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Mainstreaming Gender in Fisheries Refugia Project Development and Implementation Balances the Benefits to Women and Men

SEAFDEC/UNEP/GEF

By IW:LEARN

January 10^th, 2023

From Southeast Asian perspectives, the fisheries sector has always been perceived as male-dominated, even if women continue to play major roles in fish marketing and fish processing to earn additional incomes for their households. To minimize such perception, the four-year (2009 – 2013) Spanish-funded, FAO-implemented Regional Fisheries Livelihood Programme for South and Southeast Asia (RFLP) was set out to strengthen the capacity among participating small-scale fishing communities and their supporting institutions in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam. The RFLP was not only focused on improving the livelihoods of fishers and their families while fostering more sustainable fishery resources management practices, but it also recognized the need to pay attention to gender concerns throughout the entire project lifecycle, as this is crucial to the improvement of livelihoods and reduction of vulnerability of fishing communities. In this regard, RFLP developed a field handbook on mainstreaming gender in all phases of the project life cycle to serve as a catalyst in sharing knowledge on gender concerns in the fisheries sector at the field level and contributing to the promotion of gender equity in the fisheries sector (Arenas & Lentisco, 2011). Subsequently, the RFLP also developed a field handbook centered toward shining a light on the contribution of women and helping enhance the chances of their success for development projects in the small-scale fisheries sub-sector (Needham, 2011). As observed by Ruangsivakul (2011), the unequal power relationship between women and men in many cultures has driven women to a disadvantage in terms of controlling resources, accessing services, and taking advantage of new opportunities and changes affecting their lives. In addition, fisheries policies have traditionally targeted men to be engaged in the exploitation and management of the resources, while women have usually been excluded from planning and “mainstreaming” fisheries activities.

Gender Mainstreaming in the Fisheries Refugia Project

Even if gender mainstreaming per se might not have been specifically mentioned in the Fisheries Refugia Project document, the importance of mainstreaming gender is well-recognized in the Project execution in line with the GEF Gender Policy, indicating, among others, that: gender considerations in project design and monitoring should be made part of Results-Based Management (RBM) projects with appropriate indicators for gender analysis as the Annual Monitoring Review would check how gender mainstreaming has been addressed and integrated into such GEF projects (SEAFDEC, 2022). In this connection, the Project made sure that gender is considered in its development and implementation, as called for in the Expected Outcome 1.4 “Empowered fishing communities, particularly artisanal fishermen and women involved in inshore gleaning and processing, for enforcement of agreed management rules at 15 priority refugia sites in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand” under the Project’s Component 1 “Establishment of operational management at 15 priority fisheries refugia, with community-based refugia management plans being the key outputs,” and specified in the Project document.

Furthermore, the Project also adhered to FAO (2013), which prescribed that “gender mainstreaming is not only a question of social justice but is also necessary for ensuring equitable and sustainable human development. The long-term outcome of gender mainstreaming will be achieving greater and more sustainable human development for all.” Thus, for the development and implementation of management plans for the individual refugia sites, local officials and fishing community members have been involved in increasing the proportion of target community members [minimum of 30 percent women] participating in refugia management, including enforcement at the site level, as well as enhancing the capacity of target community members to participate in refugia management. In this regard, training materials had been sufficiently well-designed, resulting in the tangible empowerment of community members, particularly artisanal fishermen and women involved in inshore gleaning and processing, to enforce agreed management rules at the sites. This concern had been addressed by the Fisheries Refugia Project by establishing the National Fisheries Refugia Committee in the respective participating countries with functions shown in Box 1, where the Project had channeled its capacity-building activities.

Mainstreaming Gender in Fisheries Refugia Project Development and Implementation Balances the Benefits to Women and Men

Thus, through its capacity-building activities, the Project enhanced the capabilities of target community members and relevant stakeholders, particularly men and women, enabling them to participate actively in refugia management at the 15 fisheries refugia sites, as shown in Table 1. This had also given rise to the improved role of women from the six implementing countries in fisheries management. The Project was able to attain almost balanced benefits to men and women in the established refugia sites bringing about considerable achievement in Component 1 of the Fisheries Refugia Project. As a domino effect, this achievement has indeed led to the realization of the overall targets and objectives of the various activities of the Project. In other words, about 41 percent of women participated in refugia implementation and management of the project, which is higher than the target outcomes endorsed by the GEF/CEO.

Table 1. Gender ratio* of women to men engaged in the Fisheries Refugia Project activities as of 31 December 2021.

A public hearing on boundaries of fisheries refugia for blue swimming crab at Chaiya District, Surat Thani Province, Thailand (9 March 2021).

Photo: credit to Department of Fisheries, Thailand

Conclusion

Therefore, having empowered the fishing communities at the 15 sites, the Project has catalyzed community action for fisheries refugia management and strengthened the participation of civil society and community organizations in fisheries refugia management. Indeed, such feat, which had been attained mainly through gender mainstreaming and promoting gender dimension in the Project execution, has resulted in the improved role of women in fisheries management and balanced benefits obtained by the fishermen and fisherwomen in the established refugia sites bringing about gender equality and gender equity and contributing to the pool of projects in the Southeast Asian region where gender had been successfully mainstreamed not only in the project development but also in the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

It should be noted, however, that the overall gender ratio in some countries is still not high, as gender mainstreaming is a continuing process. Based on the initiatives of the Fisheries Refugia Project, however, other similar projects that mainstream gender in their development and implementation could attain a much-improved overall ratio. Also, some countries encountered various constraints in implementing specific activities amidst the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021. Nonetheless, the targets of the Project were still pursued by the participating countries.

Photo: Fisheries Refugia project “women in fisheries”

For more information on this project, please visit the project website: https://fisheries-refugia.org

Reference:

Arenas, M.C. & Lentisco, A. (2011). Mainstreaming gender into project cycle management in the fisheries sector. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand; 92 p

Needham, S. (2011). Shining the light on the invisible woman in fisheries development. Fish for the People, Vol 9 No 1 (2011), Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Bangkok, Thailand; pp 2-5

Ruangsivakul, S. (2011). Recognizing gender capability in promoting sustainable fisheries development and poverty alleviation in fishery communities. Fish for the People, Vol 9 No 2 (2011), Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Bangkok, Thailand; pp 40-43

SEAFDEC. (2022). Establishment and Operation of a Regional System of Fisheries Refugia in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand. Report of the 5th Meeting of the Regional Scientific and Technical Committee. Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Training Department, Samutprakarn, Thailand; 188 p