USAID_Zimbabwe_Gender_Analysis_and_Assessment.pdf

HE FUTURE PROGRAMMING

JULY 2009

This publication was produced for review by the UNited States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by DAI UNder subcontract to ACDI/VOCA with fUNding from the Accelerated .

DISCLAIMER

The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNited States Agency for International Development or the UNited States Government.

USAID/ZIMBABWE

GENDER ANALYSIS AND

ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE

PROGRAMMING

JANUARY 2012

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by ACDI/VOCA and Banyan Global. The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING I

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................................................ I

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................... III

ACRONYMS .................................................................................................................................................................... IV

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I. INTRODUCTION

USAID ECONOMIC GROWTH/FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMS

METHODOLOGY

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

II. GENDER ANALYSIS OF SMALL‐SCALE AGRICULTURE SECTOR

GENDER ROLES

GENDERED DIMENSIONS IN INTRA‐HOUSEHOLD DECISIONMAKING AND CONTROL OVER ASSETS

GENDER AND MARITAL STATUS: FEMALE HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS

GENDER CONSTRAINTS: RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

WATER

INPUTS

TRAINING AND EXTENSION SERVICES

TECHNOLOGY AND EQUIPMENT

FARMERS CLUSTERS, ASSOCIATIONS AND PRODUCER GROUPS

FINANCIAL SERVICES

MARKETS

GENDER CONSTRAINTS: ASSETS AND INCOME

LAND

INCOME AND MONEY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

GENDER CONSTRAINTS AND WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY

GENDER DIMENSIONS IN AGRIBUSINESSES

SOCIOCULTURAL DYNAMICS: ACCEPTANCE OF GENDER NORMS

III. GENDER ANALYSIS OF POLICIES, LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS

GENDER POLICIES

LAND OWNERSHIP, TENURE AND ASSET INHERITANCE POLICIES

AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY POLICIES

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS

CHALLENGES TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING WITHIN GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

GAPS IN AVAILABILITY OF POLICIES AND INFORMATION

IV. GENDER CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECT VALUE CHAINS

COTTON

VEGETABLES

GROUNDNUTS

MAIZE

DAIRY

POULTRY

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING II

BARRIERS TO ENTRY INTO MALE‐DOMINATED VALUE CHAINS

V. WHAT WORKS? GENDER ASSESSMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION APPROACHES

USAID ECONOMIC GROWTH PROGRAMS

OTHER DONOR PROGRAMS

CIVIL SOCIETY PROGRAMS

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING

FEED THE FUTURE STRATEGY

PROGRAM INTERVENTIONS

IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS’ OPERATIONAL PRACTICES

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

INFORMATION GAPS AND FURTHER RESEARCH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEX A. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

ANNEX B. BEST PRACTICES: INTERVENTIONS TO INTEGRATE GENDER EQUALITY INTO VALUE CHAINS

ANNEX C. GENDER‐FOCUSED CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS

ANNEX D. SCOPE OF WORK

ANNEX E: FIELDWORK TOOLS

ANNEX F: LIST OF INFORMANTS

ANNEX G. FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION PARTICIPANTS

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors of this report would like to express their sincere gratitude to a number of individuals who supported and contributed to the development of the USAID/Zimbabwe Gender Analysis and Assessment for Feed the Future Programming. The study was a significant undertaking and required the support of many individuals and institutions.

USAID/Zimbabwe’s Economic Growth team, particularly Snodia Chikanza and Tina Dooley-Jones, provided invaluable support, advice and assistance throughout the gender assessment process. Ms. Chikanza and Ms. Dooley- Jones gave guidance throughout all stages of the assessment, provided linkages to Economic Growth implementing partners, helped refine the value chains that were included in the assessment and offered valuable feedback on information presented at the USAID/Zimbabwe Gender Analysis and Assessment Stakeholders’ Workshop. The assessment was successful in large part because of this enthusiastic guidance. In addition, USAID’s gender focal person, Vera Musara, graciously gave her time to the assessment process, facilitating a breakout group at the stakeholders’ workshop, suggesting relevant desk review research and meeting with the assessment team for an informational interview.

We also would like to acknowledge the assistance of all USAID/Zimbabwe Economic Growth implementing partners and all other stakeholders who participated in interviews, the online survey and the stakeholders’ workshop. The opinions, insights, suggestions and knowledge they provided were exceedingly valuable and greatly appreciated.

