
household and not on the farm. Hence, when men leave to work on the farm
16
women are responsible for it. Lastly, it is the men who sell the beans to the
Purchasing Clerks (PCs).
On an oil palm farm it is men who harvest the fruit bunches due to the height of
the trees and women pick up the loose fruits that fall from the trees.
Interestingly, women can keep the loose fruits and sell them, the income from
those is theirs. Men on the other hand are the ones who sell the fruit bunches.
When women are involved in oil palm processing their husbands often sell the
fruit bunches to them at a market price and women process the oil.
Processing palm oil and trade is women s domain, because it is regarded as being
somewhat similar to food production. Hence, in the Kramer3 we found a vast
majority of women processors and labourers. Men labourers are hired only for
two tasks: the initial cutting of fruit bunches into smaller segments and
operating the oil extracting machinery. The labourers cutting the fruit bunches
are hired directly by processors and paid per tonne of bunches cut, while the
machine operators are hired by the mill owner and paid a daily wage.
Growing food crops for both the market and subsistence is also the responsibility
of women. Cultivation of food crops is regarded as the women s business area. However, when the crops are grown for household use men also help the
women. As presented in Table 3, men are involved in land preparation and they
assist in planting and weeding. Women are responsible for pruning, harvesting,
transport, trade and food processing.
It has to be noted that men go to the farm more often than women do. Women
frequently stay behind in the house and engage in other activities such as trade.
As this quote illustrates: Women wake up early to take care of the children,
prepare them for school, prepare the food, then go and do their trade in the shop
and afterwards go home and cook. (FGD 3, female respondent). This was
confirmed in another focus group discussion: Men have a lot of time for farming
as compared to women because women are involved in a lot of activities in the
house. Pregnancy can also take them away from work. (FDG 6, male respondent).
In the household it is them who do all the chores such as cleaning, washing,
cooking, fetching water and firewood. Child care especially is seen as the
mothers responsibility, because: Men have no patience and don t know how to
3 Widely used local name for a small-scale local palm oil processing site. Named after a Belgian
engineer who first set up a small-scale mill in the Kwaebibirem District in 1982 (Osei-Amponsah
et al., 2012).
17
take care of the children. (FDG 5, female respondent) and Men do not have time
to take care of the children. (FDG 8, male respondent).
Gardening is also women s job apart from the initial land establishment. When it
comes to house chores they are assisted by their daughters and other female
members of the household. Some indicated that young boys help in fetching
firewood. It is also women who cook for their husbands who work on the farm
and bring them food. Many female respondents mentioned that the most labour
intensive task is to come back from the farm at the end of the day and have to do
house chores. They almost never get help from their husbands. As one of the
respondents indicated: When we come back from the farm together the man will
relax and I will be cooking. (FGD 3, female respondent). Many women also noted
that their work load is high, because they take over part of the responsibilities of
the men on the farm next to other income generating activities and household
work.
Interestingly, we found that in the community women and men also play
distinctive roles. In the villages during communal labour, women are responsible
for sweeping the grounds, weeding around refuge dumps and houses, fetching water to make bricks and washing boreholes. Men s tasks include constructing
school buildings and building toilets. Women are also traditionally responsible
for settling conflicts and disputes between community members.
18
Table 3. Overview of labour division on farm, Kramer and household.
4 Those are the steps in a mechanized oil extraction process. In the manual extraction process oil is extracted using a manual press and hence more steps are added
(men are operators of the manual press). 5 Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is the end product of the extraction process. 6 Zomi is high quality oil used only for household consumption. It is prepared by additional boiling of CPO, adding water and continuous stirring (recipes vary
among the processors). Its more expensive than CPO and is characterized by thickness, darker color, nice smell and taste.
On a cocoa
farm
On an oil palm
farm
In a Kramer 4 Food crops
cultivation
In the
household
Land preparation
Land preparation
Cutting fruit bunches into smaller
segments
Land preparation
Gardening
Planting
Planting
Separating individual fruits from
bunches and removing their husks
Planting
Washing
Weeding
Weeding
Loading tanks with fruits and
water to boil and then boiling
Weeding
Childcare
Pruning
Pruning
Loading the machine for oil
extraction with boiled fruits
Pruning
Cooking
Harvesting
Harvesting fruit
bunches
Operating the machine
Harvesting
Fetching
firewood
Breaking cocoa pods
Picking and selling
Loose fruits
Collecting the oil
Transport
Fetching water
Fermentation of
beans
Transport from
farm
Boiling of oil
To make cpo5 or zomi6
Trade of food
surplus
Cleaning
Transport from
farm
Selling fruit
bunches
Putting oil into containers to sell
Food processing
Drying of beans
Oil processing
Separating kernels from fibre
Selling beans
Trade of oil
19
ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OVER RESOURCES
There seems to be differences in access to resources depending on the choice of
crops grown. In Ghana, both the political and the economical interest in cocoa is
high. The heavy involvement of the state in the cocoa sector leads to an
orientation towards reaching out to the mass of cocoa farmers. However, the role
of private sector is also significant. In the cocoa growing areas which we visited
in the Ahafo Ano North District respondents seem to agree that cocoa is their
preferred crop due to many reasons. They indicated that: cocoa is a property ,
cocoa is a long term investment in the future of the children , cocoa can be
carried from one generation to the next one and cocoa brings more profit than
other crops (FGD 10, female respondent). In the research area there is a strong
presence of national and international Local Buying Companies (such as
Amajaro, Olam, PBC) engaged in various certification schemes and community
development projects carrying them out for international buyers such as Lindt &
Sprugli or Nestle.
In the Kwaebibirem District oil palm is the preferred crop due to a ready market,
value adding opportunities within the communities and its multiple uses (e.g.:
soap, wine, brooms). In this area oil palm farmers can be divided into three
types; independent farmers, smallholder farmers and outgrowers. Smallholder
and outgrowers operate on a contract arrangement with a buying company
(processing mill) such as GOPDC or Obooma. The difference between them is
that outgrowers farm on their own land and smallholders farm on the land
belonging to the company. The contract stipulates that the farmers sell
exclusively to that company and in return they receive support in terms of inputs
and extension services. Independent farmers are farmers who are growing and
selling oil palm without a long term contractual agreement with a processor and
thus have the freedom to choose their buyers. It is often the case that farmers don t respect the contract and sell to local Kramers. Many of the oil palm farmers
in the research area also grow cocoa, however they indicated that oil palm is
more important to them. They mentioned: Cocoa is more labour intensive than
palm oil, especially weeding and applying pesticides. If you don t take care of the cocoa tree it will die, oil palm tree is more resistant (FDG 4, male respondent).
Findings suggest that many of the constraints in terms of access to resources are
more general rather than gender specific. However, in this section we will
discuss access to and control over resources from a gender perspective in terms
of land, knowledge, finance, inputs and labour.
