Strategy to integrate gender equity in Elote value chain

1.

Where does the experience take place?

AGROSEC DE RL, is located in the village of El Tempisque, Zapotitn canton, Arce city, La Libertad, El Salvador; the association is composed by 29 men and 6 women, in accordance with its bylaws the organizational structure comprises an administrative council, a surveillance board and production and commercialization committees integrated by women and men. El Tempisque is a rural community, its main economic activities are maize, elote, rice, beans, sugar cane, vegetables and cattle with an average of 3 or 5 heads of cattle per family, cultivating in the irrigation district of Zapotitn. AGROSEC arises from the dissatisfaction with the irrigation service of a group of producers of elote, beans and rice, from the Fifth Sector of the Irrigation District (Sector Cinco del Distrito de Irrigacin); the service was offered by the water users association Asociacin de Regantes de Zapotitn AREZA, for this reason they separated and created AGROSEC de R.L, specifically for the operative administration of the irrigation in said sector, legally constituted in July 2,005, with 29 members (men) in order to serve the specific needs of rice commercialization and irrigation management in the sector, among others. The following are some of the institutions related with this experience: Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock through the Project Coordination Office (Oficina Coordinadora de Proyectos OCP); the Municipality of Arce City; the Chamber of Agriculture and Agroindustry of El Salvador that supports with the maintenance of irrigation channel, roads to the parcels, improvement of bridges and facilitating the commercialization of rice; the National Center of Agricultural Technology (Centro Nacional de Tecnologa Agropecuaria CENTA) that supports the establishment of a vegetables macro-tunnel and the Program of Rural Reconstruction and Modernization (Programa de Reconstruccin y Modernizacin Rural PREMODER) that finance integral technical assistance and investments for a plant to prepare corn tamales (tamales de elote). 2. What do we learn from this experience?

We learn about the integration process of women, their work in the organization, the actions promoted by the project and we identify enablers, obstacles and lessons learned. We will analyze the impacts generated by the integration of women and gender equity in the association, and the impact of their productive and commercialization work on the members, their families and communities. We will learn about the strengthening strategies for the participation of young people and its impact in terms of gender relations in the association. We will identify good practices implemented by PREMODER in this experience and their results, specifically the methodology Closing Gaps, its steps and components.

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America

3.

What are the key moments of the experience?

Operation as producer committee, (1980-2004). After the separation from AREZA, a producers committee was organized, integrated by 23 men and 2 women in the sector known as El Guineo, with the specific objective of managing water resources in the irrigation district of Zapotitn, seeking legal status; there was an intend to create an Association for Communal Development, but it did not answer the productive interest due to its constrain focus on social development. Acquisition of collective land (2003). With the vision of rice commercialization as a main activity of the group, a plot of land (manzana) (approximately 0.7 ha) was bought and a small premise was rented for an office. Legal incorporation of AGROSEC de R.L. (2005), due to the economic-productive expectations from the rice commercialization business, the legal status of agricultural association was adopted and was registered at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. It was established as a requirement to join the association that each member will have his own individual agricultural land and as women did not have land registered at their names, the organization was just for men. Relation with PREMODER (2006). Negotiations with PREMODER known through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock that visited the area- started; the programs technical team performed diagnosis visits and the pre-investment phase started with the elaboration of a Participative Diagnosis (Diagnstico Situacional Participativo), from there arises the business proposal for a plant to process tamales. Initially, womens participation was as employees of the project, not as members of the organization and owners of the business. Then an Organizational Strengthening Plan was formulated to overcome the identified constrains, as well as a Business Plan for the Project, documents that include a gender approach; the organization continues managing the rice commercialization business in the area. Organizational and Corporate Strengthening with gender approach (2007). In the pre-investment phase with the support of the technical team contracted by the organization with PREMODERs funds, we worked on strengthening the organizational, productive, corporate and gender equity areas, later we developed awareness raising work with women members and in the different stages of the execution of the business. Womens inclusion (2007). In the organizational strengthening process the inclusion of women was promoted and 6 women were included complying with a requirement to receive financing from PREMODER. Funds transfer (2008-2009) from PREMODER to the organization, after presenting the project, the PREMODERs investment committee extends $ 58,400.00 in two disbursements for investments in infrastructure and equipment, and $ 36,622 in several disbursements to pay for technical assistance in productive, corporate, organizational and gender areas. Operation of Tamales Project (From 2008 to 20011). The tamales plant was built; initially it was for elote tamales, but the marketing survey indicated that there was demand for hen, chipiln and pisque tamales, for this reason the production was extended to these types of tamales. Currently, we have the required permits and

