ATTACHMENT 19_ COMPLETE UPDATED GENDER ANALYSIS FOR CARPE 2018-2020.docx

Updated Gender Analysis for the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) 2018-2020 By Diane Russell, PhD, MEM, Senior Social Scientist, USAID Forestry and Biodiversity Office

Publication Information Title: Updated Gender Analysis for the Central Africa Regional Program on the Environment (CARPE) 2018-2020 Date of Publication: May 2018 Authors: Russell, Diane Contact author: Diane Russell, dirussell@usaid.gov May be cited and reproduced with acknowledgement to USAID/DRC

Acknowledgements

Rachel Boketa, USAID/DRC Gender Specialist Charles Gilman, Gender and Women’s Empowerment Advisor, E3/GenDev CARPE Partners Gender POCs:

1. Maiko-Tayna-Kahuzi-Biega Landscape (MTKB), WCS. Gender POC: Andrew Kirkby

2. Projet CAFEC in four landscapes, World Wildlife Fund (Lac-Tumba, Salonga, Itombwe et Virunga): Marguerite NZUZI, Gender Officer

3. Lac Tele/Lac Tumba Forest Landscape WCS, Ben Evans for Gerard Bondeko

4. Virunga Landscape, WCS, Papy Shamavu, Gender POC

5. Ituri-Epulu-Aru forest Landscape, WCS (Lead), WCG, CODELT, Gender POC: Amir Ohole NJAKA

6. Maringa Lopori Wamba: AWF, Réseau des Femmes Africaines pour le Développement Durable (REFFADD). Gender POC : Eulalie Bashige REFFADD Founder

7. SCAEMPS, WRI, Lauren Williams

8. Technical Assistance Support SCAEMPS and CAFEC, USFS. Gender POC: Richard Paton

Table of Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations

AMNH

ASDE

American Museum of Natural History Association pour la Solidarité, Développement et Environnement

CAFER

CAR

CARPE

Centre d’Appui aux Femmes et aux Ruraux Central African Republic Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment

CBNRM

CBD

CBO

CEDAW

Community-Based Natural Resource Management Convention on Biodiversity Community-Based Organization Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

CIFOR

COBAM

COMIFAC

Center for International Forestry Research Climate Change and Forests in the Congo Basin (CIFOR project) Central African Forests Commission

FCPF

FIP

Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

Forest Investment Plan/Program

FLEGT/VPA

FPP

GBV

GenDev

GIZ

Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade/Voluntary Partnership Agreements Forest Peoples Program Gender-Based Violence USAID Office of Gender and Women’s Empowerment German Technical Cooperation

IARC

ICCN

ICRAF

INADES

IUCN

International Agricultural Research Center Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de Nature World Agroforestry Centre African Institute for Economic and Social Development International Union for the Conservation of Nature

LAGA

LTPR

LTLT

MASSNF

Last Great Apes Association

Land Tenure and Property Rights

Lac Tele Lac Tumba Landscape

Ministère des Affaires Sociales, de la Solidarité Nationale et de la Famille

MINFOF

MLW

NAPA

Ministry of Forests and Wildlife (Cameroon) Maringa Lopori Wamba Landscape National Adaptation Plan of Action

NGO

NRM

NTFP

Non-Governmental Organization Natural Resource Management Non-timber Forest Product

OSFAC

PACEBCO

PRSP

Observatoire Satellital des Forets d’Afrique Centrale Programme d'Appui à la Conservation des Ecosystèmes du Bassin du Congo Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

RDCS

REALU

REFADD

Regional Development Cooperation Strategy Reduction in Emissions from All Land Uses Réseau des Femmes Africaines pour le Développement Durable

REPALEF

RFA

ROC

RRI

SL

SNV

TRIDOM

TNS

TOC

UNFPA

Réseau des populations autochtones et locales pour la gestion durable des écosystèmes Request for Application Republic of Congo Rights and Resources Initiative Sustainable Landscapes Netherlands Development Organization Dja-Odzala-Minkebe Landscape Sangha Tri-National Landscape Theory of Change United Nations Fund for Population Activities

USFWS

USG

WCS

United States Fish and Wildlife Service United States Government Wildlife Conservation Society

Executive Summary

Updated CARPE Gender Analysis 2018-2020 Page

Achieving CARPE’s objective to maintain the ecological integrity of the humid forest ecosystem of the Congo Basin is only possible if the energies and knowledge of both men and women are engaged.

