mainstreaming gender considerations and building ......coastal and marine ecosystems directly...

Mainstreaming Gender Considerations and Building Resilience of Coastal Communities,

Including Case study Kutoli Village, Shyamnagar, Bangladesh

Local fishers along the Chumphon river© MFF Thailand

Training Programme on Mainstreaming Gender Considerations in Climate Change Adaptation Projects 8th December 2017

Build Back Better

IUCN & UNDP developed MFF as a

Partnership-based initiative that promotes

investment in coastal ecosystems for

sustainable development.

US President Bill Clinton, UN Special Envoy for

Tsunami Recovery, acclaimed MFF as one of the most

responsive initiatives of the post-tsunami period.

2006

• India

• Indonesia

•Maldives

•Seychelles

•Sri Lanka

•Thailand

2010

•Pakistan

•Viet Nam

2012

•Bangladesh

2014

•Cambodia,

•Myanmar

Outreach

•Malaysia

Vision and Goal

Healthy coastal

ecosystems for a more

prosperous and secure

future for all coastal

communities

Resilience of ecosystem

dependent coastal

communities

strengthened

Ecosystem based approach/ adaptation

Coral reefsEstuariesSeagrass Sand dunes

Mangroves

Mangroves are the flagship ecosystem but MFF is inclusive of all coastal

ecosystems, eg:

MFF's Core Principles

1) Policy relevant

2) People centered

3) Partnership based

4) Investment oriented

Regional Steering Committee

National Coordinating Bodies(Government, NGOs, Private Sector)

- supported by national and regional secretariats

Governance structure: Partnerships for

implementationS

EC

RE

TAR

IAT

S

2004 – 2006

Post-disaster recovery

2007 – 2010

Ecosystems as ‘infrastructure’ for

coastal development

2011 – 2013

Sustainable development with an

ecosystem-based approach

2014 – 2018

Transformational adaptation and

resilience

2019 – 2024

Climate change mitigation and

adaptation

From Relief to Resilience

MFF Phase 3 Objectives

• Strengthen governance & networking

• Build capacity

• Manage knowledge

• Build climate change resilience

MFF defines resilience as ‘the

capacity of communities in complex

socio-ecological systems to learn,

cope, adapt, and transform in the face

of shocks and stresses.’

MFF Grant Facilities

• Small Grant Facility

- MFF maximum contribution: USD 25K

- Co-funding: minimum 5%

• Small Grant Facility for Private Sector engagement


- PS cash co-funding: minimum equal to MFF

contribution

• Medium Grants Facility

- MFF maximum contribution USD 100K


• Regional Grants Facility



Integrating Gender into the MFF Programme

InstitutionalArrangements

• MFF Strategic Framework and Action Plan for Gender Integration (2014)

• MFF Regional Gender Advisors

• Gender Roster: over 170 regional andnational experts.

• Regional and national project proposals: Integrate gender and provide gender budget. Gender Action for GCF proposal

• 2016 and 2017 budget allocations for gender integration: Assistant post, Grants for Gender Integration in countryprogrammes

10

GENDER PERSPECTIVE

COASTAL COMMUNITIES

IN ASIA

Throughout the developing world the role of fisheries is a critically important, but largely overlooked aspect of development.

Coastal and marine ecosystems directly support people’s livelihoods and well-being are being rapidly degraded and resources unsustainably exploited.

Small-scale fisheries provide a source of food and income for hundreds of millions of people. Jobs that flow from these fisheries have few start-up costs and do not require specialized skills; as a result, many of the world’s poor rely on this sector for survival.

The impacts of degraded ecosystem services are being disproportionately borne by the poor, are a principal factor contributing to poverty, and are a barrier to achieving Human Development Goals – for both men and women.

Coastal ecosystems and coastal cities are targets for migration. Migration and population growth are often cited as causes of coastal resource and fisheries degradation and intimately linked with poverty

Impact of coastal resources degradation

and climate change on human well being

Impact of coastal resources degradation

and climate change on women

As natural resources decline, women must devote more and more of their time and energy to obtaining resources for both sustenance and livelihood needs.

