The ACIAR Gender Workshop Report

12-13 June 2018 Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

Nozomi Kawarazuka International Potato Center

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Summary Agricultural research often takes little account of gender, and many agricultural researchers find it difficult to understand the importance and position of gender in their own research areas. The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is a leading donor with a strong gender policy and strategies in their institutional structures and their project implementation processes. Many agricultural research projects funded by ACIAR have now started integrating the gender lens into their research and interventions. An example of this is the gender awareness workshop, which was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on 12-13 June 2018, to facilitate this movement toward gender equity in agricultural research for development. The 43 participants came from various organizations, and included government officers, national and international university researchers, CGIAR researchers, NGOs and farmers. The objectives of the workshop were to : 1) Enhance our understandings of what a gender lens means for agricultural research in the diverse ecological and cultural contexts of Myanmar; 2) Share experiences and learn from on-going projects in agriculture/aquaculture in Myanmar; 3) Identify knowledge gaps, challenges and opportunities for future research and interventions; and 4) Strengthen gender and agriculture networks among researchers and development workers in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. The workshop was carefully organized in such a way that all participants, regardless of their gender, age or social position, could feel comfortable speaking. During the two-day workshop, all participants were actively involved in discussions and contributed to knowledge sharing and action planning. This report documents the activities, discussion outcomes, project work plans and post-workshop evaluation results. In this summary page, I briefly explain four key insights that showed us areas to work on. First, increasing the uptake of agricultural technologies is a challenge. For example, the overuse or inappropriate use of pesticides, antibiotics and fertilizers are frequently mentioned. Viewing this issue through the gender lens is essential to understand why farmers do not follow the proper procedures. Qualitative social science research can help explore men’s and women’s different perceptions, gender-based labour and time constraints, and their access to information and knowledge. Second, working with NGOs as ACIAR partners is a very effective way to achieve not only increased uptake of technologies and scaling, but also empowering women. While it is very clear from this workshop that women have fewer opportunities to learn new agricultural technologies and knowledge, simply increasing the number of female participants is not a solution as women face gender-based constraints rooted in existing gender norms. Gender focussed training sessions for men and women, as well as developing women’s skills, including leadership skills, are essential. In this respect, working with NGOs can bring synergy. Two female farmers in this workshop shared their experiences of being female lead farmers. Their real stories and powerful messages convinced us of how empowering women can change their lives and livelihoods. Third, around one third of participants had no ideas about how gender matters in their agricultural research and how their research and interventions can bring positive social impacts or unintended consequences. During the two-day workshop, however, they were able to relate gender to their own work. Their participation and thoughts were very important as they can influence policy and interventions in the sectors where they work. The workplans of livestock and vegetable teams were developed by those participants who had no previous training in gender issues. This is a great achievement, but follow-up support should be provided to those groups in order to implement their workplan and move further to integrate the gender lens.

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Fourth, policy change was identified as one of the key challenges in Myanmar. While gender can be addressed at the grass-root level, our activities are very limited if policy-making remains gender-blinded or simply lip service. We therefore discussed how we could better influence policies. Although there are many challenges, networks built on this workshop can be a first step to influence policies. We seek further opportunities to work together to find ways in which our research findings related to gender can more effectively contribute to influencing policies at the national level. Lastly, we recognize this workshop as a first starting point for ACIAR Myanmar to integrate the gender lens. Some challenges were discussed and documented in this report, and we hope to have further opportunities to continue to work together in near future.

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Table of Contents

Summary ................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Opening Remarks ..................................................................................................................4

The Workshop Program ........................................................................................................5

Session 1: Gender policy and strategies ................................................................................7

1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7

1.2 Gender policy and strategies................................................................................................... 7

Session 2: ACIAR projects (1) .................................................................................................8

2.1 Gender Quizzes ....................................................................................................................... 8

2.2. The Rice-fish Project .............................................................................................................. 8

Session 3: ACIAR projects (2) .................................................................................................9

3.1 Gender Box ............................................................................................................................. 9

3.2 The My life project .................................................................................................................. 9

3.3 The vegetable project ........................................................................................................... 10

3.4 The livestock project ............................................................................................................. 11

3.5 Participatory videos and photos (Optional session) .............................................................. 11

Session 4: The roles of NGOs ...............................................................................................11

Session 5: Group discussions and group work .....................................................................13

5.1 How can we better apply the gender lens in policy, research and field interventions? ........ 13 Team 1: Influencing policy ..................................................................................................................... 13 Team 2: Improving research design by integrating the gender lens ........................................................ 14 Team 3: Designing field interventions with gender consideration ........................................................... 15 Sharing and feedback ............................................................................................................................ 15

5.2 What are next steps to use the gender lens in your own work/project? .............................. 16 Group 1: My Life ................................................................................................................................... 16 Group 2: Livestock ................................................................................................................................. 17 Group 3: Vegetable ............................................................................................................................... 18 Group 4: Rice-fish .................................................................................................................................. 18 Group 5: Policy ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Group 6: ACIAR ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Sharing and feedback ............................................................................................................................ 21

