Category Archives: Indonesia

Never too late to mainstream gender

Posted on August 17, 2014 | 1 comment

Many agencies and projects find themselves in the same situation as the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem project (BOBLME), which realised that it had not taken gender into account in formulating its strategies and project priorities. To overcome this gap, BOBLME undertook an ex post analysis of the gender dimension of their work and what to do to catch up on including gender.

These efforts have now been condensed and presented in a new paper by Cecile Brugere called Mainstreaming gender in transboundary natural resources projects – the experience of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) project. The experience and the processes used in the BOBLME planning efforts for gender should be of value to other agencies who find themselves starting late to incorporate gender.

The paper is open access in the journal Environmental Development and can be be downloaded here.

Abstract: The Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) project aims to improve the lives of men and women depending on the fisheries resources of the Bay of Bengal. Despite the major role women play in fisheries, the contents of the project documents have however remained gender-blind. The paper proposes that the Theory of Change offers a compelling framework to consider how this could be redressed in an ex-post manner, enabling transboundary natural resources projects such as the BOBLME project to contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Practical steps are suggested. They include the elaboration of a high-level statement of political will to gender equality and the consideration of gender-sensitive actions and cross-cutting issues covering communication, gender-disaggregated data collection and governance. A commitment to impact through human capacity building and the allocation of adequate budgets for gender mainstreaming, is fundamental to embrace the change process that progress towards gender equality requires. In line with the Theory of Change, the development of a pathway to impact and use of gender- sensitive outcome mapping as a form of monitoring and evaluation are suggested as pivotal in capturing the changes expected from mainstreaming gender in the project and the project’s own influence in progressing towards gender equality in the region. The main- streaming approach proposed could be generalised to other transboundary natural resources projects of a similar institutional and operational structure to the BOBLME project.

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Posted in Asia, Bangladesh, BOBLME, Cecile Brugere, Fish post-harvest, Fisheries, Gender, Gender and development, Gender research resources, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Men, Myanmar, Natural resource management, People, Regional, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Women

Gender in Fisheries and Aquaculture e-Learning Course

Posted on January 28, 2014 | Leave a comment
Women sorting seaweed Nhon Hai, Vietnam. Photo: M. Akester.

Women sorting seaweed Nhon Hai, Vietnam. Photo: M. Akester.

The World Bank, IFAD, FAO and the Michigan State University have transformed the 2008 “Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook” into an e-learning course. This includes Module 13 on Gender in Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Module 13 is full of handy material and structured as follows:

Section 1: Gender in Fisheries and Aquaculture
Section 2: Gender Roles, Power, and the Distribution of Profits
Section 3: Gender Planning
Section 4: Benefits from Gender-Responsive Actions
Section 5: Monitoring and Evaluation
Section 6: Thematic Note 1 (Gender responsive institutions for accessing and managing resources)
Section 7: Thematic Note 2 (Family-based systems for aquaculture development in Asia)
Section 8: Thematic Note 3 (Associations for protecting the livelihoods of fishers, processors and traders)
Section 9: Thematic Note 4 (Gender and alternative livelihoods for fishing communities)
Section 10: Innovative Activity Profile 1 (Coral reef rehabilitation and management program)
Section 11: Innovative Activity Profile 2 (CARE Bangladesh: family approaches in integrated aquaculture)
Module 13 Quiz

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Posted in Advocacy, Africa, Aquaculture, Asia, Bangladesh, Change, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fish post-harvest, Fisheries, Gender, Gender and development, Gender training, Global, Indonesia, Men, Natural resource management, Regional, Research, communication resources, Risk reduction, Women

Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project to get serious on including gender

Posted on August 15, 2013 | 6 comments
Ms Rani, wife of a fisher from Toothoor area in Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. Her husband, besides catching tuna, also catches sharks. Ms Rani was speaking in a stakeholder meeting convened by the BOBP-IGO to discuss the shark fisheries management plan. Photo: BOBP-IGO

Ms Rani, wife of a fisher from Toothoor area in Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. Her husband, besides catching tuna, also catches sharks. Ms Rani was speaking in a stakeholder meeting convened by the BOBP-IGO to discuss the shark fisheries management plan. Photo: BOBP-IGO

