NOTES ON WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT NO. 10 (Sectoral Overviews) FORESTRY PROJECTS AND WOMEN Office of the Advisor on Women in Development World Bank September, 1980 FORESTRY PROJECTS AND WOMEN Office of the Advisor on Women in Development World Bank September, 1980 GLScott/ra September, 1980 FORESTRY PROJECTS AND WOMEN*/ In many developing countries, fuelwood, which represents 90% of wood consumption, and a significant portion of which is used as domestic fuel, for food preparation and home fires, is becoming increasingly scarce. Women not only have a major responsibility for using the wood for the cooking but also for collecting and transporting it. Its scarcity affects family nutrition (less nutritious., quicker cooking foods, and less money available to buy food because of having to buy wood) and puts increasing pressure on women. In many areas the use of animal dung and agricultural residues as fuel, because of scarcity of wood, affects nutrition by affecting soil fertility and consequently crop yields. Bank lending for forestry has been increasing, and greater emphasis is being given to social forestry,to small holder and community aforestation schemes particularly for fuelwood, and to related activities. In the for stry sector, as in other aspects of Bank work, there has been during the past few years, a major movement towards the recognition of the human dimensio.L. The importance of involving people, the total community, the villagers, the foresters, the planners and Government officials has been stressed, and particular importance is accorded to the need to find ways "to ensure people's involvement at the village level". In this connection, women's involvement is important. Forty three projects were reviewed for issues related to women's involvement in forestry and wood using activities and to identify their interests */Research done by M. Elmendorf, Consultant, May, 1980, contributed to this Report. / Spears,John "The Changing Emphasis in World Bank Forestry in Lending." Oct. 1978 (World Forestry Congress). -2- among the beneficiaries of the projects. As summarised in the following table, such issues were found in 19 projects (five agriculture and rural development projects, one urban project, and 13 forestry projects). Women are implicitly included where projects refer to "the people", the "total population", "all the inhabitants", "household needs and uses", and they may even be included among "the farmers", "the nurserymen", "the foresters". However, only eight of the projects make specific reference to women. The Malawi NRDP II notes that seeking increasingly scarce wood for domestic use is a time consuming female task and that the project's provision of fuelwood will benefit women by reducing the burden of their household work. This and more efficient use of wood in improved cooking stoves would allow women more time to devote to agriculture. The plantation and woodlots components of the Rwanda Integrated Forestry and Livestock Project also indicate the direct benefit to women of easier access to fuelwood. The India Gujarat Community Forestry Project estimates that women collect 80% of domestic fuel, spending some three hours daily seeking wood, dung and crop waste. In the Nepal project, the additional problem is noted that the average 60 days per yoar collecting fuel must be concentrated in the months between November and May, to dry and store it before the monsoon. Project activities can benefit from recognising women as traditionally the principal gatherers and users of domestic fuel and their interest in improving and ensuring its supply.. More explicit reference to women is required both to maximise their impact and better assure their participation in the several phases of the project cycle. Ten of the forestry projects either were or had components for Social or Community Forestry, a main objective of which is to provide forest goods and services in rural areas where they are most needed. They provide 引 3 multi-purpose tree plantations "which supply fuel and small timber to meet the basic requirements of rural communities; that provide food, fodder, shade and the environmental stability that is necessary for continued food production; and that generate income and employment both directly, by providing jobs in planting, harvesting and marketing, and indirectly by providing raw materials for cottage industries.'i All this is of*obvious inter ent to women which we will now discuss together with the other components indicated in the table above. 1. Availability of Fuel 1. Agricultural Residues The increasing scarcity of fuel is an important aspect of the raison d'etre for the social forestry or woodlot components. The use of agricultural residues and dung to supplement scarce fuelwood is noted in several projgcts. In Rwanda in some densely populated rural areas they represent over 30% of material burnt as domestic fuel. In Bangladesh also the high usage of such residues is noted. In Indonesia, agricultural residues are also burnt, and it is noted that fuelwood use varies according to its availability. obviously the soil is affected by being deprived of the nourishment from the animal and vegetable wastes, which in turn affects its productivity. This would bear particularly on the subsistence fields on which fertiliser is seldom used and so there is less food for family consumption. A second set of implications relate to the fact that as fuels these wastes are inefficient and their collection requires an excessive amount of time and energy. Thirdly, and seldom alluded to, is India Uttar Pradesh Social Forestry, para. 1.23. -4- *! the implication for women's health from the acrid smoke which they emit. and finally, of more general import is the encouragement of soil erosion by removing not only crop residues but also any grasses and weeds that will burn. These factors suggest the importance of including social forestry components in more agricultural projects. 