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Gender stock-taking in the Forestry Department
April 2012
Prepared by
Roberta Gentile, Consultant
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Contents
Executive summary
Introduction
Methodology
Results/ Outcome: Consultation with Forestry staff members
Relevance of gender issues in the work of the Forestry Department
Difficulties and approaches for promoting gender equality
Constraints to including the gender dimension
Benefits of including the gender component
Gender vs. Women
Forestry vs. Forests
Project formulation and assessment
Role of Gender Focal Point
Gender related work in the Forestry Department
National Forest Programme Facility
Community-based forest enterprise development
Participatory Forestry
Watershed Management
Mountain development
National Forestry Monitoring and Assessment
Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA)
Forest Resources Management – Forest Fire
Conclusions
Recommendations
Annex 1
Annex 2
Annex 3
Annex 4
Annex 5
Annex 6
Executive summary
The present exercise studies the gender related work that has been done in the Forestry Department during the biennium 2010-2011 and examinesparticularly the extent to which gender issues are involved in the complex and dynamic interaction between people and forests.
Although some of the activities of the Forestry Department are reasonably described as gender neutral, focusing exclusively on forest products, others can be addressed from a socio-economic and political perspective, therefore providing for a wider range of considerations.
Special attention is dedicated to those sectors with a strong community component, such as community-based enterprise development and watershed management and arid zone forestry.In this context, it is fundamental to understand the different roles of women and men in society and their specific responsibilities related to forest and natural resources management.[1]
The use of participatory gender-sensitivemethodologies in FAO Forestry programmes can contribute to the achievement of a gender balance in decision making and bring the attention to women’s limitedaccess to and control over forest resources, and their denied tenure rights. Women’s increased participation in the“male-dominated” forestry sectorcould be achieved by involving them in capacity building activities and by creating and improving interactions with other sectors.
Moreover, the inclusion of all forest stakeholders, fromgovernment authorities, to civil society and the private sector, in the development processes, is an opportunity for considering the voice of womenthrough women’s associations and community based organizations.Good examples on this regard are the partnerships established within the National Forest Programme Facility (NFP Facility).
This reportdetails the information gathered through interviews with Forestry staff in headquarters and through questionnaires submitted to forestry officers in field offices. Comments received during consultations with Forestry staffmembers describe a variety of positions on the relation between gender issues and forestry work.
The core section is dedicated to those activities where the gender component is most relevant, it could be in projects formulation, implementation and evaluation or in data collection for the purpose of forest resources monitoring and assessment.
In particular, the case studies reported can be examples of good practices where the inclusion of the gender dimension is bringing about benefits in terms of sustainability of project activities and increased ownership, greater participation of the community and forest stakeholdersin sustainable forest management, and improvement of national forest programmes.
The recommendationssection highlights what steps could be undertaken to enhance the contribution of the Forestry Department to the promotion of gender equality.[2] Main recommendations are:
- Strengthen management commitment to the inclusion of gender issues in programme and project design
- Establish a targeted capacity building plan to ensure staff have the necessary tools and knowledge to integrate gender issues in their work
- Use existing tools related to gender issues in forestry
- Link the promotion of gender equality to the achievement of FAO Strategic Objectives
- Strengthen the links between technical aspects and socio-economic and political impact of forest management
- Target gender issues in field projects where appropriate
- Take into consideration the gender dimension in data gathering and analysis
- Encourage the inclusion of gender issues in climate change adaptation plans
- Mainstream gender issues in initiatives of the Mountain Partnership
- Foster the involvement of women’s groups/associations in all phases of the project cycle
- Enhance the collaboration with the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW)
- Improve inter-sectoral collaboration and increase interdisciplinary work
- Share more widely and make more visible gender related work in the Forestry Department
- Update the gender webpage and improve communication
- Promote gender balance in images present in Forestry publications
- Include gender considerations in technical guidelines developed by the Department as appropriate.
Introduction
Over the past years, increasing attention has been drawn on the implication of gender issues within the diverse areas of competence of FAO. Gender is most commonly defined as a cross-cutting sector, meaning that most ofthe interventions falling under the Organization’s mandate are affected by the existing gender relations. Wherever FAO tries to have an impact on the social and economic well being of people and attempts to free them from hunger and malnutrition, gender relationships must be taken into consideration as one of the key elements and,at the same time, as a fundamental tool to enhance people’s livelihoods, for instance,through a better use of natural resources.