Closing session ....................................................................................................................21

Closing remarks...................................................................................................................22

Evaluation results................................................................................................................23

The links to the materials and photos .................................................................................25

The list of participants ........................................................................................................26

Acknowledgement ..............................................................................................................27

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Opening Remarks Nwe Nwe Yin Department of Agricultural Research (DAR) The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI) On Behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation I am pleased to give the Opening remarks on the Gender Workshop of integrating the gender lens into agricultural research for development. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks and warmly welcome to Ms Mara Faylon, ACIAR (Australia Center for International Agricultural Research), Ms Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong, ACIAR (Australia Center for International Agricultural Research) and Ms. Nozomi Kawarazuka, CIP, (International Potato Center). Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, in accordance with the Agricultural based country, Myanmar needs to encourage creativity, promoting and supporting the collaboration activities in research and innovation, including capacity building and technology transfer, in relation to the areas of agricultural technology, especially in socio-economics research by contributing to the improvement of agricultural productivity and the quality of agricultural products. Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, according to the SWOT analysis of the Myanmar ANR (Agriculture and Natural Resources) sector, gender inequality and insufficient women's rights in agriculture is one of the weakness for agricultural development. So, focus on men and women smallholders might not only bring benefits in terms of poverty reduction and reducing inequality; but also in terms of economic efficiency and growth. The objectives of the gender workshop are: 1) to enhance our understandings of what a gender lens means for agricultural research in the diverse ecological and cultural contexts of Myanmar, 2) to share experiences and learn from ongoing projects in agriculture/ aquaculture in Myanmar, 3) to identify knowledge gaps, challenges and opportunities for future research and interventions, and 4) to strengthen gender and agriculture networks among researchers and development workers in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. Based on these objectives, we are expecting to exchange, develop and consolidate our knowledge, information, practical skills, experiences and exchange our research scientists, research scholars and conduct consultations during the process of collaborative work programs and/or projects being prepared for and carry out joint activities, meetings, lectures, symposia and/or research projects on matters of mutual interest as appropriate. Moreover, exchange of information on the current and planned activities in the identified fields and/or encourage activities with best endeavour for strengthening the mutual cooperation and relationship could be carried out through our collaboration based on our outcomes of the workshop. Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, today, we are happy to have this opportunity to participate as ACIAR partner organization and expect for the fruitful discussion. Before I am going to conclude my opening remarks, I would like to thank all of the delegate from ACIAR to visit and attend on this event and also I would like to say Thank you very much to our participants for very efficient participation. Thank you.

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The Workshop Program Venue: Aureum Palace Hotel, Nay Pyi Taw (No.1 Hotel Zone, Yarza Thingaha Road) Objectives:

1. Enhance our understandings of what a gender lens means for agricultural research in the diverse ecological and cultural contexts of Myanmar

2. Share experiences and learn from on-going projects in agriculture/aquaculture in Myanmar 3. Identify knowledge gaps, challenges and opportunities for future research and interventions 4. Strengthen gender and agriculture networks among researchers and development workers in

Myanmar and Southeast Asia

Day 1: 9:00-17:00 8:30 Registration 9:00 Ice-breaking introduction CIP Nozomi Kawarazuka 9:15 Opening speech DAR Nwe Nwe Yin Session 1: Understanding gender policies and strategies Session chair 9:25 An overview: integrating gender into

agricultural research CIP Nozomi

Kawarazuka Julian Prior 9:35 ACIAR gender policy and strategies ACIAR Mara Faylon

9:55 Improving and mainstreaming gender issues in the agriculture sector: policy support on rural women in agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture Department of planning

Than Dar Kyi

10:15 Questions, comments and discussions 10:30 Group photo, Tea break 11:05 Gender quizzes Session 2: ACIAR projects integrating the gender lens (1) Session chair 11:20 Findings on gender equity from MyRice

(ACIAR) and CORIGAP (SDC) IRRI Su Su San Nguyen Thi

Lan Phuong

11:40 Promoting gender equity through integrated Rice-Fish farming system in Myanmar: Insights from the rapid socio-economic assessment in Maubin Township”

WorldFish Lemlem Aregu

12:00 Questions, comments and discussions 12:15 Lunch 13:25 Gender games Session 3: ACIAR projects integrating the gender lens (2) Session chair 13:40 Rural Women Livelihoods: Time Allocation

and Technological Adoption in Ayeyarwaddy Delta and Dry Zone, Myanmar

Yezin Agricultural University

Theingi Myint Zin Mar Win Khin Sandar Linn

Isabel Lambrecht

14:00 Gender decision making and farm practice change in an action learning project in Myanmar

Department of Agricultural Research (DAR)

Khaing Khaing Htwe

14:20 Women and their significance for high social capital groups in rural communities in Myanmar

University of New England

Thaw Ni Ni Zaw

14:40 Questions, comments and discussions 14:55 A panel discussion (1)

How gender matters in your research area? Livestock

The Livestock Team

15:15 Tea Break

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15:40 A panel discussion (2) How gender matters in your research area? Vegetable