2. Access to Wood Use rights to wood for fuel and rights to scavenge for other animal and vegetable residues to burn vary widely according to a range of factors including tradition and culture, inter-mixed with concepts of private and communal ownership of land. The Tanzania project notes that a small amount of forest production is owned, managed and used by villagers. In Nigeria, land is a-communal asset, and so there is open access to fuelwood. In some cultures trees are individually owned, and only certain species may be cut. There tends also to be a cultural preference for certain species for cooking or other uses which may, or may not disappear with prolonged, scarcity of wood. "Some land and tree tenure systems adversely affect the share of firewood resources gained from tree planting and forest land management that flow to women, directing them instead toward the men of the society who then will apportion them to the women. Other tree tenure systems, although unique, produce the opposite result; private land owners cannot refuse women access to trees on their land for use as firewood." */ Studies in Nepal indicate a high correlation between indoor cooking and diseases of the eyes and lungs. **, Wood, Dennis, D. Brokenshaw, et. al. Fuelwood Use and Rural Community Fuelwood Programmes, Devres, AID, p. 135, 1980. -5. These questions of ownership and access and systems of tenure are an important dimension of project design. Women usually are knowledgeable on these matters and could contribute information which would be useful in assess- ing the implications of changes which the project proposes. Also, as forest laws are being revised in some areas giving provision for the right to manage forests to be vested in the local village community, women's access and use should be defined. Information on this question could be obtained e.g., in the socio-economic surveys of land use, tenure and farming systems in Rwanda which inter alia provide a basis for selection of sites for the woodlots. 3. Cost of Fuel The cost of domestic fuel particularly in rural areas has been difficult to estimate. The Malawi project notes that it is undervalued in national accounts, and that from customary land, both fuelwood and poles are obtained free for the individual's own domestic use. Wood is cut directly by consumers in rural areas in Burundi, and people are used to scavenging for wood for which they have never paid. In Rwanda it is noted that the prevalent attitude accords a low value to wood for fuel, until it becomes scarce and difficult to find to meet family needs. As that project notes, efforts to introduce peat as a substitute fuel must recognise that it would have to be purchased, whereas wood is "free." In urban areas in Burundi, it has been estimated that fuel costs represent 27-40% of monthly income, a range not dissimilar to estimates for other countries where the cost of kerosene has more than tripled in a 6 month period. Most references to the need for additional information on domestic energy relate to the quantities used, and make no reference to the cost of the human energy of women and-children, in collecting the fuel. The Nepal project provides for a survey on the role of wood in the life of rural residents -6- in the hills. In seeking this information and in fact in any survey of domestic energy, it is important that women are involved both as interviewers, and res- pondents, since this is a subject on which men are frequently not fully informed. 4. Village Woodlots and Species of Trees Several projects refer to the varying degrees of success of previous efforts to establish woodlots. One element in the lack of villagers' interest in them has been the choice of species. The Upper Volta project will establish woodlots mainly in family compounds and the species of shade fodder and fruit trees introduced will respond to the demands of villagers. Some of the projects provide for studies and research on which to base the selection of the most appropriate species to introduce as e.g. in Malawi. This is an area where women can make real contributions. Valuable information about indigenous trees, medicinal and herbal use of leaves, roots, etc., as well as constraints to introduction of new species are in the realm of women's knowledge. Group discussions with women could be a valuable part of research design. This type of participation also stimulates continuing local involvement. As pointed out in Upper Volta, the forestry expertise of the women was dramati- cally demonstrated in a seminar where participants, who were women social workers, teachers, business women, medical professionals, etc., showed their awareness of a wide variety of forestry issues. They were very outspoken about forestry practices such as foresters clearing even old