We particularly appreciate Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT), ACDI/VOCA, Land O’Lakes, Africare, CARE and Fintrac for their leading roles in identifying and facilitating entry into the communities for the fieldwork. Additionally, field staff from all these organizations enthusiastically assisted in the fieldwork process by organizing beneficiary groups, accompanying field teams into communities and interpreting during these sessions. We also want to thank the community members from Goromonzi, Gweru, Kwekwe and Mudzi districts for their active participation and time commitment.

We could not have carried out the assessment successfully without the extensive support from ACDI/VOCA staff, both in Zimbabwe and at headquarters, who assisted the team throughout all stages of the assessment process. A very sincere thank you is extended to Sekai Mudhoni, who extended invitations from the ACDI/VOCA REALIZ and PRIZE offices to host the gender assessment team. Ms. Mudhoni gave continual support to the team by providing general guidance, helping arrange meetings and facilitating a breakout group at the stakeholders’ workshop. Rufaro Shumba and Sandra Chiruka also gave up a great deal of their time to assist the team with planning and logistical issues. At ACDI/VOCA headquarters, Ruth Campbell and Genevieve Edens contributed vital feedback and insight at all stages of the assessment, from creation of a work plan to the final report. Additionally, Ms. Edens provided invaluable logistical and planning support.

Finally, the study team wishes to thank the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe for hosting us throughout the seven-week process.

The USAID/Zimbabwe Gender Analysis and Assessment for Feed the Future Programming team: Lindsey Jones, Lisabeth Meyers, Phides Mazhawidza, Fadzai Chiware, Michelle Stern and Adina Saperstein.

Harare, Zimbabwe

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING IV

ACRONYMS

ACP Zimbabwe Agricultural Competitiveness Program AGRITEX Agriculture Research and Extension Services ARDA Agricultural Rural Development Authority ASP Agro Veterinary Service Providers ASP-Z Agrodealer Strengthening Project Zimbabwe BACOSSI Basic Commodities Supply-Side Intervention CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CLUSA Cooperative League of the USA COP Chief of Party CRS Catholic Relief Services DFID Department for International Development DHS Demographic and Health Survey E-ATP Expanded Agribusiness and Trade Promotion Project EU European Union FaaB Farming as a Business FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FGM Female Genital Mutilation FNC Food and Nutrition Council FtF Feed the Future FTLRP Fast Track Land Reform Program GBV Gender-Based Violence GFP Gender Focal Person/Point GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GoZ Government of Zimbabwe IRD International Relief and Development M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MWAGCD Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development NGO Nongovernmental Organization NGP National Gender Policy OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ORO Operation Restore Order PLHIV People Living with HIV PRIZE Promoting Recovery in Zimbabwe PRADAN Professional Assistance for Development Action REALIZ Restoring Economic Agricultural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe SaCU Savings and Credit Union SADC Southern Africa Development Community SDC Swiss Development Corporation SEDCO Small Enterprise Development Company SME Small and Medium Enterprises SNV Netherlands Development Organization STAMP Smallholder Technology & Access to Markets Program U.N. United Nations

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING V

UPA DI L'Union des Producteurs Agricoles du Québec Dévelopement International USAID United States Agency for International Development VSL Village Savings and Loans WFLA Women Farmers Land and Agricultural Trust ZAPAD Zimbabwe Agriculture Production and Agribusiness Development ZIM-AIED Zimbabwe Agriculture Income and Employment Development ZimVAC Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee ZWLA Zimbabwe Women’s Lawyers Association ZWRCN Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report presents the findings from a gender analysis of the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe and an assessment of gender mainstreaming in development programs, particularly as they relate to food security and the U.S. government’s Feed the Future (FtF) initiative. The findings are a result of a seven-week study that used a variety of methods to gather data and analyze information. Methodologies included literature, data and policy reviews, an online survey of mainstreaming practices, participatory qualitative fieldwork with focus groups of male and female farmers, and informant interviews with stakeholders from the government of Zimbabwe (GoZ), donors, international development organizations, and local civil society and private sector actors. While many of the report’s findings are applicable to most of sub-Saharan Africa, all findings presented in this report were validated through fieldwork, expert interviews and desk review as part of this study.

USAID has the opportunity to build on lessons learned from implementing partners and maximize its future impact on gender equality in economic development. Successful intervention models should:

address underlying constraints that prevent market engagement;

focus on end-market channels with the fewest barriers to entry and lowest risks;

initiate the process of establishing commercial relationships and building market literacy; and ensure that increased participation of women is meaningful so that it also translates into equitable benefits.

In addition, access to finance is a critical issue for rural households, particularly for women. To effectively address this need, a market-based investigation must elucidate the gap in supply and offer alternative financial products for rural women’s context. Finally, limited time is a major underlying constraint that disproportionately affects women because of their dual household and productive responsibilities. Therefore, development efforts must invest in and introduce labor-saving activities and women-friendly equipment to reduce these workloads.

