Feedback of SEWA
In the global south, the family farmers who are small and marginal farmers have larger contribution but do not have access to technology or infrastructure and therefore can’t afford access to the technologies. As a result, informal sector relevant data collection, dissemination and usage framework needs to be developed.
Feedback and suggestions by SEWA from the perspective of informal sector women worker’s contribution in the food supply chain.
Suggestions on the draft of
“CFS VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ EMPOWERMENT
in the context of food security and nutrition”
Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a member based organisation of women workers from informal sector in India. 2/3 of the membership is from rural areas and majority of whom are small and marginal women farmers. Moreover, 75% of SEWA’s membership is associated to the food systems. Although, world over the discussions on food systems heavily focus on producers, at SEWA we strongly believe that the Food systems in itself forms a circular economy with informal sector women workers involved at each and every stage. This includes the producers (Small and marginal farmers, share croppers, plantation workers, fishers, agricultural laborers etc.), the food processors (cleaning, sorting, grading, processing, etc.), distributors, sellers (vendors and hawkers, street vendors, natural markets, staff in super markets etc.), chefs (professional, home-based workers preparing snacks and condiments, catering staff etc.), consumers as well as waste / garbage recyclers who then make fertiliser from waste which goes back to soil to produce food.
Women shoulder around 60-65% of responsibilities in the Food systems. Despite this huge number, women are not only facing the challenge of their voices not being heard, but also they are hardly having any visibility in entire Food Value Chain System. Therefore, institutionalizing gender equality and gender transformative approaches in our homes, our farms, our communities, and in entire Food Value Chain System has become utmost important. Also, for the workers involved in such integrated food system, access to food is a basic right and hence food security is also a human right.
Therefore, with the objective to offer a platform to the informal sector women workers to bring forth their issues and challenges but also best practices and innovative solutions, SEWA organized national, regional and Global dialogues with women participants from the countries of Global South and a diverse audience constituting appropriate policy makers, private sector organizations, grassroot workers’ organizations, philanthropic foundations, scientists, academicians, Govt. representatives, CSOs, economists and individual consumers.
We organised, a consultation meeting on 23rd and 25th of October regarding the CFS draft on CFS VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ EMPOWERMENT in the context of food security and nutrition. The draft in its present form and gave a brief background and then discussed each point and the actions in detail. After presenting and explaining each point feedback was sought from each of the members present. Following suggestions were received from SEWA and the women led organisations of Farmer’s Forum Network run by SEWA in India.
POINTS OF SUGGESTIONS
Small and marginal women farmers constitute larger pie of women farmers who are not visible and voices are not heard. So organising is a key for collective strength which leads to understanding self worth, developing courage and building agency among women. So members based women’s organisations should be promoted to ensure participation and building agency.
Inclusive informal sector women owned and managed Capacity Building agencies shall be promoted which help them grasp easily through participatory learning and teaching modules and methodologies.
Sister to sister approach in Cross Learning helps in easy grasping and adoption among cross country and regional learning.
Participation of women should be ensured in local governance besides being involved in policy and decision making. Men should be sensitized to ensure the participation of women.
Sensitization of men should be included in women empowerment approach.
Motivation and awareness and empowerment of women in rural areas and in tribal areas regarding equality and leadership is important. The existing network of organizations can be used for changing the gender norms that prevent women from assuming leadership roles and in raising their voices.
Training of women with regards to technology is necessary so that they can access schemes and benefits that are available for them, through technological platforms.
Women’s participation should be ensured not only in policy making but in implementation as well.
In public distribution of goods through shops/centers, etc. many times women hesitate because of the crowd and wait and by the time there turn comes the goods finish, and many times because of social norms are also not allowed to go to these places. There should be committee at Gram Sabha to monitor the safety of women and for addressal of harassment cases. Women members from organizations working at grassroots who are actively working women should be part of these committees.
In instances of domestic violence, counselling is needed for both genders. With regards to this formation of collective groups and taking this forward will really be helpful.
Many times, the girls miss out on formal education and access to higher education is not available for them at village level. Groups of youth should be formed at village level at village level to provide coaching to girls and women.
Women’s markets should be created and there should be better facilities for women in the market. (Example: Seed Bank)
There is need to create awareness, have education and training so that women can use their traditional seed varieties and make seed banks for them and sell.
Women should be part of the decision-making bodies at all levels for the agriculture and allied policy making bodies not separate for women cell but mainstream decision making bodies. Activities like the purchase of fertilizers and seeds and marketing should be done by women as well.
