Training of Trainers - Library - Network of Aquaculture Centres in ...

Gender balanced staff recruitment is another key issue that needs to be considered and encouraged. In manyGovernments, there are very few women staff and in several cases, even when there are women staff, they aremainly based in the Head Office of the Government and assigned with paper work. Aquaculture developmentwould see greater success when there are gender sensitive staff in the field. In Philippines, Thailand and Vietnamwherein women staff constitute significant percentage in the Department are also confronted with manychallenges. Here too, women recognize the gender sensitization of staff as the key necessity and field problemsare not addressed due to lack of gender sensitive administration.Lessons learned and good practices:(a) Aquaculture is a powerful tool to alleviate poverty, improve nutrition of the family and improve the overalllivelihood of the family when used wisely with respect to environment and focus on gender issues (Vimala,et.al., 2004; Nandeesha, 2004).(b) Indigenous knowledge, culture and traditions should be respected. However, by analyzing the localculture and traditions from the global perspective and introducing changes gradually after gaining thecommunity confidence, it is possible to change the cultural practices that impede in bringing genderequality (Debashish, et.al., 2001).(c) By using family approach in training and intervention, it is possible to increase productivity andsustainability. In all training programs, make sure that both men and women are included in the training.While men can participate in trainings easily, trainings focused on women should have flexibleapproaches and such trainings should be held close to their residences (Nandeesha, 2004).(d) In many countries, literacy rate is low and particularly that of women. Hence, in training programs, focusshould be on learning by doing and use of as many tactile tools as possible. On farm training in realpractical situation would be most useful (Kibria, 2004).(e) Credit is a useful component to promote good aquaculture practices. Provision of credit without traininghas not benefited aquaculture. Recovery rate from women being almost cent percent in most cases, mostcredit programs target women to provide credit. However, when credit providers ensure that women takecontrol of the income earned from aquaculture, there is greater empowerment impact seen (Nathan andApu, 1998; Shelly, et.al., 2001).(f) Projects should facilitate people to assess their own risks and determine their own levels of investment,use of external inputs on both on farm and off farm.(g) Utilization of participatory approaches provide greater opportunities for the development interventions tosucceed.Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators:Some simple monitoring and evaluation indicators to measure women participation in small-scaleaquacultureIndicatorsPercentage of women in training programsVariety of training tools used in trainingLevels of utility on-farm and off farm resourcesImprovement in general nutritional well-being oflactating women, girls in puberty and well beingof boysDegree of women participation in aquacultureAccess to the resources generatedSources of verification toolsRecords of attendanceNumber of tactile tools developed, videos, usedin the trainingBio-resource map and culture recordsMeasurement of weight; amount of fishconsumed; measurement of upper arm radius;eye sight, etcBy measuring their perception percentagePerception measurement of women and thecommunity139