General background information about Musonda Bule was obtained through group discussions, one held with women and another with men. In-depth case studies were done of selected persons.
At the time of the survey, there were 85 people in Musonda Bule, of whom 35 were adults. Interviews were held with 29 of them, thereby covering all categories (listed below). In terms of households, there were 22 in Musonda Bule, of whom 17 were covered by the survey.
The various categories of adults in Musonda Bule, from the standpoint of pond ownership, were as follows:
| Note: | Categories a & b overlapped in some cases with category c. Some women fitted more than one category. |
Of the 17 Musonda Bule households covered by the study, three men and one woman were not interviewed as they were away while the study was being conducted. However, they did take part in group discussions. Besides, informal discussions were held separately with the three men.
Some 10 km away from Musonda Bule is Chibota centre where, at the time of the study, no woman owned a fish pond. It was decided therefore that in order to obtain information on constraints to fish farming by women, data should be collected in Chibote as well. Interestingly enough, while Chibote is notable for poor participation in fish farming by women, it also has a high concentration of female-headed households: 66 out of 207, as against 1 out of 22 households in Musonda Bule. Rather than cover the whole of Chibote, only a few households were sampled. To begin with, only one side of Chibote with three out of six sections was covered in the study. These were Kafola, Katongo and Musonda Bule II. In the second stage of sampling, only women were selected as research respondents. The categories covered were :-
| Note: | Categories a & b overlapped to some extent with categories c & d. Some women fitted more than one category. |
In Musonda Bule, the research team lived in the village and collected data through interviews (both structured and unstructured), group discussions, informal talk and just plain observation. Besides, there were in-depth case studies focusing on selected individuals.
The research team never let up on observation. Sometimes the team accompanied the women on their water-fetching chores, or when they washed clothes at the stream, and recorded what they saw and heard. Young women who came to chat with the researchers in the evening were a source of information. Household visits were made to observe customs and to study gender-related issues.
The approach was somewhat different in the Chibote centre. The research team did not live in the village during the study, but stayed at the Ox Training Centre. Therefore, unstructured interviews and informal talk were not possible. A group discussion was held with men in Katongo section (one of the six sections in Chibote centre) to obtain background information on constraints to fish farming. Open-ended individual interviews were carried out with the 14 women respondents.
“Interview guides” prepared by ALCOM, covering a wide range of topics, facilitated data collection. There were also similar guides for group discussion. Records were kept of the interviews and discussions and of other observations.
In Musonda Bule, a group meeting for all adults was held at the end of the study. The main aim was to present the findings and discuss them with the research respondents. Another aim was to encourage the latter to open out and contribute inputs to the study.
The data collected for this report was analyzed manually. Most of the information was qualitative. Quantitative information was presented in the form of percentages rather than as whole numbers. There are a few quotes from respondents reproduced verbatim.
The main problem in Musonda Bule was that while the study was being conducted, two persons died in Chibote. Many from Musonda Bule left for Chibote to attend the funerals. Likewise, a memorial ceremony called “Chikoti” was held in another village, Folontiya, towards the end of the study. This ceremony did affect attendance at the presentation and discussion of the ALCOM study findings. The number present was significantly lower than what one would have expected.
The main limitation in Chibote was time. It was not possible to hold meetings for men and women in various sections of Chibote. Further, Chibote is a fairly sprawling area; one would have needed a car to cover more households. Since the survey team walked from one household to another, not many people could be met.
In both areas, Bule and Chibote, respondents were busy with their work in the Chitemene (slash-and-burn agriculture) fields. Further, the people retired to bed early, around 7.30 p.m. This restricted the time available for interviews. They were conducted early morning, and during the afternoon after fixing appointments.
