Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER

1. Where does the experience take place?

The experience takes place in the northern region of Guatemala and includes the following nine (9) municipalities in Alta Verapaz: Tamah, Tucur, La Tinta, Panzs, Senah, Lanqun, Cahabn, Chahal and Fray Bartolom de las Casas. As well as four (4) municipalities in Baja Verapaz: San Miguel Chicaj, Rabinal, Cubulco and Purulh. The area has an extension of 6,000 square kilometers and an approximated population of 356,000 inhabitants, 90% live in rural areas, disseminated in 744 rural communities. There are several ethnic groups, as Qeqches, Aches, Pocomches indigenous groups.

The area of Verapaces,1 was severely affected by the internal armed conflict in Guatemala (1962-1996), most of qeqchis, pocomchis and achis (Mayan ethnic groups) population suffered human rights violations, particularly against rural indigenous women. For several years, the region has suffered poverty, marginalization, and lack of 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 study2 established that 74% of women and 46% of men were illiterate. Womens high illiteracy level -together with the fact that they only speak their native language (particularly Qeqchi population)- undoubtedly directly affects womens participation in training processes, technical assistance and in activities that contribute to income generation. At the beginning of the activity, PRODEVERs area of influence had an approximated population of 253,873 men and 129,373 women.3

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Department of Alta and Baja Verapaz in the northern region of Guatemala PRODEVER, Baseline Study, 2004 3 PRODEVER, Diagnosis of Municipalities in the area of influence. 2002

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
2. What do we learn from this experience? a. Identify and analyze the gender approach adopted by PRODEVER, as well as the adoption/application of the concepts equity and empowerment by the programs technical team. b. Get to know and critically reflect on strategies developed by PRODEVER in order to Foster gender equity and womens empowerment based on: increased incomes, strengthening of their participation in decision-making processes and development of their personal capacities and improvement of life conditions. c. Analyze results and impacts of strategies to achieve gender equity and empowerment 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 Mission4, states that in rural communities, women have a postponed role womens contribution to the familiar economy is unknown, although they are engaged in farming and animal husbandry, handicrafts and other works, and also meet their daily hard household work. Their participation in the 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 the condition 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 someone outside the family to be in charge of the children and cooking; this is consider as a family expense, to this we can add low educational level, ignorance of their rights, low self-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 the promotion of activities in order to reduce current unequal relations, promoting the organizational capacity, business vision and self-management capacity through the equitable distribution of resources. And promote womens access to and control over services provided by PRODEVER

FIDA. August 1999

Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER

Capacity building of communal organizations referred to in the component of local capacity building This component encouraged the active participation of women, considering the strategic lines to achieve business vision and self-management capacity, based on gender and ethnic equity, with full integration of environmental issues. The following are some of the main lines:

a) b)

Organization: composed by four strategic elements: i) Legalize; ii) Strengthen; iii) Consolidate; and iv) Provide training and technical assistance for production and commercialization. Community leaders: there are three elements at this level: i) Identify and prioritize problems and solutions; ii) Strengthen (self-esteem); and iii) Training (organizational, administrative and technical aspects).5

Create the conditions to reduce levels of indigenous womens 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 environmental awareness, projects to reduce domestic workload, childcare. These projects were essential to propitiate womens inclusion in income-generating activities. Gender awareness and training for PRODEVERs technical team and for companies providing services to ensure the applicability of gender approach PRODEVERs technical teams, as well as service providers, were sensitized and trained on gender issues as a strategy to ensure the applicability of gender approach in rural organizations. 4. What results and achievements have been obtained in terms of management and womens empowerment? Before I didnt even go to Cobn6 because I was afraid, gradually we began to receive support to travel to the capital and to Antigua Guatemala now I have even went to Italy, I went on my own although I spent a day in Madrid, because the 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 institutions and 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, Asociacin Mujeres Unidas por el Trabajo, San Miguel Chicaj, B. V. to the right of the picture). (Revista de sistematizacin de Experiencias, Restableciendo el Tejido Social)

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PRODEVER. Local capacity building component Municipal City of Alta Verapaz

