Webinars on

Women’s Collective Action (WCA) in Agricultural Markets

Webinar 3: Synthesis of Findings

Second Phase of Research

Facilitated by

Where are we in the world today

11 Countries

represented!

• Canada

• Ethiopia

• France

• India

• UK

• Mali

• Netherlands

• Palestine

• Philippines

• USA

• Tanzania

What organisations are we from?

Oxfam America

Oxfam Ireland

Oxfam Novib

Oxfam GB

Oxfam Canada

Coady

Care USA

SNV Solidarity Eastern and Central

Expertise Centre

Self-help

Africa

Who is Who? Presenting:

Thalia Kidder

Sally Smith

Ralph Roothaert

Claudia Canepa

Sally Baden

Facilitating Discussion:

Hugo Sintes

Kimberley Loveday-Long

Monitoring Chat:

Sally King

Amanda Shriwise

Technical Assistance:

• Presentation of findings

Thalia Kidder, Oxfam GB

• Comments on implications

Sally Smith, Independent Researcher

Ralph Roothaert, Oxfam GB

• Discussion in plenary

• Research findings

• Implications

• Next steps...

Agenda for today

Aims to identify:

• the conditions

• types of organisation, and

• strategies of support

…that enable women to take on strategic roles in markets in ways that increase

women’s incomes, assets and empowerment.

Oxfam’s research on

Women’s Collective Action

A research, learning

and communications

project on women’s

collective action (WCA)

in agricultural markets

• To what extent and under what conditions does

women smallholder’s engagement in market-

focused collective action lead to gender

equitable outcomes?

• Who benefits?

• Which benefits?

• Does CA overcome

constraints?

The Research Question

Design Finding General:

External support, government policies matter

CA addresses production constraints, rarely social norms,

time, land, etc.

Various levels influence outcomes for women

Look more closely at groups (don’t assume)

– More production …. Less marketing

– Women-only groups; Specialised groups

(mostly ‘mixed’);

– Who in Ethiopia: women heads of households

– A spectrum of ‘mixed’ groups; groups evolve

– Informal groups

Beginnings of answers on WCA

• Primary level CA of small-holder farmers, formal and informal

• Mali, Ethiopia, Tanzania – two regions & six sub-sectors each (rice, coffee, chicken…)

• Qualitative, focus groups

• 529 groups identified, over 200 studied

• Describe CA in each sector:

Benefits for women & how

they vary? Why?

The research done:

FARMING SYSTEM WOMEN’S

MOTIVATION AND CAPACITY

ASSET ENDOWMENT

AGE, SKILLS, LITERACY

HOUSEHOLD DYNAMICS

NO COLLECTIVE

ACTION

LEGAL/POLICY

FRAMEWORK PATTERNS OF COLLECTIVE

ACTION

CHARACTERISTICS

OF SUB-SECTORS

Conceptual Framework

COLLECTIVE OUTCOMES, INDIVIDUAL IMPACT

Incomes, building assets, empowerment

Findings

Design Finding

Many factors relevant….

• Entry fees, lack of information

• Negative attitudes about women in groups

• Land tenure

– Mali: 3% women avg 0.5 ha; men 1.5 ha, but

older women tend to have access to land

– Tanz: FHH avg 1.6 ha, MHH 2.7 ha

• Status in household: age, junior wives, FHH

• Savings group formal producer group

Which women join, and why?

• Government role:

– Promoting support for women farmers; coop laws

• External support:

• Widespread, dominant feature

• Functions: multi-functional, more production

• Women’s Participation – a spectrum

– Women’s groups with token men

– Membership doesn’t equate with leadership

• Formal linked to informal

– Informal labour-sharing, savings groups

• Evolution of groups

Gendered patterns of CA

• Common benefits for women

– Social support, income, inputs-training-savings, labour

• Women-only groups

– Social cohesion, skills, leadership, family responsibility

• Specialised organisations

– More economic benefits, less leadership and voice?

• Mixed groups

– Tanz: overcoming ‘husbands’ restrictions’

Benefits for Women?

Design Finding Constraints (for women) in agr markets

Constraint more so for women…

CA helping?

Buyers – side

Low volumes for sale * *

Limited capital * *

Farmer side

Transport – mobility *

Family responsibilities *

Social norms *

Little market info, lack of business skills & organisation

* *

Collusion between middlemen and wholesalers

*

• Land tenure

• Literacy

• Family responsibilities

• Linking women to profitable markets

• Time poverty

• Mobility and transport

• Social attitudes

Constraints for women

not (often) addressed

1) Any questions for clarification

purposes?

2) What findings did you find the most

interesting or surprising, and why?

Thank you!

