KATHMANDU, NEPAL – What is a gender sensitive value chain? This was the main question posed for the participants of the Regional Consultation Workshop on Understanding and Promoting Gender Sensitive Value Chain in South Asia at the start of the three-day meeting held at Hotel Marshyangdi, Kathmandu, Nepal on 12-14 June 2019. Women and youth farmers and farmers organizations from South Asian countries composed majority of the participants. The activity was also attended by officials from the government of SAARC states, academics, experts, and development partners.
SAARC Secretary General Amjad Hussain B. Sial and Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation of Nepal Padma Kumari Aryal graced the event and officially opened the program with the lighting of panash alongside with other esteemed guests.
In his opening remarks, SecGen Sial expressed delight in the participation of the government, non-government, and international organizations and donors in the forum. He conveyed hope that the rich expertise and experience of the participants will produce a positive outcome. Minister Aryal also noted that the workshop can help address the current situation in the region which is stricken by hunger and poverty.
AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia noted that this is already the 6th expert meeting in South Asia co-organized and co-facilitated by the AFA, SAARC Secretariat, SAARC Agriculture Center, and FAO. She presented a video of the first ever meeting in South Asia which was the parent of the succeeding meetings conducted in the region. Click here to watch the video
Speaking on behalf of FAO Nepal, Binod Saha welcomed the participants to Nepal. He mentioned that value chain development is an important paradigm in the development practice and that the forum will contribute to enriching the knowledge of rural women. Mr. Saha expressed full support for similar activities in the that will be conducted in the future.
Former coordinator of MTCP2 Nepal and current member of the parliament of Nepal Balram Banskota also graced the opening ceremony and expressed appreciation in the activity so his fellow Nepalis will learn about the best actions and policies of the other SAARC member states. He also shared about the efforts of the government of Nepal to reduce the burden of women engaged in agriculture work by targeting the youth to become involved agriculture. Dr. Keshab Khadka, Senior Policy Adviser of MTCP2 in South Asia, also expressed delight in the activity as it engages the women sector in South Asia.
To make the sessions not only informative but also interesting, the facilitators and speakers used interactive methods to engage the participants. For the first session, Ms. Penunia gauged the participants’ knowledge on value chain and gender sensitivity by giving a quiz. After which, Eva Galvez of FAO discussed about FAO’s framework and principles on gender sensitive value chain. following the discussion, the participants reviewed and checked their answers for the quiz.
Government representatives from SAARC countries namely Most. Ferdousi Begum (Bangladesh), Ugyen Tshomo (Bhutan) Mariyam Nasheetha Nasheed (Maldives), Ananta Kumar Basnet (Nepal), Zulfiqar Ali (Pakistan) and G.L.G. Perera (Sri Lanka) presented about the situation of food system and gender sensitive value chains in their respective countries.
Meanwhile, partner organizations and intergovernmental organizations shared about their good practices on gender sensitive value chain. The presenters are Jignasa Pandya of SEWA, Phampha Dangal of Kisankalagi Unnat Biu-Bijan Karyakram by IFAD Nepal, Kajol Bajracharya of Nepal Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation, Ltd. (NACCFL), Eva Galvez.
On the third day, the delegates were divided into two groups for a learning visit in two field sites: the Bhabisya Nirman Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited in Dakshinkali, Kathmandu and the Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited in Chalnakhel, Kathmandu. After the visit, the two groups shared about their learnings to all the delegates. The women and youth farmer participants also shared about their learnings during the past three days in a ‘talk show’ hosted by hosted by Elisa Villalba of AFA Secretariat.
A key outcome of the workshop is the Joint Communiqué on Gender Sensitive Value Chain. The communique is a working draft and participants were urged to submit their comments and suggestions for improvement.
This consultation workshop is co-organized by the Asian Farmers’ Association, (AFA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), together with farmers’ organizations under the MTCP2 Programme. ### Click here to view the photos of this activity
VIDEOS
Opening Programme
Lighting of the Panash
Welcome Remarks
Binod Saha, Assistant Representative (Programme), FAO Nepal
Esther Penunia, Secretary General, AFA
Keshab Khadka, Senior Policy Adviser, MTCP2 SA
Balram Banskota, Member of Upper House, Nepal
Opening Remarks
H.E. Mr. Amjad Hussain B. Sial, Secretary General of SAARC
Address
Hon. Padma Kumari Aryal, Minister, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Nepal
Session 1 Levelling Off: What is Value Chain? What Do We Mean by Gender Sensitivity?
Moderated by AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia
Esther started the session with an interactive game where the participants were asked to answer several questions related to the theme.