20
Land
In Ghana land ownership and tenure are governed in a plural legal environment
with traditional laws and norms operating together with formal regulations. The
traditional authorities such as chiefs own the majority of land (78%), followed
by the state (20%). The management of land is characterized by incoherent,
conflicting and often out-dated legislation resulting in numerous cases of land
litigation, environmental degradation and highly unequal distribution. The
ultimate effects include a shortage of land for all uses, population pressure on
limited lands, out-migration of youth to urban areas and illegal mining activities.
Land inheritance in Ghana can be both matrilineal and patrilineal, however in
the case of matrilineal inheritance, men are still in control over land acting as
decision makers. In both research locations in the visited communities
matrilineal inheritance system was prevalent. The interviews confirmed this
reality, many female respondents mentioned that they inherited land from their
mothers, which is now being farmed by their husbands.
Findings suggest that land is scarce in Ghana and it is difficult to obtain a large
plot. In addition to land ownership different sharing arrangements exists. With
regional differences there are two sharing systems abusa and abunu. The
interviews revealed that both abusa and abunu can be land sharing or share
cropping arrangements. The
difference between them is that in
abusa system the land owner
collects two thirds of the crops or
land and in abunu the owner takes
half. The remaining part belongs to
the care taker. We observed that in
many cases older women who
were widowed or divorced have
taken a care taker on their farms.
In these arrangements it is the
land owner who makes the
decision about what crops to grow.
During the fieldwork we found an
interesting development from a
gender perspective in terms of
intra-household land distribution
introduced by KookoPa (see Box
1). However, the farmers
organization KookoPa was not present in our research locations.
BOX 1. KOKOO PA FARMERS
ORGANIZATION
Kokoo Pa recognizes that in Ghana
female access to land is limited which
results in less women participating in
their certification (UTZ) scheme. In order to increase women s participation in trainings from 27% to
targeted 40% Kokoo Pa introduced a
system where men give their wives
certain amount of land to register with.
In this way the organization avoids
double registration of land, but also
gets more women into their programs
which include gender sensitization for
both men and women. They have
noticed cases where women take
ownership of the production and
marketing of the cocoa from the land
allocated to them.
21
Finance
Access to finance is found to be a serious constraint for both men and women
farmers involved in cocoa and oil palm production. In general all farmers
mentioned that it is difficult to access loans in a bank if they have no other
income generating activity apart from farming. This is illustrated by the quote:
If you have another business like a provision store you can get a loan from the
bank. (FDG 9, female respondent).
We found that rural banks such as Dema Rural Bank located in Tepa have yearly
saving schemes and, as participants, farmers are able to also access loans.
However, farmers mentioned: As a farmer it is difficult to participate [in the
saving scheme] because they require that you pay every week. (FGD 10, female
respondent). The saving schemes operate through all members contributing a
small amount every week (15 cedi) and having a large sum of money paid out to
them at the end of the year. Apart from rural banks, in cocoa growing
communities we found a village loan and saving scheme introduced jointly by
Cargill and CARE that works in a similar way (see Box 2). The interests from the
loans are redistributed among the participants in the community. These groups
have between 20 and 30 participants with around two thirds being women.
Additionally, women access
finance through women s saving groups (susu groups) that are set
up by women in the community
and operate on the same
principles as saving schemes. We
found them to be present in
cocoa growing communities and
accessible only for women
farmers also involved in trade
and vending. That was because
they are seen to be more reliable
due to having continuous
income.
Lastly, cocoa farmers stated that in times of need the PCs provide them with
small loans. Oil palm farmers also mentioned that they can access credit through
companies such as GOPDC or Obooma, however this has not been confirmed.
BOX 2. CARGILL AND CARE VSLA GROUPS
Cargill and CARE are working together
in cocoa growing communities in Ghana to raise families income through a program called Rural Development
Initiative. Village savings and loan
associations (VSLAs) are introduced to
help communities mobilize funds to
improve alternative (off-farm) income
generating activities. This concept builds
on the traditional susu groups found in
the communities, however is accessible
for both men and women.
22
Knowledge
In terms of agricultural extension, programs were found to be present only in
cocoa. Oil palm farmers have not reported receiving any training related to oil
palm production. Cocoa farmers mentioned receiving training from different
Local Buying Companies (LBCs) such as Armajaro (AGL) and PBC and also
Cocobod. MoFA was present in providing trainings on food crops such as maize
and rice.
Cocoa farmers reported that the PCs from Armajaro (AGL) or PBC only inform
the farmers about the training that they are buying cocoa from. The main finding
that came out strongly from female farmers was that they are not able to attend
the training sessions because they are usually organized in the evenings when
they are busy with house choirs such as cooking. Therefore, it is their husbands
that mainly attend them. Some said that the husbands teach them what they have
learned afterwards, but this is not the norm. Women mentioned that if the time
of the training sessions were changed to mornings or they were held on taboo
farming days they could attend them more easily. Single women reported
attending training sessions more often than married women. This could be
explained by issues related to land ownership. Generally it is the land owner who
attends the meeting. Yet, another respondent suggested that the meetings should
be announced through the village information center, because: women are not
aware of the meetings now. (FDG 9, female respondent). We have not found any
training provided specifically for women farmers.
BOX 3. MONDELEZ COCOA LIFE PROGRAM
In Ghana Mondelez is working in cocoa growing communities to
empower women through training designed specifically for them. They
recognize that women cocoa farmers earn less than their male
counterparts and struggle with lower farm productivity, smaller farms
and less access to finance and farm inputs. Women Extension Volunteers
are appointed in the communities and work with women to improve
their cocoa production, but also identify alternative livelihood options
they want to engage in. This is done by creating Community Action Plans
(CAPs) where women are identifying their needs and wans, mobilizing
resources and developing a plan. CAPs serve as a platform where
women participate in shaping their communities. In many communities
learning how to make soap from cocoa pods is high on the agenda.
23
Inputs and labour
Because it is men who go to all the training it is them who have access to all the
things [inputs]. (FDG 10, female respondent). Cocoa farmers mentioned that
both men and women farmers used to get inputs from Cocobod7 such as
pesticides and fertilizers during the rule of the previous government, but
nowadays they have to purchase them themselves. Some reported that
availability of new cocoa seedlings was a problem: If there was a company selling
new [cocoa] seedlings we would be ready to buy. (FDG 11, female respondent).
Farmers mentioned an existing Cocobod program distributing the new type of
seedlings (giving higher yields), but: politics dictate who get them. (FDG 11,
female respondent). Shortage of spraying machines was also identified as an
issue: we can hire them but by the time it gets to your turn the pests have
destroyed the trees already. (FDG 11, female respondent).
The cost of labour is high for both men and women, however single women are more vulnerable to it, because they have to hire more labour. This has been
confirmed in a focus group discussion: If women farm on the large scale they
have to hire a lot of labourers. (FDG 8, male respondent). Another constraint in
term of labour was scarcity. Some women stated: even when you have the money
there might be no labourers available. (FDG 9, female respondent).