Findings from the gender analysis support many of the assumptions about women’s status in agriculture in sub- Saharan Africa. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women constitute 53 percent of agricultural labor in Zimbabwe, yet they do not have equitable access to key productive resources and assets, including land, inputs, capital, finance, water and equipment.1 These constraints generally are applicable across all value chains. While many of these constraints apply to both women and men, they all have particular gender dimensions and often represent an even greater challenge to women than men as a result of gender dynamics in Zimbabwe. The key points from the study are outline below.

Rural women play a critical role as guardians of household food security. One of the few household decisions over which women have primary control is how much of their food crop to store for consumption and how much to sell for profit. Food crops (e.g., vegetables, maize and groundnuts) often are associated with being a “woman’s crop,” meaning that women traditionally manage small plots with these crops, store part of the harvest for consumption and barter or sell the remainder in local markets. Women use the income to buy food, household goods and pay for children’s education. Women in Zimbabwe are more likely than men to spend income on household goods and welfare, such as education fees and healthcare. Statements and observations from both focus groups and informant interviews indicate that as food crops are becoming more commercialized in Zimbabwe, men are becoming more involved and are appropriating the market opportunities, which means they receive the income and women have less control over how the income is spent.

These are critical income transactions in relation to household food security. They indicate that

1 FAO. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–2011. p. 11.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 2

commercialization of crops in Zimbabwe could potentially contribute to household food insecurity if efforts are not taken to ensure women also have influence over how income is spent, or that income is spent more equitably on household welfare.

Female-headed households (estimated 39–42 percent of households) face different constraints than married women in male-headed households and implementation must take that into consideration. De jure female-headed households are more likely to be among the very poor, but have similar physical asset bases as male-headed households, except for livestock and equipment. De facto female-headed households have fewer productive assets, but do not see a disproportionate lack in income or education, and generally manage to achieve crop incomes similar crop to male-headed households. Female-headed households can be potential entry points for engaging women in nontraditional roles.

Women farmers have noted they are increasingly involved in household decision making, due to their significant contributions to household income. This is a positive indication; however it is important to note that ultimately, men still retain control. Women increasingly are involved in group contract farming and farming associations, yet a deliberate approach is required to ensure that women participate in meaningful ways;

otherwise men are often the primary beneficiaries.

Women’s access to extension and training is increasing, which seems to be due to the increased direct targeting of these services to women by both the AGRITEX (Agriculture Research and Extension Services) and NGO community. However, if only one household member can attend training, the man usually attends.

Programs should avoid targeting only one member of the household for trainings, since this typically means only men will attend. Female heads of households in Zimbabwe are less likely to attend a mostly male training.

Women-targeted efforts need to have the support of men in order to avoid backlash or appropriation.

Local women’s and gender-oriented civil society groups, such as Padare Men’s Forum and Zimbabwe Women’s Lawyers Association (ZWLA), are demonstrating effective models for engaging men on women’s rights, land rights and the benefits of their participation in farming clusters.

There is an outreach gap between women’s need for credit and implementers’ ability to meet that need. Participatory fieldwork showed that women rank access to finance higher than men, yet implementers have reported that women do not apply for financing schemes and then assume they do not want it. Further exploration of this issue is necessary to identify how to close the outreach gap for women.

USAID programs are doing a commendable job increasing the numbers of women participating in programs.

However, more effort is needed to measure and report the benefits of participation—both quantitatively and qualitatively—and ensure that participation is meaningful. Programs need to allocate more resources to gender mainstreaming, since they largely agree that capacity in gender awareness and expertise is the main constraining factor to enhancing gender approaches. Successful approaches identified in this assessment include:

Village savings and loans (VSLs) that allow women to meet basic household needs and serve as an entry point for them to build assets and develop market literacy skills in a way that is comfortable and accessible.

Contract farming targeted to women. Women then need to be supported at each stage of the process, including ensuring that the person whose name is on the contract is the same person who picks up the inputs, getting women into lead farmer positions, and holding trainings at times, intervals and places that fit into women’s schedules.

Women are de jure heads of household if they have no husband, whether from divorce, death or having never married.

Women act as de facto heads of household when their husbands are temporarily or permanently absent from homes.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 3

Appropriate irrigation technologies introduced to reduce women’s workload and increase productivity, such as gravity-fed irrigation systems and mechanized pumps.

Land rights awareness raised through community-driven methods, such as the peer educator method implemented in Mudzi in partnership with the Women in Law in Southern Africa, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, the police and Ministry of Gender. The training focuses on how to write a will and administer the estate of the deceased. Anecdotal results show that more people are writing wills that protect women’s assets.