Most marine and fisheries development projects are gender blind, even though, in recent years, they generally pay much more attention to reaching out to fishing communities.  What does a major, multi-country project do when it wants to get serious on overcoming its gender-blindness? For sure, the project partners face a steep learning curve, but the FAO-managed Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) project has taken the plunge. In 2012, it commissioned a major study by Cecile Brugere to help them work out where they stood and what to do. BOBLME has now published Dr Brugere’s report  – Mainstreaming Gender in the BOBLME Project: gender audit and recommended actions for mainstreaming a gender perspective – and it is a very useful guide with wider relevance than just BOBLME.  It is a veritable “how to” and literature review from which  new and even experienced practitioners can learn a lot. Also significant is that this is the first of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) supported Large Marine Ecosystem projects to undertake a thorough gender audit.

The Regional Coordinator of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project (BOBLME), Dr Chris O’Brien told Genderaquafish.org that, ” even though BOBLME countries faced many challenges in tackling gender inequalities, now there is some clarity and guidance on what needs to be done. Moreover, the countries  are supportive of addressing gender considerations in a concerted way in the next five year phase of the Project.”

Download the report: pdf_icon_smallMainstreaming gender in the BOBLME Project: Gender audit and recommended actions for mainstreaming a gender perspective in the BOBLME project and its Strategic Action Programme (SAP), By Cecile Brugere

http://www.boblme.org/documentRepository/BOBLME-2012-Socioec-02.pdf

Ms Tanvi Vaidyanathan, Consultant working with the BOBP-IGO in the Gulf of Mannar Project. In the picture, Ms Tanvi is delivering a lecture in the Regional CCRF Training programme. Photo: BOBP-IGO.

Ms Tanvi Vaidyanathan, Consultant working with the BOBP-IGO in the Gulf of Mannar Project. In the picture, Ms Tanvi is delivering a lecture in the Regional CCRF Training programme. Photo: BOBP-IGO.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This paper was prepared to support the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the BOBLME Project and SAP. The gender audit of international and regional instruments the eight BOBLME partner countries are signatories, as well as national development and fisheries policies highlighted uneven progress in tackling gender inequalities and accounting of gender issues, overall denoting a cultural and institutional environment that may not be at all times conducive of gender mainstreaming initiatives. While the majority of the BOBLME Project documents audited were found to be gender-blind based on their sole contents, this was attributed to a lack of awareness rather than an intended oversight. Despite the relative advancement of the project, entry points to mainstream gender in the SAP were identified through:

  • The addition of a statement of political will or commitment to gender,
  • The consideration of gender-sensitive actions,
  • The addition of a section on cross-cutting issues covering gender training, communication, legislation, capacity building at field level, gender-disaggregated data collection and research on gender issues,
  • The consideration of incentives and accounting mechanisms,
  • The earmarking of a specific budget for gender-related activities at project level and strategic actions.
  • The addition of a pathway to impact.
  • The use of outcome mapping as a form of monitoring and evaluation.
  • The last two are seen as pivotal in capturing the changes that are expected as result of both mainstreaming gender in the project, and the project’s own influence in progressing towards gender equality.

In addition to these, key recommendations for future action by the BOBLME partner countries include:

  • Commissioning of a gender-sensitive review of legislation and regulatory frameworks in the BOBLME partner countries,
  • Following through the mainstreaming of gender in the NAPs, mirroring what has been proposed to mainstream gender in the SAP,
  • Tackling gender-disaggregated data collection as soon as possible,
  • Ensuring the continuous provision of gender inputs throughout the project duration,
  • Strengthening the participatory processes undertaken so far by the project,
  • Avoiding falling in the Women in Development/efficiency rhetoric and maintaining a focus on the addressing of gender issues and inequality,
  • Supporting gender training and capacity building at all levels, beyond the life of the project.

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Posted in Asia, Bangladesh, BOBLME, BOBP-IGO, Cecile Brugere, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, GEF, Gender, Gender and development, Gender research resources, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Men, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Thailand, Women

GAF4 Spotlight was on Gender and Change

Posted on July 17, 2013 | 3 comments

The full report, program and all slide presentations from the 4th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries are NOW ONLINE!