INTRA-HOUSEHOLD DYNAMICS
In the Ghanaian family the man is the head of the household and the role of the
woman is to support, advise and motivate her husband. )t is the man s responsibility to take care of the household and provide for the family. Hence, it
is also them who invest in farm maintenance and building the house. Therefore,
most of the decisions in the household are taken by men.
In terms of agricultural production, decisions about what cash crops to grow are
taken by men. Women do advise their husbands on the matter, however the final
decision is made by them. When it comes to deciding what food crops to grow
both men and women make the judgment jointly. Decisions about marketing of
cash crops are taken by men and decisions about marketing of food crops lay in women s hands. The cash crops are sold by men and the food crops are sold by
women. This is because: The men see that the food crops give less income so they
let the women decide and sell. (FDG 7, female respondent). Nevertheless, as one
of the respondents indicated: Women trade the food crops but give the money to
7 Ghanaian government body controlling the prices and exports of cocoa. It is comprised of five
subsidiaries: (1) Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, (2) Seed Production Division, (3) Cocoa
Health and Extension Division, (4) Quality Control Division, (5) Cocoa Marketing Company.
24
the men. (FDG 5, female respondent). That income is usually spent on food items
for the family.
The only income women have full control over from selling farm produce is the
income from selling loose oil palm fruits. Otherwise, men have full control over
income from agricultural production and decide how to spend it as this quote
illustrates: Men have the power to control the resources, especially the income
from cocoa, it is not shared equally. (FDG 8, male respondent). Women s assistance in agricultural production and running the house often goes unnoticed
as shown by: Men have the power because they are the breadwinners, women are
limited in their power because they don t bring in the money. (FDG 2, male
respondent).
Nevertheless, this is not always true. Female respondents indicated that: Both
women and men contribute to paying schools fees, this mostly happens when the
women are also earning income. (FDG 5, female respondent). If the woman earns
her own money through processing of oil, food vending or other activities, she
also earns decision making power in the household. When that happens there is
a general lack of trust between husbands and wives when it comes to managing
income and hence no joint accounts exist. Men don t trust the women with money fearing that they would misuse it. Moreover, male respondents indicated
repeatedly that if women had control over income they would disrespect their
husbands. This was confirmed by female respondents stating: Men fear that
when women are given a little power they will disrespect the men and not regard
them as the head of the house anymore. (FDG 5, male respondent).
On the other hand women don t share or disclose their income to the men as the
quotes illustrate: If you need money you have to borrow from her. and Women
hide their money. (FDG 2, male respondent). This could possibly be explained by
the quote: We [women] feel cheated when we and the men do the farm work
together and when it comes to selling the crops we do not get anything out of it and
are not aware of the exact income. (FGD 5, female respondent).
NORMS, VALUES AND INSTITUTIONS
The question which underlays this dimension is why do women and men play
the distinct roles discussed in previous sections. It is important to recognize
however that the norms, values and institutions are not static and change over
time.
Findings suggest that there are two main aspects shaping the way women and
men relate to each other in Ghana. Firstly, in all of the focus group discussions
physical strength came to the fore when trying to explain differences between
25
men and women farmers and men and women in general. Many mentioned:
Men play these roles because the strength of the woman is not equal to the man s strength. (FDG 8, male respondent) and Men do the hard work and women help
them as much as they can. (FDG 8, male respondent).
Secondly, religion came into play. Both male and female respondents mentioned
that they perform their roles, because it is what the Bible proclaims. The man is
the head of the household, because: Woman was created from man s rib and that is why woman is man s helper. (FDG 2, male respondent).
The last aspect was mostly motioned by women with children. Many revealed
that the only reason they help their husbands on the farm, even though they don t control income from it (here cocoa), is because that income is party used to
cater for the children and pay their school fees. Thus, women see their role in
improving productivity of the farm so it generates more yields and hence more income of which part will be spent on children s care and education. This is
illustrated by the quotes: I can t leave the husband to farm alone because he takes care of the children (FDG 11, female respondent) and If it wasn t for the children I would have stopped (FDG 10, female respondent).
It has to be noted that these findings hold true for married women living in the
same household with their spouse. A significant proportion of our female
respondents were heads of households themselves mainly due to death of their
spouse or divorce. In their cases the gender dynamics are quite different. They
are the ones making decisions regarding all aspects of agricultural production
unless they are in a land sharing or share cropping arrangement where the
landlord has the decision making power.
It is often the case that married women farm a separate plot of land in addition to the husband s land. Interestingly, there are differences between married and single women in terms of productivity on their own farms as one of the
respondents indicated: “Women who are not married are more productive than
those in marriages, because the men always overshadow the women. The men
always want the women to assist them on their farms and due to that the women
are not able to work in their own separate farms. (FDG 5, female respondent).
Moreover, women outside of stable marital relationships tend to be engaged
more often in multiple income generating activities supplementing each other as
it will be explained in the following section.
26
WOMEN S INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES
In this section we look at the findings related to women s income generating activities and identify their pains and gains embedded in those activities from a gender perspective. Figure 6 shows clustering of different income generating
activities we looked into. Gender issues relating to farming have been
extensively discussed in the previous section therefore, in this section we focus
on the three remaining areas; value adding, secondary value chains and other
(see Figure 6). The reasoning behind choosing these particular activities was
because they have emerged as women s most widespread income generating
activities in the four communities we visited.
Figure . Clustering of women s income generating activities (within the research scope).
CONTEXT
As mentioned in the previous section, in oil palm growing communities for both
men and women farmers, oil palm is the preferred crop. However, farmers also
grow cocoa on separate plots of land. As previously stated, in cocoa growing
communities cocoa is the most important crop for both men and women farmers.
Oil palm is not farmed commercially, but some farm it for household
consumption and sell small surpluses in the community and the local market. In
Farming
Cocoa
Oil palm
Food crops
Value adding
Oil palm • Processing and trade of palm oil
Secondary
value chains
Cocoa • Soap making • Trade of soda
Oil palm • Soap making • Broom making
Food crops (processing and trade of end products) • Gari • Kenkey
Other
Trade • Food crops • Provision stores • Food vending
27
both cocoa and oil palm growing communities men and women farmers grow
food crops such as plantain, cassava, yam, rice and vegetables for household
consumption and the market.
As presented in Figure 6, apart from farming, women in cocoa and oil palm
growing communities are mainly engaged in value adding activities and
secondary value chains emerging from by-products of cocoa and palm oil. In oil
palm growing communities women are responsible for processing and trade of
palm oil, making it their main occupation and bringing the highest income
compared to other available activities. In cocoa growing communities the main
income generating activity apart from farming seems to be petty trade followed
by soap making.
Table 4 gives a ranking of women s income generating activities per community
excluding farming. This is because in all the communities we discovered that
everyone is a farmer (Key informant interviews). Petty trade as indicated in the
clustering (see Figure 6) includes: trade of food crops, running a provision store
and food vending (stalls).