These major take home points from the 2013 analysis remain valid:

Women remain key to success. Women play a critical role in the management of forest resources and biodiversity. Investment in women percolates to families and society as a whole. Understanding their role as well as the gender dynamics that shape natural resource management is a necessity for assuring sound outcomes. For rural women, forest conservation is a life and death issue centering on, for example, access to, use and management of forest products, food security, revenue to ensure payment of school fees, health costs and other needs, security in entering forests and going to market, and health impacts of unclean water, malnutrition and loss of diversity. Women often influence or control the timing and extent of deforestation for shifting cultivation and thus it is essential to work with women to reduce forest loss while improving food security.

Vulnerability has to be addressed. In addition to the positive energies created by engaging women, USAID needs to assure that programs “do no harm.” Climate change and conservation impacts and policies affect men and women differently especially as women’s decision making power is constrained. The ongoing problems of impunity, aggression and violence that threaten the safety and well-being of many African forest communities strongly affects their participation. There is a long history in the region of women being “volunteered” for activities for which they receive little benefit and that may even take them away from major subsistence and economic tasks. Men in the forest sector also have dire problems that need to be better understood and addressed; for instance young men who lack assets and prospects often turn to high risk activities or migrate, resulting in a loss to local communities. Note especially the extreme vulnerability of indigenous women (e.g., BaKa, BaMbuti, Efe, Batwa). Given the low status of these groups special safeguards, policies and programs must be designed to meet their needs and concerns. Another category of extreme vulnerability is widowed or divorced women, who may lose access to family assets and livelihoods.

It’s doable. Rather than despairing that culture change is difficult and inappropriate for outsiders to address, CARPE implementers are moving ahead with gender programming (see below). However many activities remain small scale and marginal to the program.

Gender analysis is embedded in cultural socioeconomic contexts. Understanding how key social categories intersect with gender and accounting for the diversity of women’s knowledge, roles and lifestyles adds rigor and depth to analysis. Women are master farmers, traders, merchants, healers, spiritual and clan leaders, teachers and artisans as well as being mothers and wives. They engage with men in their lives—husbands, brothers, fathers and other relatives and associates—and with their communities in multiple ways within marriage and when single, divorced or widowed. More analysis of these roles is needed.

Gender equality is not about engaging individual women or increasing the “quota” of women. Increasing the participation of women does not in itself ensure movement to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Just because there is a woman in a high position of an institution does not mean that gender is integrated or that women’s empowerment is a priority. Relations of power as well of trust and alliance exist between men and women as well as among women’s groups and institutions.

However research has shown that a critical mass of women in a mixed-gender management group can improve outcomes related to reducing deforestation and conserving biodiversity.

Men play essential roles in advancing gender equity and women’s empowerment. Male staff and extension agents should have the skills to be able to work productively with women, modeling behavior that is respectful, culturally appropriate and empowering.

Policy level entry points to advance gender equity and women’s empowerment remain:

· Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) planning and implementation, especially community forestry, requires underpinning guidelines with respect to rights, access and use. USAID has learned that equitably engaging men and women is an essential factor in policy development for CBNRM and community forestry that will improve outcomes for communities as well as for the resource base.

· All land use policies have significant gender dimensions. For instance, enforcement around protected areas can fall heavily on women especially where there is a culture of abuse of authority. USAID’s and the USG’s work on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) can inform the creation of gender-sensitive safeguards and practices. In concession areas there is need to be alert to restrictions put on access, use and livelihoods. Distribution of benefits that accrue to communities but may not filter down to women or other community members.

· Gender ministries, civil society (including religious) organizations can open up new avenues for collaboration and constituency building. At the same time much needs to be done to operationalize gender initiatives in line Ministries and technical organizations to avoid ghettoization.

Potential actions over the next two years include:

· Strengthen civil society (including gender and indigenous peoples) participation in conservation governance through capacity building, information sharing and communications programs. Also, identify appropriate contracting mechanisms to provide high-level CBNRM expertise and social science expertise with resource tenure specialization.

· Increase focus on ecosystem services that are important to local people, especially women. Such services include water availability and quality, pollination, soil fertility, and natural products to improve livelihoods and diets.

· Build leadership of women, youth and indigenous people in the development and management of community forestry concessions. Support the design of community forestry management systems that reflect and build on men’s and women’s knowledge systems.

· Incorporate women’s and indigenous knowledge and expertise into land use planning.

· Ensure women’s strong participation in and benefit from sustainable cocoa production and other agroforestry and tree crop production systems.

· Acknowledge the key role played by women in fisheries management and ramp up attention to the crisis in inland fisheries.

· Focus on youth employment opportunities in engagement with the private sector to reduce involvement in illegal and extractive activities.

· Engage women and indigenous people as ecoguards and in other support services within protected areas.

· Continue to review workplans to gauge depth of knowledge about gender and participation of women as well as feasibility of actions, especially with respect to “alternative livelihood” or value chain activities that depend upon women’s labor.