The Vegetable Team

16:00 Closing 16:00 Optional: Introducing gender-responsive

participatory research tools: Optional for those who are interested

CIP Nozomi Kawarazuka

17:00 Closing Day 2: 9:00-16:00

Session 4: The roles of NGOs in community development and agriculture Session chair 9:00 Empowering women in Man Pan and Kayin

Network Activities Group (NAG)

Myo Ma Ma Than Lemlem Aregu

9:20 Listen to the voices of farmers NAG Myint Myint Win Mi Nge

9:35

Gender Situation in economic empowerment in Myanmar

Gender Equality Network

Pansy Tun Thein

9:55 The impact of NGO interventions on the empowerment of women in rural communities in Myanmar

University of New England

Romana Roschinsky Thi Thi Nyunt

10:15 Questions, comments and discussions

10:30 Tea break Session 5: Group work: Action planning Session chair 11:00 Group discussion: what are challenges and knowledge gaps in applying the gender

lens? How can we make it? Team 1: Policy Team 2: Research Team 3: Field interventions

Nozomi Kawarazuka

12:00 Group presentation and feedback 12:30 Lunch break 13:30 Group work: Action planning Group 1: My life, Group 1: Vegetable, Group 3:

Livestock, Group 4: Rice-fish, Group 5: Policy influencing, Group 6: ACIAR 14:30 Group presentation and feedback 15:15 Tea break 15:30 Sharing: What did you learn through the workshop? What are next step for your

own work? 16:00 Closing Speech YAU Khin Thida Myint

*In this report, the titles (Prof, Dr, Ms, Mr) of presenters are omitted to treat people equally regardless of educational degrees.

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Session 1: Gender policy and strategies The workshop started by welcoming two farmers as special guests. We then had ice-breaking introduction and enjoyed gender quizzes, which helped create comfortable environment for everybody. Presentations in this session sought to enhance our understandings of what gender means for agricultural research, and how ACIAR and the Myanmar government addresses the gender issues in agricultural planning and development.

1.1 Introduction

Photos: The workshop started by welcoming two female farmers from Hpa An Township, Kayin State.They are female lead farmers (FLF) under the project operated by an NGO, Network Activities Group (NAG).

Photos: Ice-breaking introduction to get to know each other.

1.2 Gender policy and strategies

1 An overview: Integrating gender into agricultural research Nozomi Kawarazuka (CIP) 2 ACIAR gender policy and strategies Mara Faylon (ACIAR) 3 Improving and mainstreaming gender issues in the

agricultural sector: policy support Than Dar Kyi (Department of planning)

Photos: Presenters, Nozomi Kawarazuka, Mara Faylon, Than Dar Kyi and the session chair, Julian Prior. Nozomi describes the world with the gender lens by potatoes, which helps biophysical scientists to think how they could integrate gender in their own research areas. Nozomi’s presentation briefly explained differences between the world with and without the gender lens and provided examples of how the gender lens can make differences in interventions and scaling. In the next presentation, Mara, as a representative of ACIAR, explained the gender strategy

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of the ACIAR. ACIAR aims to become an internationally-recognised leader in gender equity and women’s empowerment in R4D. The details is available from this link: here. After Mara’s presentation, Than Dar Kyi from the department of planning described some of the gender policy and strategy in agriculture and fisheries sectors in Myanmar and the Southeast Asia region. She pointed out that turning policy into Practice is a challenge as management does not see gender as a high priority area. This issue was one of the highlights in this workshop. After the presentation, we discussed challenges in integrating the gender lens in practice.

Session 2: ACIAR projects (1)

2.1 Gender Quizzes The session started by gender quizzes. We all enjoyed.

Photos: Gender quizzes. Which image is describing gender equity?

2.2. The Rice-fish Project We had two presenters as follow.

1 Findings on gender equity from MyRice (ACIAR) and CORIGAP (SDC)

Su Su San (IRRI)

2 ACIAR gender policy and strategies Lemlem Aregu (WorldFish)

Photos: Presenters, Su Su San and Lemlem Aregu, and the session chair, Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong In this session, the rice-fish project, one of the on-going ACIAR projects in Myanmar, presented key findings from their on-going research. The first presenter, Su Su San from IRRI, showed the results from a household survey, which is qualitative and in-depth, and designed to identify gender differences and gaps. The method can be very useful for other projects. The second presenter, Lemlem Aregu showed that rice and fish production systems and marketing are highly gendered. Therefore, the introduction of the new rice-fish production systems needs to be gender-responsive by considering women’s and men’s workload, interests and the existing gender norms.

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Session 3: ACIAR projects (2)

3.1 Gender Box Before starting session 3, we did a gender exercise, called gender box (CARE International). This helps us to recognize and visualize gender norms and differences between being a man and being a woman. Participants worked with a group of 5-6 people with the same gender/age group to identify what women (or men) should be and should not be in the Myanmar cultural context. The below two figures are some extracts from participants’ work.