Eva Galvez, Agribusiness, Value Chains and Rural Finance Officer for Asia and Pacific, FAO discussed about the “FAO framework and Principles on Gender Sensitive Value Chain”. Afterwards, the participants, were reviewed the questions they answered earlier and were asked to review or change their answers after listening to Galvez’ presentation.
Session 2: Situationer on the Country’s Food System and Gender Sensitive Value Chains
Moderator by Eva Galvez, Agribusiness and Value Chains Officer, FAORAP
Presentations by:
- Most. Ferdousi Begum, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Bangladesh
- Ugyen Tshomo,Chief Program Officer,Women Division,National Commission for Women and Children,Bhutan
- Mariyam Nasheetha Nasheed, Director, Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services, Maldives
- Ananta Kumar Basnet, Under Secretary, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Nepal
- Zulfiqar Ali, Deputy Director (International Cooperation), Pak Secretariat, Kohsar Block (9th Floor), Ministry of Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
- G.L.G. Perera, Senior Assistant Secretary (Admin),Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Economic Affairs, Livestock Development, Irrigation and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, Sri Lanka
Session 3: Good Practices on Gender Sensitive Value Chain by POs and IGOs
Moderated by Dr Younus Ali, Senior Technical Officer, SAC
Presentations by:
- Jignasa Pandya, Senior Coordinator, SEWA
- Phampha Dangal, Improved Seeds for farmers Programme (Kisankalagi Unnat Biu-Bijan Karyakram), IFAD Nepal
- Kajol Bajracharya, Program Officer, Nepal Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation, Ltd. (NACCFL)
- Eva Galvez, Agribusiness, Value Chains and Rural Finance Officer for Asia and Pacific, FAO
Interactive recap to start the second day of GSCV meeting
Session 4: Group Discussions on Constraints, Challenges in Promoting Gender Sensitive Value Chains
Moderated by Esther Penunia
– Plenary Reporting
– Open Forum
– Understanding Reached /Quick Synthesis
Session 5: Group Discussions on Policy and Programme Recommendations to Promote Gender Sensitive Value Chains
Moderated by Eva Galvez
– Plenary Reporting
– Open Forum
– Understanding Reached /Quick Synthesis
The two groups that went to two different sites share what they learned from the field visit.
Session 7: Ways Forward at Country and Regional Level
Moderator : Amirul Islam, Operations Manager, AFA
AFA SecGen Esther Penunia lead the reading of the draft Joint Communiqué on Gender Sensitive Value Chain. The communique is a working draft and participants were urged to submit their comments and suggestions to improve the draft.
After the reading, there was a short ‘talk show’ with the women and youth farmer participants hosted by Lysa Villalba of AFA where they shared about their learnings during the past three days.
VISIT TO BHABISYA NIRMAN SMALL FARMERS AGRICULTURE COOPERATIVE LIMITED
Delegates of the workshop on Gender Sensitive Value Chain pose for a photo with the members of Bhabisya Niraman SFACL
The Bhabisya Nirman Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited – ‘Future Creation’ Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative – is an agriculture cooperative located in Dakshinkali municipality, in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It was founded in 2012 under the Cooperative Act 2074 with registration number 3661. At first it was established only as a agricultural cooperative but later on, with the initiative of Nepal Agricultural Co-operative Central Federation Ltd (NACCFL), it was molded into Bhabisya Nirman Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited following the modality of small farmers.
As of May 2019, the cooperative has 919 members, out of which 76% are women and 60% are youth. The cooperative has played an important role in improving smallholder farmers’ lives, freeing them from debt traps and creating opportunities for income-generating activities such as livestock rearing, organic vegetable farming, poultry farming and other small business activities. Services provided ranges from saving and credit facilities to training, monitoring, mentoring and marketing.
Read more about this cooperative: Profile_Bhabisya Niraman SFACL, Dakchinkali, Kathmandu
Click here to view more photos of this activity
VISIT TO CHALNAKHEL SMALL FARMERS AGRICULTURE COOPERATIVE LIMITED
Delegates of the workshop on Gender Sensitive Value Chain pose for a photo with the members of the Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited – Chalnakhel at the members’ farm
Small Farmers Agriculture Cooperative Limited (SFACL), Chalnakhel was established on September 2012 at Dakchinkali Municipality, Kathmandu and registered under the Department of Cooperative with the registration number 4041. The SFACL is located 7.5 kilometers from Kathmandu. Among the 700 total members, almost all of them are involved in the agriculture and some are entrepreneurs. The members grows seasonal and off seasonal vegetables. The services provided by SFACL ranges from saving and credit facilities to different types of technical and non-technical trainings related to agriculture.
Read more about this cooperative: Profile_Chalnakhel SFACL, Chalnakhel, Kathmandu
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