· Build pathways for women entrepreneurs to work in conservation enterprises and industries.

· Craft and adopt indicators that go beyond sex-disaggregation to measure changes in levels of inequality, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

· Encourage a gendered approach to key threats to biodiversity, the bushmeat and wildlife trade, as well as to forest degradation, by incorporating cultural, livelihood and food security dimensions.

· Make public data from the Basic Necessities Assessment Surveys (BNS) and gender analyses done at each CARPE landscape and review for insights and lessons learned.

· Mentor gender-sensitive forestry and conservation students through internships with CARPE and CARPE partners.

· Support applied field research on gender and other social issues within the CARPE landscapes.

· Support existing policies that promote gender, for example the ministerial order making mandatory an inclusion of gender in all forestry projects in the DRC.

CARPE progress since 2013 Awareness of gender and women’s empowerment has grown significantly within the CARPE program since the CARPE III gender analysis was carried out in 2013. Virtually all partners have carried out a gender analysis and/or an analysis that illuminates gender differences in well-being. Each partner has a strategy and has carried out activities to advance inclusion and empowerment. Activities that directly address CARPE’s objectives include working with women in fisheries management, fire management, bushmeat marketing and on the management of community forestry concessions (CFCs), and training them in protected areas management (surveillance). Other activities that support livelihoods, enterprises and savings groups as well as the practice of setting gender quotas would benefit from sound theories of change and evidence for how they contribute to CARPE’s objectives.

Hiring more women staff, which all partners have done, can be transformative in terms of mobilizing the energies of women--if they are empowered, have voice and create a critical mass of individuals with gender-sensitivity. The inclusion and empowerment of youth and indigenous people of both genders, particularly in CFCs and private sector partnerships for conservation-friendly industries, needs more focus, as their participation is essential to reducing threats and to building a sustainable future. Training more than 50 women and indigenous people to become park rangers values the role that they play to improve protected area management and create more support in their respective groups or clans.

Below find a synthesis of findings from reporting and a short survey sent to CARPE partners:

Synthesis of Findings Significance of gender and women’s empowerment to CARPE’s objectives:

· Natural resources management in the Congo Basin requires the participation of all stakeholders.

· Women and men use and manage natural resources in the Congo Basin in different ways, making conservation strategies that take natural resource use by local communities into account more successful in having a desired impact.

· Efforts to engage communities in conservation efforts including livelihoods projects are often contingent on the support and engagement of the users most directly concerned with issues such as maintaining sources of fuelwood and NTFPs through forest protection or improving household food security through improved agricultural practices.

· Gender equality has become an extremely important aspect in the development of CFCs and livelihood activities. For CFCs, partners are working to use a participatory approach involving all gender and ethnic groups to ensure its sustainability and legitimacy.

· For livelihood activities, projects need to target both genders and all actors in the value chain for example for bushmeat - hunters, restaurateurs, traders, women cooks and women restaurateurs are targeted.

· Women are the real change agents in the family. We know that when women have more control over their lives outcomes for their households, children and the resources they depend improve. If we as practitioners don't take the opportunity to push for improved equality, we are missing a huge opportunity for long-lasting change.

· If CARPE initiatives, such as the promotion of community fisheries governance, are to succeed then such a large proportion of people have to be taken into account when building capacity, trust and systems.

· Men and women have different access, knowledge and use of the forests, but it is the women who are the first users, given the unique role they play in all the sectors related to the exploitation of forest resources and have a link with climate change through the REDD+ initiatives.

· Women have been integrated gradually in the management of protected areas, previously devoted to men mostly.Women play a disproportionately important role in the use and management of fire at the community level throughout the region. Experience in both Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo has shown that fire management planning -- critical to both climate change response and biodiversity conservation -- can only be effectively designed and implemented with the active participation of women given the role they play in using fire at the community level.

A number of promising developments occurred in the five years since the CARPE III gender analysis, including:

· A Ministerial order making compulsory the gender inclusion in all community forestry initiatives was signed in July 2016 in the DRC.

· The number of women park rangers gradually increased from zero to more than fifty over the past five years.

· CARPE supported female literacy programs in many landscapes, this resulted to an increased capacity of women in alternative livelihood activities.

· All CARPE partners have some type of gender strategy and objectives and have done or planned a landscape level gender analysis.

· Partners designed new approaches and tools to improve gender equity and women’s empowerment including capacity building tools, teaching guides, outreach material and the formalization of gender working groups. Capacity building tools were developed to train staff to conduct, use and contribute to gender assessments,specifically pertaining to conservation efforts.

