Peru Sierra Irrigation Improvement Project: Early lessons from gender pilots

Transcription

1 Peru Sierra Irrigation Improvement Project: Early lessons from gender pilots Erwin De Nys Marie-Laure Lajaunie (TTL) Kevval Andrea Hanna Elizabeth Dasso Carmen Hidrogo 1

2 Irrigation in the Peruvian Sierra Sierra region or Andean highlands - high poverty rates women illiteracy rate 3 times as high as men Farming systems mostly based on auto-consumption Irrigation improvement key to rural development Collective irrigation system: rudimentary water intakes and distribution canals On-farm irrigation: basic surface irrigation Water Users Organizations (WUO) are responsible for water distribution, operation and maintenance (O&M) but their technical and financial capacity is very limited Importance of women in irrigation, O&M 2

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9 The implementing agency PSI : Irrigation authority under Ministry of Agriculture 10 years of WB support in the more prosperous coastal region Project model: infrastructure support & capacity building Operational staff: mostly men & irrigation engineers, no or few women New focus: PSI support irrigation in the Sierra ( Pilot project) Objective to strengthen the technical, financial and management capacity of WUOs and farmers groups in targeted irrigated areas of the Sierra (12 of 34 valleys, 200,000 ha) 9

10 PSI s approach to irrigation COLLECTIVE irrigation network ON-FARM irrigation systems Improvement of infrastructure Technification Water Users Organizations (WUO) Farmers Awareness raising Capacity building Access to markets

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15 The demand for a gender pilot A combination of factors Local demand from PSI s capacity building coordinator Awareness on the role of women in irrigation in the Sierra e.g. due to temporal migration of men to the cities TTL interested ICR observations on previous project in the coast: no gender results Local capacity to implement sociologist Designed as a TA to PSI to pay special attention to the needs of female farmers in the Sierra, making sure that they benefit from the project activities (infrastructure and capacity building activities) JIT GAP Funding of US$ 30,000 for a 1 year pilot 15

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18 Design & results of the gender pilots Intervention area: 2 valleys (out of 12), 8 WUO (out of 400), 100 WUO leaders, 900 water users (out of 200,000) Gender diagnosis: to diagnose the gender relations at the level of the farm household and in the water users organizations to identify needs, interests and limitations for men and women Participatory tools & methods used for the diagnosis Quantitative and qualitative baseline Feeding into a capacity building program based including skills training both on productive & organizational aspects Visits of women to more inclusive and prosperous WUOs in the coast - good conceptual preparation and follow-up 18

19 Results of gender diagnosis The access to and control of productive resources (land, water rights) greatly determines women s participation in WUO Main difficulties for women participation in WUO are structural (lack of capacity, knowledge and information meetings and workshops are not aligned with women s time schedule) Also cultural difficulties related to the community s stereotype image of the woman as mujer-madre confined to household, with no time, ignorant etc. leading to discrimination and self-marginalization Low self-esteem of women (no capacity, no technical skills) Men have more information on irrigation management than women Women request specific trainings (technical production, organizational) but WUO organize very little WUO members start being receptive to advance women empowerment 19

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24 Baseline & targets in the pilot WUOs Baseline Sept 2008 WUO Board composition: 7 out of 8 WUO members are male 20% of WUO women attend meetings & general assemblies >90% of women do not participate in trainings Skills and leadership: 80% of WUO women do not fully assume their roles and responsibility WUO policies do not specify conditions to improve women participation WUO Boards welcoming women empowerment Desired by Sept 2010 At least 2 of 4 WUOs have a women in decision-making position 30% of WUO women attend and voice concerns about irrigation >60% of women participate and 20 have increased their capacity to assume decision-making roles Annual plan 2010 specifies arrangements to increase women participation 24

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26 Demanda del PSI para un Piloto Genero 26

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28 From pilots to project Interest of PSI in mainstreaming gender in project design Awareness has increased among some technical staff Project Direction receptive But gender targets not yet included in PSI s project design Actions of Bank team Dissemination of gender pilots at national events helping build the demand Discussing with PSI about the inclusion of women and youth in the identification of infrastructure, and capacity building activities Discussion the inclusion of a gender specific indicator in the Results Framework Still learning from the pilots Foreseen Bank support in implementation Help in getting the participatory process right, early on (Operational Manual) Help PSI to transform into a more social and gender-sensitive institution Advising on selection of PSI staff and consultants, training Change attitudes! 28

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31 Some closing remarks Gender diagnosis as a powerful analytical tool to help understand the different factors that determine the degree of participation of women and men in water management at different levels Have a good communication strategy to get commitment of the government and the implementing agency to incorporate a gender perspective, early on, and think institutional change Seek more economic and analytical work on the contribution of women to the economy (eg in key irrigated productions) to convince decision-makers Use tools, guidelines and financial support (eg GAP-JIT) available to TTLs 31

32 Gracias! Recommendations 32