Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER
2
1.
Where does the experience take place?
The experience takes place in the northern region of Guatemala and includes thefollowing nine (9) municipalities in Alta Verapaz: Tamahú, Tucurú, La Tinta, Panzós,Senahú, Lanquín, Cahabón, Chahal and Fray Bartolomé de las Casas. As well as four(4) municipalities in Baja Verapaz: San Miguel Chicaj, Rabinal, Cubulco and Purulhá.The area has an extension of 6,000 square kilometers and an approximated populationof 356,000 inhabitants, 90% live in rural areas, disseminated in 744 ruralcommunities. There are several ethnic groups, as Q´eqchíes, Achíes, Pocomchíesindigenous groups.The area of Verapaces,
1
was severely affected by the internal armed conflict inGuatemala (1962-1996), most of
q’eqchis, pocomchis
and achis (Mayan ethnic groups)population suffered human rights violations, particularly against rural indigenouswomen. For several years, the region has suffered poverty, marginalization, and lackof infrastructure and services, isolating around 744 communities.A historical social problem in Verapaces region is the absence, or very low level, of education. The baseline study
2
established that 74% of women and 46% of men wereilliterate.
Women’s high illiteracy level
-together with the fact that they only speak their nativelanguage (particularly
Q’eqchi
population)- undoubtedly
directly affects women’s
participation in training processes, technical assistance and in activities that contributeto income generation.At the beginning of the activity, PRODEVER
’s area of influence had an approximated
population of 253,873 men and 129,373 women.
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1
Department of Alta and Baja Verapaz in the northern region of Guatemala
2
PRODEVER, Baseline Study, 2004
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PRODEVER, Diagnosis of Municipalities in the area of influence. 2002
Learning Route:
Tools to mainstream gender equity and women’s empowerment in IFAD’s projects: th
e experience of Central America
3
2.
What do we learn from this experience?
a.
Identify and analyze the gender approach adopted by PRODEVER, as well as theadoption/application
of the concepts “equity” and “empowerment” by theprogram’s technical team
.b.
Get to know and critically reflect on strategies developed by PRODEVER in order
to Foster gender equity and women’s empowerment based on: increased
incomes, strengthening of their participation in decision-making processes anddevelopment of their personal capacities and improvement of life conditions.c.
Analyze results and impacts of strategies to achieve gender equity andempowerment of women in the program.
3.
What are the milestones and key moments of the experience?Disadvantageous starting position of Maya women
The report of the Ex ante Assessment Mission
4
, states that
“
in rural communities,women have a postponed role
… women’s contribution to the familiar economy is
unknown, although they are engaged in farming and animal husbandry, handicraftsand other works, and also meet their daily hard household work. Their participation inthe community is limited and requires the approval of the male head of household,their participation in religious activities is also limited
.”
Gender diagnosis in the area of influence
During April and May 2003, the gender unit performed an assessment to determine thecondition and situation of men and women, the following is the information obtained: if women want to participate in development activities, they will have to hire someoneoutside the family to be in charge of the children and cooking; this is consider as afamily expense, to this we can add low educational level, ignorance of their rights, lowself-esteem, the invisibility of their work in productive activities, high percentage of illiteracy, Macho culture, lack of family planning, domestic workload, citizen insecurity.
Design of the Gender Operative Strategy
The main objective of the strategy is contributing to poverty reduction through thepromotion of activities in order to reduce current unequal relations, promoting theorganizational capacity, business vision and self-management capacity through theequitable distribution of resources.
And promote women’s access to and control over
services provided by PRODEVER
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FIDA. August 1999
Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER
4
Capacity building of communal organizations referred to in the component of local capacity building
This component encouraged the active participation of women, considering thestrategic lines to achieve business vision and self-management capacity, based ongender and ethnic equity, with full integration of environmental issues. The followingare some of the main lines:
a)
Organization: composed by four strategic elements: i) Legalize; ii) Strengthen;iii) Consolidate; and iv) Provide training and technical assistance for productionand commercialization.
b)
Community leaders: there are three elements at this level: i) Identify andprioritize problems and solutions; ii) Strengthen (self-esteem); and iii) Training(organizational, administrative and technical aspects).
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Create the conditions to reduce levels o
f indigenous women’s disadvantage
Based on the disadvantaged position of women compared with their fellow men,PRODEVER had to allocate resources for projects that were not included in its portfolio,such as: business literacy programs, reproductive health, gender and environmentalawareness, projects to reduce domestic workload, childcare. These projects wereessential to propitiate women´s inclusion in income-generating activities.
Gender awareness and training for PRODEVER’s technical team and for
companies providing services to ensure the applicability of gender approach
PRODEVER’s technical teams, as well as service pr
oviders, were sensitized and trainedon gender issues as a strategy to ensure the applicability of gender approach in ruralorganizations.
4.
What results and achievements have been obtained in terms of
management and women’s empowerment
?
“Before I didn’t even go to
Cobán
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because I was afraid, gradually we began toreceive support to travel to the capital and to
Antigua Guatemala…
now I haveeven went to Italy, I went on my own
… a
lthough I spent a day in Madrid, becausethe flight left me, I made it to Milan, where I took the products made by my fellow women from the association
…
I have also been to Nicaragua and Costa Rica,always with our products, I have been to other countries to see other institutionsand people, what are they doing, if they have our products,
…
what do they think about our products, all these with the support of PRODEVER
”
(Santos Sis Ixtecoc,Asociación Mujeres Unidas por el Trabajo, San Miguel Chicaj, B. V.
–
to the right of the picture). (Revista de sistematización de Experiencias, Restableciendo el TejidoSocial)
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PRODEVER. Local capacity building component
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Municipal City of Alta Verapaz
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