· A guide was created to teach participants how to conduct household-level Basic Necessities Survey (BNS). The guide’s primary purpose is to monitor the socioeconomic well-being of program beneficiaries. CARPE expanded the scope of the BNS tool by including a gender-disaggregated approach. Also, CARPE focused on recruiting women to lead and participate in fieldwork for the BNS. In the focus groups, 142 women and 151 men actively participated in the discussions.

· CARPE deployed gender-oriented communication, marketing and outreach materials to ensure gender safeguards are being incorporated into climate change mitigation initiatives.

· A gender working group was established to integrate gender aspects into government policy on REDD+ and community forestry. This group mobilized stakeholders at local, provincial, and regional levels of government to advocate gender mainstreaming across community forestry and REDD+ activities.

· Throughout the project implementation, women became key actors leading agroforestry projects that were traditionally under men’s control due to land ownership rights, thus the emphasis on women’s involvement broke boundaries and will lead to their empowerment. In the Virunga region for example, 32 associations, with both male and female membership, were chosen to pilot agroforestry projects. In the Salonga region, six women’s associations were selected to lead pilot agroforestry projects. In Virunga due to their agroforestry activities, some women’s associations became landowners recognized as such by local chiefs.

· The project increased microcredit lending to women, indigenous populations and youth to invest in small business activities and improve livelihoods, while creating positive incentives to support conservation. CARPE found that by targeting women for microcredit financing, the reliability of loan repayment increased. In the Maiko Tayna Kahuzi-Biega (MTKB) landscape, a microcredit scheme started in 2010 with 60 beneficiaries. Over the past five years, the project expanded the number of beneficiaries in four villages within the region. Today, there are 253 beneficiaries, 45 percent are women and 15 percent are from the indigenous population.

· Partners implemented a new policy to increase the number of female staff in their programs. In the Bateke landscape, for instance, 16 new staff members were hired of whom six were women. This statistic includes new full-time staff and students/interns. A gender focal point has also been designated for seven of CARPE’s eight landscapes. The focal point supports gender mainstreaming by advocating, advising and assisting staff in their implementation, monitoring and reporting efforts.

· Since the start of the scheme in 2010, 535 women have received credit, many of whom were involved in illegal natural resource use such as charcoal and timber extraction from Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Credit reimbursement rates by these women’s groups have been up to 93% and generally higher than what male beneficiaries have achieved.

· Four women’s groups in the Oshwe region got official title to land for agroforestry activities.

· In the Lac Tele Lac Tumba landscape, community fisheries bodies were created in 2017 and each village decided to elect one woman and one man to represent both male and female fishers, ensuring they will be able to participate in all high-level decision making.

· In Virunga women's associations working on fish transformation and selling around Lake Edward are involved in all activities being implemented to improve fisheries governance and are seen as key stakeholders in any consultation being carried out on fisheries management.

· The 2016 regulation on CFCs requires female representation on the committees to be established for management and monitoring of the concessions. SCAEMPS played an important role in working with Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) to finalize these regulations through technical working sessions as well as convening public consultations.

· Training and participation in community mapping was supported for male and female community members.

Challenges to gender equality and women’s empowerment include:

· Disadvantaged female headed households: From WCS’s 2017 Basic Necessities Survey (BNS) data collected around Kahuzi-Biega National Park in 143 households, 22 households were headed by a woman. On average, these had a statistically significantly lower well-being score (36.8%) than man-headed households (43.4%). In Virunga the well-being score was 50% higher for male headed households than for female ones.

· Security that has continued to deteriorate in the region (MTKB), with increased crime, theft and kidnappings perpetrated by armed groups. This has negatively affected small businesses, including those supported by CARPE.

· Low levels of literacy of women.

· Beliefs and norms about gender roles.

· Lack of attention and resources put to gender within the program.

· Representation of women in meetings, committees etc. can be easy to achieve, but ensuring genuine participation can be difficult. Sometimes efforts to improve representation can backfire as women's presence is seen as just a token effort to reach equality targets.

· The main challenge is that of scale. The incubator activities involve a small number of women and at this level of intervention given the vastness of the landscape the impact is miniscule to result in critical conservation leverage.

· Following the successful adoption of land use and fire management planning at the national level that emphasizes the critical role of women and indigenous communities, the next step is ensuring those best practice approaches are implemented at the community level by government agencies and other land use management actors.

· Although they are the main family members supporting the household from the sale of their products, the main supply markets for women are still very far from their production areas and transportation means and road access are still very challenging.

Opportunities for gender equality and women’s empowerment include:

· The exception to the relatively low well-being status of female headed households was found in fishing communities where the well-being index for women fishers’ households was higher. This finding points to the importance of a dedicated income stream for women as well as the double benefit CARPE gets from working in the fisheries sector.

