Womens Participation in Productive Processes with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Development

1.

Where does the experience take place?

ACPAFRUNAN de R.L experience takes place in the village of La Mosquitia, Loma del Muerto Canton, Sonsonate Municipality and Department, El Salvador, 3 kilometers northeast from the center of the Municipality. The organization is composed of 15 persons, 11 women and 4 men; the organizational structure is the following: an Administrative Council (4 women and 1 man), a Surveillance Board (4 women and 1 man) and 2 Support Committees, Production and Commercialization, each composed of 3 women. It is located in a rural area, where the main economic activities are focused on basic grains, such as maize, beans and sorghum. Families have an average plot extension of one manzana (approximately 0.70 ha) and as second activity production and commercialization of nance fruit (Byrsonima crassifolia). The organization was legally incorporated in August 2006, as an alternative to improve nance quality and improve its commercialization conditions. The following are some of the institutions involved with this experience: the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG by its Spanish acronym) through the fruit trees program and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) that contributed with technical advice on agronomic and post-harvest management; the program MAG-PREMODER that financed the investment and the technical assistance for nance processing plant and, later, the support of other instances, such as the Ministry of Economy through the National Commission for small and micro enterprises (CONAMYPE), as well as other institutions, such as the Agency for the Local Economic Development of Sonsonate (Agencia de Desarrollo Econmico Local de Sonsonate) (ADEL Sonsonate) and the non-governmental organization TECHNOSERVE that supported the process of teams strengthening. 2. What do we learn from this experience?

We learn about the associations creation and strengthening process, based on nance harvesting by women, and involving the participation of men and their families in traditionally female activities. We identify the tools and good practices implemented by PREMODER that have contributed to strengthen the associations management and that have promoted greater gender equity in the nance value chain. Identify successful processes linking stakeholders and institutions that have allow strengthening the work of the organization. Analyze enablers and obstacles faced by womens productive associations that take part in production and commercialization, identifying successful strategies and projects contributions. Identify impacts of strengthening the association management, for the association and for nance productive chain, as well as the impacts of said changes in members and their families. Identify changes aimed at reducing gender gaps in the organization and the impact of these processes on their members (men and women), their families, communities, and

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
the tools implemented by PREMODER that have been efficient to promote said changes. 3. What are the key moments of the experience?

Operation as Group (early in 2005): the group was composed by 20 persons (16 women and 4 men) that used to individually produce, harvest and sell nance fruit to intermediaries, and used to get together to receive technical assistance from MAGIICA -mainly through the Fruit Trees Program- on agronomic management of nance trees, grafts techniques, establishment of nurseries; in this way, emerged the idea of creating a formal organization; negotiations to develop an organizational training program started with the Department of Agricultural Associations of the MAG. Contact with MAG-PREMODER (2005): concurrently with the legalization process, the MAG-IICA contacted us with PREMODER and we received the first visits of the Programs staff to get to know the group and analyze support possibilities, in accordance with the requirements established; in this way, the pre-investment documents were prepared, said documents are the following: a Participative Diagnosis to analyze the groups situation in organizational, productive, marketing aspects, as well as available resources, business proposal and gender situation; Organizational Strengthening Plan that includes a strengthening proposal for the different areas based in the situation identified; and the Business Plan that defines with detail the business projection in productive terms, marketing, financial aspects, as well as for the organization itself. Obtaining Legal Status and beginning the organizational strengthening process with PREMODER funds (2006): the association became a formal organization with legal status, complying with one of the requirements of the Program; the organizational strengthening process started in the pre-investment phase, strengthening capacities in the following areas: productivity, associativity, gender and management, through training sessions, exchange visits, specific consultancies, among others. Later that year, land was acquired to build the nance processing and packaging plant, it was an installment acquisition to be paid in 6 years, the contract was with a person from the community, the total amount is $ 6,000.00, and 50% has already been paid. Projects approval (2007): the project to build and acquire equipment for the processing plant was approved by MAG-PREMODERs investment committee. Plants construction and equipment (2008): the first stage of the plant was built, women were in charge of the materials, they worked in shifts, leaving their children with relatives or with their husbands, at each construction stage they contributed with labor, as well as their families labor, hauling water, materials, preparing mix and other construction activities. Plants operation (2009): the operation process started, the associations fiscal system was legalized, in order to formally trade in the market; funds extension was required from PREMODER, to adapt the plant to sanitation requirements. At this phase, an expert provided training on food production process in accordance with quality norms and standards, good practices, equipments use and management, among others, through theoretical-practical sessions and visits to similar enterprises. Alliances with other institutions (2010): as result of the organizational growth, alliances were made with the NGOs TECHNOSERVE and ADEL Sonsonate. They have contributed with the process of teams strengthening, as well as raw material to

