Chapter 11. A FRAMEWORK FOR PLANNING OF "WOMEN AND FOOD"-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

11.1 The goal of Household Food Security
11.2 Problem identification
11.3 A guide to planning

When planning for improvements of women's food-related work, two main considerations should be taken into account. One is the consideration for women's role as "mediators" of nutrition to their families. This implies that the development efforts must be geared towards promoting women's "effectiveness" in generating food and cash through their food chain activities, so that sufficient and nutritionally adequate food will be available to each individual in the household.

The other consideration concerns women's possibilities of catering to their own basic needs through the food chain activities. Development efforts taking this consideration into account, should seek to create opportunities for women to control more of the food and cash generated in the food chain and prevent women's workload from becoming so heavy that it has detrimental effects on their health and other basic needs.

As pointed out earlier, these two considerations may sometimes be in conflict. This may be the case if increased productivity in the food chain is achieved through a higher workload of women. An overall goal for promoting women's concerns within the food and nutrition sector must therefore include both considerations and be formulated in such a way that they harmonize.

11.1 The goal of Household Food Security

Such a goal has been developed, within the wider context of introducing nutritional considerations into agricultural development, in a research project of which two of the authors of the present report participated (Eide et al., 1985, 1986). The goal Household Food Security (HFS) was proposed as the overall guiding principle for agricultural development efforts aimed at improving nutrition. The concept of HFS consists of three elements (see figure 11.1).

i) Food Adequacy

is defined as the availability food which both in quantity and quality is nutritionally adequate and safe as well as culturally acceptable for the household members.

ii) Viability in Procurement

concerns the way food is procured. The procurement should not conflict with the desired allocation of resources and time of the members of the household for the fulfillment of other basic material needs (such as health, education and shelter). Furthermore, it should promote, or in the minimum not conflict with non-material basic needs, in particular participation, self-reliance and cultural values.

iii) Sustainability

concerns the ability to sustain Food Adequacy and Viability in Procurement, as defined above, in the face of crisis. Such crises could be periods of food shortage, due to seasonal variations or incidences of drought or floods.

In other words, employing the goal of HFS, implies that development efforts should not only be spent on means to secure a nutritionally adequate diet for the people concerned; it should also be in accordance with local food habits and cultural values. It also follows from the above that development efforts should be planned in such a way that procurement of food can be achieved without interfering with the fulfillment of other basic human needs. Furthermore, efforts will have to be spent on finding means to prevent or buffer the often harsh effects of crises in food supply or in access to means for procuring food (such as crop failure, loss of income).

Although the goal of HFS implies a focus on the whole household, its relationship to the Basic Human Needs concept will ensure that concern also is given to individuals. This goal can also be employed in women-oriented programmes, if the focus is on women's contribution to household food security and the implications of these activities for the fulfillment of women's basic needs. The "viability in procurement" element of HFS is especially relevant in this respect, and would imply i.a. that the development efforts must be planned in such a way that women's workload will not affect their health or give women less time to spend on other activities of importance for the fulfillment of their other basic needs.

11.2 Problem identification

The first step in the planning of a project involves an identification of the type of problems that the project could address. The HFS may serve as a guiding principle for the problem identification. In other words, the problems to be identified should be related to women's contribution to HFS and the non-achievement of this goal.

Some general problems relevant to women's work in the food chain were listed in chapter 9. Although these problems and the suggested means to overcome them were not explicitly discussed in relation to HFS, they still represent relevant descriptions of problem areas within the HFS framework. To what extent these problems exist in a given area within a particular target group, will have to be investigated in each case.

An initial selection of groups for special project concern is needed. Such groups would be households where women have particular problems in contributing to HFS through their food chain activities. Chapter 8 contains a discussion of possible target groups that would be relevant in this respect.

Once the target groups have been selected, further information is needed on the kinds of problems such groups may have in achieving HFS. For the purpose of planning it is useful in this context to focus on issues that represent constraints and potentialities to women's achievement of HFS. Constraints can thus be seen as barriers that may be overcome by certain measures, while potentialities are to be considered as positive factors that can promote HFS given the right conditions. Constraints may be such factors as lack of credit, lack of employment, and power relations preventing access to certain resources and services. Potentialities may be found in the food strategies that women themselves employ which will have a bearing on HFS, and that could be further strengthened by particular measures.