· Communities have greatly embraced the idea of developing CFCs. The process to gain formal land rights is often complex and out of reach for most forest communities who live there (both Batwa and Pygmy). The concession development process is seen as more clear and attainable.

· In the Virunga landscape, since 2013 we have been promoting gender equality especially women's empowerment. We have seen a positive change in the behavior of women and indigenous peoples who have been sensitized and understood the role they can play in conservation and sustainable management of natural resources.

· Land use planning and agroforestry activities notably integrated women in all landscapes.

· An increased number of women participated in activities related to the sustainable cocoa production in Ituri, including planting traditionally devoted to men.

Considerations for youth and indigenous peoples:

· Youth unemployment in the landscape is a serious concern as it often leads to unsustainable and illegal natural resource extraction within protected areas as a means of earning revenues. This makes youth a key target group for livelihood projects supported by CARPE in an effort to increase employment opportunities, develop skills and reduce pressures on natural resources.

· For the development of CFCs, indigenous groups comprising different clans are the basis of traditional land ownership in much of MTKB’s forested landscape. All clan groups within the target area need to be involved in a participative way to ensure that their traditional territory is mapped and agreed upon before proceeding to any forest concession process.

· Indigenous people and young people contribute a lot to the activities in the Ituri landscape, for example in scientific research as porters, guides, observers for inventories of large mammals, field technicians, tree-climbers, and human compasses. In tourism they contribute as guides and as traditional hunters in their natural milieu.

· Creation of a good image for the projects as the inclusivity is seen as respectful of human rights and thus contributes to the deconstruction of the unequal relations and promotion of sustainable and effective development. It can also contribute to combating conflicts related to natural resource management as there is less suspicion and more trust among local communities and interest groups as well as reduced animosity towards ICCN.

· Within the context of community forestry, community dynamics or certain requirements to document terroirs may exclude indigenous populations or fail to address their needs; therefore an important need is to ensure that there is sufficient representation of these groups to contribute to policy discussions and provide input as to their implementation.

· Best practice manuals on land use planning have incorporated the critical role of indigenous groups and that approach has been adopted region-wide through the validation of land use planning methodologies by member countries of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC).

Some accomplishments may have significance for development and women’s empowerment but the link to conservation is unclear, including:

· Training women to make soap in the MLW landscape. Although the claim is that they have “abandoned destructive activities in the forest” to take up this metier, it is unclear if that means abandoning shifting cultivation--in which case how is the family getting food?--or if they individually may be putting efforts into soap making but others in the family continue to exploit forest resources.

· Literacy for women around the Okapi Faunal reserve and opening up commercial establishments run by women in the area.

· Promoting the fight against illiteracy and “idleness” [sic] in MLW.

· Micro-credit, microenterprise and savings clubs.

· Generalized training in natural resource management.

· Family planning initiatives.

· Cookstoves manufacturing and adoption (lack of clear theory of change and evidence for how this reduces deforestation or improves conservation outcomes).

· Agriculture, agroforestry and tree planting (type of agroforestry is unclear).

· Where a gender strategy was proposed but not implemented or weakly implemented.

· Gender targets for representation absent an understanding of and pathway for how this will improve conservation.

· Relying on a women’s organization such as REFADD to carry out work on gender rather than integrating this expertise into staff.

· Impact of family planning using matching funding during CARPE phase III.

Why we need to do more: notable trends on gender and women’s empowerment A Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in DRC completed in 2014 illuminates status and trends in health and well-being, focusing on women and children.

· Nutritional status. Forty-three percent of children under age five are stunted, or too short for their age, and 23% are severely stunted. This is an indication of chronic malnutrition. Stunting is higher in rural areas than in urban areas (47% versus 33%) and higher in Sud-Kivu (53%), Nord-Kivu (52%) and Kasaï Occidental (52%) than in other provinces. Stunting decreases as the mother’s level of education increases; 51% of children whose mothers have no education are stunted, compared to 13% of children whose mothers have more than secondary education. Among children under age five, 8% are wasted. This means they are too thin for their height and indicates acute malnutrition. Additionally, 23% of children under age five are underweight.

· Marital and economic status. 81% of married women age 15-49 were employed in the 12 months before the survey, compared to 97% of married men age 15-49. More than one-third of working women (37%) and 48% of working men were paid exclusively in cash. In DRC, 6 in 10 women participate in decisions about major household purchases, 54% participate in decisions about visits to her family or friends, and 46% participate in decisions about her health care. More than one-quarter of women (26%) say that they do not participate in any of the three aforementioned decisions.

