Gender Research Fellowship Programme Inception Workshop, 15 - 19 August 2013 Kuching, Malaysia Workshop Report Co-organized by Bioversity International and University of Freiburg, Centre for Anthropology and Gender Studies Marlene Elias (Bioversity Malaysia) Choo Kwang Yan (Bioversity Malasia) Maria Fernandez (ISG, HRF Bioversity) Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 1 FOREWORD Between 15-19 April, 22 scientists met in Kuching, Malaysia, to launch the Gender Research Fellowship Programme that Bioversity coordinates as part of the CGIAR Research Programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. The five-day inaugural workshop brought together biophysical and social scientists from around the world to discuss why gender considerations matter in research on forest genetic resources. Participants included Bioversity scientists as well as national partners and gender fellows working on four collaborative projects in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. Social scientists conducting gender research in other CGIAR centres, including ICRAF and World Fish, as well as academics from the University of Freiburg’s Centre for Anthropology and Gender Studies, which co-organized the workshop with Bioversity, also took an active part in the workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Maria Fernandez from International Support Group (ISG). Through a participatory, learning-by-doing process, participants identified the major gender considerations relating to their work. Gender fellows also agreed to study several gender issues in a comparative way, across projects and socio-economic contexts; namely, gendered knowledge of tree resources, gendered access to resources and to markets for non-timber forest products, and local organizations that can help women to collectively overcome the constraints they face in their daily lives. The workshop participants’ eclectic backgrounds and perspectives stimulated vigorous discussions on these themes throughout the week. The workshop also focused on the potential participatory research holds for triggering gender transformative processes that can make tree use and management more sustainable while promoting gender equality. Participants practiced using various participatory methods that encourage learning through action and reflection. They also spent a day in the field acquiring first-hand experience using these methods with women and men from Kampung Kakeng, a village surrounded by a lush forest teeming with biodiversity. For many of the participants, this was a first attempt to integrate gender-responsive social analyses in their work on tree genetic resources. For others, it was an initiation to participatory, social learning approaches that can build on local traditions of biodiversity management, and foster positive social changes in the communities where they work. As participants parted ways, they agreed that bridging the social and biophysical sciences, and doing research in a participatory way, are essential to generate relevant, meaningful, and quality research results that promote social equity and the conservation of forest genetic resources. This report attempts to capture, largely through the use of photographs, the dynamic interactions and activities that occurred during the week-long workshop. Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 2 THE WORKSHOP Day 1 - 15 April 2013 Day 1 was an introduction to the workshop and focused on thinking about some of the key gender issues in research on forest genetic resources Welcome and presentation on “Linking social and biological diversity in forestry research.” Marlène Elias Keynote address: Introduction to the University of Freiburg team and its role in documenting the workshop; Examining the Fellows’ role of bridging the social and environmental sciences Marion Mangelsdorf Expectations: What did participants expect from the workshop? Figure 1 - Expectations from the workshop Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 3 Workshop Objectives: 1. Allow fellows to design a gender responsive research strategy and work plan; 2. Strengthen skills in a set of participatory research tools that support gender transformative research; 3. Design of a system of documentation that will allow for sharing knowledge and information with the local communities and other researchers. Getting to Know Each Other: participant presentations in pairs. Rules of the Game: Participants established rules they felt should be followed to make the workshop an optimal forum for discussion Figure 2 - Rules of the Game Identifying Gender Knowledge Gaps at Project Level: Group work: Participants were asked to identify the most important gender knowledge gaps in their projects and to present their findings in plenary. Team 1: Beyond Timber: Reconciling the needs of logging industries with those of the forest- dependent people; Cameroon, Congo Basin Fellow: Ms Yvonne Kiki Nchanji Partner institute: Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 4 Goal: To reconcile the needs of logging companies and the local people Observations: • The role/importance of NTFPs have been overstated, whereas agriculture, hunting, and illegal logging seem to be more important in the study sites. • Competition is mainly for the same resources, different uses. Achievements to date: • Better knowledge of the area, good collaboration with local people and concessioners. Challenges: • Getting full participation of national partners, lack of funding. Gender issues needing to be addressed: • Distribution of work between men and