Womens Participation in Productive Processes with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Development
prepare shampoo and soap. The National Commission of Small and Micro Enterprises (CONAMYPE) supported with accounting and marketing training. Adaptation of the plant, commercial permits and records (2011): currently, we have adapted the plant in accordance with established sanitary regulations, permits have been obtained, 10 products count with sanitary registration, brand registry, and 6 products have code bar, among them: nance pulp, coconut, strawberry, nance jam, mango, loquat, jocote and nance in syrup. 4. What are the results and achievements?

ACPAFURNAN that has been a legal entity for 5 years, is an organization composed mostly by women. The organization has worked hard on strengthening the socialorganizational and productive-entrepreneurial aspects, through trainings, technical assistance, consultancies, visits, exchange of experiences, among others. Participation has been strategic to achieve the favorable results at personal, familiar and organizational level. The following are the most relevant aspects: PROGRESS IN WOMENS PARTICIPATION, EMPOWERMENT AND GENDER EQUITY Personal and familiar level Women have improved self-esteem levels, as they trust themselves, are aware of womens rights, and the value they have in their families and communities. They face challenges in their personal, familiar and organizational lives with greater maturity and serenity, identifying alternatives. They have achieved leadership and recognition from their families and communities, evident in the respect for their points of view and decisions. In the families, income Im proud of my mother, being successful in this stage of her life; and generation allows improving the because she has achieved her goals and objectives, there is a great diet and covers -in a better waychange in her life, thanks to her participation in the organization and some basic needs, their trainings, now she is more active and happier. Im also happy because economic contribution is I take part in some events of the organization. recognized by the husbands, as household incomes have Mara Ins Rodrguez Aquino increased. Before the project, Members daughter incomes were irregular and scarce due to the low price of nance fruits in the area. Communication in the family has improved, there is greater recognition of personal work, the entire family has better organization of time, distributing the housework between all the members, including husbands and sons; members daughters have been include in organizations activities. Organizational and entrepreneurial level The organization manages a social-entrepreneurial approach, as the group conceives the cooperative as an economic entity that generates jobs and benefits, expecting surplus for the future, but without neglecting the human aspect; this approach has been achieved through capacity building in productive aspects, as well as commercialization, administration, associativity and gender equity that have allow human development. Women lead the business and the organization, men are members that work outside the community, and thus they spend less time in the organization, but support the decisions; women produce, commercialize and take part