Fishery changes shift working spaces, create and destroy jobs and bring overlaps in women’s and men’s roles. 

At the end of GAF4, student volunteers and Piyashi DebRoy (winner of GAF4 AquaFish CRSP Best Student Paper award congratulate all GAF4 participatns.

Congratulations to GAF4 participants from our student volunteers from Chonnam National University, Moon Eun-Ji (left) and Bak So-Hyeon (right), and Piyashi DebRoy (center and winner of GAF4 AquaFish CRSP Best Student Paper award) .

“Gender and fisheries studies, therefore, are increasingly addressing these changes and how women and men were affected by them,” said Dr Nikita Gopal who led the Program Committee that organized this highly energetic and successful event.  GAF4 also continued to fill out the global picture showing that women and gender issues are still not properly understood in the fisheries sector.”

Feedback declared GAF4 the most successful and highest quality of the 6 women in fisheries/gender in aquaculture and fisheries events held by the Asian Fisheries Society over the last 15 years.

On Genderaquafish.org you will find:

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Posted in Africa, AFS GAF events, Aquaculture, Asia, Australia, B. Meenakumari, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Change, Climate Change, disaster responses, Events, awards, grants, employment, Fish post-harvest, Fisheries, Fishery or Aquaculture Type, Segment, GAF4, Gender, Gender and development, Gender in the workplace, Gendered labor studies, Global, Globalization, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kerala, Korea, M.C. Nandeesha, Malaysia, Men, Microfinance, Natural resource management, Nepal, Nigeria, Nikita Gopal, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Research, communication resources, Risk reduction, Sea cucumber or beche de mer, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Thailand, Timor Leste, United States of America, Vietnam, West Asia/Middle East, Women

How to Mainstream Gender in Small Scale Fisheries: Lessons from Experience

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 3 comments
Learning better household budgeting, Cambodia. Photo: RFLP

Learning better household budgeting, Cambodia. Photo: RFLP

The FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia has taken their more formal gender materials (especially the RFLP gender mainstreaming manual) and their on the ground experience and produced this attractive, easy to read and yet very rich guide to what to do.

Get the guide here: Download

The clear lessons from experience include:

1. Don’t get lost in translation (of technical gender terms)

2. Think gender from the start

3. Study first, then decide

4. Consider quotas for women’s participation

5. Take the time and effort (and get the men involved)

6. Consider participation of women in traditional ‘men’s’ activities

7. Beware the double burden

8. Be flexible (make training convenient for women)

9. Get the right support

10. Alternative fisheries livelihoods are often women’s livelihoods

11. Collect gender-disaggregated data

12. Spread the good word

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Posted in Asia, Cambodia, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, Gender, Gender and development, Gender in the workplace, Gender research resources, Gendered impact study, Indonesia, Men, Natural resource management, Philippines, Regional, research, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, Women

Infographics: Using Pictures to Tell the (Data) Story

Posted on February 3, 2013 | Leave a comment

Vietnam co-managementThe Spain-FAO Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and South East Asia (RFLP) started its work in 2009 by undertaking comprehensive baseline studies in its selected coastal project sites in Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. RFLP published the baseline survey reports in traditional formats. Now, RFLP has turned the detailed reports into a series of infographic reports to give a wider range of readers a faster and more visual way of accessing the wealth of materials they contain.

RFLP is one of the rare fisheries projects to incorporate a gender component (see Angela Lentisco’s overview paper on this from GAF3, plus papers and powerpoints from Nguyen Dang Hao, Rosario Segundia Gaerlan and colleagues, Bandara Dissanayke and Heng Ponley). The interest in the gender dimension is reflected in the reports which each look into the roles of women and men in the local fisheries and their supply chains, and respective roles in decision making, and knowledge of livelihood options.