11.3 A guide to planning

Figure 11.2 represents a guide for issues to be addressed in problem identification and in subsequent planning of development efforts. The food chain is employed as an organizing concept. Activities at each and every step should be described and the "flow" of food and cash determined accordingly. Furthermore, the major determinants of the "flow" through the food chain need to be examined at every step in the food chain. These can be categorized in three groups as described in chapter 2:

i) Material resources needed for all women's activities in the food chain, such as land, inputs, tools, labour, infrastructure and social services.

ii) Knowledge and skills necessary for women in performing the activities throughout the food chain, such as knowledge and skills relating to food production, handling, marketing, cooking etc., as well as knowledge about nutrition and health.

iii) Organization of responsibilities and decision-making power. This concerns such factors as division of labour or tasks, control of resources or decision-making power between household members, groups of households or with respect to local institutions.

This guide allows for a special focus on women, while at the same time making it possible to examine women's situation in relation to the whole household economy as well as to factors beyond the household level. The suggested guide may be used as a "checklist" for the formulation of questions regarding women's problems in contributing to HFS through their food chain activities. Questions about constraints and potentialities along the food chain can be posed in relation to women's access to resources, their knowledge and skills, as well as to the organization of tasks and decision-making between the household members.

Some examples of questions that can be asked about constraints and potentialities for women in contributing to HFS are listed below. The examples concern only the first step in the food chain, namely food production.

Fig. 11.2 A guide to planning for HFS.

levels and areas of analysis and action	HOUSEHOLD LEVEL			COMMUNITY LEVEL
Food Chain	material resources	knowledge and skills	organization	material resources	knowledge and skills	organization
production	WOMEN'S POTENTIALITIES AND CONSTRAINTS						MACRO - LEVEL FACTORS
postharvest handling
marketing
preservation
storage
purchasing
preparation
distribution

Food production - material resources

Food Adequacy:

Household level

Which of the following factors are limiting to the achievement of Food Adequacy: women's access to land, labour, credit or agricultural inputs? In what way are they limiting?

What are women's potentialities for securing Food Adequacy through existing access to material resources?

Is community land, water or other productive resources available to women? What are the limitations/potentials for exploiting such resources?

Household level

Does women's use of own labour in food production limit their work in other parts of the food chain? In what way?

Is women's labour in food production detrimental to their health or to their opportunities of catering to their own basic needs? In what way is it limiting?

Household level

In what way do seasonal variations or recurrent crises change women's opportunities to produce adequate foods in a viable way?

Food Adequacy:

Household level

To what extent do women's lack of knowledge and skills concerning methods of food production limit their achievement of food adequacy?

What (traditional) knowledge and skills exist in the area concerning methods of food production? To what extent are such knowledge and skills exploited? Do they represent constraints/potentialities to achieving food adequacy?

Household level

In what ways do women's knowledge and skills influence women's workload in food production?

Household level

To what extent and in what ways do knowledge and skills that women possess about counteracting seasonal variations in food production limit/aid achievement of sustainability?

Are there any local knowledge or practices concerning food production that have proven successful in counteracting seasonal variations?

Food Adequacy:

Household level

What are the constraints of existing sexual division of labour and decision-making power to food adequacy?

What potentialities exist for changing the pattern of division of labour and decision-making power between the sexes?

What formal and informal organizations exist at local level for catering to women's needs for agricultural inputs, credit, training etc.?

Household level

To what extent does gender division of labour in production create an excess work burden on women?

What are the potentialities for starting cooperative activities for women in food production that can reduce their workload?

Community level

Are there organizations or local arrangements that have or can have a buffering effect against fluctuations in household availability?

Some general questions about women's food strategies

Which are the main food chain strategies women have developed in order to secure food for their families in the lean season? What are the constraints for using these strategies?

To what extent and how do women collaborate with men on these strategies?

How effective are these strategies in achieving HFS for the poor households - in the short term and in the long term? What are the negative side effects, especially to women themselves?

What are the conditions for these strategies to be most effective?

How could a development project have a positive effect on the conditions on which the implementation of these strategies depend?

How could the project deal with the possible negative side effects of these strategies?