IFAD social reporting blog

By Virginia Verora

IFAD-funded projects face 'up-front' gender challenges in the Bhutan + 10
Selected projects in Afghanistan, China, India, Nepal, and the Philippines, of Asia and the Pacific; Bolivia and Peru of Latin America and Caribbean and Uganda and Ethiopia of the ESA Regional Divisions of IFAD sent participants to this international conference. The IFAD-supported delegation met October 15, 2012 to face ‘up-front’ gender challenges which will be tackled at the Ministerial High Level Panel and the Road from Rio + 20 High Level Panel and the two scheduled plenary on ‘Gender and Transformative Change’ and “Climate Change and Gender’, on the second day of the conference.  The meeting among IFAD projects was initiated and facilitated by Maija Peltola at the Khang’s Residence where all the IFAD participants are billeted. Participants introduced each other, and shared what they do and why they came to the conference. The participants shared that they came to learn more about gender and mountain development, gain insights from project experiences to   enhance their own projects and to share also their own stories on gender in natural resource management. Ms. Peltola encouraged the participants to form learning pairs to enhance together insights and learning from the conference sessions and discuss among themselves how these can enhance their own projects and how they plan to implement these on their way back to home stations.

Plenary 1: Gender and Transformative Change
October 15, 2012
The Chair and Discussant was Dr. Devaki Jain, Founder of Dawn, India and was joined by Amuradha Koirala, Director, Maiti Nepal, CNN Hero of the Year 2010; Dr. Eva Rathgeber, Chairperson, Gender and Water Alliance; Dr. Jeanette Gurung, Executive Director, WOCAN, Thailand; Dr. Manjari Mehta, India and Rupar Mya, Deputy Director, Department of Social Welfare, Myanmar.

Dr. Gurung started the session by stating that resistance is part of transformation and that in order to transform there is a need to focus on the structures and the leaders. She further shared that in gender mainstreaming – there is no real transformation for this can only happen when women start to use their own power in changing and to change.

Ms. Anuradha Koirala on the other hand stressed that ideas put forward should help build institutions for gender mainstreaming and that women’s empowerment initiatives only affirms that women are not empowered and that they are so because there has been no real transformation that has taken place yet largely.

The sessions introduced the participants to diverse issues revolving around the need for gender and transformative change. These opening statements and issues shared opened more questions from the participants which were responded to by the discussants.  The participants became more aware of the real issues confronting gender concerns and for real transformation to happen and to become a reality.

Plenary 2: Climate Change and Gender
October 15, 2012
The Chair and Discussant was Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba Rana, ICUN, Nepal joined by Dr. Andrea Nightingale, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Elbegzaya Batjargal, Mountain Partnership, Italy; Dr. Govind Kelkar, ICRW, India; Dr. Jyoti Parikh, IRADe, India; and Dr. Ruth Meinzen-Dick, IFPRI, USA.

The chair posed the question “What does the gender lens reveal in looking at climate change?”  Dr. Meinzen-Dick started off by saying that gender roles will affect men and women differently and because of varied control of assets and resources – men and women react differently for climate change has differential effects to men and women.

Dr. Nightingale posed the question why are there no professional women highlighted in the world of natural resource management; how wide are the women affected differently; what are the effects of male migration; how critical is women’s knowledge and what are the most effective adaptation practices. These questions started the discussions among the panel speakers.

Dr. Nightingale shared that we need to understand that in adaptation some maybe secured more than others thus there is a need to regain knowledge on access to and control over resources relevant to climate change. She also stressed that adaptation and mitigation measures require coordination and collective actions and the need for data and evidence especially as there has been no complete data yet on gender and climate change – thus the need for consistent evidence-based data collection. She further added when data from female-headed are gathered it is important to note that in male-headed there are women also.

These discussion points made the participants aware of the intricacies in exploring further climate change and its significance to women and to men which provided the depth of insights and sharing that will surface in the sessions that will be opened as the Bhutan+10 international conference unfolds in the succeeding days. 