Activity
ranking8
Communities9
Darmang (4) Pramkese (1) Tanokrom (3) Mfanibu (2)
1 Oil processing Oil processing Petty trade Petty trade
2 Soap making
(palm oil)
Petty trading Soap making
(cocoa pods)
Soap making
(cocoa pods)
3 Gari processing Soap making
(palm oil)/
hairdressing
Oil processing Gari processing
4 Petty trade Broom making/
dressmaking
Bar keeping
Table 4. Ranking of women s income generating activities in four communities.
In general there are two main ingredients used for soap making: soda and oil. In
the case of palm oil soap women buy chemical soda and add Crude Palm Oil. In
the case of soap from cocoa husks, women process the husks through burning
and boiling of ashes to obtain soda themselves. Then similarly, they use CPO or
palm kernel oil to make the soap. Interestingly, we found that making soda from
8 Based on the number of women involved in each activity in the community. 9 Numbers attached to the communities rank their size from biggest to smallest.
28
cocoa husks and its trade is another considerable income generating activity for
women.
When it comes to processing of food crops in both cocoa and oil palm growing
communities we found gari and kenkey to be of significance. Gari are cassava
flakes obtained from processing of cassava and kenkey is a meal made out of
fermented maize. Other income generating activities primarily involved trade. Findings suggest that vending is the women s domain especially in terms of food (catering)(e.g.: boiled rice with stew or beans, smoked fish) and food cops (e.g.:
plantain, cassava) as well as owning small provision stores in the communities.
Next, we found that women are also working as dressmakers and hairdressers,
but those were outside the scope of our research.
In both research areas, findings suggest that women often have a plurality of
income generating activities complementing each other depending on the
harvesting seasons, this as opposed to men who tend to only focus on farming. It
seems to be the case that women are managing their time in a day and week
accordingly to the activities. For instance in the mornings they go to the farm,
come back and work in a Kramer then go back home, cook food and prepare
their products for the market next day. In Kade market day is two times a week
on Wednesday and Friday and in Tepa once a week on Thursday.
Most of the women s income generating activities are passed from one generation to another. Many respondents mentioned that their mothers taught
them how to make soap, gari and kenkey. Some took it upon themselves to learn
from their relatives or neighbours. It is often the case that young women and
girls help their mother in whatever occupation she is involved in and hence if they don t receive education they follow in her footsteps. This is illustrated by
the quote: I started [making soap] when I was 14 years old [now 42]. I learned it
from my mother who also was working as a soap maker. The parents didn t send
me to school so that is the only job I know how to do. (Interview, female soap
manufacturer). When it comes to processing of oil, the Kramer is a learning site
for both labourers and processors as represented in the quote: I learnt it [oil
processing] from other processors, how they go through the process and I
replicated. (Interview, female oil processor).
Interestingly, making brooms out of oil palm leaves seems to be common
knowledge learned even at school during craftwork classes. However, it is very
tedious, time consuming and brings marginal income. That is why most women
do not engage in it on a commercial basis. We found that it is an income
generating activity mainly for old, disabled or pregnant women (or who have
just given birth), because it does not require a lot of strength or movement.
29
It is important to remember that farming and oil processing seem to be women s main occupations as opposed to the other smaller, complementary ones such as
making soap. Nevertheless, we found that there are several characteristics that women s income generating activities usually have in common. Firstly, they tend
to have a small income generating potential as one of the respondents making
brooms mentioned: Income from it is too small for men. (Interview, female
broom manufacturer). Secondly, there is no or very small initial capital needed.
Thirdly, they are time consuming, tedious and demand patience. Lastly, they do
not require traveling and can be done in the proximity of the household.
Interestingly, we found that owning a provision store would be a preferred
activity for many of the respondents, however it does require initial capital as
illustrated by this quote: Farming comes with a lot of constraints. I would go into
trading [provision shop] if I had the chance. (Interview, female cocoa farmer).
WOMEN S PAINS AND GAINS
In this section we discuss findings related to women pains and gains embedded in their livelihoods from a gender perspective. Figure 7 gives a brief summary of
the results. These pains and gains relate to alternative income generating activities, therefore they are already a response to the gender relations
embedded in farming as discussed in the previous section.
Figure . Overview of women pains and gains embedded in their work.
Pains Gains
proximity to the house
household use and by-products
autonomy in the household
control over income
scarcity of inputs, intial capital and
credit
dependency on buyers
tediousness and labour intensity
health risks
30
Most of the women we spoke to identified the following pains regardless of
their occupation: health related issues, dependency on buyers and traders,
tedious nature of the job and scarcity of inputs. In the case of farming, palm oil
processing and trade in general, initial investment was also a serious constraint
as illustrated by the quote: to be an oil processor it requires money (Interview,
female labourer in a Kramer).
There are many health risks associated particularly with oil palm processing and
soap making that should not be overlooked (see Box 4). Labourers and oil
processors in the Kramers we visited never wore protective clothing, masks or
shoes. Fumes and heat from the boiling process were identified as especially
risky. Many respondents said that they had to take medicine regularly to stop the
headaches, drowsiness and fevers. In the case of soap making the process
generates poisonous fumes from boiling of oil with soda (both chemical and from
cocoa pods). Soda also caused irreversible skin damage (on palms) from
moulding the mixture into soap balls. Very few of the respondents used gloves
and face masks. Some made gloves out of plastic bags and socks. As one of the
respondents mentioned the risks include also safety of the children in the house:
There is no safe place for me to put the soda in the house so I cant risk children s lives. (Interview, female soap manufacturer).
Adding to that, a lot of the
work done by women is
manual labour. Therefore,
tediousness has been
mentioned in many cases
by gari processors, oil
processors and broom
manufacturers.
Dependency on buyers was also identified as a pain by many respondents. This
was especially prevalent in the case of trade of palm oil where buyers seem to
dictate the prices. Poor relations with traders and customers buying on credit
was another dimension of this issue.
BOX 4. HEALTH AND SAFETY RISKS IN A KRAMER
Exposure to heat and fumes from the fire
causing drowsiness, fever, coughing and
headaches
Lack of protective equipment, bear feat
(easy to slip and fall), hands and skin
exposed to boiling oil
Carrying hot oil on the head (no protection)
Hygiene: rotting old oil, unwashed tanks
Presence of children
Using truck tires as burning material
31
Scarcity of inputs such as cassava to process gari or soda to make soap was
another concern. As one of the respondents mentioned: What causes my
headache is when I have to go round the community and near-by communities in
search of cassava when there is shortage of cassava. This normally happens in the
dry season. (Interview, female gari processor).
The gains recognized by women include: full control over income from their
activity, independence from the husband, household use and consumption and
proximity to the household. In the oil palm growing communities palm oil
processing was identified as the most lucrative income generating activity
available to women.
Even though, our female respondents unanimously agreed that they have control
over the income they make, in many cases it was used for household expenses such as food or children s school fees. Therefore, working women make a vast
contribution to the household economy. As illustrated by this quote: I engaged
in this activity [provision store], because although we get food crops from the farm
to eat we hardly get enough to sell and get money to support our family. The cocoa
is seasonal, when the season is over survival becomes a problem. That is why I went
into this activity so that we can get money for our daily expenses. The money from
the shop is used to buy meat for house consumption and to support the family.