People tend to stay in the inside of the box which is more comfortable and safe, and in this way, gender norms are sustained. There is no written rules and regulations but we, ourselves, are both sustaining the norms and restricting our behaviors. This exercise also highlights men’s social pressure to be strong, brave and be a leader of the family, that in turn shapes women’s behaviors to obey their husbands. Recognizing and visualizing the norms are the first step to challenge and change the norms that are part of the root of unequal distribution of wealth.

3.2 The My life project We had three presenters as follow.

1 Rural women livelihoods: Time allocation and technological adoption in Ayeyarwaddy Delta and Dry zone, Myanmar

Theingi Myint (YAU)

2 Gender decision making and farm practice change in an action learning project in Myanmar

Khaing Khaing Htwe (DAR)

3 Women and their significance for high social capital wgroups in rural communities in Myanmar

Thaw Ni Ni Zaw (University of New England)

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Photos: Presenters, Theingi Myint, Khang Khang Htwe and Thaw Ni Ni Zaw, and the session chair, Isabel Lambrecht Theingi Myint’s presentation clearly demonstrated that women spend more hours on time-consuming manual work and they have less opportunities to learn new technologies through the official and formal learning mechanisms such as extention services. However, her study also showed that women use their social capital extensively for mobilizing their limited resources, time and opportunities for learning. Women’s gender-based constraints and their own ways of learning should be reflected in training designs and methods. The next presenter, Khaing Khaing Htwe showed involving women as well as men in participatory action learning and monitoring processes. Her study showed that if women are involved in trainings and learning processes, they can more effectively be involved in household decision making to change and improve agricultural practices. The last presenter, Thaw Ni Ni Zaw drew from the concept of social capital to understand how women mobilize resources to gain new information, knowledge and technologies. Women from poor communities can benefit from collective learning and actions and sharing risks and experiences. This may be a first step to empower women in communities with economically and ecologically difficult conditions.

Photos: a discussion session with the three presenters. We discussed how we could address women’s gender-based

constraints in extension services and trainings.

3.3 The vegetable project The ACIAR Vegetable project has recently started. At the beginning of the workshop, the project members were concerned about this panel discussion session, saying that there were no ideas about gender in their project. However, during the session, each project member spoke about gender in relation to their work. Overuse of pesticide is one of the hot topics and we discussed how gender matters in this topic. What are women and men farmers’ perceptions about overuse of pesticide? Whose decision it is? What are gendered consequences? The farmer participants also shared their experiences of growing vegetables and their interests in learning new technologies.

Photo: The vegetable team consists of biophysical scientists and social scientists describe how gender matters in their research and interventions.

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3.4 The livestock project The livestock team said that they had no ideas about gender before joining this workshop but they quickly leant and recognized the importance of gender. In Myanmar, livestock is considered as a way for improving livelihoods for the poor especially for those who have limited farm land. What are gender-based constraints to invest in livestock? Who controls livestock resources? Do women have access to information? We had a fruitful discussion. Farmer participants also provided their experiences of growing chicken and the importance of engaging women as they have main responsibility to grow and sell.

Photos: The livestock team saw a great potential to integrate the notion of gender into their research and interventions. Farmers pointed out that it is women who mostly care about livestock, but information and technologies are not delivered sufficiently to women farmers.

3.5 Participatory videos and photos (Optional session) Although this was an optional session for those who were interested, all participants joined this session. Nozomi introduced gender-responsive participatory videos and photos, which involves farmers as co-researchers. The farmers’ position as co-researchers help strengthen their self-confidence and have more equal relations with us (researchers). Tools for participatory videos and the videos and photos taken by farmers are available on-line (listed in her last presentation slides).

Session 4: The roles of NGOs This session was one of the highlights in this workshop. It indicated that NGOs are a very strong partner for ACIAR. We had four presentations by six speakers as follow.

1 Empowering women in Man Pan and Kayin Myo Ma Ma Than (NAG) 2 Listen to the voices of farmers Myint Myint Win and Mi Nge

(Farmers who work with NAG) 3 Gender situation in economic empowerment in Myanmar Pansy Tun Thein (GEN) 4 The importance of NGO interventions on the

empowerment of women in rural communities in Myanmar

Romana Roschinsky and Thi Thi Nyunt

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Photos: Presenters, from at the upper left Myo Ma Ma Than, Mi Nge, Myint Myint Win, from at the lower left, Pansy Tun Thein, Romana Roscheinsky and Thi Thi Nyunt Myo Myo Than presented her NGO, NAG (Network Activities Group)’s work. She showed a gender-sensitive approach to forming women’s groups, engaging men and training women to be Female Lead Farmers (FLF). After the presentation of Myo Ma Ma Than, two farmers from Kayin state, Mi Nge and Myint Myint Win shared their experiences. They are Female lead Farmers (FLF) under the project operated by NAG. Mi Nge is from Byet Kha village, Hpa An Township and she has been a FLF since 2017. Myint Myint Win is from Naung Bauk village, Hpa An Township and work as FLF since 2016. They said that before this project starts, they were just growing traditional rice variety. Their villages were affected by climate change, and many men migrate, being away from home. As a result, women have more labour burden. After the project started, they learnt many things, not only new crop varieties and technologies but also leadership skills and loan management. Myint Myint Win said “I was very shay before and I did not know how to speak in public. After the FLF trainings, I changed and gained self-confidence. I am now speaking in front of so many people outside my region and even foreigners. I am so grateful. Before I did not know where is Nay Pyi Taw. This is my first time to visit the capital and I am very happy”. Their voices and true stories are a powerful evidence of social impacts of women’s empowerment.