Please submit via ‘chat’ box (moderators tab)

• Sally Smith

Independent Consultant

• Ralph Roothaert

Tanzania Agricultural Scale Up

Programme Coordinator

Commentators

• Important addition to knowledge base on CA in agriculture -

– Shows complexity; contrasts with way (women’s) CA is usually

portrayed;

– Important implications for key development actors and initiatives,

e.g. CAADP, AGRA, Making Markets Work for the Poor

• Raises ‘why’ questions for investigation in Phase 3-

– Shea in Mali – specialised, high value but dominated by women,

why?

– access to land – how and why here not elsewhere?

– Explore ‘exceptions’, especially those with positive outcomes for

women

• Marketing function important –linked to greater economic

benefits.

– what brings groups to marketing function? sub-sector needs,

policy environment, donor support, etc.

– Is this function is transferable (e.g. From rice in Mali to staple

crops elsewhere)

Implications: Sally Smith

• Mixed and women-only groups – Is extending functions of women’s groups feasible/desirable to get more economic

benefits?

– Is enhancing position of women in mixed groups more effective long term (to address

structural causes of gender inequality)?

• Critical to know disabling factors and how they are overcome in

different socio-cultural contexts – E.g., What hinders WCA in sectors traditionally under women’s control and how have

these constraints been overcome for ‘exceptions’?

– How did men’s attitudes to WCA change in Mali? WCA may not be the best tool –

what other strategies have worked (e.g. labour-saving technology, gender

sensitisation, etc.)?

• Indications of strong influence of governance structures and

group dynamics – How do leadership, mission and values of groups affect outcomes?

– What’s the role of linked organisations in these dynamics (e.g. second tier CA,

buyers, NGOs)

• Indications of changes in intra-household gender relations where

women are contributing to household income. – how and when does this occur (e.g. only where groups have marketing function?)

– what does it mean in terms of women’s empowerment?

Overview

Implications for Oxfam’s agriculture programme

• External influences on WCA across countries:

– Cultural

– Government

– NGOs

• Importance of other movements

• Degree of formality of groups

Implications: Ralph Roothaert

How do external factors influence WCA and

agricultural value chains in a market system?

Processing Inputs

Enabling environment, e.g. cultural, government

Production Distribution

Finance and supporting services, e.g. NGOs

Consumption

WCA WCA WCA

• Many NGOs or government programmes promote group

formation; difficult to reach scale of WCA without them.

– Farmer and gender networks

– Women empowerment

• Programmes need to ‘piggy back’ on existing positive

internal or external movements that affect women

organisations in agriculture

– Good leadership

– Role models

Importance of other initiatives and

movements to reach scale

• The definition of formal and informal groups or CA is

very difficult and tends to be blur.

– E.g. Formal groups in Tanzania have informal

components of saving groups

• It is more difficult to identify or access informal groups

in the field because of their informal nature. Proper

assessment of informal groups needs more time from

researchers.

• In Mali, formal groups trigger informal groups

upstream (towards production). This could be a lead

towards identifying more informal groups elsewhere.

Degree of formality of groups

• Programmatic value chain approaches need to focus on

enabling environment. The research has provided

important lessons on cultural institutions from which

contextual guidelines can be formed on group formation.

• We should link our approaches of facilitating WCA with

dynamic movements that happen regardless

• Lessons on informal WCA are very diverse. We need

more research to draw general conclusions or link

findings to conditions.

To wrap up

Asanteni

• Answers to questions seeking

clarification on research process or

findings

Q&A

• Your views

on what you

found most

interesting or

surprising…

Let’s discuss!

New Ideas?! How might you improve

your agr/markets programme or policy

work?

A. POLICY context

B. Rigorous Selection of GROUPS to support– considering formal and informal

C. Address gender-specific BARRIERS to women participating

D. Support groups to evolve and improve FUNCTIONS

E. Other?

Please chat your ideas to us!

Low volumes for sale

Limited capital

Mobility & transport

Family responsibilities

Social norms

Time poverty

Lack of marketing or links to buyers

Illiteracy

Little market info or few business skills

Land tenure

Constraints for women farmers to

engage in markets

Doing well A challenge Learn more

Highlights of discussion

Phase III research

• Nov 2011-June 2012

• Qualitative: case studies of development interventions on women’s collective action which strategies effective and why?

• Quantitative: surveys of hhs and women who participates in CA and who benefits?

Upcoming WCA webinars

• Three more webinars coming next

year: – January: Innovative types of groups that

enable greater inclusion by women (Coady)

– February/March: Women producers,

collective enterprises & Fair Trade (WIEGO)

– May: Evolution of groups (Care/Coady)

Co- organised by:

Thank you!

Visit us at

http://womenscollectiveaction.com/Webinars

for a summary of this webinar and information on

upcoming webinars!