Starting from inputs received from the Independent External Evaluation of 2007,the Strategic Framework 2010-2019[3] includes the Strategic Objective K (SO-K)[4]- BOX 1-, which highlights the importance of addressing the gender dimension in all aspects of FAO work, from policy formulation and project implementation to data collection and programme evaluation.
BOX.1.Strategic Objective K - Gender equity in access to resources, goods, services and decision-making in the rural areas
Relevance
The Objective addresses the critical gaps in embracing more gender and socially inclusive policies, capacities, institutions and programmes for agriculture and rural development.
It also helps to mainstream this approach across all of FAO’s Strategic Objectives.
Organizational Results
K1 - Rural gender equality is incorporated into UN policies and joint programmes for food security, agriculture and rural development.
K2 - Governments develop enhanced capacities to incorporate gender and social equality issues in agriculture, food security and rural development programmes, projects and policies using sex-disaggregated statistics, other relevant information and resources.
K3 - Governments are formulating gender-sensitive, inclusive and participatory policies in agriculture and rural development.
K4 - FAO management and staff have demonstrated commitment and capacity to address gender dimensions in their work.
The Strategic Framework focuses on forestry when it identifies the Strategic Objective E- (SO-E) “Sustainable management of forests and trees”, but in section I – The Challenges facing food, agriculture and rural development – it also points out that forestry has become more people-centered and stresses the interaction with other sectors and the critical role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation, bio-energy production, and biodiversity conservation.
The importance of including all forests stakeholders in the process of achieving an effective and sustainable forest management has gained major recognition and has subsequently called for increasing participation of all forestry actors, institutions as well as civil society.
In 2011 two comprehensive documents, the “Gender Audit” and the “Evaluation of FAO’s role and work related to gender and development”, have been completed and released. This shows FAO recognition of the need to more effectively promote gender equality through all its programmes, and to give visibility and ensure gender mainstreaming[5] throughout the Organization.
The present stock-taking stems from the recommendations of the “Gender Audit”[6] and aims at moving from the “Gender and Development Evaluation” to conduct an in-house assessment of gender related work done in the Forestry Department during the last biennium (2010-2011). The chosen timeframe limits considerably the range of activities under examination; however this allows having a snap-shot of the current situation which could be easily compared with similar exercises that are presently undertaken by other departments and with possible future exercises in the Forestry Department itself.
The gender-stock taking not only identifies good practices and gaps, but it is also a window of opportunity to raise awareness on gender issues and on possibilities for contributing to the promotion of gender equality.
It is worth mentioning that in 2011, FAO has also been working on the “FAO Policy on Gender Equality”[7]. The Gender Audit and the Gender and Development Evaluation recommended FAO to develop a gender policy to provide FAO with a framework to guide its work on gender equality in its technical work and facilitate in the assessment of results. The document was launched on 8 March 2012, the International Women’s Day, and contains specific references on roles and responsibilities at all levels from staff to Director General and Programme Committee (FAO Gender Policy Accountability Framework) and indications on the division of responsibilities for implementing FAO gender equality minimum standards.
Once approved, the FAO Policy on Gender Equality could become a solid point of reference to guide all Departments of the Organization towards a more effective contribution to ensurethat FAO systematically addresses the gender dimensions in its normative and technical work.
Methodology
The gender stock taking has been carried out at Departmental level and tries to assessthe on-going work related to the promotion of gender equality in both the technical aspects of the department and those more related to the social, political and economic spheres. The Forest Assessment, Management and Conservation Division and the Forest Economics, Policy, and Products Division are both dealing with gender issues, although in a very different way and their staff members have a diverse sensitivity towards it.
Besides the above mentioned divisions, the Forestry Information and Liaison Unit was also consulted, for it plays a major role in ensuring that gender issues are properly tackled and visible and in reducing gender biases in forestry work.
The methodology used comprised both face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with team leaders and other staff members based in headquarters, and questionnaires sent by email to field offices.Both the list of issues for discussion during headquarters interviews (Annex 1) and questionnaires sent toRegional, Sub-Regional and Country Offices (Annex 2) are based on the “Guidelines for Gender stock taking in FAO” produces by the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW, 2011).
The following table summarizes the list of teams consulted with interviews and focus group discussions in FAO headquarters.