The RFLP sites for each country are:

Cambodia: Kampot and Kep, Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong. Infographic. Report

Indonesia: Kupang District, Kupang Municipality, Alor District and
Rote Ndao District (Province of Nusa Tenggara Timur) Infographic, Report

Philippines: Dapitan City, Rizal and Sibutad, Dipolog City, Katipunan, Manukan and Roxas, Jose Dalman, Leon Postigo, Liloy, Salug and Sindangan (Zamboanga del Norte Province) Infographic, Report I, Report II, Report III, Report IV

Sri Lanka: Puttalam estuary, Negombo and Chilaw lagoons (west coast) Infographic, Report

Timor-Leste: Baucau, Dili, Bobonaro, Covalima and Oecusse districts Report

Vietnam: Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam (central Vietnam) Report

All RFLP files are now archived on the FAO site: see http://www.fao.org/fishery/rflp/en

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Posted in Asia, Cambodia, Fish post-harvest, Fisheries, GAF3, Gender, Gender and development, Geography, Indonesia, Men, Philippines, Regional, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Women

Moving the Agenda Forward

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 1 comment

Successful woman in coastal fisheries, Thailand. Photo: Cristina Lim

Special Gender Issue  of Asian Fisheries Science journal released for FREE DOWNLOAD

Our Guest Editorial explores how the gender agenda is progressing in aquaculture and fisheries, and then 21 research and technical papers and short reports explore (a) gender roles in widely varying aquaculture and fisheries socio-ecological systems, (b) women’s agency in fish supply chains and ecosystems and (c) inclusion of women in aquaculture and fisheries institutions.

Read and download for free all these papers and the summary of all presentations at the 2011 3rd Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries here. We are grateful to the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for enabling the Asian Fisheries Society to make the journal issue free from the start.

Hard copies can be purchased from the Asian Fisheries Society (www.asianfisheriessociety.org).

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Posted in Africa, AFS GAF events, Aquaculture, Asia, Bangladesh, Canada, Change, China, Events, awards, grants, employment, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, GAF3, Gender, Gender and development, Gender in the workplace, Gender research resources, Gendered impact study, Global, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kerala, Men, Microfinance, Natural resource management, Nepal, Philippines, Regional, South Korea, Tamil Nadu, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, Women

Yemaya 40 focuses on GAF outcomes from Rio+20

Posted on August 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

The latest issue of “Yemaya”, the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, has just been released, containing materials on global initiatives (Rio+20, FAO’s Committee on

Clan elder, Magesa Lubumbika from Lugata village (Kome Island) performing fishing rituals in honour of his grandson. Photo: Modesta Medard, in Yemaya 40 p. 7.

Fisheries work and CEDAW), and special reports on gender dimensions of fisheries in Africa (Gambia, Senegal, Tanzania), and profiles of leaders from Indonesia and Brazil. 

Download articles or the whole issue at Yemaya 40

  • Rio+20 – Is this the Future We Want? Analysis, Online Resources and Yemaya Mama looks for sustainable development in Rio!
  • Gambia: Building Capacity, Managing Change
  • Profile: Never Say Die – Masnu’ah, women’s group leader in Indonesia
  • Loss of Inheritance: consequences of changes in Lake Victoria fisheries, Tanzania
  • CEDAW turns 30!
  • Promoting Gender Equity – summaries of CSO proposals as part of FAO small-scale fisheries processes
  •  Brazil fisherwomen: Naina Pierri interviews Cleonice Silva Nascimento
  • Review: “An Evaluation of the Roles of Women in Fishing Communities of Dakar, the La Petite Côte, and Sine Saloum,” Senegal

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Posted in Advocacy, Africa, Americas, Asia, Brazil, Country, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, Gambia, Gender, Geography, Global, ICSF, Indonesia, Men, Senegal, Tanzania, Women

RFLP Women in Fisheries awards announced

Posted on May 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

RFLP’s team in the Philippines won the ‘Women in Fisheries’ award for its short film entitled “From gambling to earning” featuring the efforts of the La Conception Women’s Association. The Women in Fisheries Award was contested by the six RFLP countries to recognize and encourage their efforts to mainstream gender in their activities.

Taking runner’s up position was RFLP’s team from Timor Leste.

And on RFLPs work on alternative livelihoods and skills for fishing families and communities, check out the achievements of the RFLP at: RFLP.

