Empowering farmers and their organizations through the creation of social capital

Empowering farmers and their organizations through the creation of social capital PDF Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251334307
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Social capital is a key factor that concerns the ability of people to cooperate for common goals. What we have learned over the past decades, from organizational experiences in developing countries and countries in transition, is that physical and human capital accumulation by itself is not sufficient to induce development. Investments in physical capital (infrastructure and equipment) and human capital (skills development) are necessary conditions, but they are far from sufficient; they need to be complemented with the development of social capital (Stiglitz, 1998). This Learning Guide for Trainers focuses on “Empowering farmers through the creation of social capital,” recognizing the fundamental role that social capital plays for healthy and sustainable organizations. Encouraging farmers and their groups to form associations or federations enhances their capacities to learn from each other, exchange reliable information about what works and what does not work, and monitor the accountability of their members.

Empowering farmers and their organizations through the creation of social capital

Empowering farmers and their organizations through the creation of social capital PDF Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251334307
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book Here

Book Description
Social capital is a key factor that concerns the ability of people to cooperate for common goals. What we have learned over the past decades, from organizational experiences in developing countries and countries in transition, is that physical and human capital accumulation by itself is not sufficient to induce development. Investments in physical capital (infrastructure and equipment) and human capital (skills development) are necessary conditions, but they are far from sufficient; they need to be complemented with the development of social capital (Stiglitz, 1998). This Learning Guide for Trainers focuses on “Empowering farmers through the creation of social capital,” recognizing the fundamental role that social capital plays for healthy and sustainable organizations. Encouraging farmers and their groups to form associations or federations enhances their capacities to learn from each other, exchange reliable information about what works and what does not work, and monitor the accountability of their members.

Empowerment of Farmer Organizations

Empowerment of Farmer Organizations PDF Author: H. Murray-Rust
Publisher: IWMI
ISBN: 9290904429
Category : Farmers
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
This paper reviews the conditions and progress towards empowerment of farmer organizations under the Farmer-Managed Irrigated Agriculture Project in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. It discusses the conditions necessary to achieve the goal of an empowered and vitalized farmer organization, the issue of legal status, skill-building activities to build the capacity of the members to manage their own affairs, and institutional issues.

Empowering Smallholder Farmers Through Farmer Organizations

Empowering Smallholder Farmers Through Farmer Organizations PDF Author: Eli Wortmann-Kolundžija
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The market-driven agricultural transformation of the global food system requires all, directly and indirectly, participating actors to compete efficiently and to adapt to changes in consumer demand and buyer requirements. Regarding product quantity and quality, smallholders, in particular, have to increase their reliability in order to be able to compete within the agricultural markets. Thus, innovative institutions are needed that integrate and strengthen the sustainability and linkage of and between each technological, economic, social, or political component of the value chain in order to (further) include smallholder farmers within the transforming food system. By adapting their approach and service portfolio both to changing market requirements and to scientific findings from empowerment research, farmer organizations (FO) could become one of the innovative key actors, increasing the competitiveness of their members SMEs’ and reducing poverty, its impacts and its costs. The aim of this study is, on the one hand, to empirically test the previously constructed theoretical concept of empowerment and the applicability of the developed measuring scale. On the other hand, the study compares the current empowerment approaches of the surveyed FOs, in order to show by means of best practices, but also weak points, how applied empowerment approaches can be transferred and improved in the future. Theory-wise, the term “empowerment” is placed between the discussions of “repositioning” according to Bourdieu, the question of distribution and exercising economic, social, and political power according to Sen and recent findings from behavioral science on the changeability of mental models and thus behavior. By putting the theoretical findings into relation and into the context of agricultural development, the results are integrated into the broader discourse of reducing poverty and hunger. Thus, the overall objective of this study is to support the applied empowerment research and the interdisciplinary discourse on poverty and hunger reduction with some impulses for its further advancement.