Forest Assessment, Management and Conservation Division (FOM) / Forest Economics, Policy and Products Division (FOE)- Mountain Partnership
- Watershed Management
- Forest Resources Management
- FAO/Finnish Programme
- National Forest Monitoring & Assessment
- Climate Change
- Global Forest Resources Management
- National Forest Programme Facility
- Forest Policy team
Community-based Forest Enterprise Development
- Forest Law Enforcement, Governance & Trade Support Programme
- Forest Products Team
- Forest Economics Team
In addition to staff consultation, the stock-taking consisted also in literature review covering the gender dimension of the different technical area of the Forestry Department. Documents review included policies, guidelines, reports and projects documentations that were identified through the interview process and that were produced or consistently used in the time frame under examination, namely the biennium 2010-2011.
Being an in-house exercise, the stock-taking followed the directions of staff and is meant to provide a picture of the awareness and sensitivity, interests and concerns around gender issues at departmental level.
In addition to the recommendations presented at the end of the report, it is also recommended to have an in dept analysis of specific activities related to gender and forestry, in particular those described in section 5, in order to be able to better assess the results achieved and explore further opportunities for promoting gender equality.
Results/ Outcome: Consultation with Forestry staff members
Relevance of gender issues in the work of the Forestry Department
Although no consensus exists about the relevance of integrating gender issues in the work of Forestry Department as a whole, all staff interviewed seemed interested in participating to the gender stock taking and in looking at their work through gender lenses. However, some of the sectors within Forestry are by their nature gender neutral and staff speaks about integrating gender issues as something good in principles but not affecting them directly.
A point that has been raised frequently is that gender issues should be integrated and gender equality should be promoted whenever it is possible, but this should not be included in areas where it is not relevant.In project formulation, for instance, the gender component should be included only when it is fundamental and not only for the sake of project approval. Some staff believes that if all projects are expected to tackle gender issues,those interventions with a real gender focuswill lose importance.
While most of the Forestry staff show personal interest and curiosity towards gender issues, this is generally not considered a priority and therefore not tackled. Some of the reasons outlined include lack of time and budget and poor managerial support.Some colleagues mentioned the fact that they could select “Gender” as one of the areas of focus in work planning. However they are afraid that this will remain in the intent phase because no concrete guidance is provided on how to include gender issues in Forestry activities and those commitments risk to be left without application.
Difficulties and approaches for promoting gender equality
For those who are willing to contribute to the promotion of gender equality, the problem is the lack of specific and adequate tools to include gender issues in all aspects of their work. Possible solutions identified were: rediscover manuals and guidelines produced and used in the past; necessary support and guidance provided by Forestry Management on which activities are expected to include the gender component and how; seminar organized by the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW). Also field staff feels they could improve their contribution with the support of a gender expert for liaison and reporting.
Only a few staff members are committed to advocate for the gender cause, while others believe that they should be told to include it and how to do so in their work, which is essentially centered on technical issues. That is to say that a kind of “top-down enforcement” to include gender issues is by some felt as the only way to really make a difference. On the other end, others feel that a prescriptive approach, such as that taken in the draft gender policy, will not achieve its purpose because staff will adopt the gender issue out of conviction because they are obliged to.
Constraints to including the gender dimension
A key element to take into consideration is the fact that the Forestry Department works mostly with FAO-United Nations member states, which means governments. Therefore the work is mainly related to institutional counterparts’ needs and what is perceived as priority and as forestry specific field of work, which sometimes encompasses a limited range of interventions. FAO can never impose its principles to local actors; it could merely influence some decisions and propose guidelines. For example, all staff interviewed that had among project activities seminars or workshops tried to ensure equal participation of men and women, however FAO could advise to have a gender balance but the final decision is not under FAO control.
As decisions and priorities are set at Government level, also when it comes to partnerships and civil society involvement in programme implementation, FAO can only make recommendations for a more inclusive process but cannot endanger the relationship with local institutions or the overall outcome of the projects.
Some staff members believe that a grass-root approach is not always possible to achieve and considerable differences exist between countries according to the specific socio-political context. Consequently FAO has sometimes limited leeway and has to adapt to different and changing circumstances.
On the other hand, when some donors explicitly demand for gender issues to be more integrated in Forestry work, the commitments need to be concretized because of the necessity of funding. What came out from most of the interviewees is that Forestry used to do much more before, and this could be due to the presence of more Trust Funds support in the past[8] (e.g. Community Forestry Unit).