trees and shrubs without regard to whether they provide food, medicine or other products either in normal times */Hoskins, Marilyn, Women in Forestry for Local Community Development, 1979 pp 9-10. -7- or in times of shortages. Participants not only knew the local traditional trees but discussed imported exotic species. For example, they spoke authori- tatively about a eucalyptus variety then being planted in Voltaic forestry projects. They knew that the burning leaves kept away mosquitoes and that boiled leaves gave a broth useful in treating colds. They mentioned that, because the tree grows rapidly even wit little water and is resistant to animal damage, it might be necessary as a temporary solution for emergency fuel problems. But, they felt that many other type of trees are better for more typical situations. The disadvantages that they mentioned are that this eucalyptus is completely inedible for humans and is not good for animal food. The wood is difficult and time consuming to cut, and though it is lightweight, it is sticky and,awkward to carry. Also, it burns rapidly and therefore more of it is required. Its oils give it a flame that is very hot and difficult to control for long, slow cooking of the local dishes. The oils in the smoke impart a "vicks-vapo-rub" taste to foods and damage eyes. When planted near gardens or fields they find this tree damages other plants and poisons the soils surrounding it. In those projects which propose the introduction of eucalyptus its social appropriateness should be assertained, as it will affect people's willingness to become involved in the village wood lots. When the benefit of efforts are not immediately reaped, as in tree planting, ways of maintaining community motivation and support should form part of the consultative process in project feasibility, design, and implementation. Here, motivating women may be critical. / In the Yucatan, every village has special trees which are saved for emergencies-- drought and war. Stories aboud of their uses. See Elmendorf, M. "The Mayan Woman and Change" GDOC - 1973. / Noronha, R. Sociological Aspects of Social Forestation Project Design, 1980. -8- II. Fuel Conservation 1. Stoves and Cooking Bahaviour There is frequently a waste of energy in the traditional ways of cooking and together with the planting of trees, forestry projects are giving attention to developing and introducing more fuel efficient stoves. The table shows the projects which provide for the introduction of improved stoves; others include provision for research on better uses of wood inter alia through improved stoves. In India, the Planning Research and Action Institute, which has been involved in the design of more efficient woodburning stoves for cooking, will work with local village Forest Committees and the Project Implementation Unit on a component of the Uttar Pradesh Social Forestry Project to construct and demonstrate the stoves in about 1,000 villages. The report noted that success would depend mainly upon understanding and participation of the rural population at large; it is important that the need for women to be involved be made explicit. The Nepal Project required that any improved stove should be: 1) more efficient than .the one to be replaced, also, if :possible, provide heat and reduce smoke emission; 2) low in cost of both cash and time for (a) construction; (b) main- tenance; (c) materials employed; 3) made of local materials as much as possible; 4) simple in construction and maintenance so that knowledge can be easily transferred; 5) accommodate behavioral patterns and systems as well as attitudinal requirements. -9- Indian experience with stoves was to benefit this'project, but it was noted that lack of training of users of the stoves and lack of follow-up had limited the success of Indian efforts to introduce improved stoves. It is noted that the beneficiaries from the stove component would be (a) women and children whose wood collecting burden would be lessened, and (b) the stove builders. By providing for improved stoves to be built and demonstrated in villages which establish self-help woodlots the India Gujarat project links wood production and consumption. If women are involved intensively in this as implied, there may be more acceptance and diffusion. Another important aspect of this pr6ject,is provision for four communications units to be headed by female social workers whose task will be "to determine and encourage the use of the most appropriate stove for the locality." Even though there is no description of how the social worker plans to accomplish her mission, one assumes, she will be working directly with the women in the households. The artisans assigned to each social worker to build the stoves will probably be men since they are not designated as female, but even men artisans are usually more free to work with women in groups if supervised by a woman. This project also goes into some details on features of cooking behaviour which again being in the domestic domain, requires information from women. For women accustomed to cooking in a squatting position, an innovation such as a stove on legs is likely to be unacceptable, a problem which this project will aVoid by involving local females as social workers. Some projects may have to choose between limiting the improvements in the stoves and a communications component to overcome