Projects focused on setting the training time, interval and location around women’s needs and schedules. These projects report greater participation by women, and findings indicate they are most likely to actively participate if they are in women-only or women-majority trainings.

Efforts engaging women in nontraditional roles, such agro-veterinary service providers and milk committee boards. This often relies on the implementer’s persistence, deliberate targeting, and creative rethinking of traditional requirements for such roles.

Women’s Business Platforms that cluster women in a comfortable environment where they build and practice leadership skills while developing critical market and business skills.

Projects and agencies are most successful at introducing creative and effective approaches to increase women’s access to economic opportunities if they have a senior-level person dedicated to gender equity. USAID key personnel requirements should include demonstrated commitment to gender equity.

Projects also should not lump gender focus into a “cross-cutting” position. Instead these responsibilities should be assigned to the position where they are most relevant and filled by the individual who is most capable of leading change within the project. USAID should support greater investment in building staff gender capacity and sensitivity, which was identified as the major barrier to implementing more effective gender approaches.

Women and gender-focused Zimbabwean civil society organizations have been implementing creative and anecdotally successful projects to address sensitive gender issues in communities and increase women’s economic opportunities. However, they have not been fully engaged by USAID programs as resources, beneficiaries and value chain partners. USAID should create incentives in programs to work with women and gender-focused civil society, e.g., by providing training, developing a gender policy or mobilizing community members/farmers. Capacity building should focus on management, administration and business practices, and technical capacity. A strong, grassroots, women-focused civil society is critical for changing attitudes and behaviors regarding traditional gender practices in decision making and control of resources.

The National Gender Policy and corresponding action plan is underfunded. It suffers from lack of awareness and from the lack of resources and capacity within the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development.

GoZ and internationally funded researchers need to do a better job integrating gender into their data collection and reporting methods, particularly in reporting data that is disaggregated by sex in all quantitative and statistical studies, such as the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) study.

Development implementers and Zimbabwean civil society are eager for ways to disseminate and share information about gender issues and successful approaches to economic and agricultural development and food security.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 4

I. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the status of women compared to men in accessing and benefitting from development efforts in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, particularly those relating to food security. The report presents findings from an analysis of gender inequities in policies and practices, as well as an assessment of current development efforts by government and nongovernment institutions to address gender inequities.

Based on these findings, the report outlines the implications and recommendations for future programming in Zimbabwe, primarily USAID’s FtF program.

The motivation for this study is based on the premise that gender equality is a development goal, and gender equity is a smart development practice. Just as development means reduction in poverty and increased access to justice, it also means reduction in gaps in well-being between males and females.2 Yet gender equity also is increasingly recognized by economists as a necessity for achieving economic growth, reducing poverty and increasing food security in many developing and emerging- market countries. Based on a study of a range of developing countries, the FAO determined that if women had the same access to and control over production resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30 percent, which could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5–4 percent, thereby reducing the number of hungry people in the world by 12–17 percent.3 The implications of this study demonstrate that development efforts to reduce food security and increase economic growth cannot be achieved without ensuring gender equity in accessing development opportunities and the ability to reap the benefits of those opportunities.

This study’s approach is based on the hypothesis that gender mainstreaming of government and donor economic policies and programs is an effective strategy to achieve gender equality. Using the definition of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), gender mainstreaming is the process of identifying gender gaps and making the concerns of women, men, girls and boys integral to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all spheres, so that the participants benefit equally. With regard to food security, gender mainstreaming ensures equal access to, control over and benefit from productive resources and services involved in food production, processing, marketing and consumption.

The conceptual framework behind the ACDI/VOCA team’s methodology is designed with reference to the FtF Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, which was still under development at the time of this study. The index is expected to aggregate indicators for household decision making and time allocation in relation to agricultural production, women’s access to productive capital, the adequacy of their income to provide for their families; and women’s access to leadership roles in the community (see figure above).

2 World Bank. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. p. 3.

3 FAO. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–2011. p.5.

Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture

Index

Women have adequate incomes to provide for their families

Women are in leadership roles

Women have household decision making authority

Women's time allocation

(workload) is balanced

Women have access to and control over productive capital

What is “Gender”?

