Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen

2.3 DIRECT ACTIONS IN COMMUNITIES

2.3.1 Social Behaviour Change Communications (SBCC)

Recommendation: 9. Allocate sufficient time to illustrate and talk about socio-cultural issues, even in trainings that are not assumed to address such topics. Addressing socio-cultural issues such as on equality and equity with regard to access to production and markets needs attention.

Reference: Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen, Project: Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II), Bangladesh.

Evidence sample: The Evaluation found that the time allocated to awareness raising on different socio-cultural issues tended to be too short in the joint male-female Farmer Field School (FFS) sessions. In particular, presentations were too broad, while the farmer Trainers/Facilitators have just ‘touched’ on the issues and there has not been proper coverage. Socio-cultural issues were seen as an add-on rather than an integral part of livelihood management.

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2.3 DIRECT ACTIONS IN COMMUNITIES

2.3.4. Leadership, life skills, empowerment training, literacy/numeracy

Recommendation: 5. Take the political balance and motivations already in existence in the local context into account when supporting the identification of Village Based Organisations leaders. While communities should identify their own leaders, projects/programmes need to be aware and support selection criteria that will help avoid individuals from monopolising leadership positions for personal purposes only. Promote inclusion of women in leadership positions.

Reference: Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen, Project: Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II), Bangladesh.

Evidence sample: Evaluation expressed concerns that if farmer organisations established from Farmer Field School could turn into exclusive clubs for the village elite, possibly leading to increased polarisation and exclusion of the poorest households and women. Limited absorption capacity in the Board and obligations of payment of regular membership fees are barriers for the poorest FFS members, including many women, to become members of the farmer organisations.

It is thus recommended that current procedures and criteria for selection of participants for FFS and membership of farmer organisations be reconsidered, in view of the potential risk for exclusion of groups of women and men from participating in FFS/farmer organisation related activities.

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2.4.4. Improving food security through enhancing livelihoods of people dependent on IE

Recommendation: 2. Include nutrition training in projects for people dependent on the IE wherever this may be relevant.

Reference: Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen, Project: Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II), Bangladesh.

Evidence sample: through the qualitative fieldwork, the evaluation found good indications that, in comparison with women from control villages, women from Farmer Field School (FFS) households showed remarkably more awareness and knowledge of improved nutrition, including better nutrition for pregnant women and infants, improved cooking methods, and health among others. Basically all women consulted from FFS claimed to apply the different vegetable cooking techniques, such as rinsing vegetables before cutting them, use of lids, boiling drinking water etc. According to the Evaluation, the households’ diet has changed from a diet of almost only rice (bhat) and lentil soup (dal) to a diet, richer in vegetables, (more vitamins, minerals, and iron).

There are also indications of positive replication and spin-off effects from nutrition and cooking sessions. Discussion with non-FFS households in the FFS villages indicated, that some of the women, who are related to FFS participants or have frequent interactions with women who participated in FFS, have learned and copied from them, concerning improved cooking techniques and also changed/improved diets. To the extent possible some have planted fruit trees or sown more vegetable seed on the homestead or land; seeds that they in many cases had purchased from FFS women.

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2.4 APPROACHES TO ENHANCE LIVELIHOODS, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

2.4.5. Strengthening IE with attention to gender issues

Recommendation: 1) Promote the carrying out of gender analysis on IE issues. This should include analysis to reach an understanding of:

• Gender roles and responsibilities in the household and the community
• Differences in access to and control over resources and decision-making,
• Factors that constrain or facilitate equal participation of women and men in community development processes. the different capacities, needs and priorities of women and men.
• Draw on the existing knowledge and capacities of men, women, boys and girls.

Reference: Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen, Project: Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II), Bangladesh.

Evidence sample: the evaluation notes that, even if women started contributing household production and income after having attended the Farmer Field School From, in the majority of the cases women were not allowed to control income from their vegetable production and needed permission from their husbands before spending it, or would have to hand over the income to their husbands, who would then decide how to spend it. Participating women are still not allowed to go to the markets (bazaar) themselves. Therefore, either their husband or sons will sell at the market, or the women will sell their products at the farm gate, to neighbours, other villagers, or vendors and traders passing by, or change their products to other products or services.