· Gender based violence. More than half of women (52%) have ever experienced physical violence since the age of 15. More than one-quarter of women (27%) have experienced physical violence in the last 12 months. Overall, 27% of women have ever experienced sexual violence and 16% experienced sexual violence in the last 12 months.

Conflict and violence. According to ReliefWeb, During 2016-17, “the spread of conflict in DRC to new geographic areas in the Kasaï region (provinces of Kasaï, Central Kasaï, Eastern Kasaï, Sankuru and Lomami) and Tanganyika province led to a rapid deterioration of the overall situation. Political unrest, an electoral crisis and a significant socioeconomic decline with more than 50 per cent devaluation of the Congolese Franc over the last year, that further aggravate the current instability. This highly dynamic context made up of a series of acute crises has caused massive population displacements, serious human rights violations “more horrendous than ever before” according to Stephen O’Brien’s statement to the Emergency Directors of the IASC after his visit to DRC and CAR last July.”

Significant gender inequalities persist due to norms, policies and practices. Researcher Jane Freedman notes that “Gender inequalities are obvious in many areas of public life, such as the lack of women in decision making positions in the government. Women make up only 8.9% of representatives in the National Assembly, 5.5% of Senators and 14.8% of government ministers (despite a strong recommendation from the national consultation held in Kinshasa in 2013 to appoint at least 30% of women to the government). Although a law on gender parity in political representation was passed by the National Assembly in April 2014, so far it has not had any noticeable impacts. There is still widespread opposition to women’s participation in public and political life because this is equated with a threat to the “traditional” family life and culture of the DRC. Women have also been under-represented in all of the various peace negotiations which have taken place to try and end the conflicts in the DRC, and remain a very small minority in the armed forces, the police and the judiciary.”

A ray of light According to the latest edition of Women, Business and the Law (World Bank 2018) “among the reforms carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo are a change to the family code to allow married women to sign contracts, get jobs, open bank accounts and register businesses in the same way as married men.”

I. Introduction The Central Africa Regional Program on the Environment (CARPE) is one of USAID’s largest and most prominent biodiversity conservation programs. The 2013 gender analysis that informed CARPE Phase III consisted of a literature synthesis on gender and women’s empowerment in the region relating to conservation and climate change issues (summarized in Annex A, bibliography in Annex C) alongside key informant and focus group interviews from May-August 2012 in five of the countries where CARPE was present during the first two phases: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Republic of Congo (ROC). Diane Russell interviewed stakeholders in DRC and Cameroon and Michael Vabi carried out interviews in Gabon, CAR and ROC.

Stakeholders consulted included men and women working for national governments, national and international natural resource management and biodiversity conservation and civil society organizations (Annex B). In each of the countries, the institutions and organizations with mandates for gender and female empowerment were targeted, although in the case of DRC a planned meeting with the Ministry of Gender, Family and Child did not take place.

The interviews and document review reveal that commitment by both public and civil society organizations to gender mainstreaming does not differ significantly from one country to another. Moving from poor in Gabon, to fair in the CAR and DRC, and improving in ROC and Cameroon, the report found a general lethargy in the systematic translation into practice of public declarations of intent on gender mainstreaming and female empowerment, at least as expressed in national regulatory and institutional frameworks. In general, state institutions and civil society organizations concentrate on securing women’s participation in natural resource management (NRM) and biodiversity conservation initiatives rather than engaging in actions directed at the transformation of power relations between men and women. The confusion between gender as a concept—and analytical tool—and female empowerment was evident in discussions with nearly all the male and female stakeholders. Gender mainstreaming initiatives directed at sustainable NRM and biodiversity conservation initiatives, and more recently, in discussions on climate change and related processes remain undeveloped.

This weak response to embedding gender into conservation and climate change initiatives and agencies could be explained by a) incorrect perceptions that inequalities between men and women have been resolved by international and national policies and laws; b) sluggish translation of institutional and corporate prescriptions on gender into practice by key stakeholders; c) distorted and/or insufficient knowledge and gender expertise; and d) sociocultural contexts.

In Congo Basin countries, discussions on climate variability and change and related processes provide opportunities for adopting gender responsive approaches. Addressing the concerns and interests of vulnerable social groups, including women, are already integral components of regional processes across the Congo Basin as well in national and sector policy documents such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).

In this light, not only has the groundwork for gender mainstreaming been laid, CARPE occupies a privileged position to inscribe gender on the agenda of donor agencies, national and international civil society organizations in the region. However, the challenge of mainstreaming gender into technically demanding and relatively new sectors such as climate change and related processes such as REDD+, among other competing national priorities should not misjudged.