(Interview, female provision store owner). Another women mentioned: I use the
money from the soap to cater for children when the husband is running short.
(Interview, female soap manufacturer).
Nevertheless, is seems that with increased responsibilities independence also
increases. Often women do not disclose their income to their husbands and are
able to spend it on personal needs and wants as indicated: It is good to look
presentable, this business made me independent from the husband for personal
needs such as clothes, panties, pomade. (Interview, female kernel oil processor).
Therefore, it seems that household members do not operate as a unit and have
separate streams of income and hence separate obligations towards the
household. Men usually have larger incomes and therefore pay for larger one-
time expenses and investments. They also have more money for personal use.
Women on the other hand are responsible for smaller, recurring expenses and
spend proportionally more on household welfare (Kiewisch, 2015). However,
these responsibilities negotiable and depend on production as well as needs
(Kiewisch, 2015).
Another gain recognized by women regardless their occupation was household use and consumption of their produce (gari, kenkey, palm oil, soaps, brooms).
This was especially prevalent in food processing as illustrated by the quote: I
have worked as an oil processor for two years, but I was indebt so I had to stop.
32
Gari processing that I have inherited from my mother gave me another opportunity
[than oil processing], so I decided to go into it though I knew it involves a lot of
work and not so much of money comes from it. It is much more manageable than
oil processing. My children get more to eat and this cuts down my cost. I also used
some money to buy house cooking utensils as a duty of a wife in a home.
(Interview, female gari processor). Also the value of by-products was recognized
by for instance oil processors who were also engaged in soap manufacturing.
Often proximity to the household was identified as an advantage with respect to
being able to look after children at the same time as working. It is illustrated by:
Having a child made an influence on my life and work decisions. Before I got
pregnant my grandmother was planning to send me to learn how to saw. I chose to
work in a Kramer, because I can come here with the baby. (Interview, female
labourer in a Kramer). Nevertheless, it was also identified as a burden especially
for the women working in Kramers (see Box 4). In the case of soap making, the
poisonous soda (chemical) poses a risk for children in the house.
INVENTORY OF INNOVATIONS
In this section an overview of the innovations is given (see Table 5). In order to
classify the bottom-up innovation discovered in the field, we have relied on two
methodologies. Firstly, modified value proposition canvas (see page 9) was used
in order to analyse how the innovation found in women s income generating activities relate to their pains and gains . )n this process four pain relievers and one gain creator were identified. Within each we discovered several strategies
women adopted. In those strategies we placed the examples of innovations that
were found. Below is a brief summary (for a full explanation see Table 5):
Pain reliever 1: decreasing (manual) labour and cost reduction
Mechanization
Repurposing of old technology
Labour sharing
Production process facilitation
Pain reliever 2: decreasing dependency on buyers
Establishment of associations
Product quality enhancement
Disengaging from the market
Pain reliever 3: minimising health risks
Usage of protective equipment
Pain reliever 4: gaining access to initial capital and credit
33
Saving groups (microfinance)
Engaging with traders
Gain creator 1: increasing income
Product diversification
Within each strategy we give examples of innovations. The examples of
innovations were selected based on the definition of innovation used in this
study (see page 9) and demonstrate from a gender perspective how small-scale
farmers experiment and use their creativity in order to improve their
livelihoods, despite the adverse conditions and lack of appropriate support. The
examples of innovation that we found are not necessary new, which points to an
interesting fact that any change from below requires significant amount of time.
Moreover, they are informed by respondents views on change and improvement. Hence, all of them originate in finding a solution to an existing
problem. Some of the examples are however, small changes and cannot be seen
as innovations as such. Other examples on the other hand bear more potential in
improving livelihoods and show evidence of resilience and resolution of rural
communities. This will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter.
The second step involved categorizing the innovations according to the typology
of innovations adopted from the OECD (2005) guideline for collecting and
interpreting innovation data which distinguishes four types of innovation:
process, market, product and organizational.
Process innovation is defined as implementation of new or significantly
improved methods of production or delivery of the product. These can include
changes in technology, production equipment or software (OECD, 2005). Market
innovation means implementation of new methods of marketing, including
changes in design, packaging, market promotion and pricing. By definition
market innovation aims at increasing consumers satisfaction, creating new
markets or improving market position for products to rise sales (OECD, 2005).
Product innovation is related to goods and services and implies improvements in
technical specifications, components and materials (OECD, 2005). Organizational
innovation is the implementation of new forms of organization of business, jobs
and external relations. It entails application of business practices in the
organization of work (OECD, 2005).
This typology was helpful in order to identify the capacity in which most promising innovations from below take place. Additionally, the location and the
activity in which they happened is indicated in Table 5.
34
Response type How? Innovation
type
Location Activity
Pain reliever 1
Decreasing (manual) labour and cost reduction
Strategy 1 Mechanization Process Darmang Oil processing
Example of
innovation
Improved machine for oil extraction
Processors in Kramer put pressure on the owner to buy us the machine. It makes the
processing faster and produces much palm oil, but it is somehow tedious since you have
to further boil to extract the oil. (Interview, female oil processor).
This innovation relates to mechanization. As shown in the quote above processors
operating in a small-scale processing mill requested an improved machine for oil
extraction. The innovation was a response to a particular need and contributes to
reducuction of manual labour, increasing oil extraction rate and speeding up the
processing. However, as illustrated in the quote it requires an extra step in the oil
production; adding increased labour. Also, machine operators are at risk from fumes
and incidental damage of the machine can cause serious accidents.
Strategy 2 Repurposing old technology Process Darmang Oil processing
Example of
innovation
New use for an old machine
It doesn t necessarily change our work. It just helps us so we can always get fibre as fuel
wood for boiling the palm fruits. (Interview, female oil processor).
This innovation happened as a consequence of acquiring an improved machine for oil
extraction. Now the processors are using the old machine in order to make fibre cakes
further used as burning material. Formerly when the machine was used for oil
extraction it generated fibre cakes as by-products. Therefore, the knowledge leading
to this innovation already existed in the Kramer and builds on by-products (fibre)
available in the Kramer. It contributes to reducing the cost of burning material as well
as labour, otherwise needed to fetch fire wood. Moreover, it allows for efficient
storage of fibre and prevents it from getting stolen. However, it bears increased costs
in terms of labour.
35
Strategy 3 Labour sharing Organizational Mfanibu and
Pramkese
Cocoa farming
and oil
processing Examples of
innovation
Nnobua for breaking cocoa pods
It is important to me, because I don t have the strength to do it alone.
(Interview, female cocoa farmer)
Nnobua is a traditional labour sharing
system in cocoa farming based on
cooperation which exists in Ghana for
centuries. We found it to be present
during harvesting of cocoa particularly
in the process of breaking cocoa pods,
taking out the beans. Women have
informal nnobua groups depending on
their relations with community
members, while men have fixed groups
where members are obliged to help
each other. This innovation reduces
labour, speeds up the process and
saves labour costs. It requires
reciprocity and commitment. Also, the
farmer has to prepare food for the day
of work for the group. The risk is
having to find people to participate
and not being able to pressure them to
work faster since they are not getting
paid.
