Nurturing Connections and Aquaculture Technology Adoption in Bangladesh: Merging the social and technical to enable more secure livelihoods

HKI Knowledge Sharing Event: Nurturing Connections Closing Workshop 21 May 2015, Dhaka

Afrina Choudhury, Gender Specialist, WorldFish, Bangladesh

In loving memory and honor of Dr. Paula Kantor whose selfless dedication subsists through all the

lives she touched

• Gender in Technology Delivery

• Revised extension approaches

• Study that reviews gender in aquaculture extension

• Recommendations

Contents

Gender in Technology Delivery

Why target women? How?

Close to home for easy access (time and labor burden, mobility and access constraints)

More control over homestead assets

Income opportunity from an underutilized resource (without hindering other usage)

Enhanced resilience through diversified food and income options

Nutritional consumption enabled through small fish

Selection based on interest and close proximity to resources

Technical knowledge transfer through short-duration trainings

Coaching

Demonstration set up for practical learning and scaling out

Linkage events

Targeting women with technologies

Trends

• Reducing technology adoption gap between men and women by specifically targeting women

• Gender and aquaculture literature show that small-scale aquaculture is suitable for women because ‘it is largely a homestead-based activity that integrates well with prevailing cultural norms’ (Jahan et al, 2010: 492).

• Marriage and family are the “the boundaries within which women’s lives are ordained” (World Bank, 2008, p. 12), with the composition and structure of women’s conjugal family (e.g. nuclear or extended) correlated with women’s access… (HKI, 2011)

Technologies cannot be 'delivered' in a gender-neutral way because their impacts will not be gender-neutral; the operating environment is shaped a priori by gender relations (Manfre et al. 2012; Ragasa et al. 2012; Farnworth, 2010).

Therefore, on the technology side, ignoring the social context may limit the benefits of an intervention, as barriers to adoption or to benefiting from adoption among marginalized groups are not addressed

Recent study confirms need for new approaches

Introduction to research study

Rationale:• Research on agriculture and aquaculture technologies focuses

on testing and refining them to increase output. • There is a need to understand how the social and gender

relations in a local context shape how women and men adopt, use and adapt these technologies.

• Such knowledge will help to design more appropriate technologies and dissemination strategies that lead to independent uptake, sustained use and equitable development outcomes.

Research question: How do gender relations shape the uptake and use of aquaculture

technologies?

Research sites and methodology

  Khulna District Barisal District TotalBohalia Jalapara Sarendrapur Lakripur

Innovation (cage or pond)

Cage Pond Cage Cage andpond

Project (CSISA-BD or AIN)

CSISA-BD AIN CSISA-BD CSISA-BD

Primary religious background

Hindu Muslim Muslim Muslim

FGDs 6 10 6 10 32

In-depth interviews 25 15 19 30 89

Total 31 25 25 40 121

Technology users are embedded in a range of relationships

Technical approaches/gap filling can accept/reinforce inequity

Gender integration without social change limits sustainability of impacts

Gender Transformative Approaches engages with both women and men; Addresses unequal power relations

Pilot of new extension approach in Faridpur

“in a family, it isn’t enough if one person is aware. If [training] is given to everyone in the family, then all the members will be aware. Benefits can come.” (woman respondent,

Barisal)

New aquaculture technology dissemination approach in CSISA-BD

• The technology extension package is re-designed to combine technical aquaculture training with gender-consciousness-raising exercises from HKI’s Nurturing Connections manual.

• Training is modularized to interact with different stages of the production cycle and address social issues that may arise as a result of applying new knowledge.

• Changes in production and knowledge, attitudes and practices (both technical and social) are being monitored among participating women and their spouses through survey research methods and process documentation.

Sessions Conducte

d

Baseline designed and conducted

HKI conducts TOT

Training designed

FGD

Farmer perceptions

Because we belong to a five member small (learning) group who live close to each other, we discuss with one another. Should we forget anything we can remind each other. This helps us solve problems and answer any questions that may arise. The trainer’s visits also help to clear up any queries we have (woman SGD participant).

Because our husbands, father in laws, and mother in laws were included in some sessions, it was easier to for them to understand what we told them. They don't create any barriers to our participation (woman SGD participant).

Since they (other family members) were included they heard it from the masters themselves. They believe us now about the benefits of investing (woman SGD participant).

There was an exercise with family members on distributing food and on how we usually make sure they eat better before eating ourselves. So usually we don’t have much on our plates. In the past, men didn't notice this. As long as they got a big piece or the head, they were happy. Now, following this exercise men check what we are eating. They acknowledge that we work hard all day and make sacrifices and should eat equally (Consolidated comments across many women SGD participants).