The next presenter, Pansy Tun from Gender Equality Network (GEN) showed the role of NGOs to influence the policy and strategy at national level. The book “Raising the Curtain. Cultural Norms, Social Practices and. Gender Equality in Myanmar” Published by Gender Equality Network is available online. GEN conducts research and produce evidence to influence the goverments. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs22/GEN-2015-11-Raising%20the%20curtain-en.pdf

The last presenter, Romana Roscheinsky and Thi Thi Nyunt introduced the positive roles of NGOs in creating new gender models for women, facilitating women to take on leadership and thereby increasing their self-confidence. The collaboration with NGOs may be able to bring synergy and a very good way for agricultural research for development to ensure social impacts.

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Session 5: Group discussions and group work The last session organized two group work/discussion. The first group work addressed questions of how we can better apply the gender lens. Participants were divided into three themes, 1) policy, 2) research, and 3) field interventions based on participants’ own interests. Guiding questions were provided for each group. The second group work focused on developing action plans by each ACIAR project.

5.1 How can we better apply the gender lens in policy, research and field interventions? Team 1: Influencing policy

1. Who are influential persons?

Highly authorized persons (Parliament, M.P) Ministers from different ministries State and regional governments NGOs, INGOs, extension workers Attorney general

2. What can be done to reach to them?

Submit the proposals to M.P Distribute the information through media Need well trained journalists (gender issues) Share the gender issues through farmer channel and agribusiness journals Allocate to appoint women in MOALI in high positions (currently no women) Advocate to review the treaties to make the existing law reinforcement

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Team 2: Improving research design by integrating the gender lens

1. What additional information do you need to collect in the field to integrate the gender lens?

• Sex-disaggregated data • Ask both men and women to each question to identify gender differences • Information on cultural norms of local people • HH Survey should include the role of women both inside the HH and on the field • In the scoping study, who own, decides and participates • Ask men and women what are current situations and what they would like to

improve • Gender roles of men and women for specific activities • Decision making in production and marketing • Social points of view • Family related information • Economic related activities of the family • Roles of men and women within the family • Effects on gender inequality • Women’s interests and willingness in livestock rearing • The “Why” questions; motivation, reasons and impacts

2. What specific support would you like to receive and why?

• Knowledge and skills to do gender analysis • Gender trainings for researchers • Financial support for integrating the gender lens into research • Budget for gender-specific interventions • Technical support such as data collection tools and how to analyze • Technical support for developing policy implications • Networks to the village level • Trainings of how to use network properly • Support for conducting research on labour saving technologies (mechanization) for

not only men but also women • Enforcement of implementation of women’s empowerment in policy • Support for collecting data (currently Myanna lacks reliable data) • To initiate research plan because of lack of information • Appeal to the government (policy change) and parliament (law)

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Team 3: Designing field interventions with gender consideration

1. How can we support women farmers who have many social constraints? - Need knowledge - Time constraints to participate - Microfinance - Weak in government healthcare services - Market opportunity

2. How can we engage men? - Negotiation - Raising gender awareness - SWOT analysis by different sex groups

3. How can we better describe social impacts of agricultural interventions? - Social cohesion - More confidence - Need time to change - Success story share by media - Show evidence

Sharing and feedback After the group discussion, each group presented their work and other participants provided comments.

Photo: each group presented their work

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5.2 What are next steps to use the gender lens in your own work/project? In this last discussion section, participants were divided into six groups to have a concrete plan or brainstorming exercises to apply the gender lens in their projects. The below sub-sections show the results of discussions.

Group 1: My Life Lessons learned by Mylife: Key gender aspects needed

• Good gender balance (researchers) • Gender awareness training • Leadership skills • Encourage women • Female role models (Gov and NGO staffs) • Mass media for sharing experiences

Next/future planning

• Further study for bench marking activities • To expand the market linkages with private sectors and producers • To improve research, extension and farmer linkages starting with Za-loat research farm

(Sagaing) • To capture videos personal experiences through NGO’s interventions • Consolidation, analysis and writing-up and sharing the data • Repeat or scale up successful activities

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Group 2: Livestock The livestock team had little idea about gender dimensions before the workshop. Now participants have the gender lens. They discussed problems and opportunities in livestock interventions, in particular, for women from poor households. Two topics 1) social and gender dimensions of overuse of antibiotics and 2) gender-responsive interventions for growing chicken, in particular women from the poor were discussed.