women; gendered access to land, labour, income and decision making. • Gendered changes in access to resources, markets. Team 2: In situ and on-farm conservation of wild and domesticated tropical fruit tree diversity; South and Southeast Asia Fellows: Ms Faridah Aini Muhammad; Mr Narasinha Hegde National partner institutes: Department of Agriculture, Malaysia; LIFE Trust, India. Goal: Conservation and sustainable use of cultivated and wild tropical fruit trees to promote sustainable livelihoods, food security and ecosystem services. Achievements to date: India: • Identified and conserved endangered varieties of mango and Garcinia spp • Strengthened women’s groups involvement in nurseries • Established mango processing activities Malaysia: • Identified and documented native fruit diversity (Community Fruit Catalogues) • Established community fruit nurseries • Identified activities on conservation (Diversity Block) and sustainable uses of identified local fruit species, fruit processing and agrotourism Challenges: India: • Lack of appropriate knowledge and technology in processing (Garcinia spp. and mango) • Sustainable management of Garcinia spp. and mango Malaysia: • Engaging local community in conservation activities • Mechanism to sustain activities after project ends Gender issues needing to be addressed: Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 5 Women and men may have different priorities for their resources, therefore specific knowledge of women’s and men’s needs to considered, including in research and development. Areas to be considered are gendered knowledge, priority setting, roles, power relationships and interests in participating in the project. Key aspects identified are: • Women’s groups’ interest in working together as a team in their community. • Women’s voice in decision making must be strengthened. • Appropriate methods/tools are required to involve local/indigenous women’s groups in resource management and decision making. • Correct methodologies/skills are needed to strengthen women’s participation in conserving fruit tree diversity. • How can we measure improvement and equality of women’s and men’s participation which will contribute to improving livelihoods in the community? Team 3: Conservation of fruit tree diversity for livelihoods and nutrition; Central Asia Fellow: Mr Kanaat Musuraliev National partner institute: Innovation Centre of Phytotechnologies of National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzstan Goal: Ensure the availability of fruit tree diversity for improved livelihoods. Achievements to date: • Partnerships established among stakeholders. • Knowledge of diversity of fruit trees and distribution, management including traditional knowledge • Regional and national databases, web portals, demo plots and nurseries established. • Strengthened policy and capacity to conserve fruit tree diversity; new protected areas, ABS guidelines. • Roster on local fruit tree varieties, regional and national training centers, agro- theaters. • Linkages and collaborations at national/regional levels. Challenges: • Hesitation of farmers in sharing knowledge with researchers, and researchers’ lack of experience in dealing with farmers. • Cultural mentality. Gender issues needing to be addressed: • Role of women and men in decision making concerning marketing and prices for forest products. Joint consultation on use of fruit harvests (to whom and at what price to sell?). Knowledge on processing and storage of forest products. • What do men and women know about fruit tree diversity (varieties) and farm management (time of planting, pruning etc)? How do they share this knowledge with each other? Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 6 Presentation on Gender Transformative Approaches Miranda Morgan Miranda gave an overview of what is meant by gender transformative approaches and facilitated an exercise asking participants to place statements about ways of doing research along the continuum from gender-blind to gender-aware to gender-transformative Figure 3 - Understanding the key characteristics of gender transformative approaches Some comments and questions from Miranda's presentation include: • How can gender transformations take place and how can this experience be guided? • Seminars and workshops can be avenues of learning for researchers and participants. • How can we document gender transformations as part of the research process? • How can the community benefit as a whole from gender transformations? It is important for men to know that the whole community benefits from positive gender transformations. Presentation on practical case studies of how gender transformations can occur throughout research processes centered on forest genetic resources Bhuwon Sthapit Following Bhuwon’s presentation, where examples were given of research approaches facilitating women’s empowerment processes, workshop participants were asked to identify events from the presentation that were critical for triggering gender transformation (pink cards in figure 3). These were then placed on a timeline, showing how these events build on each other in the change process. Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 7 Participants were also asked to record reflections on how gender transformative approaches to research can lead to transformations in the field, based on Miranda’s presentation (green cards in figure 3) Figure 4 –Gender transformations through the research process Day 2 - 16 April 2013 Day 2 focused on establishing common themes for comparative gender research and on thinking about how research processes can foster positive gender transformations Revisiting the most important gender gaps and prioritizing them using rainbow diagrams: Working in mixed-project groups, participants were asked to review what they felt were the most significant gender issues needing to be considered across projects (activity from Day 1) and to place these on a rainbow diagram to evaluate their relevance to the participants’ research projects. Various issues, organized in three overarching categories, were originally agreed upon as requiring immediate research attention in all the projects: • Gendered knowledge (of tree resources and management processes) • Gendered access to trees and their products, as well as to markets • Gendered tasks and responsibilities Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 8 Participants were then asked whether answering questions related to these themes would have a low, medium or high potential to foster positive gender-transformations in the communities where they work. Cards listing the different gender issues considered were placed in the appropriate sections of the rainbow diagram. Figure 5 - The Rainbow Diagram It was then agreed that an important gender issue was missing from the list: organizations that foster collective action and promoting women’s empowerment. Across projects, the four following themes were then selected for comparative research across projects: • Gendered knowledge of tree resources and management processes • Gendered access to resources (trees and their products) • Gendered access to markets • Organizations Comments in plenary: • There was no discussion of women’s rights when identifying key issues. • We must look to the future: what can be done to make things more equitable? • How can men and women share useful information on management plans and policy? • There is a connection between knowledge and power. • Do people know what they know? How does research value local (gendered) knowledge and management systems? • How can we build on local women and men's knowledge and existing strengths? Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 9 • Importance of sharing knowledge between men and women. • Platforms can be created for sharing knowledge & information. • Transformations might not happen individually, but collectively. • Must identify interventions with the right questions/tools. • Differences between the rich and poor (not just women and men) in access to resources must be examined. • Development challenges within communities are multi-scalar and rest in customary rights as well as with the government and international policies. • What happens after research projects end? How can transformations be sustained? Figure 6 - Research Questions Identified Presentation of the Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the Gender Research Fellowship Programme Marlène Elias The ToRs were discussed at length in plenary. The idea of producing a collaborative output (one collaborative article co-authored by Gender Fellows or one article per Gender Fellow— and project team—and compiled in a special journal issue) was introduced. The discussion centered on: • The need to define a clear process about how to develop a common product. Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 10 • The time and guidance required to develop a common product. • The need for a writeshop towards the end of the Fellowship Programme Presentation on intersectionality: why other social categories (age, wealth, ethnicity, etc.) must be considered along with gender in social analyses Marion Mangelsdorf, Julia Gerbig, Kristian Gaeckle Figure 7 - Demonstrating "Intersectionality" Design of a Research Strategy Working in cross-project groups, participants were asked to design a work plan to address three of the four gender issues listed above to be studied across projects. Figure 8 - Group Discussion on designing a work plan for conducting comparative gender research Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 11 Figure 9 - Presentation of a work plan for conducting comparative gender research Before closing the day’s activities, each fellow with her/her project team was asked to prepare a work plan and research strategy for their fellowship research, to be presented on the last day of the workshop. Day 3 - 17 April 2013 Day 3 focused on a set of participatory tools that can be used to support gender transformative research. Presentation on key principles of Collaborative Inquiry Maria Fernandez Participants were asked to identify some of the tools used to facilitate the first two days of the workshop. Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 12 Figure 10 - Using some of the tools learned in group work Group work: Using Venn diagrams Four groups were tasked with putting together Venn diagrams to depict relational information of various types. The groups focused on these four topics: • Market linkages • Stakeholder analysis • Network analysis • Community relationships One person per group was selected as a key informant, who provided the information used to create the diagrams. Figure 11 – Venn diagram on market linkages in Garcinia spp. products value chain Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 13 Figure 12 - Venn Diagram on social network analysis centered on smallholder oil palm farmers in Cameroon. Presentation on participatory scoring and ranking exercises among women and men in an agroforestry project in Sulawesi, and comparing women’s and men’s perceptions of each other’s involvement in different farming activities. Elok Mulyoutami Presentation on the participatory value chain approach, and ways to make this approach gender-responsive Hugo Lamers Presentation on Four cell analysis to examine (and enhance) women’s and men’s knowledge of biodiversity within their farming and forest systems. Bhuwon Sthapit Gender-segregated group work: Gendered priorities and knowledge exercise Task: You have US$50 to buy food for the week for your family of 4: make your shopping list! Conclusions: men’s and women’s perspectives and knowledge can differ; gender also shapes our own lives, not only those of the women and men who participate in our studies. Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 14 Figure 13 - The women's group focused on the daily staples and tried to make some savings Figure 14 – Reflecting on the exercise Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 15 Group work: Timeline exercise. One participant per group identified key events from the past 20 years of his/her life, and key current events in his/her life. These were placed on the timeline. The participant then envisioned the next 20 years of his/her life: what would he/she like to see happen in the future, building on past experiences? Figure 15 - Timeline exercise - What would you be doing 20 years from now? Day 4 - 18 April 2013 Day 4 involved a field trip to a local community to practice using participatory tools to conduct gender-responsive research. Workshop participants arrived in Kampung Kakeng and met with local community members. Once introductions were completed, workshop participants broke out into four groups; two groups of men and two of women. The men worked with groups of men from the village, while the women facilitated participatory exercises with groups of women from the village. The participatory tools used to examine issues related to local biodiversity were: Venn diagrams, timelines, and four cell analysis. Local women and men participants appreciated the exercise and presented the results back to plenary. Lunch was served for all participants, and a torrential downpour prevented the planned visit to the village’s biodiversity block and nursery from happening. Workshop participants returned to Kuching after lunch, and debriefed the day’s experiences. Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 16 Figure 16 - The women's group hard at work doing four cell analysis Figure 17 - The men's group at work working on what will become a Venn diagram Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 17 Figure 18 - Timeline and envisioning exercise for the village, according to one women’s group Figure 19 - Venn Diagram: Institutional analysis of the village, by a group of men participants Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 18 Figure 20 – Local participant presenting her group’s timeline Figure 21 – Customary farewell dance with the community Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 19 Day 5 - 19 April On Day 5, the goal was to present the Fellow’s workplans, agree on collaborative outputs for the Fellowship Programme, discuss ways to share research results with the communities, and wrap-up the workshop. Presentation of fellows’ work plans and discussion in plenary. Fellows: Yvonne Kiki Nchanji, Narasimha Hegde, Faridah Aini Muhammad, Kanaat Musuraliev Plenary discussion on ways to share research result with communities Ideas: • Draw on local talent to disseminate research results • Community Primer (local language) • Local newspaper/radio/leaflets • Leave organized information in the community • Participatory film making e.g. on use of resources by gender • Posters with results and calendar • Theater performances • Focus group discussions contribute to learning in their own right • Consolidate role of custodian farmers/knowledge • Engage local people in collecting information • Community Biodiversity catalogues - fruit, recipes, forest (by gender) Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 20 Fellows must budget time and money for these types of activities/products (one or more) in their work plan. Members of all the project teams agreed that they would work towards a common product: either an article co-authored by the gender fellows (and other project team members, if appropriate) or separate articles to be submitted as part of a compilation for a special issue to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Other members of the project teams and the Bioversity coordinator reaffirmed their commitment to support Fellows in this pursuit. Next steps: by 15 May, Fellows should update their respective work plans with: • Clear MAIN research questions (2 -3 common questions) • Common research questions about gendered knowledge, access to forest resources, access to markets, and local organizations to be developed (select at least two themes) • Specific sub-questions to be identified for each main question • Tools (minimum 2 -3) chosen for usefulness in the context where fellows will be working • Number of communities with whom the Fellow will be working, numbers of visits to each community, length of time in each; how were communities selected? • How to form focus groups: o Which differentiating factors (e.g. gender, age, wealth) will be used? o How will participants or groups be selected and invited to participate? A Google group will be established for fellows to communicate throughout the year. Workplans should be posted on this Google group. Workshop Evaluation What was liked about the workshop? • The interactions, group discussions, sharing of ideas and togetherness • Active learning, nice mix of activities (group work