Both shifting climate patterns and major climate events increase communities’ vulnerability and reduce women’s ability to access key resources. Importantly, men often migrate out of fishing communities resulting in an increase of female headed households.

Over the past two decades, the number of weather related disasters has quadrupled with a higher death for women due to lack of economic and human rights.

Effective actors or agents of change in relation to both mitigation and adaptation.

Strong body of knowledge and expertise

Women, boys and girls are more than 14 times more likely than men

to die during disasters (Peterson, 2007)

Climate Change, Disasters and

Female Mortality

Year Disaster and Country Female Mortality

1991 Cyclone 0B2 Bangladesh 90% (14,000 fatalities)

2004 Tsunami – Aceh, Indonesia 77%

2004 Tsunami- Tamil Nadu, India 73%

2008 Cyclone Nargis- Myanmar 61%

2009 Tsunami – Tonga and Samoa 70%

2014 Solomon Islands 96% women& children

2015 Nepal Earthquake 55%

2015 Myanmar Floods 42%

2016 Fiji Earthquake 50% (92% iTaukei)

(UN Women)

Gender Roles -Women

Coastal (fisheries dependent) communities in Asia

Reproductive Roles: Food preparation, cleaning, childcare, care for elderly and sick, potable water collection, cooking and food production (home gardening or livestock), management of household income/ family spending

Productive Roles: Making/ repairing/ cleaning/ preparing of fishing nets / fishing gear.Post harvest production – sorting, cleaning, post harvest processing, marketing to middleman or at local market.

Alternative income generation activities – small retail businesses, employed labor in factories/ local businesses. Overseas workers – domestic workers, entertainment industry

Gleaning (shellfish, crabs, shrimp, seaweed along the shoreline/ mudflats/ mangroves, shallow seas (ensuring household food security and small cash income.

Community leadership – community organizations/ women’s groups

• Extractive processes/ Fishing– near shore and off shore –

• Laborers or self employed if boat owners/ fishing gear owners (note – as fisheries resources decline the cost/ benefit of fishing reduces eventually leading to a switch to alternative livelihood options

• Agriculture / farming - either land/ small holding owners or laborers – often seasonal and close to fishing community

Gender Roles - Men

Coastal (fishing dependent) communities in Asia

• Community leadership – community organizations/ fishers groups/ fisher federations/

• Head of house hold decision making (often jointly with women in SE Asia)

• Alternative income generation activities – non-fishing related income generating activities (labor in local businesses), overseas workers (engineering industry, entertainment industry)

Women in Coastal Communities

Time poverty - In an analysis of how women use their time (over a 24 hour period) it can be seen that women can have as little as 4-5 hours of rest/ sleep time over a 24 hour period. Women prioritize household requirements, needs of children and spouse before they can attend to their own needs and needs of community.

Restrictions to free movement due to insecurity (perceived and actual) especially in remote areas

Limited access to education and training opportunities and poor access to information

Basic education, secondary education in general and science education in particular. In situations where household income is limited investment in education of boys over girls is not uncommon.

Lack of access to basic information e.g. environmental awareness, disaster response procedures.

NGO’s have brought opportunities for women’s empowerment especially in post disaster scenarios. Development of women role models/ champions.

Basic health services and women’s health services in particular are often lacking in remote coastal resource dependent communitiesTraditional medicine and traditional medicine providers, including midwives are heavily depended on in rural and remote fishing communities.

Violence Against Women As traditional sources of livelihood from fisheries decline pressures on fishers (generally men) to seek alternative sources of livelihood/ income arise. With the loss of livelihood from fishing and limited skills and opportunities to diversify livelihood options, loss of identity and ability to be the provider for the family leads to changing the dynamics at the household level and often alcohol abuse and domestic violence.