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
in different events organized by several institutions, they also take part in the production of nante as raw material, in the same way as men do, and sometimes they work during the harvest. Another important achievement is that the business has become a heritage for the organization; families expect it to grow and be inherited by their sons and daughters. This effort has given added value to the nance; before the project, they used to sell the fruit to intermediaries without the possibility of negotiating prices and many times the fruits got spoiled. Women also consider meaningful the degree of solidarity, team work and the feeling that the business belongs to all the members, for this reason they make all the efforts to take care of the resources and work responsibly. Currently, the business generates 7 jobs for 6 women and 1 man, in production and commercialization; they receive $0.62 per production hour and 10% of sales. Production work is distributed between men and women; the job starts with nante production, this job is performed by men and some women; women are in charge of the harvest and the process, including: disinfection, excoriation of raw material, washing and sanitation, scaling, pulping, and pasteurization after refrigeration; likewise, they produce jams, syrups, among others, using good production practices. The business has an integral work plan that includes nante processing and commercialization, but also production of raw material, social actions, management and organizational strengthening. Success factors and main constrains One of the factors that have Being part of ACPAFRUNAN de R.L. has been a wonderful contributed to the achievements experience, to achieve this project has been a great challenge, at has been the entrepreneurial spirit the beginning we didnt have infrastructure and with PREMODERs of the women, their desire to support we have a processing plant, equipment and installed move ahead. Another factor was capacity to move ahead the business. God had given me the PREMODERs support methodology opportunity of belonging to the business and for this reason I will that besides the investment funds continue fighting with my fellow women has financed technical assistance in productive, entrepreneurial, Antonia Garca accounting, organizational and Local manager and member of the production committee gender areas, through the contract of specialized technical staff, following PREMODERs guide in each of the areas. In this way, women have strengthened their economic and social capacities. Other institutions have also supported these efforts, such as CONAMYPE, ADEL Sonsonate and TECNOSHERVE, and FUDEM has supported in the social area, Health Unit, among others. Other enabling factors have been the highly capable local manager, the contact with other womens entrepreneurial experiences and having in the organization women that are studying, as for example, one member from the commercialization committee studies marketing as a response to the associations need. Main obstacles At the beginning, the main obstacles were related to problems in the household, due to the time spend in the business, and this was not understood; some members left

Womens Participation in Productive Processes with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Development
because they didnt have economic resources to pay their contribution for the land; criticism from other women in the community; rivalry in the communal direction. Currently, the obstacles are lack of right-of-way to access the plant and some producers dont want to sell nance to the cooperative. Some of the obstacles have been overcome, for the others we are still looking for alternatives. 5. What tools and good practices implemented by PREMODER have contributed to this achievements? Since the organization acquired legal status, it has counted with the support of PREMODER that contributed with technical staff, who has guided the entire process through consultancies, trainings, visits, exchange of experiences, technical assistance in weak areas, for example, in the productive process in the plant, management, marketing, commercialization, gender equity, accounting and organizational operation, using participative methodologies. The following strategies, methodologies and tools have been developed: PREMODERs guidelines include gender approach in the work; this allows addressing gender through the entire process. Elaboration of pre-investment studies: with PREMODERs support an organizational diagnosis was prepared that allowed identifying resources, strengths, constrain and external factors that could affect or contribute in the implementation of the business. Then, an organizational strengthening plan was prepared, in order to overcome constrains and weaknesses identified through the diagnosis. Later, a business plan was prepared, in order to define and design the nance processing project, each tool includes gender approach. Direct resources management by the organization. This includes financing for technical assistance, infrastructure and equipment investment, through the transfer of PREMODERs funds to the organization. In this way, we learned about the necessary administrative procedures to pay services, procurement, and banks accounts management, among others. Women got empowered in financial administration. Likewise, in the selection process of administrative and technical staff with the support of PREMODER. The process included contracting a local manager, a woman member got the position, she received training, contributing to womens leadership. The Administrative Council has improved its capacities, and has coordinated not only administrative processes, but also productive, marketing and commercialization processes. Capacities Strengthening Process: facilitated by technical teams composed by experts in organization, gender, business development, accounting and food; they were contracted for 6 months, the terms of reference specified results and products; the services were delivered through weekly visits in order to develop capacities, and technical assistance on punctual topics, such as, productive processes, markets, commercialization processes, exchange visits, technical following up; trying to identify days and times convenient to develop said activities. In this way, the group has learned about good agricultural practices for nance crops, as well as good food production practices, negotiation and marketing techniques, production costs, administrative processes, organizational aspects and the relevance of womens participation in all the economic and social processes. In relation to gender, the methodology used to include this approach in other areas was the following: Training on gender: the training was given through mixed workshops and participative sessions for men and women, daughters and husbands were included in some activities. Among the topics remembered by the group are the following: what is gender, relevance of men and women participation in the organization and in the business, leadership, self-esteem, and empowerment, division of labor,