Our husband’s ask us before purchases more than before. It is because husbands are aware of the benefits of asking their wife’s opinion and since we women were able to learn a lot from the training (woman SGD participant)

Preliminary findings from Gender in AQ Review• More scientific understanding of how to support healthy pond functioning and how to

intervene appropriately. • The respondents associate improved analytic capacity resulting from the training with

higher social standing • Improved analytic capacity considered to strengthen women's voice in intra-household

decision-making processes• Merging social with technical interventions provides the explicit livelihood incentive that

motivates participation, and in some contexts makes participation acceptable for women.

Farnworth et al 2015

Sample of modules

Conventional Technical Training on Homestead Pond Polyculture Technologies

Accompanying Gender Sessions developed from HKI Nurturing Connections Manual: sample activities

Introduction, rules, commitments Demonstrating and building trust (whole family)Pond Preparation Power hierarchies; obstacles to listeningStocking Management Interactions between identity and decision-makingPost-stocking management Who decides about the pond (whole family)Horticulture and family nutrition Intra-HH allocations of food and power; self-esteem

building

Harvesting, restocking, marketing, income, expenditure

Assertiveness training

Gender Awareness/ Nutrition Education Exploring gendered behaviors (with husbands)Linkage event with value chain actors, community members, etc.

Community Theatre skits on gender and livelihoods,Community meeting on gender norms

Project review, future planning Change in gender norms over time

Gender and aquaculture review

Research Question: Which technology x methodology interactions have the most potential for sustained adoption, adaptation and use of the technology and transformation of gender relations for women's and men's economic, social and personal empowerment?

Focus: Review of aquaculture technologies and gender in Bangladesh from 1990 to 2014; Review of select projects: Homestead aquaculture technology delivery and participatory research initiatives

Study area: Bagerhat District, Faridpur District and Khulna District57 interviews and FGDs, consultations, review of grey and published literature

Purpose

• A review of aquaculture technologies and gender in Bangladesh in the period 1990 to 2014.

• Assesses how gender has been integrated within past aquaculture technology interventions, before exploring the gender dimensions associated with current approaches to transferring knowledge about homestead aquaculture technology.

• It draws out existing knowledge, identifies research gaps, and selects practices to build upon - as well as practices to move away from.

..

Projects Studied

• WorldFish Aquaculture for Income and Nutrition (AIN) Project.• WorldFish Gender-Transformative Approach in Conventional

Training (WF-GTA) pilot (within CSISA-BD) using Nurturing Connections

• WorldFish Challenged Ponds – a participatory action research multi-partner project which involves technology dissemination.

• Solidaridad Sustainable Agriculture, Food security And Linkages (SAFAL) project.

Gender in Aquaculture over the years

The way in which gender has been conceptualized and integrated in aquaculture initiatives in Bangladesh over the past thirty years has varied in line with organizational missions and mandates, project objectives and donor interests among other factors.

Even so, the targeting of women for interventions focused on homestead ponds has been part of a wide variety of initiatives over time

Several studies show that when women fishers access resources effectively together with men, overall levels of production, productivity and utilization can be strengthened (Terry, 2014; Morgan et al. 2013; Rahman et al. 2011; Belton et al. 2011; Shirajee et al. 2010).

Study conclusions

• Aquaculture training is leading to enhanced status and strengthened voice in intrahousehold bargaining, irrespective of methodology.

• Long-lasting and deeply held beliefs around gender roles and responsibilities can be challenged when women are involved in activities that bring clear economic benefits to their households, or that enable them to perform their culturally ascribed roles more effectively.

• However, the impacts of involving women can be temporary.

• Securing long-lasting change can only succeed if women and men themselves take charge of—and feel they benefit as individuals and as families from—changes in gender relations.

• Innovative methodologies for technology development and dissemination need to focus on promoting farmer adaptive capacity and enabling them to take charge of their own learning, which is not a gender-neutral process.

• Working with development partners, value chain actors, communities, families and individuals to remove gender-based constraints to women's full participation in aquaculture is essential.

Study conclusions

Recommendations

Link women's empowerment to the empowerment of the whole family

Ensure direct links between women's contributions and entitlements are made.

Challenge negative and promote positive gender norms. Adapt activities from the Nurturing Connections training manual (and others) to foster reflection and action around gendered attitudes and practices that limit family livelihood security, or promote it.

• Enable all farmers to learn using their own resources

• Explicitly move away from the language of 'training', 'experts', 'trainees' and other forms of language which promote hierarchies of understanding. Promote co-learning

• Distinguish technological content from learning processes

• Promote technologies as menus rather than packages

• Promote adaptive capacity.

• Foster understanding of the whole family in the technologies.

Way Forward

The findings of this rapid assessment indicate that building upon the participatory action research methodology developed by the Challenged Ponds project and combining it with the enabling environment + value chain focus of SaFaL and Katalyst, and the Gender-Transformative Approach piloted under CSISA-BD, holds potential for fostering sustained improvements in livelihood security for poor women and men in rural Bangladesh

Thank You