Strategy to integrate gender equity in Elote value chain

registers for the operation, such as: fiscal, environmental, public health, commercial, brand, export permit, among others. We also have a multiple purpose room, an office with basic equipment, a vehicle to transport tamales to the clients, for this purpose we have done the required negotiations with governmental and non-governmental organizations. We are producing and locally commercializing tamales in petrol stations, dining facilities, stores and to individuals, giving priority to the strengthening of the business to promote the commercialization in the formal national market and the exportation that is the immediate projection. 4. What are the results and achievements?

AGROSEC de R.L. has achieved important productive and business goals, but the social base has been essential to achieve tangible results. Important positive changes have been generated in relation with gender approach and youth, as the followi ng: Progresses in the participation of women, empowerment and gender equity Personal level - Family Women have experienced a series of positive changes that have modify their way of thinking and acting at personal level and in relation with the family, as the expansion of knowledge in different aspects has allow them to feel valued, they are taken into consideration in the organization and in the business, as well as in their families by their husbands, sons and daughters; they have capacity to negotiate and prepare several proposals with greater freedom to express themselves at interpersonal level or facing groups of people. In the families, income generation allows access to other living conditions, for example, contribute with the household expenses, support their sons and daughters study and health expenses, and have more power of decision in the family; the husbands contribute with the housework as women dedicate time to AGROSEC. From the point of view of men, there is greater integration with women, they contribute with domestic shores and are not ashamed of these types of tasks. Organizational level Business AGROSEC started only with men, during its operation it has included 12 women, from them 6 are there since the beginning, they work in the elaboration of the different types of tamales: Elote, hen, chipiln, pisques with beans, recently we have included pupusas (corn tortillas), it is important to mention that the domestic activity of tamales elaboration has been transformed into an income generation activity at commercial level.

I have learned that Im a useful person, before the training, I used to say that I had nothing to do in womens affairs, I have learned that a man has to be useful for the benefit of the family and the association, in the past I wasnt able to carry a huacal (crate), I have changed, now a value the others, I can perform any task, in the kitchen, clean the house, I help my wife when she needs me Jos Humberto Caas AGROSEC member

Women and men take part in the entire process developing different activities: obtaining raw material, men as members produce elote, maize, tomatoes and green chiles and they buy the different ingredients for the production. Men take part in the processing stage in cutting and transferring the elotes to the plant, they take away the leaves, prepare the elote, prepare the knives and ground the

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
maize or elote; women are in charge of preparing the paste, wrapping the tamales and cooking. In the commercialization phase, men drive the vehicle for women to deliver the final product to the clients. Occasionally, men and women sell directly to the public at some points of sale.
Im AGROSEC manager, I work in the administrative area, take part in the group of youngsters, study accounting at the university and Im also a mother. Despite all these activities, Ive a lot of enthusiasm to collaborate with the organization, all the things I have learned from PREMODER help me to improve the economic and social aspects of my family, for me the organization is an employment opportunity near home and also an opportunity to contribute with the organization, as Im also a member and I trust the organization for the benefit of more women Beatriz Lpez Manger, member and member of the group of young.

Other important organizational achievements are the relation between men and women, and the participation in the business, 6 jobs were generated in the production phase and sales for women members that receive an economic income of $0.04 cents per tamal and $7.00 daily for the sale; 2 jobs were generated at the administrative level with 2 young women, daughters of members, one is general manager, she studies accounting and the other is an administrative secretary.

Currently, we are also working in the creation of a group of 15 youngsters, 7 men and 8 women from 14 to 17, sons and daughters of members, the name of the group is AGROJUVENTUD, they take part in some activities of the association as promotion and induction strategy, we are negotiating institutional support to strengthen the capacities of this group. The organization also has a work plan that includes among its main activities the maintenance of the irrigation system, road to the parcels, rice commercialization projects and the tamales plant, as well as some social actions as eye care, among others. Success factors and main difficulties The organization has had some elements that facilitated the achievement of the results, among them: legal status; funds transfer from PREMODER to the organization to invest in the tamales plant and contract Technical Assistance; the integral training received in the following areas: productive, accounting, organizational and gender, the later focused on motivating women and young people to participate and to strengthened the level of acceptance of men and to encourage women to take part in the project; it has also been important to have a local manager, this has strengthened womens leadership, as well as getting to know other womens experiences; men have started to participate, all this has generated a change in mens and womens attitudes. Main obstacles In the case of women, at the beginning, the main obstacles were the fears and insecurities to join a productive organization. Some of the directors discriminated women, for this reason some women left the organization, and thus the General Assembly and the Directors implemented by-laws to regulate the replacement of members in the organization. Other constrain was the law for Agricultural and Livestock Associations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock that required a legal status as Agricultural Producer, to guarantee the nature of the organization. Women didnt have economic resources to pay the notary services to extended the affidavits stating that they practiced the trade,