objections. - 10 - */ It is the women who construct chulahs in Bengal.. In many parts of the world women are skilled pottery makers - working in clay and sand. The stoves might well become an extension of this craft, and as an aspect of the acceptance and diffusion of fuel-efficient stoves, more attention should be given to the training of women as stove-builders. Since clay/sand stove- building in some areas is a new profession, without previous sex-stereotyping, women have been accepted as artisans/masons without any problems. The participation of women in the first group of people from Honduras to be trained in Guatemala in the construction of Lorena stoves undoubtedly contri- buted to the rapid adoption of the stoves in Honduras. In one low-cost housing project in Honduras these women masons were able to interact with the female heads of household, who make up over 60% of the families in this community, The acceptance of the stoves was due also to-the credit facilities offered through the Cooperative which meant the household could have a stove built and a kitchen area framed and roofed at a monthly cost which was approximately the same amount as their fuel-saving. Using women as stove builders/designers has validity in other parts of Latin America as well as other parts of the world. */ Briscoe, John. The Bolitical Economy of Energy Use in Rural Bangladesh, 1979,p.637. **/It is interesting to note that upgrading of production equipment frequently alters sex assignment of tasks: pottery often is made by men when a wheel is used. ***/Elmendorf, M. "The Human Dimension: Energy Survey Methodology" National Academy of Science International Workshop, 1980. - 11 - The need to involve women in the design, evaluation, building and disemination of the new stove technology should be obvious. The acceptance in Honduras of the Lorena stove from Guatemala noted above, gives clear indications of the roles women played. In Senegal women were also involved and made local modifications in size, shape and number of openings in the stoves. Hopefully the poor record of dissemination in Africa and Asia can be overcome with more involvement of women, and the socio- logical research provided for in various Bank projects can indicate key issues in involving women. The Burundi forestry project suggests that an appropriate point of departure for the design and development of economical cooking stoves would be a national contest. The Philippines project proposes studies to evaluate the performance of the improved wood stoves and assesses the practicability of their adoption on a wide scale. A number of selected households would be provided with improved stoves of different types, and adequate measurements kept of wood consumption, compared to control households using traditional stoves. Concurrently, laboratory tests of various designs of stoves using locally available materials would be made. These studies will obviously have to rely mainly on information from women. 2. Alternative Fuels Some of the projects propose to encourage greater use of charcoal and the introduction of alternative fuels. Only the Bangladesh and Jamaica projects promote the increased use of fuelwood. Zhe burning of charcoal is usually a male occupation, women being involved only in its vending. References are made to the inefficient burning of the charcoal which the projects aim to improve. If *1 Evans, I. et al. Improved Cookstoves for Rural Senegal, p. 19, VITA, 1980. - 12 - greater efficiency reduces the cost of charcoal this will be of interest to women as fuel will absorb a smaller proportion of their household budget. As noted above, fuel costs represent between 27-40% of montly income in urban Burundi. The traditional model of charcoal burning stoves used by the majority of poor families in Bujumbura have a low level of efficiency and this contributes to the high expenditure on energy. Using charcoal also requires a different method of cooking. The Upper Volta project notes that the charcoal stoves that are available are not cheap enough to be widely affordable, and that they are not fitted to prevalent methods of food preparation, both factors of interest to women. Burning of peat is proposed in the Burundi forest project. It is noted, however, that even when offered free, peat has proven unpopular as a domestic fuel because of the heavy smoke which it produces and houses are windowless. Also it requires a special stove. The report on Rwanda notes the same problems. Efforts are to be made in Malawi to develop other renewable sources of energy such as biogas and solar energy. An energy unit will be established to undertake this work together with efforts to design and develop. appropriate cooking stoves, biogas units, solar heaters, etc. Even though the Bolivia project has no direct forestry component, it makes provision for the adaptation and development of low-cost solar devices forrheating, cooking, pumping, food drying, water heating and greenhouse agriculture which in a semi-arid, high-altitude area with high levels of insolation and extreme scarcities of traditional fuels, has direct ralezance to many aspects of the overall sector. A conscious effort to involve women - 13 - during the early stages of planning these activities would both ensure their relevance to women's interests and women's support. A recent workshop in Tanzania noted the importance of