Why gender analysis is about more than gender Is gender analysis yet another burden that overloaded development managers must bear in the long bureaucratic process of project design? Does gender seem only marginally relevant to the salient technical issues? Does it involve social engineering beyond the scope of donor-funded efforts? These are common concerns that a good gender analysis has to address.

A gender analysis should be practical and useful, grounded in the technical domain(s) of the program and within the manageable interest of actors. However being grounded in reality does not mean lacking in aspiration or innovation. Gender impacts are not just limited to individuals but extend to families, communities and society as a whole in terms of what gets accomplished, and how knowledge and benefits are invested and shared. For instance, if climate change mitigation and adaptation actions do not involve women, their families will suffer and natural resources they manage may deteriorate. Recommendations for action should provide options that cover a range of scales and ambitions, starting with building on existing efforts to linking up with forces striving to achieve larger-scale social change.

A clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of women and men in forest management initiatives is vital not only for due diligence—e.g., to avoid harm to the vulnerable, apply REDD+ safeguards—but also to achieve positive results. Engaging and empowering women at all levels vastly increases the human, social and financial capital available to address problems and opportunities. Women and men deploy different resources, strategies, and knowledge even as they work together. Women and men also experience different constraints and problems.

In turn, gender roles and responsibilities are shaped by sociocultural contexts that may be as or more important than gender itself in determining access to, benefit from, and knowledge of forests and forest management. Such variables include ethnicity, age, education, wealth, skill set and employment, locality, power and social status (Box 1: Key Social Categories).

In addition to describing gender roles and responsibilities and differential impacts of policies and actions, gender analysis should indicate where there are opportunities to increase participation of and benefit to women and men as well as reduce gender discrimination and conflict, again within appropriate cultural and socioeconomic contexts.

Gender analysis advances cultural understanding required for sound development. Consider this finding from the Gender Analysis commissioned by USAID/DRC (2013: 6): “Power in all socio-cultural (and thus institutional) domains is generally structured as a zero-sum construct and wielded in a predatory manner; one person’s gain is another’s loss, not a source of mutual advantage. For this reason initiatives in women’s empowerment are commonly thought to target men.” The implications of this insight are that approaches to women’s empowerment must be carefully constructed to address concerns about how advancement of some individuals may be seen as affecting the chances or options for others. In the central African context this scenario plays out in the dynamic between youth and elders as well as between women and men.

Analysis of gender roles shows how field realities can contrast with cultural norms. For instance, informants may state that women or men never engage or never should engage in a certain activity (e.g., “women do not clear bush”) while observations reveal that in some cases women or men do engage in the activity.

Another common norm is that women should work collectively but this norm can hide power relations and even coercion (Box 2).

Gender analysis also illustrates social trends, social change and plasticity. Gender is not a rigid fixed category; it evolves and adapts. While closely related to biological sex differences, gender is a social category. In some cultures there are men who adopt “female” gender roles while women may also adopt “male” gender roles; for instance in some African societies in the past powerful women could “marry” other women.The DRC Gender analysis described how gender roles and norms are shifting to greater equality in urban settings.

II. CARPE Overview[footnoteRef:0] [0: Polygyny is the correct term for marriage of one man to two or more wives; polygamy is the general term for multiple partners while polyandry is the term for marriage of one woman with more than one man.]

CARPE is a USAID initiative aimed at promoting sustainable natural resource management in the Congo Basin. CARPE’s Strategic Objective is to reduce the rate of forest degradation and loss of biodiversity in the Congo Basin by increasing local, national, and regional natural resource management capacity. Intermediate results include implementing sustainable forest and biodiversity management practices, strengthening environmental governance, and working to monitor forests and other natural resources throughout the region.

By working to fulfill its objective, CARPE supports broader efforts to alleviate poverty in Central Africa by helping to conserve the biotic resources necessary for sustainable development. CARPE also provides global benefits by contributing to efforts to slow climate change and protect the species and genetic resources of the Congo Basin.

The third Phase of CARPE was initiated in 2013, with a single development objective: The ecological integrity of the humid forest ecosystem of the Congo Basin is maintained. Phase III focuses on sustainable management of targeted forested landscapes, mitigation of threats to biodiversity, establishment of policy and regulatory environments to support forest and biodiversity conservation, and strengthened capacity to monitor forests, greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity. The objective and rationale for Phase III are more fully described in the Regional Development Cooperation Strategy 2012-2020.

