Sustainable development around the Lake Victoria basin, part 1, : a case study of farmers'perception of the VI Agroforestry Project Masaka/Rakai, Uganda, from a gender perspective

• Main Author: Nilsson, Sara
• Format: Others
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för tematisk utbildning och forskning 2004
• Subjects: Interdisciplinary studies; agroforestry; farmer; gender; participation; sustainable development; Uganda; the VI Agroforestry Project; TVÄRVETENSKAP; Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2572

During the years the awareness of gender issues has increased in the international arena and the importance of including gender aspects in development projects has been emphasised. This Master’s thesis is based on a case study of the VI Agroforestry Project (VIAFP) in Uganda and is one of the two subprojects of the study Sustainable development around the Lake Victoria basin, with the purpose to investigate the importance of local anchoring and active participation in the work towards sustainable development. The aim of this subproject is to investigate how gender roles among men and women in Kalisizo zone, in the Masaka and Rakai districts, in Uganda, affect the VI Agroforestry Project and if the project in return affects the gender roles. The study is primarily based on interviews with farmers involved in the VIAFP activities in Kalisizo zone and shows that the project and the gender roles affect each other more or less in both ways. The women are somewhat more active in both farming and the activities connected with the household, and therefore also more engaged in the project activities and meetings. However, the gender roles have changed in the way that men have increased their interest in farming activities since they joined the VI Agroforestry Project. Both men and women involved in the VIAFP activities have more work on their farm than before they joined the project, but it seems as if they think it is worth the extra effort to gain more in the end. However, the project has to consider the fact that women often have a bigger workload to start with. It is important for the VIAFP to adjust the activities and the feedback to different wishes and needs within the communities so that everyone feels they gain from the project activities, and also so that everyone who wants to participate at different activities have the opportunity to do so. Since the majority of the staff are Ugandans the ways of implying values from the North into the communities are less than if this had not been the case. The study is published in two versions, both as a Master's thesis for the Environmental Science Programme, Linköping University and as a Minor Field Study for Sida. The differences between the versions are only editorial.