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
gender violence indicators and womens rights. All these were useful to achieve greater awareness about the importance of mens and womens participation in the organization and business, as well as the involvement of the family and the distribution of housework. Closing Gaps Methodology: this methodology included workshops of men, women and directors, using a guide of questions in order to analyze existing equity gaps between men and women in the organization, business and family. All the answers had a pre assigned code and were recorded in a board located in the office to be reviewed by groups every 6 months, through a similar workshop in order to assess achievements. ACPAFRUNANs main gaps - identified through this methodology- are the following: little experience with organized work, husbands little acceptance, issues with womens leadership, the productive chain was short, just harvest and sale, low educative level, among others. The training proposals were on leadership, empowerment, self-esteem, production, marketing and commercialization, awareness on gender topics. The proposals are presented in a specific action plan that is part of the organizations Integral Work Plan, actions that are executed through negotiations with different local institutions, in order to address identified needs and bring additional benefits to members families and to the community.

Development of complementary social actions Health sessions: these are an answer to womens reproductive health problems. Women dont have periodic medical tests and there are cases of breast cancer in the community; and thus, presentations on breast cancer prevention have been held attended by 25 participants, both members and no-members. A cytology campaign was also implemented, 20 women were treated; as well as, a monthly medical session that offers general medical services, this is coordinated with the Health Unit of Sonsonate, an average of 60 persons per month have received this service; 2 eye care campaigns coordinated with the Foundation for the Development of Women (Fundacin para el Desarrollo de la Mujer) (FUDEM), there the entire community had access to this services at economic prices, an average of 160 persons benefited from this service. Literacy groups: these groups have been implemented to answer the need of literacy for members, their families and the communities, an average of 15 persons -9 women and 6 men- have received this service during 2009-2010. Mechanism to integrate youngsters to the association: Thinking in the future of the organization, the group consider necessary to include other women, mainly young daughters of member, currently there are 3 young women that have formally join the association, and 2 members daughters contribute in some events and in promotions and sales; Currently, one of the young women is the manager of the cooperative, the others take part in fairs and expos; the Cooperative has promoted the inclusion of new young members through verbal and Small entrepreneurial initiatives: as income generation written invitations delivered in the strategy, members skills have been developed and communitys church, no many people strengthened, skills related with flowers arrangements for the have answered to this call as the group Day of the Death, as well as preparation of pickles, soap, is still paying for the plants land and shampoo and Christmas decorations with the participation of people dont want to share this 8 women and 1 man. commitment.

Womens Participation in Productive Processes with Territorial Identity and Contribution to Local Development

6.

What are the lessons learned?

ACPAFRUNANs experience has left a series of lessons for the organization, as main stakeholder, as well as for other stakeholders that have had direct or indirect incidence: Gender analysis at the different stages of the productive chain, allows identifying possibilities and constrains that guide the capacity building process, this guarantees better results in rural business. The inclusion of gender approach in productive organizations requires a series of actions related with financial and technical resources to facilitate the involvement of women and their families in productive and entrepreneurial processes, especially in decision-making to see real benefits for women and their families. Womens social and economic empowerment requires a series of strategies, methodologies and tools to facilitate competencies for their integral organizational, productive and entrepreneurial performance, in order to allow sustainable business, the direct participation of members in all the processes is essential. Gender awareness processes are an important strategy to promote womens participation in rural business, through the analysis of roles, decision-making, constrains and possibilities at personal, familiar, organizational and communal level, as starting point of an intervention in productive and entrepreneurial sectors. To belong to ACAPAFRUNAN has been a wonderful experience, since we started 5 years ago, we have worked hard with my colleagues, as a team, we have faced difficulties, but we have overcome them, as we believe in ourselves and in our project. Here, I was able to realize my dream, in the past, I had no plans for my life, but I have found what I wanted. First, I was in surveillance, then in commercialization, I enjoyed being with the clients, I decided to study marketing, my projection is to be big in the market, as daughters of God, we are important, Im happy, My biggest dream is that our products will be commercialized nationally and internationally, to Europe, for example, thats my dream Delmy Yaneth Arvalo Commercialization Committee

Im Vice-president of ACPAFRUNAN, Im proud of working there because this is a business that has given me the opportunity of improving incomes for my household and being a women with future vision, with many dreams. I ask other women to join us, to create a team and learn many things as we have done, and be able to have a better life. Yolanda Flores Vice president of the Administrative Council.