Problems or opportunities

Gender dimensions Data to be collected

Overuse of antibiotics (a problem to be addressed)

Men Women Roles X X Interest X X Knowledge X X Opportunities XXX X Capacities X X

Gender roles in breeding and feeding (commercial, local or home-made feeding), vaccination, deworming. Who (men or women) do what? Who are decision-makers? Men and women’s perceptions and knowledge about anti-biotics. Past training opportunities (men and women) What are incentives for men and women respectively to properly use anti-biotics? Why they use a lot? There may be a knowledge gap between men and women about anti-biotics. There may be gender-based constraints.

Chicken can provide incomes for the poor, especially women. Despite women play significant roles, they have limited knowledge compared to men.

Men Wome Roles X XXX Interest X XXX Knowledge XXX XX Opportunities X XXX Capacities X XXX

Chicken for food, selling and/or hatching. What are feed sources they use? Do they have enough incomes to invest? If not, what can be opportunities for women from the poor household? What are gender-based constraints? Do husbands agree with new investments? Do women have enough labour and time? If not, what can be options for them?

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Group 3: Vegetable The ACIAR vegetable project team did exercise to think about gender dimensions in the current hot topics, food safety and market issues. The team had a follow up meeting after the workshop to discuss the action planning.

Problems Gender dimensions Data to be collected Overuse of agricultural chemicals Misuse of fertilizers

• Decisions: men and women • Budget: women • Buying: men • Spraying: men • Following the safety issues: men • Access to knowledge: men • Awareness of overuse and misuse of

agricultural chemicals: • Applying knowledge gained through

trainings

Gender roles and decision making in each activity Gendered Perceptions about overuse of agricultural chemicals Gendered access to information sources Gender-based constraints

Limited market access • Veg producers rely only on male village collectors and local whole sellers – thus little bargaining power

• Who sell the produce? Men or women

• Who negotiate with traders? • Who decide which crop to grow? • Decision for labour deployment

management (men, women, hired) • Take credit or not (risk taking

behavior) • Land use (borrow, rent, own) • How to use income? • Who get information and distribute

how?

Identify opportunities for women To know the HH characteristics (men dominant or women participate)

Group 4: Rice-fish Rice-fish project has started, and they discussed the next steps toward gender-responsive interventions.

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Planned field interventions Gender considerations How to evaluate gender impacts

Integrated RFS Demonstration Invite women (30-40%) couples FHH or women from MHH

Increase participation of women and their benefits from interventions

1. Number of women patricipants in demonstration

2. Number of women targeted and benefited from fish and or rice seed procuers in the value-chain

3. Number of women benefited ffrom processing and fish trading.

Training to researchers about RFS

Make sure to include gender component in the trainings

Asses value-chain interventions in R and F seed delivery systems

Target women for postharvest procesing and fish trading Engaging women as seed enterprenures for fish seed and rice seed

Group 5: Policy Policy team discusses how we could influence the government. As researchers and NGO workers, we hope that our work can have policy implications and the government take a serious action to improve livelihoods of poor people in line with gender justice. How can we do that?

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10-year policies and strategies

• National strategic plan for Advancement of women (NSAAN) 2013-2023 • Myanmar National Committee for Women (MNCW) – Nay Pyi Taw

High level policy making body Ministers (all ministers - men) + 8 NGOs (women)

• NSPAD – 12 Areas for Begin PoA • Women + Economy • Women + Livelihood

Group 6: ACIAR

ACIAR staff from three countries discussed how to ensure ACIAR strategies in practices (both at management and implementation levels). The specific challenges in each countries and common issues and opportunities in Southeast Asia were also discussed.

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Sharing and feedback After the group work, each project presented their work plan. Participants learned from other groups’ work. We congratulated all teams for having a strong gender lens in their projects. The last group, the policy team, brought strong messages and plans for policy makers and decision makers.

Closing session In the closing session, all participants shared their key messages such as what they leant from the workshop and how they use the knowledge and networks in their own professional work (see details in evaluation results too). Two farmer participants commented “It was a great opportunity for me to discuss with experts and researchers in this workshop. This memory will remain with me for the rest of my life” and “I am sure that men’s position remain higher than women but it is very important that I gained self-confidence and am able to speak in public like this”. We all were very happy that farmers were with us in this workshop and appreciated their contribution.