All RFLP publications can be found at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/rflp/en

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Posted in Cambodia, Events, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Fisheries, Indonesia, Men, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, Women

Malaysian workshop upgrades knowledge, develops plans for gender equity in Asian aquaculture

Posted on April 20, 2012 | 1 comment

Workshop short report by the following four colleagues from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research.

Group at ASEM Workshop. Photo. Dr B. Shanthi

Dr B. Shanthi, Senior Scientist, CIBA, Chennai

Dr.B.Meenakumari, Deputy Director General, (Fisheries), New Delhi

Dr.P.Jayashankar, Director, CIFA, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, and

Dr.Vipinkumar,V.P, Senior Scientist, CMFRI, Kochi, Kerala.

Under the UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia) led ASEM Aquaculture Platform WP7 (ASEM stands for Asia-Europe Meetings), a workshop on “Empowering Vulnerable Stakeholder Groups” was held from 6-10 February 2012 in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. From Indian government institutions Dr.B.Meenakumari, Deputy Director General, (Fisheries), ICAR, New Delhi, Dr.P.Jayashankar, Director, CIFA, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, Dr B. Shanthi, Senior Scientist, CIBA, Chennai and Dr.Vipinkumar,V.P, Senior Scientist, CMFRI, Kochi, Kerala, participated in this programme. There were 28 participants (14 women and 14 men) from India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia.

The workshop was led by the WP7 (gender) Platform Programme Director, Prof. Dato Dr. Mohamed Shariff bin Mohamed Din (UPM) and Dr. Zumilah Zainaludin as Co-ordinator. In addition the major resource persons from UPM were Dr. Jariah Masud and Dr. Husna Sulaiman.

The major topics covered were basic understanding of gender, poverty eradication policy and programme, gender issues in development, gender issues and barriers in aquaculture, gender analysis tools, livelihood analysis, development context, stakeholder analysis, empowering vulnerable stakeholders, gender mainstreaming and budgeting, gender disaggregated data, scaling up, best practices in aquaculture food production, logical framework analysis and action plan preparation and presentation.

Kerepok lekor machine seen during field visit. Photo. Dr B. Shanthi.

The participants enjoyed a field visit to entrepreneurial ventures of women – two kerepok lekor (fish sausage) enterprises and a community project for culturing red tilapia – and to the Fisheries University at Kuala Terengganu.

The workshop is one of the work packages under the AqASEM09 (Asia−Europe Meeting Aquaculture Platform) –a European Commission supported project under the 7th frame work programme (FP7) Cooperation Theme: Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnologies. Coordinated by Ghent University, Belgium, it involves nine participating European and Asian institutions/organizations.

The project intends to work out an action-oriented agenda for co-operation and to develop a multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue, networking and continued coordination concerning sustainable aquaculture between EU and Asia. Through its different stakeholders the platform aims to reconcile ecological and socio-economic demands and introduce or consolidate concepts of sustainability in aquaculture development in both regions. The platform connects experts, the public and policy-makers by disseminating knowledge up to policy levels as well as down to farmers or consumers.

The major purpose of the gender workshop was to learn about gender analysis tools, share country experience in aquaculture, and develop action plans for empowering poor fisherfolk including women and men. In addition to the training sessions, workshop participants shared best practices in poverty eradication and addressing gender issues among aquatic food production communities. Participants prepared action plans for their respective countries. The deliberations and country experiences presented during the workshop were widely distributed among the members of the workshop for integrating gender issues in aquaculture.

Prof. Dato’ Md Shariff presenting workshop certificate to Dr B. Shanthi. Photo. Dr B. Shanthi.

Each country delegation consisted of two policy makers (one woman and one man) and two extension workers (one woman and one man). An example national goal for women in fisheries is “To achieve sustainable economic empowerment of women fisher folk in country’s fisheries sector.”

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Posted in Aquaculture, Asia, Cambodia, Dr B. Shanthi, Europe, Events, awards, grants, employment, FAO, UN Women, World Bank, IFAD, UNIDO and other multilateral, Gender, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Men, Organisations and People, Philippines, Women