Strategy to integrate gender equity in Elote value chain

for this reason the organization decided to pay said service to facilitate womens access to the organization. For some men the main constrain was their age, as their ages range from 40 to 70, their health conditions, the multiple tasks they performed and, in some cases, their machismo. Young people had little experience in topics related with productive associations, lack of training, as well as their age, as most of them are under 18. 5. What are the tools and good practices implemented by PREMODER that have contributed to these achievements? PREMODER has used an integral strategy with participative methodologies and gender approach focused on strenghthenening social, organizational, productive and entrepreneurial capacities of women and men. The following are some of the main methodologies and tools: In the pre-investment phase A participative diagnosis was prepared that reflected the productive, market, organizational and gender situation; womens absence in the organization was identified, as well as the lack of individual land, domestic work and commercialization of agricultural products. An organizational strengthening plan was prepared, containing training proposals, consultancies and other suggestions to overcome the identified constrains, including gender constrains. The need of including women in the organization was stated, as initially women were considered only as employees and not as members. A business plan was prepared for the processing and commercialization of the elote tamales project, the documents were prepared by a team of professionals including a person specialized in gender topics. Women were included as members after a training process, following the investment in associative, gender and entrepreneurial areas. The training emphasized cooperative work, gender and legal aspects to obtain the certified affidavits to be considered as Agricultural Producers, in order to comply with this requirement established by the law of Agricultural and Livestock Associations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, requiring that members of Agricultural Organizations should be engaged in the trade. Notary services were paid by the organization in accordance with PREMODER regulation defined to facilitate the inclusion of women in the organization and in the business. Organizational Strengthening Currently, we continue with this process that started in the pre-investment phase. After the allocation of funds to the organization, to be invested in the project as well as to pay for technical assistance services, the strengthening was focused on gender, associativity, plant productivity, marketing and accounting. It was executed through theoretical and practical training, for example, use of equipment, preparation of tamales mixtures, and negotiations with customers, among others. We also have specific consultancies, visits to similar business, exchange of experiences with similar organizations. The strengthening process is mainly aimed at members of the association, but some specific topics are addressed in accordance with the roles in the organization. This

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
work was performed with the support of experts in each of these areas, contracted by the organization for an average of 2 years, with short contracts based on specific results. As a result, the organization is able to manage good productive and hygienic practices for the elaboration of tamales, has obtained permits and commercial records, has developed negotiation techniques, manages production and sales indicators, as well as administrative and financial controls, all the processes have a gender approach. In this last area of the intervention, the following methodologies and tools were developed: Gender training. This training was developed through workshops and participative training with mixed groups, after the inclusion of men and women. Some training sessions were only for women members, members wives or daughters; these sessions aimed at raising awareness about the relevance of the participation of men and women in the organization, business and family, and to empower women inside the organization. The topics include sex/gender system, participation of women in productive organizations, leadership, self-esteem, among others; through this mixed training sessions the level of awareness and the motivation to included women in the organization and productive chain has improved, valuing womens capacities and skills, opening spaces for legal inclusion and decision-making. Closing Gaps Methodology: this methodology included participative work with groups of men, women and directors, using a guide of questions in order to analyze existing equity gaps between men and women in the organization, business and family. Through the methodology the individuals expressed their views; all the answers were relevant, as an objective analysis of the organization was required. At the same time, it aimed at identifying existing inequities; all the answers had a pre assigned code and were recorded in a board located in the office to be checked by groups every 6 months, through a similar workshop in order to assess achievements. The results of this methodology, allowed developing a specific plan to address the identified gender inequities; this plan is also integrated to the integral plan o the organization with the support of technical staff and the alliances with different intuitions that work in the following areas: Health sessions: aimed at overcoming some health constrains of women members and their families. With the support of the expert in associativity and gender, we negotiated the support of Fundacin para el Desarrollo de la Mujer FUDEM (Foundation for the Development of Women), to develop eye care campaigns and with the movement Movimiento para la Democracia, el Desarrollo y La Paz MODEPAZ (Movement for Democracy, Development and Peace) and the Ministry of Health, to develop general health campaigns for members families and for the community. Mechanisms to integrate youngsters to the Association: after analyzing the need of generational replacement in the organization product of the Closing Gaps analysisdifferent actions were developed in order to motivate and incentivize the participation of youngsters in the organization. We started with a talent show, specifically drawings, young participants presented proposal for the Associations logo, awarding cash prizes from the Organizations fund; in this way, a group of 15 youngsters. 8 girls and 7 boys was created, all were children of members.