Women and the economy

Value chains are inherently economic based and therefore omit much of the unpaid work conducted by men and women in communities which can be significant especially in subsistence-oriented economies. Importantly, because men focus on the cash economy, women are disproportionately represented in the unpaid labor force

Marketing problems - lack of access to post harvest facilitates (storage, ice/ refrigeration) and local market access – results in deterioration of fisheries products which reduces the market value

Women make up 47% of the fisheries workforce (processing & trading)Poor working conditions and low wages – especially in relation to local post harvest production industries/ factories


Household economics

Households are not uniform economic units. Women and men have different access to money and different access to other assets.

Property rights and assets – generally linked to the male members of the family and community and inheritable by male members of the family. This also affects women’s access to credit and loans which in turn leads to lack of opportunity to make small capital investments required for small businesses/ livelihood diversification

Lack of correlation between women’s participation in livelihood activities and their access and control over assets

Lack of correlation between ownership of assets and women’s well-being

Women and men use their money and assets differently. Women reinvest substantially more in caring for children, household nutrition and goals related to human well being


Women in power and decision making

• Limited opportunity to participate in management decision making - Access to jobs in government/ policy decision making roles / local government are less likely to be available to women / even less likely at higher levels of government

• Access to community discussions related to management decision making regarding coastal resources is often restricted to men and associated as a man’s realm of knowledge. Despite considerable involvement in fisheries activities, women's contribution is often overlooked, undervalued and undocumented and therefore not reflected in policy terms

• Women use a variety of means to secure food for their families. Innovation and resourcefulness– Able to adapt to changing conditions and circumstances – coping with shocks and stresses to social ecological systems. Adaptive capacity.


THE MFF RESILIENCE FRAMEWORK

What effective approaches and practices can we

recommend to ensure gender-inclusive decision making

on the management of natural resources, disaster risk

management, and climate change mitigation and

adaptation programs and policies?

Working with both men and women, simultaneously making gender a part of normal program practice adequate investment and strong capacity-building efforts

Mangroves for the Future Approaches to

Gender Integration1. Knowledge & Capacity Development

Generate, share and apply knowledge to support the conservation, restoration, sustainable development and use of coastal ecosystems

i. Need for context specific knowledge and information about the dynamics of social inequality / gender inequality. Many gaps in knowledge on the socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices on which division of labor and other gender inequalities are based on

ii. Education and capacity development

2. Social EmpowermentEmpower civil society to engage in decision-making and management that supports sustainable management of coastal ecosystemsi. Social empowerment processes for women – leadership & co-managementii. Grants funded projects that respond to gender needs of both men and women and

benefit both men and women3. Governance

Strengthening governance at all levels (regional, national, sub-national) that promotes integrated and inclusive management for ecologically and socio-economically sound management and human well-being and security.

Ensuring representation of women’s perspectives and needs in multi-sectoralgovernance processes/ multi-stakeholder for a/ co-management arrangements.

Integrating ‘stand alone machineries’ for advancement of women and girls in multi-sectoral governance processes.

MFF Resilience Framework

© MFF Bangladesh

Strategic implementation of grant facilities

• Site selection Resilience Analysis (RA) –

Mapping the Social Ecological System (SES)

• Base line mapping (includes; GenderAnalysis)

o History (vulnerability, capacity)

o Vision (resilience goals)

o Scenario development/ Theory of Change

o Indicators

• Strategic Grant Project Development and

Selection/ Gender Integrated Project Planning

• Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation (MLE)

• Result based reporting

o Impact and ‘stories of change’

MFF Gender Analysis Toolkit for Coastal Resource Dependent Communities

1. Access toand Control

of Assetsfor

Livelihoods

6. Patternsof Power

andDecisionMaking

KeyDomainsGender Analysis

2. Gender Roles,Responsibilities,Time and Lived

Experiences

A practical guide for coastal andfisheries managementpractitioners seeking tounderstand how gender canimpact coastal ecosystemsresource use and management