Oil extraction
In the challenge there was an opportunity.
(Interview, female oil processor).
In a Kramer it is common that oil processors
help each other in various activities such as
separating fruits from bunches or loading
the tanks in order to reduce labour costs.
However, in the Kramers in Pramkese we
found a more institutionalized labour sharing activity being oil extraction.
Processors on a given day extract oil from
their previously boiled fruits in batches one
by one. They help each other in carrying the
boiled fruits to the machine, where the
operator takes over and then in carrying the
oil back to the tank for additional boiling.
This innovation occurred when the
processors had no money to pay labourers
and decided to share the work among
themselves instead. It reduces labour costs
and speeds up the process. It requires
commitment and mutual assistance.
Interestingly, the fruits get boiled a day in
advance so on the following day the
processors know who will be participating.
Strategy 4 Production process facilitation Process Darmang
and
Pramkese
Oil processing
Example of
innovation
Dropping or throwing of oil palm fruits to remove husks
It takes out the stress and reduces the time spent on peeling of palm fruits. We are able
36
to meet deadlines for orders from customers. (Interview, female oil processor)
This innovation is related to facilitating the production process. Labourers and
processors in the Kramer use gravity in order to remove husks from oil palm fruits.
They do it by either dropping the fruits from a height (Darmang) or throwing them
from a distance (Pramkese). By doing this the husks get separated from the fruits and drop on the ground so the women don t have to separate them manually. )t reduces labour and fastens the process. This method has been used for a long time and was
present in all the Kramers we visited.
Pain reliever 2 Decreasing dependency on buyers
Strategy 5 Establishment of associations Organizational Abodom and
Tepa market
Oil processing
and trade Examples of
innovation
Formal oil palm processors association
We have to help ourselves before
others can help us. (Interview, female
oil processor and oil palm farmer).
In Abodom we discovered a newly
established association (registered as
New Hope ) for women oil processors
representing four Kramers in the
community led by a former female
district assembly member. Their goal
was to unite against the buyers
dictating oil prices, acquire training on
improved processing methods, and
lobby for assistance from NGOs and
the government. Every month the
members are required to give 1 gallon
(25 litres) of oil to sell jointly and
generate money for the association.
Also, the members have to attend
Informal soda traders association
Having a woman as a leader empowers the
women members. They can communicate
more easily with a woman. (Interview,
female soda trader).
At Tepa market we found an informal
association of traders of soda from cocoa
pods led by a woman established 30 years
ago. The innovation here included female
leadership elected by the members 6 years
ago. Most of the members (traders) were
women (60F, 10M). Production and trade of
soda from cocoa pods is largely controlled
by women. The traders united to determine
prices of soda at the market, access loans
and assist each other in times on need such
as birth, death of family members or
sickness. The members have to follow
several rules. Upon joining a onetime
37
monthly meetings. The challenges
include lack of faith and withdrawal of
the members. It requires sensitization
and leadership.
financial contribution is required as well
small contributions in times of need. Each
member has their own customers and
suppliers and is not allowed to compete
with others for them. Therefore, it requires
obedience and cooperation.
Strategy 6 Product quality enhancement Product Darmang Oil processing
Example of
innovation
Adding boiled water to zomi (palm oil used for cooking)
We do it to make zomi smell unique and attract customers. We learned it from one
another. If one does it and it works we all learn from that person. (Interview, female oil
processor).
This innovation involves increasing quality of zomi in order to gain customers and
their loyalty. It is a small change in recipe that adds value to the product by enhancing
its smell. During the process of successive boiling of oil in order to make zomi some
processors and labourers add water previously used for boiling the fruits instead of
using fresh water. )t doesn t require extra labour and builds on resources available in the Kramer. However, opinions whether is enhances the product are not unanimous.
Strategy 7
Disengagement from the market Market Darmang Soap
manufacturing
Example of
innovation
Eliminating traders in marketing of soap
I reduced quantities and earn less but prefer it this way due to health impacts and the
fact that I don t have to deal with traders. (Interview, female soap manufacturer and
oil processor).
This example cannot be seen as innovation as such, however we found several women
disengaging from selling their soap to traders due to bad relations with them. Women
were found to be overly dependent on the traders who did not respect the agreements
with the manufacturers (did not pay them on time or paid in instalments). Therefore,
the manufacturers started selling locally in village shops instead. That meant
38
decreasing quantities. However, producing soap in large quantities comes at a great
risk in terms of health.
Pain reliever 3 Minimizing health risks
Strategy 8 Usage of protective equipment Process Darmang,
Pramkese,
Tepa
Soap
manufacturing Example of
innovation
Gloves and face masks
If you don t cover your mouth you will cough from the soda. I used to have asthma and
couldn t sleep at night due to coughing. (Interview, female soap manufacturer and
provision store owner).
We found several examples of women who tried to mitigate health risks associated
with soap production. This was done in two ways by using gloves and face masks. In
the more remote communities women made their own gloves from socks and plastic
bags and used handkerchiefs to cover their mouths. In better connected communities
they bought rubber gloves and face masks from pharmacies in district towns.
Importantly, this was not a common practice and very few women followed it usually
after already having serious health issues. It requires none or very small investment
from women. There is a critical need for education in this area.
Pain reliever 4 Gaining access to initial capital and credit
Strategy 9 Saving groups (microfinance) Organizational Mfanibu Trade
Example of
innovation
Women s traders susu groups
I wanted to help the people start something small with the money they save. It has
helped people to start a business and expand. (Interview, female cocoa farmer and rice
vendor).
Women s rotating saving groups called susu groups are also not a new practice in
Ghana. However, in Mfanibu we found three susu groups accepting only women
(farmers) who also ran their own business mostly food vending. Susu groups require
39
weekly (sometimes daily) fixed contributions from their members. Each week one of
the members receives a pool of money gather by all of the members. It is important to
women, because it helps them access initial capital to start a small business and
maintain it. Some also use it for reoccurring household expenses such as school fees. It
requires reliable members who are able to pay on time every week, therefore women
who relying only on income from farming tend to be excluded. There are several
institutions (e.g.: rural banks) which have built on this practice offering similar
services, however some of the women indicated that they are afraid to be dependent
on them and rather participate in the community groups. While others prefer the
institutionalized groups due to higher saving potential. Multiple membership is not
uncommon.
Strategy 10 Engaging with traders Market Tanokrom Trade
Example of
innovation
Supplying to plantain traders
I didn t have money to buy plantain from farmers and had to buy on credit. I used to run
into loss when I didn t manage to sell the plantain in Tepa, now I don t run into loss but
I m not getting enough money for my job. (Interview, female plantain trader and
farmer).