In terms of savings, relatively few of the FFS women consulted by the Evaluation were saving their own income with a Farmer Club in their own name. In most cases, women’s income is spent on daily household consumption purposes, clothes, food, medicine, children’s education. This very often leaves the women with no savings of their own, and still dependent on other people in case of divorce, or being abandoned or becoming a widow, although they now produce and earn cash income themselves and therefore could be more economically independent.

Likewise in terms of loans, the Evaluation found that, the women who are members of a Farmer Club, and can take loans from there, in most cases seem to take loans and hand them over to their husbands who decide how to spend the money. In the control villages women take loans for their husbands through NGOs. From the control villages it was reported that if husbands fail to return the loans to their wives, women are forced to take other loans to repay the defaulted ones to the NGOs. The only exception to this was the women in female-headed households.

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2.4 APPROACHES TO ENHANCE LIVELIHOODS, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

2.4.5. Strengthening IE with attention to gender issues

Recommendation: 28) When planning training on women’s empowerment and skills, take into account possible problems of distance to\from the training venues and how the socio-cultural context affects their participation. Women’s participation in empowerment trainings may be extremely challenging, since women may have to break with traditions to participate.

Reference: Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen, Project: Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II), Bangladesh.

Evidence sample: the evaluation found that women, after having participated in Farmer Field School, have more knowledge and can contribute to household income, food security and improved nutrition. According to the female FFS participants themselves, the relationship with their husbands has definitely improved and they now have more decision-making power in the households in general, especially over small scale investments in production, food, and children’s issues, child education and other reproductive responsibilities, including family planning.

However, the FFS seem to have had minimal impact on the gender division of who gets the last word in ‘big decision-making’ on larger agricultural investments and land ownership, child-marriage, child labour, polygamy, male employment and migration. Men still make the final decision on those issues, although women seem to be more consulted now, than before. There is no evidence that FFS has had any positive impacts, or led to any significant changes, regarding women’s mobility and access to markets and the public sphere in general. To be able to participate in the FFS, the women had to be ‘pulled’ out of their comfort zone/home-stead and obliged to break conservative Purdah rules, often initially against their husbands will, but still within the village. In fact most women said, that if FFS had been held outside their own village area, they would not were allowed to participate.

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2.4 APPROACHES TO ENHANCE LIVELIHOODS, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

2.4.6. Strengthening IE with attention to youth and children

Recommendation: 

7) Anticipate unexpected impacts concerning children should be considered in planning support for women who are dependent on the IE:

• Children’s labour inputs may increase as households’ may involve children to sustain their new workloads stemming from increased production activities.
• Child accidents, for example drowning in a country such as Bangladesh[1], may also occur while mothers attend training sessions. A child care or baby-sitting net should be activated in order to enable women the freedom to participate in training.

Reference: Schwensen, Carl & Laurense, Alida, 2011, Evaluation of the Farmer Field School Approach in the Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II, Bangladesh, Final evaluation, Danida, Copenaghen, Project: Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II), Bangladesh.

Evidence sample: in terms of child labour, the evaluation found indications from fieldwork that the work load of the children has also increased, directly or indirectly linked with household’s production activities. One reason given for this was that the size of the families is decreasing. In most cases, it appears that the children have to help their parents when they come back from school. In some cases examples were provided of children (primarily boys) being taken out of secondary school to assist their fathers in the fields

Another unintended negative impact of FFS was found to be child accidents during women’s (mothers’) participation in FFS sessions. In two of the FFS villages, the evaluation heard about child drowning accidents that have taken place during women’s FFS sessions, due to lack of proper child care and baby-sitting. In many cases, the women choose to bring the children to the FFS sessions. Interviews with the Farmer Trainers confirmed that children do indeed disturb the sessions, and when/if the children are chased away, they seem to be left on their own and are exposed to abuse and accidents.