2. Tools and tactics:
An analytical framework for doing
gender analysis of
agricultural value chains

3. Is there a need for another tool…
• Linking the chain to the household and wider institutional
context
• Posing questions emphasizing forward/backward links
for women & men
• Integrating power and its distribution
• Giving more operational help – how to do it!
• Acknowledging rural livelihood diversification and
opportunity costs, synergies across activities
• Including a risk perspective
…to support gender analysis and to
define upgrading paths?

4. Steps in GAAVC (Gender analysis of
agricultural value chains)
• Select chain & justify
– Market demand, opportunity costs/risk,
complementarities, women’s and men’s interests
• Specify research questions
– Provide focus for the analysis to come
• Preliminary chain map with concentrations
by sex…for example
• Detailed gender analysis of specific
nodes, informed by context
– Analytical framework

5. From the producer perspective:
Inputs
Markets local markets national international
transportation
small-scale
Processing home based processing plants credit
(SME)
information
Wholesale local traders wholesalers
equipment
small scale commercial raw materials
Production
farmers farmers
wage laborers

6. From the processor perspective
Markets local markets national international Inputs
transportation
small-scale home
Processing processing plants
based (SME)
credit
Wholesale local traders wholesalers information
equipment
Production small scale commercial
farmers farmers raw materials
wage
laborers

7. Institutional context
• Social, cultural, economic, policy environment
within which selected chain, and others,
function
• Explore relevant parameters affecting overall
chain
– Trade policy, gender norms, infrastructure,
legal frameworks
• Delve into specifics per node: how is
institutional context operationalized to affect
chain functions & its diverse actors?

8. GAAVC analytical framework
Issue: Within each issue assess:
• Activities & actors • What
• Input access & control • How many/much
• Market linkages & • Where
governance • Power/control
• Economic • Institutional constraints
empowerment
• Opportunities
• Risk reduction
Ask questions from perspective of focal actors across each
node and trace links backward & forward

9. Hypothetical example: Mango chain
Production flows

10. Actors & activities
What:
• Women maintain mango trees, harvest, sell on roadside; also involved in
cassava: weeding, harvest; overlapping time demands; HH work roles
• Men little role in mango; larger role in cassava - demand women’s labor time
How many:
• Women in approximately 400 households in this region participate
Where (mobility/visibility):
• Older women or children sell at roadsides, not in formal market spaces
Power/control:
• Men own mango trees and decide about investment in crop inputs
• Women allocate their time to mango but as residual; men make claims on
women’s labor for other crops
Institutional constraints:
• Women do not own trees (tenure)
• Women’s time poverty leaves them little time to increase mango related work
Opportunities:
• Women want closer water pumps to free time; young women are interested in
processing plant work

11. Access to inputs
What
• Improved varieties available but expensive; fertilizer is same; credit available but
returns to investment unknown; training on tree pruning could improve output
How much
• HHs spend about $25/season on inputs; lack of market links limits men’s
willingness to invest
Where
• Buy limited range of inputs from local dealer; buy on credit.
Power/control
• Strong relationship of help/support with supplier; difficult to supplant or to
jeopardize thru bargaining, buying elsewhere
• Men in HH decide on input purchases and allocation
Institutional constraints
• Women’s lack of land, tree ownership/control; Input market structure; poor
infrastructure
Opportunities
• Group formation; training provision to women; input affordability?

12. Market linkages & governance
What
• Informal; traders sell to urban fresh and processing mkts; quality
issues; women lack links
How much/many
• Higher prices in urban mkts; traders capture gains; men unwilling to
invest - uncertainty
Where
• Small quantity and quality: informal mkt sales
Power/control
• Women control their direct sales; could earn more if reach urban mkts;
women need to strengthen links and position with traders
Institutional constraints
• Time poverty; market structure limits terms of access (traders); trade
policy gives buyers more power than producers
Opportunities
• Group formation; invest in quality; maintain women’s benefits

13. Economic empowerment
What
• Low inputs, weak tree care & quality affect economic success
• Informal sales at relatively low levels enable women’s control of income
How much
• Range of profits: -$10 to $55 per season
Where
• Groups important to women – space outside HH to network, gain confidence
Power/control
• Women prefer informality to maintain control; use income for school, medical, food
Institutional constraints
• Women negotiate, strategize in HH and market but within limits: marriage is better
option
Opportunities
• If formalize markets need to engage men and address gender relations to ensure
women benefit

14. Risks
What
• Climate, pests; new varieties and uncertainty; time poverty; male
appropriation/female resistance?
How much
• Can produce at loss if a poor year; limits input investment…reducing
productivity
Where (NA)
Power/control
• New mkts and standards push risk to producers; intermediary power
Institutional constraints
• Time poverty and expanding mkts; male public role & group formation
• Poor regulation of MFIs
Opportunities
• Index insurance? Support for investment in new varieties; reduce
domestic work; groups to raise bargaining power – female membership

15. Conclusion
• Gender-responsive analytical framework
– Power, institutions, social context
– Economic outcomes
• Data collection – used to inform program design
• Flexible in application: depth & focus of probing
informed by research aims
• Looking for feedback: should this be developed
further? How?