Gender related activities in CARPE II

Highpoints:

· CARPE commissioned a desk study in 2002 called “Engendering CARPE” by Nancy Diamond, which provided context and the outlines of a gender strategy for CARPE II

· Gender language was integrated into the CARPE II Request for Applications (RFAs) and there was a 2004/5 gender workshop/review of proposals

· The CARPE II evaluation included an assessment of gender strengths and weaknesses. Strengths included:

· CARPE and its implementing partners have been sensitive to gender issues. Though not well structured, reference is made and attention paid to the gender dimension of natural resources management with, for instance, frequent reference to the crucial role of women in managing natural resources.

· Baseline studies were conducted to generate strategic information likely to be incorporated in potential gender-based programmatic agendas.

· Though very geographically isolated and not systematized, development NGOs such as the African Institute for Economic and Social Development (INADES), CARE (the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere), the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), and Pact have conducted thematic gender-based case studies (e.g., exploitation of non-timber forest products, contribution to bushmeat trade, and contribution to income generation) in a number of landscapes, including Dja-Odzala-Minkebe (TRIDOM), Sangha Tri-National (TNS), Ituri, and others).

· Numerous capacity building sessions at the local level on alternative livelihoods and micro-project management, e.g., in Maringa Lopori Wamba (MLW), TNS, Gamba Complex, Virungas, Lac Tumba Lac Tele (LTLT), etc. were oriented towards women.

· The CARPE Program has increased the institutional capacity of Réseau des Femmes Africaines pour le Développement Durable (REFADD), for example, which in turn has carried out numerous activities to strengthen the position of women in resource management.

· In addition, some women‘s organizations/networks are parts of landscape consortia (e.g., Tayna, Monte Alen-Mont de Cristal and Salonga Landscapes).

· Support is provided to women‘s livelihoods initiatives, such as in the Gamba Complex with WCS and with small animal husbandry in Tayna Landscape).

· An extensive program on women‘s saving and credit schemes, and women‘s literacy groups has been developed in the Ituri Landscape.

· About one-third of trainees in 2010 in CARPE-supported training programs have been women. The Tayna Center for Conservation Biology, launched with CARPE support, has trained several hundred conservation scientists, about 20% of whom are women. Similarly, 60 of the first 400 trainees of Observatoire Satellital des Forets d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) were women. WWF has a complementary program with non-CARPE funding to provide scholarships for women from the Congo Basin.

The evaluation also described weaknesses in the CARPE program and recommended improvements to promote gender sensitivity and women’s empowerment. The report notes, for example, that “The Congo Basin Information Series, CARPE‘s premier publication about the lessons learned during its first six years, has very little information on gender and social issues… Despite the existence of isolated actions, there is no specific gender-based approach within CARPE. Alternative livelihood initiatives recorded in the field are more a kind of socio-economic assistance to women and are not supported by a vision of ownership or empowerment. CARPE has not developed gender-specific strategies for addressing issues such as CBNRM, local institutional arrangements or the bushmeat trade, and the contribution of women in these areas is crucial. CARPE and its partners have not examined the structure of gender relations in natural resource governance, and there is no clear strategy to institutionalize women‘s rights of access to or control of land where power relations have characteristically disfavored women. These issues require deeper examination at national and landscape levels.”

The evaluation echos the findings of this gender analysis that “CBNRM is the CARPE component where better integration of gender issues offers the greatest potential for major, positive impacts for women, society and the resources under management. Unfortunately, CBNRM has been the weakest component of CARPE, and the potential for gender integration has scarcely been tested.” In the ensuing two years, there has been some progress in integrating women into CBNRM planning, for instance promoting in their involvement in community mapping in the LTLT landscape.

Finally, the evaluation finds that “very few of the CARPE small grants have focused on social issues or have addressed gender issues. The grant proposal requirements do not require a discussion of how gender issues will be addressed.” Two years after the evaluation, Vabi found no evidence that gender issues and female empowerment are core considerations of the support provided to civil society organizations in the countries included in his fieldwork.He felt this could be explained by the fact that as CARPE sets out to provide strategic support in the form of grants to non-state actors engaged in the conservation of biological diversity, there may be limited opportunities for women in this sphere. In Gabon, for example, out of a list of forty potential partners of CARPE, only four had female leaders. Gender becomes a concern to CARPE largely in terms of stakeholder participation in the delivery of supported projects.

The partnership with REFADD is notable; however it would be good to consider the effectiveness of this partnership in terms of internalization of skills and approaches within the core partners. As well, an assessment of the impacts of small grants targeted to women such as those given to CAFER in Cameroon for alternative livelihoods in bushmeat trade is warranted.

Achieving gender balance in staffing has been a challenge for CARPE, as it is for IUCN and other conservation and forestry institutions in the region. Apart from the office cleaners who are women, there was no other female staff among the IUCN CARPE focal points; however there have been female focal points in the past.