Gender

The Livelihood Development action research projects emphasize the development of equal opportunities for women and men within the local socio-cultural context, both in community and institutional aspects as well in enterprise development. At another level, the projects aim to involve local professionals who are women and build their capacity.

Present activities aimed at developing gender awareness and capacity at INBAR

1) INBAR staff have attended a Gender Training Workshop on Women's Capacity Building and Rural Development organized by Winrock International in 2002.

2) INBAR is presently conducting an evaluation of the gender differences in bamboo based development in China. The research is jointly funded by INBAR and Winrock International, a US-based international NGO. The objective of this project is

a) To make a general qualitative analysis on the gender roles and divisions of labor, "gendered" allocation (access to and control over) of resources in the key activities of bamboo resources processing and production of bamboo products, such as bamboo shoots, chopsticks and woven products

b) To explore gender and existing bamboo-related forestry policy with an aim of identifying gender blind spots in policy aspects, i.e. gender-related problems and constraints in the formulation, design and implementation of bamboo policy in which some project interventions exerted by external forces is a consideration;

c) To make feasible recommendations for sustainable gender-sensitive solutions.

This project is the first to view and analyze bamboo as a forest resource and a livelihood means for rural people from the perspective of gender. Since there are almost no existing statistics/data about bamboo and gender available so far, everything has had to be done from zero. Two field researches were conducted in several selected villages in Yunnan during March and July 2003 to collect data. Data analysis and preparation of the final report is presently ongoing.