The Road from Rio + 20 High Level Panel
October 15, 2012
The Chair and Discussant of the “Road from Rio + 20 High Level Panel is Honourable Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, Minister of Agriculture, Bhutan together with Dr. Devaki Jain, Founder of Dawn, India; Dr. Elizabeth Migongo-Bake, UNEP, Kenya; Meena Khanal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Nepal; Nathalie Eddy, GGCA, USA; and Dr. R.S. Tolia, Doon University, India.
A question was posed on whether there has been a backsliding on women/gender issues after Rio + 10 and where did we go wrong. Dr. Devaki Jain, founder of DAWN, India commented that Bhutan +10 is a gender achiever and that we should not start with a perspective of a backsliding view but rather from a point of view of where we are right now.

Another question was posed before the discussants on ‘what do the Bhutan +10 delegates need to consider’. Dr. Jain stressed that the gender and women agenda are addressed on a need-basis and that on women’s role on the environment, strong consideration on proximate production resources must be considered.  Ms. Meena Khanal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of environment of Nepal said that we need to change our mindset so we can achieve transformative changes and that the fear of losing power is what makes men vicious.

The RIO + 10 sessions introduced the participants to the various issues and concerns on gender and mountain development which will unfold as the days progress in this international conference, “Bhutan +10: Gender and Mountain Development in a Changing World.”

Virginia Verora is the Gender Coordinator for IFAD Philippines.

Resources
Bhutan + 10 web page
Bhutan + 10 Facebook
Bhutan + 10 Twitter 

Perspectives. This series of first-person accounts from project participants and other key stakeholders takes a candid look at rural development. The purpose of Perspectives isn't just to share information, but also to empower stakeholders to voice their opinions, share their perspectives and provide fresh new looks into the world of international development. 

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Dr Devaki Jain, Founder of DAWN, India.

Complexities and Aspirations of Life 
By Pauline Kalunda
Tuesday 16 October 2012 was a very energizing day, which started with a 15min walk from my hotel to the conference venue meditating upon what the previous day had presented to me. I thought about the challenges that I go through as a conservation biologist and wondering why the gender specialist feel that I have an obligation to add gender issues as part of my concerns.  What motivated me to enter into day 2 though, was a statement made by Dr. Devaki Jain of DAWN ‘We need to change negotiation approach and move away from presenting women as victims but rather present them as people whose wealth of knowledge can be instrumental in shaping the development agenda’  I felt like she was beginning to negotiate with me.

With an open mind therefore I went into Day two and I was not disappointed.  The presentations gave me a sneak peek into some of the complexities of life in relation to how socially constructed differences shape the way men and women relate with natural resources.  For example, there was an argument that women’s relationship with the environment comes from their insubordinate position in society.  There were also presentations that indicated that issues such as socio-political dynamics will greatly influence who is consulted when drawing up adaptation strategies.  I kind of agree with most of this and I tried to bring it closer home by thinking that our values and ethics coupled with the political atmosphere in which we operate will greatly influence who we consult when drafting our programmes. What gave me further resolve to cooperate with the gender specialist was a presentation by Monica Ogra about linkages and leakages for gender considerations, in which an effort by gender specialists to understand the challenges of biodiversity conservationists was highlighted.

It finally dawned onto me that even though we do not put name to it, most of the successful projects we have implemented had strong gender considerations. Next time I am participating in project design therefore, I will surely conduct the gender analysis with more purpose that a mere fulfillment of donor/partner requirements.   I will make a conscious attempt at tapping into the wealth presented by the different sections of society.  Hoping that together we will help each other weave through the complexities of life as we pursue our aspirations.

Pauline Kalunda is the Executive Director of ECOTRUST. 

Resources
Bhutan + 10 web page
Bhutan + 10 Facebook
Bhutan + 10 Twitter 

Perspectives. This series of first-person accounts from project participants and other key stakeholders takes a candid look at rural development. The purpose of Perspectives isn't just to share information, but also to empower stakeholders to voice their opinions, share their perspectives and provide fresh new looks into the world of international development. 

Share it!

The Honourable Chief Justice of Bhutan, Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye.