There should be a policy to ensure that if the husband of a women dies, she has access to legal rights as a legal heir and she has excess to government schemes.
Schemes are needed to provide access to land to women who are landless workers.
When women wish to take loan, banks insist that land should be in their name so there should be policies and schemes by which banks can give loans to landless and women.
Many women are landless workers. There should be for women who are landless workers so that they can get access to land, finance and government schemes.
The names of women should be there in land records.
Society should accept name of women in land records and other productive assets as they are making great contribution in areas like fishing processing and farming.
Women have lot of responsibilities, and it is to be seen how these responsibilities can be shared at home and for doing outside work. It needs to be seen how to increase the decision-making capacity of women. Structural changes are needed to increase their decision-making capacity.
Training needs to be given to women regarding nutrition (Poshak Ahar). There here should be decision making committees to distribute food kits. There is a need to conduct trainings in diet and nutrition and can explain its importance.
Awareness should be created among women regarding various types of vitamins such as A, B, C, D.
Social protection is very important for development of women leaders individually and collectively.
Many schemes of government for farming/ agriculture do not reach women farmers who the marginal and poor. Therefore, participation of women farmers should be ensured for designing social protection schemes to give access to social protection to agriculture workers.
Ms. Megha Desai
SEWA has been organizing women workers from the informal economy for around five decades. Through its work, SEWA has understood that women are the back-bone of an informal worker’s household and are shouldering the responsibility of fulfilling the family’s food and nutritional needs. Women also play a major role in the entire Food Value Chain System – in production, in processing, in trading of food and in making decisions about consumption and purchase of food at household level.
Despite their importance in the food system, due to patriarchal cultural norms and gender discrimination, women have been facing constraints such as lack of land ownership, access to other productive resources and an ecosystem to increase their income. “…Women play multiple roles – as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, in-laws, producers, food-processors, vendors, cooks… And yet, do not have access land ownership, credit, financial services, subsidies etc. All this really puts them at a disadvantage as they juggle all these responsibilities…” quoted Ms. Nsimadala, President of PAFO at the side-event on “Women, Work and Food Systems” during the UNFSS Pre-Summit.
Currently, women are shouldering around 60-65% of agricultural responsibility, especially upstream of the food supply chain. Despite this huge number, it is perversely counter-intuitive that the agricultural support systems and the associated organizations are predominantly male-oriented, male-controlled and male-populated. As a result, women are not only facing the challenge of their voices not being heard, but also they are hardly having any visibility in entire Food Value Chain System. Therefore, institutionalizing gender equality and gender transformative approaches in our homes, our farms, our communities, and in entire Food Value Chain System has become utmost important.
Moving in this direction, SEWA had organized a series of webinars on “Women, Work and Food systems” at Regional, National and also Global level during the Pre-summit Dialogues. The objective was to offer a platform to the informal sector women workers to bring forth their issues, challenges and solutions and eventually integrate them into the workings of the UNFSS work-streams. These women participants were from the countries of Global South and were engaged across the entire food value chain system. These economically suffering women were small and marginal women farmers, agricultural laborers, share croppers, small scale food processors, street vendors and many such from informal sector economy.
These dialogues were successful in providing these women workers an opportunity to enhance their visibility, identity and livelihood in the food system in the presence of a diverse audience constituting appropriate policy makers, private sector organizations, grassroot workers’ organizations, philanthropic foundations, scientists, academicians, Govt. representatives, CSOs, economists and individual consumers.
Some of the key takeaways from these series of webinar are:
• Organizing is the key: Organizing women helps in building their collective strength and their bargaining power. It is also a key element in building women’s leadership. Organizing the women is bringing solidarity amongst the women workers in the food systems. It is
enabling the women, even the ones from highly conservative communities and indigenous communities, to make their voices heard, respected and take on roles which are traditionally in the hands of the men.
• Pro-women Policies: In the countries of Global South, Agriculture is a family occupation. Therefore, there is a need to look at “Family as a unit”, while organizing the informal workers especially in the food systems and related policy mechanisms. Food System and Agro-policies need to enhance Women’s decision-making in legal frameworks. Policy reforms, especially for agro-policies and schemes, disassociating them from land-ownership will ensure small and marginal women farmers, landless agricultural laborers as well as share-croppers can benefit from them. This will also help explicitly recognize and promote the rights of women who are structurally disadvantaged.
• Treat Farm as an Enterprise: Promoting women-owned and managed food social enterprises and bringing in technology and skills to strengthen the decentralized supply chains, would not only link consumers directly to producers through producer led value chains but also make farmers and other stakeholders in the value-chains as equal partners. There is a dire need of bringing Pro-poor and pro-farmer policies that promote traditional food for supporting and strengthening this approach.
