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Gender Assessment of The Home Garden Project

Between 2002-2005, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), Bioversity International and LI-BIRD implemented the first phases of the project entitled ‘Enhancing the contribution of home gardens to on-farm management of plant genetic resources and to improve the livelihoods of Nepalese  farmers’. The project, henceforth referred to as the ‘Home Garden Project’ aimed to enhance the potential of home gardens to improve homestead biodiversity, food security, nutrition and income of poor rural farmers. Due to the active participation of both men and women and their long-term engagement in project activities, the project offers a promising opportunity to understand the impacts agricultural research for development (AR4D) interventions can have on gender equality and the processes by which such impacts can be achieved over time. Yet, the analysis fell short of examining how project benefits were distributed within households, and of analyzing the project’s specific impacts on gender equality. Hence, the present study consists of an in-depth assessment of the impacts of the Home  Gardens  Project  on  gender  equality  to  build  upon  and  complement  the  project’s  existing evaluation.  Field  work  carried  out  in  Nepal  will  consist  of  oral  histories,  timelines  and  focus  group discussions using the Ladder of Power and Freedom methodology developed by the World Bank (2010) and the Stages of Progress Methodology pioneered by Krishna et al. (2006) to assess participant men’s and women’s endogenous perceptions of project-driven changes in gender equality. The assessment will be carried out collaboratively by LI-BIRD, the Gender Specialist of Bioversity International’s Forest Genetic  Resources  Programme  and the Post-doctoral  Fellow of the World Fish centre.