Strategy to integrate gender equity in Elote value chain

This group has exchanged experiences with other youngsters groups from other communities; they have taken part in events, such as the Agro expo, youngsters fair, where they promoted AGROSEC products through tastings and promotional materials. Members of this group show great enthusiasm and project to join AGROSEC after a training process, but there are some constrains as they do not have their own productive projects. AGROSEC is going to manage some resources to support these youngsters. They also lack entrepreneurial knowledge, there is also some uncertainty due to delinquency, and all these factors constrain the participation of the young sector. Support in the area of associativity: This support was through practical training and consultancies, according to the needs; thanks to this support we have been able to develop administrative and organizational capacities for the administrative council and the management, mainly in the exercise of functions, resources management, and implementation of by-laws, among others. Christmas meetings Meetings carried out between members families in order to exchange experiences and facilitate the dissemination of the organizations activities. 6. What are the lessons learned from this experience?

The processes have generated a series of lessons learned in the organization and in each of the members women, men and youngsters- generating effects at personal, familiar and organizational levels. The following are some of the lessons learned: It is important to promote in the entire organization the participation of all the sectors of the population, especially women and youngsters and to strengthen their capacities, for them to be part of the productive chain, as well as at the directive level, to promote their leadership and, at the same time, they will contribute with their capacities in favor of the organizational objectives. Gender awareness and the inclusion of this approach in the entire organizational work, this is strategic to achieve results and real benefits more equitable for the families; by involving women and youngsters there is greater diversity of ideas and points of view that contribute with creativity to the execution of the business and, at the same time, generate personal, familiar benefits that generate better living conditions. Integral organizational strengthening process aimed at developing productive, entrepreneurial, social, accounting and organizational capacities, with gender approach that has fostered a wider entrepreneurial vision with a human approach in AGROSEC Work methodologies used at PREMODER, in order to promote women and men participation, have been useful because have allowed reflection on the reality, by identifying enabling factors and action alternatives that generated positive changes in women and men in relation with the perception of themselves, family relations and the organization, moving from an individual agricultural production vision to a collective entrepreneurial vision. The intervention with gender approach in Productive Associations, no necessarily means Equal participation, in the sense that men and women perform the same task,

Learning Route: Tools to mainstream gender equity and womens empowerment in IFADs projects: the experience of Central America
but also can be understood as complementarity of skills and knowledge that together contribute to the construction of an associative project with equity, where all these different contributions have the same value.

Strategy to integrate gender equity With this gender work, we have work giving us strength between women in Elote value chain

and men; we men have grown with the support of women; gender training has been very satisfactory because we have learned to trust in women and them in us. We have learned to see each other as family with respect, we have felt their support in the business, as they know things we do not know, and we know things they dont know, in this way we complement., They have known how to prepare tamales for a long time and have received training to prepare them with better quality. We help them with the big pots, grinding as the mill requires strength, in this way we complement each other, we help each other in selling. Marco Antonio Rivas Member of the Surveillance Board.

We have learned that we have to give room for the participation of women and youngsters and we are already doing it. With the women we expect to improve the membership and that at some point they will also be involve in the direction, it is the turn of young people, they are going to replace us, we want them to learn how to work as organization, to get to know how the older work in the AGROSEC and familiarize with the organizations activities, in this way they will be ready to work with responsibility in the future. Rufino Rubio Donado President of the Administrative Council

With all the gender consultancies, we have learned to be communicative, we feel free, thanks God, there are no longer barriers for us in the direction, in the past there was someone that abused us, for this reason some women left. Now we prepare the best tamales, my mother taught me how to prepare them but we had no technique, now, we prepare them with quality. We have not only learned about gender, but also about production, marketing, client service and administration, giving us more capacities. We know that all the effort of the technicians form PREMODER, ours and of the organization has been productive. Edith Guadalupe Crespn Cantor Member.