Gender Analysis of Cluster Actors
Along the Chain
Intra-Household Gender Dynamics of
ABC Actors – Micro-Level
Through gender analysis, gender inequalities are
systematically identified and context-relevant interventions
are designed to close gender gaps. Gender analysis at the
household/micro level includes understanding how roles
and responsibilities are shared within the family enterprise
and provides insights on drudgery, workload, and time
spent on farm activities by both genders. It helps identify
“who does what” ( for instance, who is responsible for key
activities necessary to ensure product quality). This unit of
analysis helps planners, such as partnership facilitators,
cross-cutting technical specialists, and BSSs, determine
who should be targeted by trainings and capacity-building
activities or innovations and support services. It also helps
tailor services and products to the specific needs of these
target groups in terms of content, location, timing,
and design.
Teams were encouraged to use these diagnostic tools
during key steps of ABC development such as Diagnostic
and Design workshops and Review and Capitalization
workshops. The action-research sessions with cluster
actors led also to the design of a pictorial toolkit to reach
a less literate audience and make the facilitation and data
collection easier and more participatory. This toolkit was
developed and tested in Uganda within the soybean cluster
in Masindi, with the collaboration of a local organization
specialized in designing information, education, and
communication material. 2SCALE intends to use it at the
cluster level.
Gender analysis of farming households implies
understanding challenges faced by each actor – men,
women, and youth – to use and decide on the use of
resources needed to play their roles and carry out their
activities. These can be productive resources (land, inputs,
equipment, means of transport) or intangible resources,
such as human and financial capital or extension services
provided by services supporting ABCs. Understanding
power and decision-making dynamics between men,
women, and youth on the use of resources and the
benefits accruing from their work provides the teams
with insights on gaps or specific challenges faced by those
different categories to access services and resources
(micro-level tools).
Gender Analysis of ABC Supporters – Meso-Level
The gender analysis process also includes interacting
with ABC service providers in order to assess the level of
gender “responsiveness” of their services. Service providers’
ability to understand and consider social relations of men
and women and differences in their needs, interests, and
aspirations is assessed. If needed, recommendations are
made to the service providers to encourage them to
address gender-specific barriers and take women’s
specific needs and interests into consideration in the
design and delivery of their services (meso-level tool or
organizational audit).
Gender Analysis of the Value Chain
Environment – Macro-Level
Finally, to understand the overall environment in which
ABCs evolve and the constraints and opportunities that
influence their performance, a mapping process is needed
for each value chain in order to highlight female actors
along the chain and factors that positively or negatively
influence the achievement of gender equality. These factors
can include laws or policies that regulate land rights and
inheritance, droughts, infrastructure, etc. (macro-level
gender mapping).
A woman sells Guinea
fowl meat sourced from
2SCALE-supported farmers
in Ghana. The Guinea
fowl partnership is driven
by Atibire Enterprise
and the Guinea Fowl
Farmers Association.
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