While “sex” refers to universal biological characteristics that define males and females according to reproductive abilities, “gender” is defined as the socially constructed differences between males and females and the social roles and relationships between them. Gender roles are learned through socialization and vary by culture and context. They also change over time. Gender shapes the dynamics of human interaction and is influenced by economics, distribution of resources, political power and social spheres.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 5

USAID ECONOMIC GROWTH/FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMS

In the past three decades, Zimbabwe’s tremendous agricultural potential has been undermined by financial and political volatility. A decade of turmoil beginning in 1999 reached a climax in 2008 with hyper-inflation, high unemployment and increased food insecurity. Although the country has reached a degree of stability since 2009, rural Zimbabweans continue to face the double burden of uncertain livelihoods and food insecurity. The ZimVAC reported that an estimated 1.6 million people, about 18 percent of the rural population, were food insecure in 2009–2010.4

USAID/Zimbabwe is committed to supporting the country’s economic stabilization and food security through USAID’s Economic Growth program. The strategy includes analysis for economic growth planning and support for livelihood activities that increase income and employment as well as agricultural activities. USAID Economic Growth programming in Zimbabwe includes value chain development, linking farmers to markets, strengthening farmer associations and improving the enabling environment. In addition to enabling economic growth, USAID/Zimbabwe supports emergency food programs during periods of food insecurity, working with partners including the World Food Program, World Vision, and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). During the 2011 peak lean season (January-March) USAID/Zimbabwe contributed over $61 million in humanitarian assistance.

Gender is a cross-cutting focus, and each project includes a gender equity component, for example, target numbers of women beneficiaries. This study supports USAID/Zimbabwe to assess the effectiveness of gender integration in existing projects, better understand the situation for women in rural Zimbabwe and provide the agency with recommendations to improve gender mainstreaming practices with a focus on food security through value-chain development.

METHODOLOGY

Data collection took place in several stages using multiple methodologies as a means of triangulating report findings. The assessment team conducted a literature review of secondary data and recent assessments related to gender issues, agricultural value chains, land rights, policies and socioeconomic status of women and men in Zimbabwe. The team reviewed existing quantitative data from publicly available surveys and statistical studies, which, unfortunately, was limited.

Two comprehensive gender analyses of the Zimbabwean agricultural sector were conducted within the last three years. The first, a Situational Analysis on the Gender Gaps in the Agricultural Sector in Zimbabwe, by the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) was released in 2008 and is a comprehensive resource based on a quantitative survey.5 The second, a Consultancy Study on the Economic Empowerment of Women in the Agriculture Sector, contracted by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development (MWAGCD), was released in 2011 and provides updated information including a thorough review of government programs.6 This USAID assessment both validates and builds upon many of their findings and complements them by providing implications targeting USAID-funded programs, particularly FtF initiatives.

The methodology for this study also included key informant interviews with donors, government officials, Zimbabwe civil society leaders and value chain actors. USAID-funded project leaders in Harare contributed a large portion of the findings and recommendations. Policy analysis also was based on the review of available gender, land and agricultural policies. To inform the assessment of current USAID-funded approaches, the team conducted an online quantitative survey of perceptions about gender mainstreaming in projects.

4 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee. Zimbabwe Rural Household Livelihoods Survey, October 2009, p. 8. The latest data from the 2011 ZimVAC study was not available at the time of this report.

5 Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Center and Network. “Situational Analysis on the Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Zimbabwe.” Zimbabwe, ZWRCN, 2008.

6 Chipika, Stephen. “Consultancy Study on Economic Empowerment of Women in the Agricultural Sector.” Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, April 2011, p. 17.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 6

The team also conducted two weeks of field work in four districts in Zimbabwe—Gweru, Kwekwe, Goromonzi and Mudzi—that included key informant interviews with locally based officials and value chain actors, plus participatory focus groups with male and female farmers. The focus group facilitator used three gender analysis techniques:

Harvard Analytical Framework Activity Profile Harvard Analytical Framework Access/Control Profile7 priority ranking analysis tool based on the Social-Economic and Gender Analysis Framework8

Finally, formulation of recommendations was based on findings from all the methods, plus a stakeholders’ workshop conducted in Harare with 40 participants representing government, donor and civil society communities. The bibliography is attached to this report and the lists of informants and focus group information are included in Annexes F and G, respectively.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

While the multiple techniques used during the study were informative and comprehensive, the information is largely qualitative and anecdotal and should be interpreted as indicative, not conclusive. There is a significant lack of publicly available sex-disaggregated quantitative data about Zimbabwe that would enable substantiation of anecdotal, first-person accounts, particularly related to economic activity and agricultural production in Zimbabwe. When sex-disaggregated data is available, it is even more difficult to find data disaggregated by both commodity, as well as sex, making value chain-specific findings hard to come by. It is hoped that these reports will inform development program strategies and interventions, and that USAID and policymakers will encourage future researchers to incorporate sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis into agricultural market and vulnerability studies and publicly available reports so that future gender assessments can incorporate deeper triangulation of qualitative findings.