5. Regulationsand

Institutional Practices

4. CulturalNorms,

Beliefs andPerceptions

3. Participation in decision

making

2. Call forGrants

proposals

3. Screeningand selection

of SGF proposals

4. PCM

training

Effective Gender approaches address more than ‘immediate needs’ they address power imbalances and inequality in access to decision makingopportunities

5. MLE

1.ResilienceAnalysis

Gender Integrated Project PlanningMFF Small Grants Facility

1. Gender Analysis (GA) incorporated as partof Resilience Assessment (RA)

2. The GA informs the Call for SGF proposals

3. Selection of gender responsiveprojects.

4. Project Cycle Management (PCM)trainings with grantees includeGender Integrated Planning forgender responsive project design.

5. The MLE framework integrates genderindicators

‘Resilience’ indicators

Thematic areas

Resource Governance

(decision making, voice, co-

management etc.)

Environmental quality –

structure & function

Diversifying Livelihood and

income generating

opportunitiesWater

security

Food security

Energy security

Access to knowledge, information

Education and awareness,

Skills development

Parameters of Resilience

MFF Indicators of women’s empowerment

Monitoring and evaluation ofgender outcomes is vital to promote gender inequality

8

MFF Resilience indicatorsinclude:Environmental quality, livelihoodand income, water and food security, governance, awareness, education and training and gender

Monitoring, Learning, Evaluation (MLE)

Gender integration in SGF Projects

till now

77% of all SGF Projects gender responsive

6

Gender sensitive approaches recognize people’s different needs leads to more sustainable outcomes for environmental

and climate compatible development

MFF SGFs

Projectsincluding genderobjective(s)/component(s)

Monitoring, Learning, Evaluation (MLE)

Proportion of projects that are gender responsive in select countries:

85%

86%

57%

100%

100%

50%

67%

77%

100%72%

8

Women’s empowerment in SGF projects in Phase 3

67%

74%

48%

Projects contributing to improving women’s income, assets and livelihood

Projects providing education, skills development and awareness to women and their families

Projects contributing to strengthening women’s leadership and voice

CASE STUDY

KUTOLI VILLAGE, SHYAMNAGAR,

BANGLADESH

Situational AnalysisKutoli Village

• Kultoli village is situated on the border of the Sundarbans, the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world, and heavily depended on for the livelihoods of many, including the people of Kultoli.

• Men traditionally harvest forest resources such as Mud crab, honey, Nipa palm products, and fish. Men are rarely involved in household ‘reproductive’ responsibilities such as cooking, water collection, or childcare, as these tasks are traditionally considered to be the women’s domain.

Women, in an effort to contribute to household income, also find time to collect shrimp larvae and crabs from nearby canals of the Sundarban after completing their household tasks. Some women also work as laborers to clean the aquatic weeds from privately owned shrimp ponds; or other forms of labor requirements in the area.

Kutoli Village, Shyamnagar, Bangladesh

Water Scarcity – Primary Problem• Increasing shrimp production and high salinity levels in the

Chuna River are the prime causes for scarcity of potable water.

• Following Cyclone Aila in 2009 the freshwater ponds on which the local community had traditionally relied for their household water needs had become shallow and highly saline rendering them unsafe and unusable.

• Women of the village, traditionally tasked with collecting freshwater for the family were faced with no choice but to spend up to two hours a day to walk 3 kms to the nearest clean water source.

• Due to the freshwater scarcity the people of Kultoli had been living with extreme hardship; with poor sanitation conditions and waterborne diseases.

Kultoli village, Shyamnagar, Bangladesh

© MFF Bangladesh

To help address this issue in Kultoli village, the Mangroves for the Future program supported the implementation of a Small Grant Project through the local organization Nakshikantha an NGO that seeks to improve gender equality through economic empowerment.

The project focused on rehabilitating local freshwater sources but achieved multiple benefits beyond this.