This example cannot be seen as innovation as such but a change in marketing. We
found women previously trading food crops (plantain) at the local markets to engage
with larger traders and link up with national value chains. This change of marketing
happened due to the lack on initial capital to buy plantain (not on credit) from the
farmers. The larger traders offer upfront payment and coverage of transportation
costs, however the price is fixed and women s profit is smaller. Therefore, their
dependency also increases.
Gain creator 1 Increasing income
Strategy 11 Product diversification Product Kade market
and Tepa
market
Soap
manufacturing Example of
innovation
Blue and pink soaps
40
Table 5. Overview and classification of innovations.
It complements my other soaps and it is important, because customers come and tell me
it cleans their white dresses well. (Interview, female soap manufacturer).
At both Kade and Tepa markets we found examples of innovation showing women s creativity in diversifying their product base. Grinding soap and adding colouring to it
in order to create new products was an innovation aimed at attracting customers and
ultimately gaining higher income. Some women invented new products by themselves
and others learned how to make them. It contributed also to their pride. This was the
case for women who made soap and also sold it themselves at the market as opposed
to selling to traders. It is an example of small improvement.
41
DISCUSSION AND REFLECTIONS
This chapter presents a discussion on how gender relations shape innovation
from below and what is the potential of such innovation to transform gender
relations. Secondly, reflections on gender in inclusive VCC are offered.
GENDER RELATIONS AND INNOVATION
In this section we revist the gender relations framework as presented in the
analitical chapter. We discuss how the different dimenssions of gender relations
influence each other and shape innovation from below . However, it is important
to recognize that gender relations are not static, but changing and dynamic.
Therefore, we also want to understand what is the potential of innovation from
below to tranform gender relations.
Figure 9. Revised gender relations framework.
The study suggests that innovation from below is not merly influcenced by these separate dimensions, but the way in which they interact and affect each
other.
Findings show that high labour burden of women and labour intensity cause
time shortage resulting in limited participation of women in extension services
and priavte agricultural tranings. This in turn restricts their access to knowledge
and agricultural inputs. Male ownership of land and income is another aspect
that constrains women s participation in learning opportunities. In terms of
Division of labour Norms, values and institutions
Control over/access to resources
Intra-
household dynamics
Innovation
'from below'
42
farming, we saw some examples where husbands were transfering acquired
knowledge to their wives as well as examples of women participating in training
themselves. Nevertheless, limited access to knowledge and services negatively influences women s ablity to innovate.
When it comes to women s alternative income generating activities (adding
value, secondary value chains and other) the situation differs. Women mostly
acquire skills and gain their profession based on mother-daughter knowledge
transfer. This is caused by norms and values and reinforced by traditional
division of labour. Certain income generating activities such as gari, kenkey, soap
and broom making are seen as strictly women s occupations. Thus, the capacity
for innovation within these activities is very limited and there is no new
knowledge being generated. This can also be explained based on the fact that
these activities are usually complementary secondary occupations to for
instance farming or oil processing and women are not as invested in them. We
found change makers or innovators to be the women who rely on a certain
income generating activity as their primary (and often only) occupation.
Therefore, the degree of livelihood reliance on a certain income generating
activity seems to be an important dimension of innovation. In the case of oil
processing local Kramers are learning sites where women learn from each other
and experiment. Here the capacity for innovation was higher, possibly also due
to the complexity of the process. However, the oil processing methods and
techniques women follow exist since the Kramers were set up, again pointing to
the fact that innovation hardly occurs.
Norms and values influence household division of labour, since women are
expected to take care of the children and are responsible for household chores.
As a result their income generating activities are limited to the proximity of the
house. Also their engagement in different income generating activities is often
dependent on whether they can bring children to work. This reinforces
traditional patters of division of labour through intergenerational knowledge
transfer.
We found that limited access to resources and low control over resources
weakens women s negotiating position in intra-household decision making and
results in low capacity for innovation. However, a paradox can be observed here
which suggests that innovation occurs as a response to the lack of access to
finance and labour intensity or scarcity. Interestingly, innovations here build on
traditional knowledge and practices such as nnobua and susu groups.
Male ownership of land and income results in male dominated intra-household
decision making; whilst womens individual ownership of land and income from
alternative income generating activities result in independent decision making
43
by women. It positively shapes innovation and learning and contributes to
changing norms and values. On the other hand, changing norms and values
positively shape innovation from below by for example, setting up associations
for women and their female leadership.
Therefore, access to and control over resources, as well as norms, values and
institutions are key dimensions of gender relations that constrain, or potentially enable, women s innovation capacity.
The potential of innovation from below to transform gender relations vary
across the examples that we found. Most of them are merely responding to the
reality on the ground and trying to relieve women s pains in a small way. The
innovations with the highest potential to transform gender relations were
identified within the organizational type. Group support and collective action seem to be important factors influencing women s bargaining power on the market and in the household. They also require the highest level of commitment.
Furthermore, the role of leadership was found to be critical. Interestingly,
women leaders or change makers where often either single women with full autonomy over household decisions or more educated women. Therefore, innovations that contribute to women s autonomy through group support,
increase in income or education bear the highest potential to transform gender
relations.
Remarkably, sometimes innovation does not simply mean change for the better.
Some of the examples also bear certain costs in terms of labour or reduced
income. Nevertheless, at the end they contributed to the well-being of women
either in physical or psychological sense. We found examples of women making
choices to disengage from certain activities or markets, because their pains
were too substantial. Others seemed to have less mobility to move out of their
livelihood activities. Therefore, innovations providing alternative livelihood
options have potential to change gender relations.
Innovation appears to be a fluid process where one is able to step in or out
depending on access to resources and markets at a given moment. Women make
strategic choices to innovate or not. For example if they do not have enough
money to hire labour they will participate in labour sharing.
We found examples of changing gender relations at a household level in some
communities through for instance distribution of land between men and women.
This was exemplified by husbands buying land for their wives or giving them a
part of land to farm independently. In this case women gained independence, but
were also expected to contribute more to household expenses such as school
fees. As previously mentioned, changes also occur with respect to women
44
participating in trainings. Some men are also recognizing women s labour burdens and become more involved in taking care of the children, this was
however rare. In decision making the degree of joint decision making seems to
depend largely on the relationship between the husband and the wife as well as woman s contribution to the household expenses. Therefore, again innovations contributing to women s independent income earning opportunities have to
potential to change gender relations.
GENDER IN INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAIN COLLABORATION
Based on the findings we can state that the potential of innovation from below to transform gender relations is very limited. Women operate and make strategic
improvements in their livelihood options which are determined by their degree
of autonomy as well as choices available to them. It is often the reality that both
are constrained. As we have discovered innovations from below attempt to address these problems. However, when we look at the existing agricultural
programs and interventions in place, both private and the public, they often
overlook the gender dimension. Furthermore, a mismatch between the two can
be observed where bottom-up innovations are responses to gendered
constrains and the top-down interventions rarely address those. In this
situation where bottom-up innovation occurs merely in order to take away a
certain pain the gap between the top-down interventions, mainly focused on
knowledge transfer, and the needs and capabilities on the ground becomes even
wider.
Figure 10. Mismatch between top-down intervention and bottom-up innovation.