II. GENDER ANALYSIS OF

SMALL-SCALE AGRICULTURE

SECTOR

Although women constitute 61.7 percent of the rural population and 53 percent of the agricultural workforce, GoZ policies and traditional practices have routinely restricted women from land ownership and equitably accessing productive resources and extension services.9 Significant gender equality gaps persist in Zimbabwe, particularly in economic and political sectors. Zimbabwe has shown only slight gains in closing gender gaps over the past five years, having increased its score in the Global Gender Equality Gap Index only slightly from 0.646 in 2006 to 0.661 in 2011, (where 1 equals the highest possible score of equality and 0 equals the lowest possible

7 The Harvard Analytical Framework’s Activity Profile identifies who does what, when, where, how and how often. This information leads to an analysis of the gender division of labor in productive, reproductive and community work within the household and community, disaggregated by sex and age. The Access and Control Profile examines who has access to and control over which resources, services and decision-making institutions and who benefits from development projects and programs.

8 Priority Ranking Analysis assesses participants’ priorities for development and was used to highlight where constraints differ between women and men and where they overlap. For more information, see: http://www.fao.org/gender/seaga/en.

9 Food and Agriculture Organization. State of the World’s Food 2010–2011, p. 90, 111, 41.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 7

score).10 To put this in an international context, Zimbabwe currently ranks 88 out of 136 countries in this index.

The slight improvements mainly are due to greater gender parity in access to tertiary education and nonagricultural wage equality, both of which are relevant to this study.11

This section presents findings from analysis of the key indicators of women’s socioeconomic status in comparison to men’s, specifically related to the agriculture sector. Due to limited available quantitative data disaggregated by sex and value chain, this information is based on triangulating findings from literature review, informant interviews and fieldwork. While many of the constraints described in the following sections can be regarded as general agricultural constraints faced by many males and females, they all have particular gender dimensions and often are experienced even greater by women as a result of gender norms. In addition, while many of the constraints described in this and subsequent sections may be applicable to sub-Saharan Africa in general, all findings presented are results of this study and relate specifically to Zimbabwe.

GENDER ROLES

RURAL HOUSEHOLD DIVISION OF FARM LABOR

On smallholder farms, all family members are involved in multiple productive tasks. Fieldwork suggested that women generally engage in productive activities to a much greater extent than men, such as planting, weeding, watering and harvesting. These tasks take up a great deal of women’s time during the day and throughout the year, and women generally spend more time engaging in farming activities on a daily and annual basis than men.

Adult men, and sometimes male youth, generally engage in activities that require the most physical strength, such as land preparation, plowing and fencing or use more expensive mechanical technologies. Men, women and children of all ages typically are involved in harvesting of most crops. Overall, women provide productive labor for all value chains. However, women play a more minimal role in the male-dominated value chains of sugar, cattle and dairy. Despite limited involvement in these value chains, evidence from field research, stakeholders and desk review sources reveal that women are becoming more active in these traditionally male areas.

One of the major distinguishing factors of Zimbabwean agriculture is the high prevalence of female-headed households, which the FAO reports to be 42.6 percent.12 This is due in part to high levels of migration by men to cities and towns in Zimbabwe and neighboring countries in search of economic opportunities and livelihood diversification. A study of one region in Zimbabwe found that remittances sent by husbands working away from the homestead often are a major source of nonagricultural income for rural households.13 Women, who typically remain at the rural home, supplement income through agricultural labor and production.

Although many urban workers migrated back to their rural homesteads during and after Zimbabwe’s financial crisis, male migratory labor continues to be a major source of income for many rural families. Other

10 The Global Gender Gap Index is sponsored by the World Economic Forum. It benchmarks national gender gaps according to an index of 14 indicators in the areas of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. It provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time.

11 Gender Gap Index 2011, p. 26.

12 FAO. State of the World’s Food 2010–2011, p. 118. This is according to the “most recent observation” and FAO does not list a date for it. This percentage refers to the share of rural households that are female headed. It has increased from the FAO’s reported earliest observation, which was 39.4 percent. Again, FAO does not list a date for the earliest observation.

13 Muza, Olivia. “Informal Employment, Gender and Vulnerability in Subsistence Based Agricultural Economies: Evidence from Masvingo in Zimbabwe.” FAO, 2009.

Gender roles are the behaviors, duties and responsibilities that normally are performed by men or women because of how society or power relations define what it means to be a man or woman in a given context.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 8

nonagricultural activities that became more prominent for rural households after the financial crisis include fishing, hunting, collecting, logging, nonfarm informal wage employment and nonfarm self-employment.14 Focus group participants also mentioned fishing and logging as common nonagricultural income-generating activities for men.