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Closing remarks Khin Thida Myint Professor and Head, Department of Horticulture, Yezin Agricultural University I thank all of you for your contribution to this workshop. I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to Nozomi for organizing this workshop through the support of ACIAR. Thank you Nozomi for gender games which gave us funny, friendship and mobility for our bodies. Today I am sure that gender issues are part of the business of ours and are fully mainstreamed. Achieving gender and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the sustainable development goals set by 2015 globally. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals we will get to justice and inclusion, economics that work for all, and sustaining our environment now and for future generations. The two-day ACIAR Gender workshop program is the event that realistically draw the researchers, policy makers, project managers, NGOs and farmers together in learning, sharing, planning and networking regarding gender issue particularly to ensure women having equal access to resources and decision making in agriculture in Myanmar. Challenges are inevitable in this cultural dominated society where both women and men are found to be possessing different yet equally valued social value. Within the two days period, gender equity policy and strategy were clearly introduced for maximum benefits and awareness. As women are more and more empowered nowadays in several areas including agriculture, their role and importance are highlighted in this workshop with the testimonies of women farmers from Hpa-an district as well. The workshop uses successful examples from several countries to point out the capabilities of women which also need to be proved in Myanmar with the government policy support. Ladies and gentlemen! The need to integrate gender perspective into every stage of policy processes must be clearly aware by policy makers and I hope this workshop can be another instrument in making the recommendations and suggestion and brining light on this issue. As for MOALI, National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women (NSPAW) has been equally given priority with Myanmar Agricultural Development Strategy for the implementation process. However, in the grass-root level, gender inclusive and responsive strategies must be designed so that gender equity would be manifested through better profit and more efficient work done. By acknowledging the importance of women in agriculture, women could be more empowered and equipped for greater household decision making. I am sure that this workshop has contributed as one of the steps in the way forward and a lot of research will go on integrated with several aspects in the future. Let’s all move on for gender equity in agriculture sector and cheers for this effort. As a conclusion, I personally wish to express my gratitude to you all, not only women but also men for coming to this place and sharing your experiences and thought, and I hope you all have safe journeys home. Thank you.

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Evaluation results Q1. Overall how would you rate the workshop?

Q2. How much did you gain new knowledge through the workshop?

Q3. What did you like the most about the workshop?

• The process how the workshop facilitated and organized was very interesting and educational in a very relaxed manner.

• Meeting the female leading farmers with true stories • Group work and Discussion • Gender Game • Knowledge sharing during discussion and presentation. Playing gender game

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• Games • Participatory approach examples on how to capture gender issues (gender book,

photos/videos) • Sharing knowledge and experience from the on going projects. Moreover, group discussion

ensured to know what we learned. • Active organizer Nozomi. She was untiring. • Gender games and quizs. • I mostly intrested about the gender situation in economic empowerment in Myanmar • Well organized and good manaement • Gender box • Group works • Sharing session of female farmers Research study findings from Mylife Today's Group

discussion • Group discussion • Two female farmers' stories. Inviting farmers was a great idea. • Group work

Q4. How will you use the knowledge and networks gained through this workshop in your

professional work? (What actions are you going to take?)

• I will review household survey questionnaires with the gender lens and include gender aspects in our analysis.

• I will apply the knowledge and networks gained through this workshop in our ACIAR project - Improving livelihood in Vietnam and Myanmar through Vegetable Value Chain since gender equity is set one of the chapters

• The network is quite useful to share the gender experiences in Myanmar where there is high knowledge gap on gender issues in agriculture and there are few gender expertise.

• Giving attention on gender issue both in lecture and field practice periods and also giving awareness to the students.

• I would like to share the knowledge about the role of woman in Social Issue, Gender Issue to the woman especially for woman farmers from rural areas. Moreover, many networks gained from this workshop would support to reach my goal faster.

• In some research areas • I will put gender lens in doing research. • Future researches will include gender issue. But I need to fill more knowledge about gender

especially when drawing conclusion and implication of the findings. • 1. Project design phase to include gender specific analysis 2. Keep in touch with research

institutions for development of joint projects • The knowledge and experience gained from that workshop will be used in on going and

future projects of our organization which can make broaden sense also contributing gender issues.

• I will cooperate gender lens in my next next research projects. • Firstly, I will try to share gender issue knowledges and experience to my friends and my

students in lecture as a cross study. Then, I will try to improve my understanding level about the gender issue

• I will use development activities with gender lens • Apply research methods and possible future collaborations • Conduct combined research for social and life science.

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• Got more networks, especially with Universities of Agriculture and Veterinary Science. We can share Gender related trainings: Socio-Economic And Gender Analysis (SEAGA) Training , CEDAW, NSPAW and Gender Training,

• Yes, I will.Gender inclusion is very important in agriculture sector. We will implement project activities with gender inclusion.

Q5. Other comments and feedback

• The workshop was very well organised, and facilitation was perfect. Thank you so much. • Very good organization of the workshop makes the participants to be actively involved in the

discussion. Perfect' • I feel very impressed on this workshop which can pool a wide range of knowledge from

different partners. Thank you very much for organizing this kind of workshop. • Presentation should reduce a little bit. agenda and arrangement is good such as arranging

gender games, group discussions, etc. Workshop is very informal, and it is very good. We can change and share information frankly each other.

• It will be nice if there will be a follow up event or work beyond this workshop • Male farmers whom FLFs are working with should be invited so that their voice can be

listened regarding their personal experience. • Good organizing. Good in general. • Yes, for future please give us the information I mention above. How to interpret and draw

implication the results of research is more important I think. • The awareness about inclusion of gender perspective is the first step. At the same time, it

can be useful to have more practical examples of tools that can be used to capture this dimension.

