PROGRESS REPORT

74 PROGRESS REPORT PROGRAM LEVEL PROGRESS REPORT 75
Crosscutting
Gender
More broadly, the Gender Program’s focus on building
capacity and awareness has enabled positive influence
on the agriculture component of GTP II’s design and
related Transformation Agenda deliverables. Specific
gender related approaches and/or targets in various
program areas include:
• Mechanization: at least 30% female participation
promoted in mechanization programs
• Cooperatives: increasing women’s membership and
engagement in leadership roles
Areas with Challenges
• Research: develop prototypes addressing female
farmers’ needs, and increase in number of female
researchers
• Extension: build capacity to address female farmers
extension needs
• Irrigation and drainage: engage women in irrigation
and water management
• Soil health & fertility: developing gender sensitive
soil fertility management extension methodologies
Why is transformation needed in this program area?
Women play a significant role in the Ethiopian
agricultural economy, which is predominantly
smallholder driven. The nature of smallholder farming
is such that production is organized around households
rather than as enterprises and thus draws on labor
primarily from household members. As such, women’s
roles are critical.
However, women face challenges that hinder their
effectiveness in the production process as well as
within the household. This is evidenced in more
challenging access to productive resources, such as
land and inputs (i.e., fertilizer, seed and credit). They
Objectives of the GTP I Transformation Agenda Deliverables
During GTP I, the Gender Program aimed to support
the mainstreaming of gender equality interventions
into various agricultural development programs.
Additionally, because of capacity limitations,
Overall Performance Summary
Of the three deliverables in the Gender Program,
one (33%) is classified as “On Track,” with two (67%)
“Slightly Delayed.”
On Track
Slightly Delayed
Significantly Delayed
Key Success Areas
67%
33%
Out of the three deliverables in the Gender Program,
one (33%) has been classified as being “On Track.”
In Deliverable 66 (Mainstreaming Gender), which
aims to integrate gender considerations in sectoral
policies/strategies and frameworks, stakeholders have
been engaged and aligned on key gender issues in
sub-sectoral strategies, such as extension, household
irrigation, cooperative development, research, and
sesame. Similarly, alignment has been reached
also have limited membership in farmer organizations,
often have insufficient engagement with agricultural
advisory services, have limited knowledge of improved
technologies, and limited decision-making ability within
the household.
These gender inequalities hinder the ability of farming
households to fully leverage women’s roles, holding
back smallholder agricultural production. All of this
means that female farmers are less able to benefit from
the agricultural growth process. Therefore, agricultural
transformation that is broad based and inclusive must
specifically address issues of gender equality.
compounded by low levels of awareness on how to
address gender issues, the focus during GTP I has
been on supporting capacity building to mainstream
gender across the agriculture sector.
The Gender Program includes support to
mainstreaming gender equality within the Agricultural
Transformation Agenda and three specific deliverables.
The focus of the work has been on the identification of
the root causes of ineffective mainstreaming of gender
in agricultural programs and policies, addressing
identified issues, and supporting the design of subsectoral
strategies (e.g., Extension Strategy) and sector
plans (A-GTP II) so that they integrate gender equality
considerations.
around key areas of emphasis for the agriculture
component of GTP II, in areas such as: reducing the
productivity gap between male and female farmers;
the need to target married women and female headed
households differently; development of female
friendly technologies within the research system;
and development of a gender responsive extension
system, thus improving women’s access to advisory
services, inputs, and participation in cooperatives.
Of the three program deliverables, two (67%) have
been classified as being “Slightly Delayed.”
Deliverable 67 (Gender Institutional Capacity
Building), related to enhancing institutional capacity
of the MoA and the RBoAs to mainstream gender
equality, has seen mixed progress. Some key
achievements made on this deliverable include:
• Assessment of gender mainstreaming capacity
gaps in the sector, with key findings addressed
through: (a) various sensitization events targeted at
the leadership and technical levels; and (b) capacity
building activities
• Completion of key studies to build knowledge base
on gender in agriculture
Nevertheless, there has been slow uptake of follow-up
activities, particularly at the federal MoA level and in
some regions.
Deliverable 68 (Womens Economic Leadership
(WEL) Project) involves a pilot project with four
women’s cooperatives, where support was provided
to empower women to engage in post-harvest
economic activities, including linking them with
private businesses and a local NGO for marketing and
Deliverable status and key achievements in primary thematic areas
Thematic
Area
Policies/
Strategies/
Regulations
Direct
Engagement
with SHFs
services. Though significant positive social results
were achieved and the targeted women’s groups have
been successfully organized into cooperatives, the
expected economic gains were not realized through
the pilot.
Nevertheless, there is alignment among key
stakeholders to provide ongoing support to the
cooperatives. Furthermore, key lessons related to
organizing women within cooperatives and in business
activities have been gained that will serve to help
design improved support systems for rural women’s
economic empowerment.
More broadly, it should be noted that addressing
gender issues requires major changes in mindset and
practice. Areas for further attention include:
• Expanding assessments and studies on gender to
cover wider issues
• Collection and interpretation of relevant gender
sensitive data
• Stakeholder alignment for lesson sharing and
scale-up
• Comprehensive capacity building plans along with
dedicated resources
Deliverable Status Key Achievements
D66: Mainstream gender
priorities into key agricultural
policies and frameworks
D67: Enhance the institutional
capacity of MoA and RBoAs
to improve implementation
of gender mainstreaming
approaches in priority
intervention areas
D68: Design and pilot
a project to strengthen
women’s economic
empowerment in cooperative
structure
Completed Results:
• Stakeholders aligned on gender issues within selected
sub-sector strategies and in the agriculture component of
GTP II
Progress to Date:
218 stakeholder experts trained
• Three regional workshops on gender audit findings and
related actions conducted
7 institutions strengthened/capacitated
• 4 RBoAs and three MoA affiliate institutions (i.e. seed,
investment and livestock) strengthened
Completed Results:
1 innovative concept piloted
• Project linking primary coops with private businesses and
local NGO piloted