WORKLOAD IMBALANCES: WOMEN’S TRIPLE ROLES

While it is common for men and women to perform many of the same productive activities, women primarily are responsible for reproductive work. Reproductive activities that women perform include fetching water and fuel, laundering, shopping, preparing food, cleaning the home and taking care of children and other family members. Men are involved in some reproductive roles such as making repairs to the home and collecting wood and water via scotch carts or wheelbarrows.15

Women’s reproductive duties also overflow into responsibilities to the community, such as representation on burial societies, farming on communal plots (called Zunde raMambo plots16), and performing unpaid, manual labor and cooking duties in community improvement activities. Men also have important community responsibilities, however the gender imbalance lies in the joint reproductive and community-based work of caring for the most vulnerable in the community, including orphans and vulnerable children, people living with HIV (PLHIV) and the elderly, for which women are largely responsible. While this is an additional burden for individual women, it also is important to recognize that women have developed coping strategies and capacities for caring for vulnerable people; this should be recognized as a critical community resource.

Women face a triple role in which they perform a great deal of productive and reproductive work, as well as community work. Consequently, women bear the burden of heavy workloads, which are a major barrier to their economic empowerment in the agricultural sector. Women may be too busy with existing responsibilities to attend trainings, access key information on input schemes or market demand or serve in decision-making roles. Moreover, women’s roles as caregivers and men’s limited roles in reproductive labor can restrict women’s mobility and their ability to access employment, more profitable markets and training opportunities that require travel outside of the community.

In addition, while de jure and de facto female heads of households may have greater decision-making capacity and control over household resources, focus groups in the field suggested that they are responsible for performing increased productive agricultural work to compensate for the absence of the husband.

Consequently, they find themselves even further constrained in accessing development opportunities.

It is generally seen as culturally inappropriate for men to engage in much of the reproductive tasks that women perform. This is a major barrier to reducing women’s workloads. Efforts are needed to address biases inherent in current gender roles and reduce such stigma, so that men feel it is important to participate in reproductive work and are comfortable doing so. In addition, it is possible to adopt creative approaches to engaging men in reproductive roles that work around traditional gender norms. For example, while male focus group participants admitted that it would be culturally taboo for a man to engage in the reproductive task of fetching water by

14 Muza, p. 7.

15 These findings are supported by the 2008 survey by ZWRCN and focus group responses. Women predominantly carry firewood on their heads and men use scotch carts or wheelbarrows to collect and transport fuel, which is less time consuming.

16 Zunde raMambo (also referred to as Nhimbe) are plots set aside by traditional leaders where community members grow food for orphans and vulnerable people in the community. Men also work on these plots.

Reproductive work refers to care and maintenance of the household and its members. It is critical for human survival but is often overlooked as being “work.”

Productive work refers to the production of goods and services for consumption and trade. Women’s productive work is often less visible and valued than men’s.

Community work refers to the voluntary organization of social events and services, ceremonies and celebrations, community improvement activities, and participation in organizations and political activities.

USAID/ZIMBABWE GENDER ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR FEED THE FUTURE PROGRAMMING 9

carrying buckets on their heads, they can and do participate in this task using scotch carts and wheelbarrows. In doing so, these men are translating traditionally a female task into terms that are appropriate and acceptable to men.

GENDERED DIMENSIONS IN INTRA-HOUSEHOLD DECISION MAKING

AND CONTROL OVER ASSETS

Fieldwork and desk review findings overwhelmingly indicate that men control the bulk of household and family resources. This is in spite of the fact that women perform productive work equal to—if not more than—men, and carry the primary burden of reproductive and domestic work. While women can access many resources and the benefits of productive labor, they do not have the same decision-making authority over and ownership of them as men.

In general, men control the majority of the following resources used in performing productive activities: land, most tools and equipment, income and savings, raw materials, transportation, most livestock, trainings, farming inputs and information. While women are able to access many of these resources, they are generally unable to make major decisions regarding the purchasing, lending or sale of such resources. While husbands commonly consult with wives in making decisions on resources and benefits, men retain the final say.

Within the household, women control reproductive resources such as household utensils and kitchenware. The only productive resources women typically have some degree of control over are backyard gardens, fowl, ruminants and small agricultural tools—such as hoes—that are commonly used by women. However, while these resources are perceived as being controlled by women, in reality chickens and gardens had the highest rates of joint ownership out of a number of productive assets.17 This finding suggests that men also assert control and ownership over these resources. Similarly, both male and female fieldwork participants commonly admitted that men will sometimes exhibit more control over ruminants and fowl if the household does not own any larger livestock.

