However how to do this in order to fully benefit women, and without damaging the collective nature of pastoral societies of which both women and men are a part, continues to be a significant challenge for development actors. A new IFAD How To Do Note (HTDN) on Gender and Pastoralism developed by the IFAD Land Tenure and Livestock desks of the Sustainable Production, Markets and Institutions (PMI) division in collaboration with CGIAR centres, namely the Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM) Collaborative Research Program(CRP) and the Livestock CRP, provides guidance in this regard including background on key issues to consider, and tools and processes to use in project design and implementation. This builds on the mor general How to Do Note on Engaging with Pastoralists.
This includes the importance of undertaking a gender analysis of the current pastoral system prior to project design. Through a gender analysis it is possible to obtain qualitative information for understanding the different roles of women and men, to identify what resources they have access to and/or they control, to understand what their priorities are, and to uncover the reasons for any gender differences. A gender analysis can also help identify where adverse gender issues are impacting women’s empowerment for example. With this information available, projects can be better designed towards ensuring pastoralist women can play more acknowledged and empowered roles supporting the sustainability of the overall pastoral production system. Though explicitly a project may want to address gender imbalances by targeting women, it is still important to understand what men are doing as well i.e. the gender analysis must be directed to both men and women.
Another area that the HTD Note provides guidance on is the identification of interventions to address gender disparities including the empowerment of women. Examples of good practice in this regard from IFAD country interventions are provided. The importance of establishing a strong monitoring and evaluation plan is also highlighted. For quantitative data collection the Women’s Economic Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) developed by IFPRI is recommended. And for measuring women’s empowerment in more specifically a livestock-based livelihood context we suggest the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index.
For more information on the HTDN Gender and Pastoralism please contact Fiona Flintan ILRI seconded to IFAD f.flintan@ifad.org or f.flintan@cgiar.org