and plenary sessions) • Workshop without agenda, group learning, doing things using participatory approaches with active participation for all participants • Dynamic learning process • Stepping into a 'different' field; interesting to see how people work in different fields What was disliked about the workshop? • Some language barriers • Field visit experience not completely satisfactory • Having subjects to digest and not enough time for in-depth discussions • No discussions on gender impact indicators: empowerment, confidence and decision-making Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 21 Revisiting expectations Participants were asked to retrieve their expectations (cards written at the beginning of the workshop) from the ‘expectations’ table if these had been met. Interestingly, all expectations were collected (except those of the absentees)! Thank you and closing of workshop Marlène Elias Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 22 Gender Research Fellowship Workshop Kuching, Malaysia, 15-19 April 2013 Participants List Name Institute Email Barbara Vinceti Bioversity International Via del Tre Denari, 472/a 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy Website - www.bioversityinternational.org b.vinceti@cgiar.org Bhuwon Sthapit Bioversity International , India Office National Agriculture Science Centre (NASC), Dev Prakash Shastri Marg, Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110 012, India Website - www.bioversityinternational.org b.sthapit@cgiar.org Choo Kwong Yan Bioversity International, Malaysia Office P.O. Box 236, UPM Post Office, Serdang, 43400 Selangor Darul Ehsan Website - ww.bioversityinternational.org k.choo@cgiar.org Elok Mulyoutami World Agroforestry Centre Southeast Asia Regional Programme JL. CIFOR, Situ Gede, Sindang Barang, Bogor 16115,PO Box 161, Bogor 16001 Indonesia Website -www.worldagroforestrycentre.org e.mulyoutami@cgiar.org Faridah Aini Muhammad Agriculture Extension & Agrobased Industry Division Department Of Agriculture Malaysia 30, Persiaran Perdana, Presint 4, Putra Jaya, Malaysia Website - www.doa.gov.my faridah@doa.gov.my Hugo Lamers Bioversity International , India Office National Agriculture Science Centre (NASC), Dev Prakash Shastri Marg, Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110 012, India Website - www.bioversityinternational.org h.lamers@cgiar.org Julia Gerbig Centre for Anthropology and Gender Studies, University of Freiburg Belfortstr. 20, D-79098 Freiburg, Germany Julia.gerbig@gmx.de Kanaat Musuraliev The Innovation Centre of Phytotechnology, National Academy of Sciences of The Kyrgyz Republic National Academy of Science of The Kyrgyz Republic 720071, Bishkek City, Chui Prospect 267, Office 130 kanaat m@yahoo.com Kayirkul Shalpikov The Innovation Centre of Phytotechnology, National Academy of Sciences of The Kyrgyz Republic National Academy of Science of The Kyrgyz Republic 720071, Bishkek City, Chui Prospect 267, Office 130 abd kyrgyz@mail.ru Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 23 Kristian Manuel Gäckle Master Programme in Gender Studies, Centre for Anthropology and Gender Studies, University of Freiburg, Belfortstr. 20, D-79098 Freiburg, Germany Kristian.gaeckle@t-online.de Maria Fernandez International Support Group/ Bioversity International Website - www.isginternational.org/ iwww.bioversityinternational.org mefernandezme@gmail.com Marion Mangelsdorf Centre for Anthropology and Gender Studies, University of Freiburg Belfortstr. 20, D-79098 Freiburg, Germany Website - http://www.genderstudies.uni- freiburg.de/ marion.mangelsdorf@t- online.de Marlène Elias Bioversity International, Malaysia Office P.O. Box 236, UPM Post Office, Serdang, 43400 Selangor Darul Ehsan Website - www.bioversityinternational.org marlene.elias@cgiar.org Miranda Morgan World Fish Centre Jalan Batu Maung, Batu Maung, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia Website - http://www.worldfishcenter.org/ m.morgan@cgiar.org Mohd Hafizul Husin Agriculture Extension & Agrobased Industry Division Department Of Agriculture Malaysia 30, Persiaran Perdana, Presint 4, Putra Jaya, Malaysia Website - www.doa.gov.my hafizul@doa.gov.my Muhabbat Turdieva Bioversity International c/o The CGIAR Programme Facilitation Unit (PFU) for Central Asia and the Caucasus, ICARDA, P.O. Box 4564 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Website - www.bioversityinternational.org m.turdieva@cgiar.org Narasinha Hegde Livelihood and Forest Ecology (LIFE) Laxmi Venkatesh Chowkimath (T V Station Road) Sirsi - 581401 Karnataka, India Website - www.lifesirsi.org lifetrusts@gmail.com Patrice Levang Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) C/o IITA Humid Forest Ecoregional Center B.P. 2008, Yaounde, Cameroon Website - www.cifor.org p.levang@cgiar.org Pearlycia Brooke Agriculture Research Centre Semongok Department Of Agriculture, Sarawak, Malaysia Website - www/doa.sarawak.gov.my pearlycb@sarawaknet.gov.my Shariah Umar Agriculture Research Centre Semongok Department Of Agriculture, Sarawak, Malaysia Website - www/doa.sarawak.gov.my Shaum.arc@gmail.com Gender Research Fellowship Programme - Kuching Inception Workshop Report 24 Sovetbek Kenjabaev Institute of Walnut Cultivation and Fruits Crops, National Academy of Sciences of The Kyrgyz Republic National Academy of Science of The Kyrgyz Republic 720907, Jalal-Abad City, Osmonova Street 130 sovken@gmail.com Yvonne Kiki Nchanji Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) C/o IITA Humid Forest Ecoregional Center B.P. 2008, Yaounde, Cameroon Website - www.cifor.org ynchanji@gmail.com