We suggest that for an inclusive VVC to meet its goals successfully it has to be
sensitive about gender relations. By obtaining a better understanding of bottom-
up innovation which as we have seen is usually a response to the local reality,
VCC has the potential to create impact. Therefore, improving the match between
Top-down
interventions
MISMATCH
Bottom-up
innovation
45
women s needs, capabilities and designed interventions should be on the agenda
of inclusive VVC in order to create a win-win situation.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter gives final conclusions and offers a set of recommendations for
inclusive VCC to address gender relations and make a positive impact on women s livelihoods in cocoa and oil palm growing communities in Ghana.
The aim of this study was to answer the question how do gender relations shape
innovation from below and in turn what is the potential of innovation from below to transform gender relations? Findings suggest that access to and control over
resources as well as norms, values and institutions are key dimensions of gender
relations that can hinder or enable women s innovation capacity. Most often innovation from below occurs as a response to a particular gender related constraint and aims at taking away the pain . )nnovation from below has a limited power to change existing gender patterns. However, we found that
organizational innovations have the highest potential to transform gender
relations through collective action and leadership. The change makers are often
women who have a higher degree of autonomy over decision making in the
household either because they are the household head or due to more education. Therefore, innovations that contribute to women s autonomy through group support, increase in income or education bear the highest potential to transform
gender relations. Lastly, innovations providing alternative livelihood options and increasing women s livelihood choices and mobility between them have
potential to change gender relations.
Therefore, for inclusive value chain collaboration to address gender relations it
should build as much as possible on existing local structures in a transformative
way. Targeted women have to be involved in the development, implementation
and evaluation of interventions since they are the best equipped to express their
needs and they way they perceive change.
Throughout this study we have given three examples of top-down programs that
have elements of inclusive VCC as we understand it (see Box 1, 2 and 3). First
example from Kokoo Pa has the potential to transform gender relations through
changing patterns of land distribution and access to knowledge. The second
example of VSLAs builds on local practices and supports alternative income
generating activities such as trading, which is within the women s domain. The
third example of CAPs builds capacity for innovation from below by empowering women to think about their needs and wants and realize them at a
community level.
46
Based on the findings we suggest the following areas for future interventions to
address and build upon.
1. Group creation and collective learning
We recommend for inclusive VCC to build on existing group structures in
addressing gender relations as well as promote creation of women groups to stimulate collective learning. Female leadership is also an important aspect that
has the potential to empower women to innovate and access benefits of being a
member of an association. An important element here is formalization of the
groups in order to be able to gain access to finance, trainings and institutional
support.
2. Improving adding value opportunities and secondary value chains
There is an urgent need for interventions addressing health and safety issues in
oil palm processing and soap making (both oil palm and cocoa pods).
Widespread lack of awareness and almost no usage of protective equipment calls
for education and improved technology. The inferior technology used in the
small-scale processing mills limits extraction rates and results in low quality of
oil leading to a dependency on traders and lack of access to more advanced
markets. There is scope for palm oil companies in the region (such as GOPDC,
Obooma and Seredipalm) to engage with the women operating in the small-scale
processing mills instead of competing with them for the FFBs. Thus, the role the
private sector can play in these improvements is significant.
3. Providing alternative livelihood options
Providing different livelihood options for women should also be on the agenda of
for instance oil palm companies competing for FFBs with the small-scale
processing mills. In the cocoa growing communities we can already see some
positive examples like Cargill/CARE VSLA groups stimulating complementary
livelihood activities to cocoa farming and thus, building resilience among
farmers.
4. Engaging with access to and control over resources
As we discovered, access to and control over resources is one of the main factors
constraining as well as possibly enabling innovation. VCCs should aim at
engaging with this aspect of the gender relations. The most crucial element here seems to be women s access to land as well as access to knowledge. The farmers organization Kokoo Pa has made a successful attempt to include women farmers
in their training programs through redistribution of land at a household level.
Their approach has important implications beyond land distribution related to
intra-household decision making and control over income.
5. Building capacity for bottom-up innovation
47
Lastly, building capacity for bottom-up innovation includes education and
facilitating creativity through for instance participatory exercises. In this case
Mondelez can be seen as an example with their CAPs stimulating women to
create space for innovation and alternative livelihood options through bottom-
up processes led by female members of the community.
48
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50
ANNEX 1 PRODUCTION STEPS IN DIFFERENT INCOME GENERATING
ACTIVITIES
In order for the reader to fully understand given examples of innovations,
outlined below are the subsequent steps in different income generating activities
that we looked into. This is based on observations and interviews.
A. Palm oil processing (mechanized)
1. Cutting fruit bunches into smaller segments
2. Separating individual fruits from bunches and removing their husks
3. Loading tanks with fruits and water
4. Boiling the fruits
5. Loading the machine for oil extraction with boiled fruits
6. Operating the machine
7. Collecting the oil
8. Carrying the oil back to the tanks
9. Boiling of oil to make CPO or zomi (adding water)
10. Putting oil into containers to sell
11. Separating kernels from fibre
12. Making fibre cakes
B. Palm oil soap manufacturing
1. Mixing (chemical) soda with water and leaving it overnight
2. Adding CPO to the soda mixture
3. Stirring the two together until obtaining a solid mass
4. Moulding the mass into soap balls
5. Leaving the balls to dry overnight
C. Cocoa pods soap manufacturing
1. Burning empty cocoa pods on the farm
2. Bring the ashes to the house
3. Putting the ashes into a metal container
4. Making a hole in the container for the water to drain
5. Pouring water into the ashes and letting it drain down into plastic buckets
6. Collecting the water
7. Boiling the water for 3 days continuously adding new collected water in
order to get the soda
8. Boiling CPO
9. Adding water to the soda until it dissolves
10. Adding soda gradually to the boiling oil
11. Stirring until it becomes a paste
12. Forming it into balls of soap
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D. Broom manufacturing
1. Cutting down oil palm leaves from the tree
2. Fetching palm tree leave to the house
3. Separating the frond from the leaf strand using a knife
4. Refining the strand using a knife
5. Tying the strands together with a small piece of cloth
E. Gari processing
1. Fetching cassava from the farm or buying it at the market
2. Cutting cassava into pieces
3. Washing the cassava pieces with water
4. Grinding cassava in a mill or manually
5. Drying cassava powder by putting weight on it using wood or stones and
leaving for 3 days
6. Winnowing cassava powder to remove big chunks of cassava
7. Fry the cassava powder (simultaneously winnowing)
8. Packing gari into bags
F. Kenkey making
1. Soaking maize in water for 3 days
2. Grinding maize in a mill
3. Adding few cups of water to the grinded maize and letting it ferment for 3
days
4. Dividing the maize into two halves
5. Boiling one half of maize
6. Adding the other half of maize to the boiled maize
7. Mixing until is become a solid paste
8. Moulding the paste into balls
9. Wrapping the balls in dried plantain leaves
10. Putting it on fire for 1 day in a pot and covering with a lid