The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) joined forces in 2019, leveraging a combined 65 years’ experience in research on the role of forests and trees in solving critical global challenges.
Written by Yvonne Agoya
The Drylands Development Programme (http://drydev.org/), hosted a nine-day training with partners and participants from each of the six action woredas in Ethiopia. Led by World Vision Ethiopia (http://wvi.org/ethiopia and https://www.worldvision.org/), in collaboration with Relief Society of Tigray (REST) (http://www.rest-tigray.org.et/), Ethiopian Orthodox Church and ICRAF (http://www.worldagroforestry.org/) the training engaged over 35 participants and was held at the Rift Valley Hotel in Adama, Ethiopia.
The training was kick started by the gender mainstreaming, facilitated by Ana Maria Paez Valencia (ICRAF) and Sumera Jabeen (World Vision Australia) on the 20th and 21st February 2017.
The objectives of the gender mainstreaming training were three-fold: 1) to develop a common understanding of the concepts of the gender equality and women empowerment; 2) to develop a vision for the achievement of gender equality, in the context of the Ethiopia farming households; 3) to identify activities that can improve specific project work packages on their contribution towards gender equality and women empowerment to the disadvantaged groups
In order to engage the participants and expose them to the various concepts and terminologies, such as the difference between gender and sex, gender equality and equity, women empowerment as well the terms- stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, participatory exercises were conducted.
For example, each group was asked to draw their understanding/perception of an ideal man or an ideal woman. The discussion that followed involved analyzing how the images of the ideal woman and man are created, where they come from, who affirms them and what changes you would like to see in the described images.
The overall observation was the men portrayed their ideal woman as being modern and empowered but still performing traditional roles in the household. Below is an illustration from one of the groups on their ideal woman.
The second exercise aimed to assess the gender changes each action woreda has experienced over the last ten years, and in the future (five years from now) as well as the factors that have facilitated them. See photos below.
It was noted that the dimensions that had changed the most over the last ten years were:
- Access to information and technology
- Women’s ability to make decisions
- Women’s ownership of resources
- Women’s control over resources
The importance of integrating gender in the DryDev project was highlighted, and the following strategies were proposed:
- Develop a common understanding on what Drydev wants to achieve with regard to women empowerment and gender equality
- Adapt the current work plans to increase the potential to empower women.
- Continue trainings on gender mainstreaming
- Training manuals should be provided for follow up
Yvonne Agoya, is a Research Fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. She works within the IFAD-funded project titled, “Restoration of degraded land for food security and poverty reduction in East Africa and the Sahel: taking successes in land restoration to scale” which collaborates with the Drylands Development Programme in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and Niger in order to scale out and up land restoration activities using the Research ‘in’ Development Approach.
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