Farmer Empowerment in Africa Through Farmer Organizations

Farmer Empowerment in Africa Through Farmer Organizations PDF Author: Elaine Beaudoux
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description


Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition

Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition PDF Author: Mara van den Bold
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

How do agricultural development projects aim to empower women? Insights from an analysis of project strategies

How do agricultural development projects aim to empower women? Insights from an analysis of project strategies PDF Author: Johnson, Nancy L.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Increasing numbers of development agencies and individual projects espouse objectives of women’s empowerment, yet there has been little systematic work on mechanisms by which interventions can enhance women’s empowerment. This gap exists because of the lack of consensus on indicators as well as the lack of attention paid to measuring the effects of different types of interventions on empowerment. This paper identifies the types of strategies employed by 13 agricultural development projects within the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project Phase 2 (GAAP2) that have explicit objectives of empowering women. We distinguish between reach, benefit, and empowerment as objectives of agricultural development projects. Simply including women does not necessarily benefit them, and even activities that benefit do not necessarily empower. To identify strategies to empower women, we build on the domains included in the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and are working with the GAAP2 portfolio of projects to develop an empowerment metric that is applicable in the project setting (a project-level WEAI, or pro-WEAI). We have identified the following potential domains to be included in pro-WEAI: input into production decision making, control over resources, control over income, leadership, time, physical mobility, intrahousehold relationships, individual empowerment, reduction in gender-based violence, and decision making on nutrition. The GAAP2 projects address these domains through a wide variety of activities that can be grouped into four main types: (1) direct and indirect provision of goods and services; (2) forming or strengthening groups, organizations, or platforms and networks that involve women; (3) strengthening knowledge and capacity through agricultural extension, business and finance training, nutrition behavior change communication, and other training; and (4) changing gender norms through one-way awareness raising or two-way community conversations about gender issues and their implications. In general, projects with activities in more activity areas target more domains of empowerment, and most projects target a core set of six empowerment domains. With the exception of intrahousehold relationships, which is always targeted by activities designed to influence gender norms, projects target domains with different types of activities or combinations of activities. This setup suggests that there may be no one-to-one link between a specific activity and empowerment benefits, and that implementation modalities will determine whether and how an activity contributes to women’s empowerment. The effectiveness of these project strategies will be assessed using both quantitative and qualitative methods throughout the GAAP2 research project.

Freedom Farmers

Freedom Farmers PDF Author: Monica M. White
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469643707
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
In May 1967, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural and economic development project, FFC would grow to over 600 acres, offering a means for local sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers to pursue community wellness, self-reliance, and political resistance. Life on the cooperative farm presented an alternative to the second wave of northern migration by African Americans--an opportunity to stay in the South, live off the land, and create a healthy community based upon building an alternative food system as a cooperative and collective effort. Freedom Farmers expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern Black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.

Women’s empowerment through collective action: how can forest and farm producer organisations can make a difference

Women’s empowerment through collective action: how can forest and farm producer organisations can make a difference PDF Author: Bolin, A.
Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
ISBN: 925132445X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
This research report explores different organisational structures and social and cultural services from a gender-equality and women’s empowerment perspective. More specifically, it examines how access to social and cultural services can facilitate women’s participation in economic and political life. The producer organisation business model provides advantages in creating job opportunities and access to markets for women, positive spill-over effects in both household and group businesses, and access to social services such as vocational trainings, childcare and maternity leave – all of which support women to participate in the labour market on a more equal footing with men.

Building Social Capital for Agricultural Innovation

Building Social Capital for Agricultural Innovation PDF Author: Willem Heemskerk
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural innovations
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description


Small Farmers, Big Change

Small Farmers, Big Change PDF Author: David Wilson
Publisher: Practical Action Publishing
ISBN: 9781853397127
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book includes examples of achieving wider change in smallholder agriculture, through influencing policy decisions, linking smallholders to value chains, innovating service provision for small farmers, with an emphasis on promoting equitable livelihoods and developing rural women's economic leadership.