SEWA has organized over 250,000 small and
SEWA has organized over 250,000 small and marginal famarginal farmers into their own agrirmers into their own agri--business business enterprise enterprise connecting connecting farmer to the endfarmer to the end--users. It is users. It is fully owned and operated by the small scale fully owned and operated by the small scale women farmers. The company has its own women farmers. The company has its own procurement channels, processing centers, procurement channels, processing centers, packaging units and a distribution network.packaging units and a distribution network.
It brings nutrition and food security to over a
It brings nutrition and food security to over a million households today. In this process, the million households today. In this process, the farmers get fair returns and the landless laborers farmers get fair returns and the landless laborers get employment. get employment.
With an annual turnover of over
With an annual turnover of over 100 Mn100 Mn INR, RUDI INR, RUDI has been a great success in transforming thas been a great success in transforming the grave he grave agriculture situation of smallholder farmers into agriculture situation of smallholder farmers into favorable and favorable and sustainable.sustainable.
Additionally, SEWA has also trained over 2500
Additionally, SEWA has also trained over 2500 informal sector women workers (both urban and informal sector women workers (both urban and rural) rural) into making nutritious foodinto making nutritious food and also and also organized them in to organic and torganized them in to organic and traditional foodraditional food--processing initiative processing initiative -- Kamala. Kamala.
With the objective of promoting smart foods,
With the objective of promoting smart foods, Kamala processes the coarse grains produced by Kamala processes the coarse grains produced by SEWA’s farmers into traditional hot and dry snacks, SEWA’s farmers into traditional hot and dry snacks, Bakery products, condiments etc. andBakery products, condiments etc. and sells it. sells it. Thereby, Kamala promotes nutrition security Thereby, Kamala promotes nutrition security through smart foods. through smart foods.
Similarly, SEWA has also linked hundreds of small
Similarly, SEWA has also linked hundreds of small and marginal vegetable and fruit growers directly and marginal vegetable and fruit growers directly to customers in niche urban market thereby to customers in niche urban market thereby eliminating the exploitative middleeliminating the exploitative middle--men.men.
Through the aforesaid initiatives, SEWA has
Through the aforesaid initiatives, SEWA has successfully integrated informal sector women successfully integrated informal sector women workers at all stages in the supply chain workers at all stages in the supply chain –– making making them owner and managers of the entire food value them owner and managers of the entire food value chain. chain.
Scaling of such women
Scaling of such women--owned solutions can owned solutions can generate employment opportunities for several generate employment opportunities for several more informal women workers and make food more informal women workers and make food systems just and equitable. systems just and equitable.
RUDI
RUDI –– KAMALA KAMALA –– SEWA’S GAMESEWA’S GAME--CHANGING CHANGING SOLUTIONSSOLUTIONS
• Integrating Women at all stages in the Food Supply Chain: Integrating women at all levels in the food supply chain will strengthen the role of women entrepreneurs in the food value chain systems. Upstream, this is done by promoting their traditional agro-skills and practices such as seed production, owning localized seed banks, making farm bunds and plantation on farm bunds etc. This will also help in preserving biodiversity and soil health. Downstream, promoting on-farm and off-farm food processing units and organizing women workers in to their own farm-to-fork food social enterprises. This will also help in building leadership and entrepreneurial mindset. In this manner of putting the entire food value chain together, it will eventually be making the food systems truly equitable and efficient from gender perspective
• Affordable access to Productive resources: Asset creation is one of the surest way of fighting against poverty. When the women are owning productive assets and resources, it is seen that they channelize them in ensuring security of -food, -nutrition, -social being, -finance, -pension and –insurance (both health and life). All this leading to alleviating from poverty and building long term stability of the entire family unit. Therefore, (i) organizing women in to their own food micro-enterprises, (ii) integrating women workers at every stage in the food systems (iii) including women in policy making process for the food system will lead to affordable access to productive resources, further leading to gender equality, bringing women workers visibility, access to market, technology and extension services. Additionally, they also have added socio-cultural benefits.
• Women’s livelihood Stabilization Fund: To enable scaling up of such women micro-entrepreneurs, their producer-owned MSMEs and to build their resilience against the increasing time rate of climate and market shocks, there is a dire need of setting up Livelihood Stabilization Fund - a financial product & instrument which will be relevant to these small farmers, build their resilience and will enable them in doubling their incomes and making agriculture sustainable, viable and profitable.