• As it is very useful workshop especially the gender issues which is new topic in Myanmar. So, that kind of workshop also should need to be conducted for decision making level so as to know more and think about gender in the policies of their respective organizations.

• This program is very good and interesting. If possible, gender lens activity must focus on agriculture and livestock equally.

• I would like to get more collaboration with gender activities • Very impressive. Really good workshop. • Awareness for gender issues in livestock and veterinary research in Myanmar is still needed. • Please use the workshop outcomes as advocacy tools for more effective way of gender

mainstreaming program in Agriculture and Livestock Breeding • Need future cooperation and collaboration like meeting, workshop, dialogues session with

researchers, technicians, extension workers, academic, NGOs and farmers.

The links to the materials and photos The photos of the workshop are available from the Facebook of International Development, University of New England. Thank you, Romana Roschinsky. https://www.facebook.com/pg/uneintdev/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2055968031343887 All materials including gender box and discussion results are available from the link here. https://genderinagr.wordpress.com/myanmar/ The ACIAR gender in agriculture Website and Facebook – these are a regional knowledge hub https://genderinagr.wordpress.com and https://www.facebook.com/GenderinAgr

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The list of participants

Project Name Gender Affiliation 1 Mara Faylon Female ACIAR/DFAT

2 Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong Female ACIAR/DFAT

3 Thura Myo Male ACIAR/DFAT

4 Livestock Shwe Mar Than Fmale YAU, Deputy Director, Participatory Knowledge Managment Division, ACARE

5 Livestock Nan Win Soe Female Department of Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department

6 Livestock Htun Myint Male Lecturer, Dept. of Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Vetery Science

7 Livestock Nan Thida Aye Female Assistant Lecturer, Dept. of Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Vetery Science, Yezin

8 Mylife Julian Prior Male University of New England

9 Mylife Romana Roschinsky Female University of New England

10 Mylife Thaw Ni Ni Zaw Female University of New England

11 Mylife Thi Thi Nyunt Female University of New England

12 Mylife Theingi Myint Female YAU

13 Mylife Zin Mar Win Female YAU

14 Rice-fish Su Su San Female IRRI

15 Rice-fish Lemlem Behailu Female WorldFish

16 Vegetable Yu Yu Tun Female YAU

17 Vegetable Win Pa Pa Soe Female Fresh Studio

18 Vegetable Aye Aye Thwe Female YAU

19 Vegetable Khin Thida Myint Female YAU Department of Horticulture

20 Vegetable Saw Hto Lwi Htoo Male YAU Department of Horticulture

21 Vegetable Khin Thanda Oo Female Staff Officer, Project Planning Section, Horticulture & Plant Biotechnology Division

22 Vegetable Aye Myat Thu Female Deputy Staff Officer, Vegetable& Fruit Research & Development Center, Hlegu, Horticulture & Plant Biotechnology Division, DOA

23 Vegetable Theinht Thinzar Aung Female Assisatant Staff Officer, Project Planning Section, Horticulture & Plant Biotechnology Division, DOA

24 Thi Thi Aung Female DAR, Senior Research Assistant Rice Bio Park

25 Khin Mar Mar New Female DAR, Oilseeds breeder

26 Nwe Nwe Yin Famele DAR, Director

27 Htet Mar Lar Aye Female YAU

28 Than Dar Kyi Female Department of Planning, Director

29 Aung Phyo Male YAU, Department of Agricutural Economics

30 Aye Moe San Female YAU

31 Daw Khaing Khaing Htwe Female DAR, Research Officer

32 Khin Thein Nyunt Female DAR, Senior Reserch office

33 Thandar Win Female DAR, Jounior Research Assistant

34 Khia Thein Nyunt Female Senior Research Officer, DAR

35 Duncan Boughton Male Michigan State University

36 Isabel Lambrecht Female IFPRI

37 NGO Rachele Pangani Female CESVI, Donor Relationship and Grants Manager

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38 NGO Pansy Tun Thein Female Gender Equality Network, Technical Advisor

39 NGO Myo Ma Ma Than Female NAG, program manager

40 NGO Myint Myint Win Female Farmer (a women’s group leader)

41 NGO Mi Nge Female Farmer (a women’s group leader)

42 NGO May May Pyone Female NGO Gender Group (GG), Executive Director

43 Organizer Nozomi Kawarazuka Female Social Scientist, International Potato Center (CIP)

Acknowledgement As the organizer of this workshop, I thank all participants for their passion for gender justice and their contribution. Special thanks to Theingi Myint (YAU) and Khaing Khaing Htwe (DAR) for their support during the planning and preparation. I also thank Zin Mar Win, Htet Mar Lar Aye (YAU) and Su Su San (IRRI) for their excellent assistance during the workshop. This workshop was funded by ACIAR under the AGB-2017-008, with additional financial and institutional support from the International Potato Center (CIP) and the RTB Research Program of CGIAR. Photos used in this report are from Romana Roschinsky (University of New England), Htet Mar Lar Aye (YAU) and Nozomi Kawarazuka (CIP).