Women in polygamous marriages have a particularly reduced ability to both access and control resources and benefits, since limited resources and benefits must be shared across large families and multiple wives. This is a particularly important consideration given that one-third of Zimbabwe’s population is Apostolic, a Christian-based sect that practices polygamy.18 This assessment did not reveal any direct findings on polygamy, since there were no Apostolic participants in fieldwork focus groups. However, male and female focus group participants in all fieldwork locations openly admitted that most men have girlfriends and that men will allocate money and other resources to them, even if resources are in short supply. Men’s involvement in extra-marital relationships has similar implications as polygamy on women’s ability to access and control resources and benefits.

However, fieldwork participants reported that women’s roles in decision making are increasing, with women gaining a more active voice in household decisions due to their significant contributions to household income.

This is a positive indication, but men ultimately still retain control. Women also have a significant degree of authority over the amount of harvested food crops to store for household consumption. This decision is critical for household food security and must be considered and incorporated into any intervention that seeks to increase household food security.

GENDER AND MARITAL STATUS: FEMALE HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS

Female-headed households face different constraints and opportunities than do married women in male-headed households, and interventions must take this into consideration. Zimbabwe’s rate of households headed by

17 ZWRCN, 2008, p. 35.

18 DFID. “DFID Zimbabwe: Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis.” Harare, Zimbabwe, June 2011, p. 23.

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women is estimated to be between 39 and 42 percent, which is comparatively high.19 This percentage is larger in the less agriculturally productive areas of the country, particularly regions IV and V, where up to 60 percent of households can be headed by women because husbands leave their wives in charge while seeking employment in neighboring towns, cities and countries.20 Female fieldwork focus groups in Gweru, Goromonzi, Kwekwe and Mudzi were in line with national statistics, as illustrated in the chart below.

Marital Status of Female Fieldwork Focus Group Participants

Single Divorced Widowed

Total de jure head of household

Total de facto head of household

Total Married

Total Participants

Gweru n/a 4 3 7 0 4 11

Goromonzi 1 n/a 4 5 1 4 9

Kwekwe n/a n/a 3 3 2 8 11

Mudzi 1 3 2 6 3 6 12

The Ministry of Public Service, Labor & Social Welfare’s 2006 “Poverty Assessment Study” found that the majority of female-headed households are amongst the poorest groups in the country with a 68 percent poverty incidence, compared to 32 percent in male-headed households.21 Female-headed households are more vulnerable to shocks that cause poverty than male-headed households.22

De jure female-headed households are more likely to be illiterate and among the very poor than male-headed households or de facto female-headed households, even though they have similar physical asset bases as male-headed households and achieve similar levels of diversification.23 They see less than two-thirds the income from crop sales and business activities than male-headed households.24 Widows, divorcees and single women are less likely to own livestock than male-headed households, so often have borrow livestock and ploughing equipment from other households. Female focus groups participants described how this often meant that women were prevented from planting at the optimal times, thereby reducing crop yields and leading to loss of income and food security. In addition, fieldwork participants in most locations said that while it was somewhat easy to rent or borrow agricultural equipment from other households, community members were less likely to loan cattle to serve as draft animals.

De facto female heads of households have fewer productive resources and assets than other households, which constrains them in the crops grown and in their ability to take advantage of local market options. 25 They also have lower levels of labor available within the household, smaller land holdings, and are less likely to own land and farm machinery. However they typically have similar levels of livestock ownership compared to male-headed households.26 Interestingly, de facto female-headed households do not suffer from a disproportionate lack of income, and generally manage to achieve similar crop incomes to male-headed households, while receiving remittances to supplement income.

19 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, “Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Study (ZimVAC) Draft Report,” Zimbabwe, 2011 and FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–2011, p. 118.

20 Stakeholder interview with Heather Van Sice, deputy chief of party, CARE Zimbabwe.

21 Ministry of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare. “Poverty Assessment Study Survey (PASS).” Zimbabwe, government of Zimbabwe, 2006.

22 Jirira, Kwanele Muriel and Chimbetete, Naome. “Gender Equality Analysis Zimbabwe.” CIDA, August 2009, p. 13.

23 Horrell, Sara and Pramila Krishnan. “Poverty and Productivity in Female-Headed Households in Zimbabwe.” Cambridge Working Papers in Economics, July 2006, p. 18. While the report was published in 2006, it was based on results from a household survey conducted in Zimbabwe in 2001.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid. p. 8.

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Gender roles are changing and adapting in the absence of men. Both de jure and de facto female heads of households often have decision-making capacity that married women do not. De jure female heads of household focus group participants did not require male permission to travel outside of the community, spend income or attend trainings.