This was the first time Nakshikantha had worked on a project to address water security, the central issue to Kutoli village and one preventing women from having the time to engage in skills development for other trade based activities

Project Outcomes

• In April 2014, four ponds were successfully re-excavated, with one pond

being made into a reservoir that can store up to seven million liters of fresh

water.

• May 2015, at least 250 Kultoli village families were accessing clean fresh

water from the re-excavated ponds, situated only 250 meters from their

houses.

• Today the time needed to collect water has been reduced to half an hour a

day, a time saving of over two and a half hours each day that women now

dedicate to other activities that benefit themselves and their families.

• Closer access to water sources has also reduced the risk to personal

security the women and children were facing. Previously, women collecting

water in the evenings, after completing their daily household activities,

would often return home after dark, frequently facing sexual harassment

and teasing on the way. In this respect having water available near their

residence has improved personal security and provided a kind of social

security for women.


Current focus of the work

• Providing access to new sources of freshwater did not dramatically change the

behavior of villagers towards water usage and sanitation and waterborne

disease remained a prevailing issue.

• In an effort to address this, the fresh water ponds are overseen by a village

committee, led by the women living nearest to the ponds. The committee has

installed public announcement boards with messages about good practice

related to sanitation and clean water e.g. the good practice of boiling water

before drinking; do’s and don’ts when collecting water from the ponds and

ensuring that poultry and livestock stay away from the ponds.

• Today, the village is creating a collective fund from the contribution of water

users, so the ponds can be maintained and kept in a good state.


Gender indicators

Education and

KnowledgeIncome

& Assets

Food security

Water SecurityPersonal

security and

health

Leadership and voice

Time

• Improved use and management of freshwater sources and rainwater storage – water security

• Improved access to potable water within a reasonable distance – personal security

• Discretionary time• Voice and decision making

Gender Equality and

Women’s Empowerment

© MFF Bangladesh

Gender responsive outcomes

Improved food and water security:- Easier access and close proximity to clean drinking water

Increased leadership and participation in decision making:- Fresh water ponds overseen by women’s village committee ; local governance

Improved capacity and skills for livelihood diversification

Women’s discretionary time:-Time to collect water reduced to ½ hr-Time for meaningful social and income generating activities

Improved health and personal security:- Reduced risk of sexual harassment and teasing

Increased house hold income generation:-Women now engage in new trades such as chicken raising and home gardening

Knowledge and awareness:- Raised awareness about good practices related to sanitation and clean water

Key messages:

• Women are not only vulnerable to climate change but also

effective actors or agents of change in relation to both

mitigation and adaptation.

• Women often have a strong body of knowledge and expertise

that can be used in natural resource management, climate change

mitigation, disaster reduction and adaptation strategies.

• Women’s responsibilities in households and communities, as

stewards of natural and household resources, positions them

well to contribute to livelihood strategies adapted to changing

environmental realities.

MFF Regional Gender Study

MFF-SEAFDEC-SEI

1.Regional Literature Review

2.National Policy Analysis - national policy conditions that support gender equality in environment and natural resource management

3.Gender Analysis Toolkit for Coastal Communities & Capacity Development

4.Site Level Gender Analyses - MFF & SEAFDEC Sites - local realities andnorms influencing men’s and women’s engagement in on-ground decisionmaking regarding environment and natural resource management.

Global/ Regional Policy

MFF Regional Gender Study - MFF-SEAFDEC-SEI -Few studies undertaken that define gender patterns in relation to coastal and marine resources management, empirical studies on the roles of men and women and the implications of women’s participationin environmental decision making. (Sida’s advice)

Objectives:1. To improve understanding about the state of women and men in

environmental decision making and the structural challenges preventing equitable opportunities for men and women in relation tothe participation in coastal and marine, and fisheries sector relatedactivities and decision making.

2. To undertake local-level research examining the gender dimensions ofresource use and natural resource management in order to promote and advance gender integrated planning.

The study covers 12 countries:South East Asian group – Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand,Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines;South Asia group – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka.

mainstreaming gender considerations and building ......coastal and marine ecosystems directly...

Documents