by Mary M. Ndaro of Care International

2. ARDHI YETU
AFRICA WATER WEEK
Gender lenses: Lessons from Same CARE
Project
Prepared by:
Mary M. Ndaro

4. Presentation map
• How gender analysis informed the designing
of the project
• Aspects of gender equitable Irrigation
interventions in this project
• Projects impacts on women empowerment

5. What we know
Napandaela a 63 years old woman living in Bangalala
village in Same district speaking of water scramble
among villagers she says; In the face of insufficient
water to serve all farmers, upstream users and powerful
individuals take as much water as they can and leave
little for others. Napandaela, a former chairperson of the
village’s irrigation committee, says that women such as
herself are particularly disadvantaged in the resulting
“scramble” for scarce water resources.

6. What we know cont
• Women's livelihoods rely on natural resources
• Highly dependent on water for agriculture and
domestic use.
• Strong influence of cultural norms and unequal
distribution and use of rights, resources and
power determines individuals’ livelihoods.
• Access and use of water resources is gendered

7. CARE Project: GA
Gender analysis is central to all CARE programs and
projects
Participation in water committees
Division of labour- (engaging men)
Resource allocation- (livestock, water)
Benefits

8. Cont.
• CARE’s women empowerment framework
• Agency: Her own aspirations and capabilities
• Structure: The environment that condition her
choices
• Relations: Power relations through which she
negotiates her path (norms

9. Gender-equitable Irrigation
intervention
• Champion farmers:
• Mandatory female committee membership
• VSLAs (Village savings and loan Association)

10. Champion farmers
• Selected champion farmers and training them
on different skills including women
empowerment
• 60 champion farmers, 42 females (68%)
• Encouraging women to attend meetings and
scheduling around women convenient times
and venues

11. Mandatory 40%
• Empowered women to participate in the
water user organizations (mandatory 40%
women)
• Out of 1389 water management committee
members 465 are female (35%). Our goal is to
reach 50%
• Women are empowered to speak and make
decisions in these meetings and committees

12. VSLAs
• Training VSLAs on women economic and
social empowerment skills
• Encouraging men to support women in
production and domestic chores
• 450 VSLA members in Same ( 70%+ of
VSLAs members are women)

13. Impacts on Women empowerment
• Change in household decision making. As women
become less dependent and contribute more to
household expenses such as paying school fees for
children, their self-esteem rises and they become
more of partners in decision making at family level
• Champion farmers working together to form labor-
saving groups for practicing soil and water
conservation practices (Use VSLAs models)

14. • Champion farmers working together to form
labor-saving groups for practicing soil and
water conservation practices (Use VSLAs
models)
• Strengthened local water governance
committee – through Water User Association
and Village Irrigation Associations –
Affirmative action that at least 40% must be
women

15. Impacts cont.
• Increased agriculture productivity has
encouraged women to be engaged in income
generating activities resulting to economic
empowerment

16. Mrs Rizael
• “I used to plant crops just haphazardly, my
farm was rough and soil erosion was rampant.
But with training from CARE International on
double digging, mulching, spacing and
“Fanya juu/Fanya chini” things has changed
tremendously. I conserve soil and harvest
more. Honestly there is no way you can
change me from using techniques like double
digging. I will indeed remember CARE forever
for this”

17. Mrs. Rizael in her in flourishing millet farm on a Fanya
juu terrace plot

18. THANK YOU