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America

At personal and organizational level Womens participation and insertion improved, they went from economically passive to active in charge of important directive positions. Self-esteem of women improved 100%, which is reflected in more confident women, always proposing improvements, without fear to express their ideas, defending their rights and building better human relations in their families, organizations and communities. Women established a direct relation with local governments, using internet, computers, being able internationally to enquire about fashion. Womens leadership was promoted in the department, investing strongly in training programs: literacy, reproductive health, self-esteem, domestic violence, organization, business management, production; in order to strengthen capacities and skills for them to succeed at personal, familiar and communal level. Indigenous women -qeqchies, achiles and pocomchies- developed marketoriented capacities, which they are now using in profitable business with the use of knowledge acquired and good practices. Womens self-esteem has improved, evident in their active participation (presence, voice and vote); they have also generated substantial incomes for the organization and their families. Women are using in a better way participative planning, giving priority to participative projects in their communities, promoting united groups, developing democratic processes and transparency. Greater transparency in financial-accounting management, proving to be good economists in rural areas, administrating scarcity in a better way, zero delinquency, pay loans of mens productive activities, showing their capacity in the administration of resources. Projects with female leadership, administrated by women, were more sustainable than projects administrated by men, womens projects have greater scale, included the entire community. Their vision is wider after going out of the communities; it is easy for them to replicate the experiences they visited in other projects. Women are generating their own incomes, which has contributed to improve life conditions that is reflected in improvements in health, education, housing and clothing. Success factors and difficulties in the implementation Gender equity in the program aimed at creating conditions to reduce existing inequities between men and women, in relation to their level of participation in decision-making, access to and control over resources. The gender approach was successfully included in the program, as consequence of the decided involvement of the programs coordination unit, as well as the technical staff, from the beginning of the program. Gender topics were included in all the activities of PRODEVER, technical teams and agents were trained7.
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FIDA. Evaluacin Intermedia. Dic. 2009.

Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER

PRODEVERs strategy, together with socio-economic investments and the promotion of literacy, reproductive health, gender and environment, have contributed to improve the active participation of women in the programs area of influence. Rural microenterprises have generated tangible benefits for their members, shareholders and collaborators, and have also created re-investment funds that have influenced capital growth, production and installed capacity Challenges Sensitize families on the equitable distribution of productive tasks and responsibilities among all the members of the family, as women still bear most of the workload. Promote among rural families the equitable distribution of incomes in health, education, food, and housing, administrated by women, as women have proved to be good administrators. Influence rural families to provide access to education for girls, boys and youth, to avoid repeating the disadvantaged situation of women of previous generations. 5. Who are the relevant stakeholders (public and private, inside and outside the territory) in the womens empowerment experience? IFAD: the countrys strategy includes promoting equal opportunities for men and women, financing to PRODEVER. FONAPAZ: provide financial resources to develop projects and actions in favor of men and women in the programs area of influence. PRODEVER: provide access to and control over resources and benefits to indigenous women in the area of influence. SEPREM: support through training on domestic violence, equality and equity policy. CENTRO DE JUSTICIA DE ALTA VERAPAZ. Training on human rights, gender, and domestic violence. MINISTRY OF LABOR. Labor rights. DEMI: training on indigenous womens rights. MINISTRY OF HEALTH: reproductive health program. APROFAM. Health services for women, Pap tests, surgeries. CONALFA: endorse business literacy programs.

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America

6. What tools and good practices implemented by PRODEVER have contributed to these achievements? Definition of internal organizational structure of field team Initially, the program designed an organizational strategy for field teams to encourage direct communication and relation with target population. This team was composed by 2 technicians, one from the productive area and the other from the social area, working in the area of intervention. The technicians were fluent in native languages; both were from the area in order to favor interaction. This strategy favored contact with organizations members and motivated the inclusion of women in all activities proposed by PRODEVER. Promotion and implementation activities for women of non agricultural income-generating

PRODEVER promoted the support of non agricultural activities for women, taking into consideration their situation and disadvantaged condition of no access to land, as well as their educative level. The following are some of the main activities promoted: handicrafts production, textiles, tourism and services; generating incomes in favor of women in the communities that have no participation in agricultural production. Training program for community representatives Three persons were trained as an affirmative action to break the culture of the same traditional representatives: 1 woman, 1 youngster and 1 adult; the process took 18 months during 3 years. Achievements of the training program: participation of men and women, being out their communities, sharing with other communities from other municipalities, horizontal exchanges. Legalization of pre-existing organizations, giving priority to organizations that have female and mixed directive boards and engaged in productive activities. Support to commercialization: visits, missions to markets, cultural exchange in the country and in other countries, such as Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Chile, as consequence their vision expanded and gain assurance in themselves to travel to the capital city. Study of gender analysis in regions served by the program It was used as baseline on gender. The study was used to understand the context of gender situation in the region at that moment; showing power conditions, positions and relations in rural families in Verapaces, in order to design an operative strategy in accordance with the reality of PRODEVERs area of intervention.

Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER

Design of the gender approachs operative strategy in Las Verapaces Said strategy was designed in accordance with the gender study and internal surveys with PRODEVERs team. The main elements of the strategy are the following: Develop an internal gender awareness and training program; it was an intense and permanent program. The program included conceptual aspects, such as domestic violence, self-esteem, among others, and application tools for each of the execution stages. Gender awareness and training for service providers; we developed an induction process as said professionals and technicians have little or no knowledge of gender issues, which didnt contributed with the gender approach. This process included concepts of awareness and the use practical tools. Gender awareness and training for PRODEVERs users and beneficiaries; the gender study showed that women were culturally relegated to household activities due to machismo, especially in the culture Qeqchi. Context-based programs were developed using participative methodology taking into consideration the low educative levels of target population, such as: socio-dramas, theater, videos, brainstorming, booklets, as part of the popular education methodology. Communal program of training, technical assistance, literacy and post literacy: the project developed a bilingual literacy program, as means to facilitate womens participation in development activities, reduce the high percentage of illiteracy among rural women (80%), and improve their capacity in order to contribute in local organizations and decision-making positions. The program also aimed at increasing womens knowledge for them to calculate production costs and control incomes and profits, strengthening their selfmanagement capacity and their access to and use of acquired knowledge. Post-literacy program: aimed at consolidating the literacy process started with the training program, technical assistance and communal literacy; promoting the participation of men and women in activities in order to strengthened their self-management capacity and improve their access to and use of knowledge acquired through the process. Allowing the analysis and understanding of training facilitated by PRODEVER, for women to administrate productive projects and contribute to generate incomes for their families, and thus to poverty reduction. Program Sustainable Management of Forest Resource: the project was designed to contribute to reduce working hours used by women in food processing, increase their participation in development activities, and optimize the volume of fuel used in familiar activities, reducing pressure over natural resources and adverse health effects, as well as hours dedicated to firewood collection. The project included a series of training on hygiene and health, stove maintenance, preparation of greenhouses and the direct participation of the family in the construction of the stove, assuring the appropriation of this knowledge. In this way, hours used for cooking and firewood collection reduced, fast growing species were cultivated to have firewood available near the houses, all this a year period.

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America

Definition and implementation of affirmative actions in favor of women Ensure through the Terms of Reference that service providers have mixed teams in the field (female and male technicians) Have the right attitude (for example, speak the native language, adapt to mens and womens schedules, etc.). Include men and women in productive, organizational and business trainings and technical assistance. Develop training processes in the native language of the area (Qeqch, Pocomchi, Ach), promoting the understanding and implementation. Organizations operative plans determine needs, activities and actions to be developed, in accordance with specific characteristics of women and men. Operation manuals in accordance with educative levels of organizations. Include men and women of the organization in exchange visits. Include in training processes or workshops the following: self-esteem, gender equity, leadership, conflict management, and decision-making. Use participative methodology and popular education. Development of awareness training material: 3 booklets were designed with the use of popular education to replicate the following topics: gender equity, human rights of Guatemalan women, reproductive health, business literacy manuals, plays in 3 languages of the area of influence. Indigenous women meeting: aimed at promoting the participation of indigenous women in development activities in the communities and strengthen their knowledge of rights and duties; and also make possible the participation of indigenous women in income-generating activities for the benefit of their families; leaders and entrepreneurs attended the meetings (an average of 50 women). Closing Gaps: the methodology Closing Gaps was used, it is a participative exercise in which organizations through a self-diagnosis measure the degree of gender equity, and then participants identify the required affirmative actions to reduce existing gaps between men and women. The methodology was applied in 42 communities, and the analysis showed gender inequalities in all of them, with greater or lesser degree. What are the lessons learned? General and specific objectives of the program were better achieved when womens active participation was promoted. The renewal of directive positions with women and youth improved representativeness and sustainability of organizations. The initiatives in which women were supported to achieve competitiveness, achieved the main income for family support. Women from rural areas use their incomes for education, and thus there is a better distribution of resources administrated by women. It is necessary to have a context of the initial gender situation when working with rural indigenous population, as life dynamics are very diverse.

7.

Gender Tools and Good Practices Applied by PRODEVER

Bilingual literacy processes have demonstrated that promote mobility and communication of women outside their context. Projects that count with some material activity are sustainable, as they include training processes. Educative visits and commercial missions outside the community improved selfconfidence of women and expanded their vision. Womens role as social controller has contributed to their active participation (presence, voice and vote) and to make decisions for the benefit of the organization.

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