Welcome to Perspectives. This series of first-person accounts from project participants and other key stakeholders takes a candid look at rural development. The purpose of Perspectives isn't just to share information, but also to empower stakeholders to voice their opinions, share their perspectives and provide fresh new looks into the world of international development. 


Gender and Sustainable Mountain Development in a Changing World Conference
By Tribhuban Pavael, Nepal
Conference started at 5 PM October 14 with Grand Opening ceremony at Thimpu, Bhutan there were more than 150 delegates from different continents including Europe, America, Africa, and Asia representing different organizations. There were 12 delegates form IFAD-funded Projects in Nepal, India, China, Afghanistan, The Philippines, Ethiopia, Bolivia, and Uganda representing different projects. Ms Maija Peltola has coordinated the delegates of IFAD. 

Opening ceremony was started with holy words of Buddhist Monks for good wishes to the success of the conference. It was followed with a welcome address by Honorable Lyonpo Thakur Sharma Powdyal, Minister of Education and Chair of the National Commission for Women and Children, Bhutan.

Then, Opening remarks started with incredible words by Honorable Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, Minister of Agriculture Bhutan. He highlighted that there can be no equity with justice that is gender justice. We have achieved so far in gender equality in the mountain areas however there are miles to go for gender equality.

In the series of opening remarks, Dr. David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD, highlighted the situation of feminization of not only agriculture but also landscapes of mountain with 1.3 billion peoples. He said that this conference is for setting new agendas for action and look after for its achievements may be after 10 years. ICIMOD as an organization is not only working for gender equality but also being a better working place for women and trying to be a gender balanced organisation which creates greater spaces for women. Finally, he thanked the funding partners including IFAD.

In the series of opening remarks, Dr. Christoph Beier, Vice Chair of Management Board, GIZ, Matthias Meier of SDC, Flbegzaya Batjargal of Mountain Partnership, Ralf Schinkel of SNV and Maija Peltola of IFAD provided their opening remarks.

Maija Peltola in her speech highlighted that since its establishment in1978, IFAD is promoting gender equality through its activities in enhancing food security and eradicating rural poverty. She challenged the conference participants to think “out of the box”, and to take every opportunity to share their experiences and to learn from each others. The conference should bring about new and innovative ideas, knowledge and insight. “We will have opportunity for high-level panel discussions with policy makers, presentations and discussion with experts, practitioners and those who work at field level. Let us take this opportunity to share, learn and innovate, and so contribute to sustainable and gender-sensitive development of mountain regions across the world.”

This was followed by inaugural keynote address by Honorable Chief Justice of Bhutan Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye, The Supreme Court, Royal Court of Justice. And a speech was delivered by H.E Mr. Heikki Holmas, Minister of International Development, and Government of Norway.
After this, two Study Reports were launched: a) Gender and Biodiversity Management in the Greater Himalayas, and b) National Commission on Women and Children Report on Women's Participation in the 2011 National Election in Bhutan.

This conference will be a good gathering for learning, sharing and setting new agenda and directions for greater gender transformative changes in the future.

Resources
Bhutan + 10 web page


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Gender and Sustainable Mountain Development in a Changing World

In 2002, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) organized the international conference "Celebrating Mountain Women," as the only global event during the International Year of Mountains to focus on mountain women in the context of sustainable mountain development. It brought together 250 participants from 35 countries around the world.

A decade later, globalization, climate change and other drivers of change are creating new challenges and opportunities for women and men living in mountain areas. In light of these changes Bhutan+10 will bring together various stakeholders, including a sizable IFAD delegation.

Topics will include
    •    Set new agendas for gender-positive change
    •    Share knowledge on gender and natural resource management
    •    Focus on inclusive ways of integrating gender analysis, methodologies, and best practices into sustainable mountain development
    •    Take critical stock of the fragmentation, successes and challenges of gender ‘mainstreaming’ efforts
    •    Address lack of traction and unequal power relations
    •    Share innovative adaptation strategies in which women and men are negotiating their own futures in culturally specific mountain contexts

Photos courtesy ICIMOD.

Resources
Bhutan + 10 web page

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