involving women both in survey activities and in programme implementation stating that "their opinions and ideas cannot be ignored but rather must be solicited as they will play a key */ role in the diffusion of technologies."i These cases support the more general proposition that a technology is appropriate only if it can easily be fitted into people's (in this case women) user habits. III.Local Participation The practical problem of protecting forests and controlling the cutting of hundreds of scattered plantations are enormous where the rural population has traditionally scavenged for wood to use as fuel or poles, and regard it as a free good. Even where a licence for cutting must be bought, the supervision is limited (and the price of the licence frequently is very low). Motivating the local community and ensuring their participation is essential and is stressed by most of the projects. Projects include provisions for studies which will indicate clues for fostering local participation and for community support for the project's aims. In Niger, it was noted that prevalent cropping and grazing pressures affect the participation in ongoing forestry activities, but that some village shade tree projects were progressing well. The project makes provision for a study which will identify at village level the incentives and development capacity needed to secure the cooperation of the rural people in the forestry efforts. In Mali, the wood and wood product requirements and willingness of / Arusha Appropriate Technology Project, Annual Report, 1977-1978, p. 29. -14- villagers to participate in rural forestry projects will be studied in a number of villages. This study is to lead to recommendations for practical actions to be taken to promote rural forestry schemes. The Bangladesh project which expects to make available to villages unmarketable mangroves has provisions for an audio-visual component to inform the local people about the programme and how they can benefit from it. To support the India Uttar Pradesh project films demonstrating the impact of deforestation on villagers'quality of life, their responses and people-oriented solutions, as well as some technical information e.g., on planting, will be made. In the Nepal project, the communications support includes brochures and posters. In Indonesia a project is introducing community participation training activities for project staff and villagers, and other Government staff concerned with the project in order to overcome social and cultural constraints and ensure that the innovations which the project introduces are sustained. These studies and motivation and training efforts should obviously give careful attention to women's perceptions and priorities. In the project in Upper Volta it was noted that establishment of village woodlots and prevention of fires had been largely unsuccessful because of the disinterest of the local population. It was recommended that actions such as introducing woodlots should be reformulated with a view to providing sufficient incentive to the population to participate. In view of the Voltaic women's interest noted above, their involvement is likely to lead to greater participation. In the Nepal hills women of different villages voluntarily agreed "to organize the gathering of fodder, pine needles for compost, or fuelwood - 15 - from the same place and to organize collection in a rotational way which will */ allow for adequate regeneration." Continuing participation would be facilitated by unambigous arrangements for sharing the forestry products among the villagers participating in the project, as provided for in the Gujarat project. Government's commitment to assist people in developing "their forests" as opposed to protecting "government-owned" forests can be a decisive factor in obtaining local support. This change in policy is an apt time to be sure that "their forests" are defined as belonging to the total community -- so that women will know what the new arrangements are. Contracts may even be written on use and obligations. In Malawi there was increasing evidence that "farmers are more likely to protect trees that are sited close to their own homesteads and most of the output from which would be utilised for domestic consumption." There is no mention of women, but a survey would probably reveal that women and children play significant roles as caretakers and nurturers of these trees. According to the project plan, each household will be responsible for 1,000 seedlings. Farmers will need to follow instructions carefully to ensure a good survival rate and reduce termite damage. Forestry extension services would provide training in new nursery and plantation techniques. / Spears, op.cit, 1978. */ As suggested by Hoskins, op.cit. 57, 1979. Also such contracts are in use in the Nepal and India Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh projects. See Noronha R. Socio- logical Aspects of Forestry Project Design, 1980, Annex C. - 16 - In many cultures the women start the seed beds, dare for young plants and protect the trees in their homesteads and villages. In Senegal, for instance, this is already a significant industry for women, who also make the containers for the seedlings. The need for including women in any train- ing seems apparent and perhaps the extension services to be provided by the nurserymen will be adequate and acceptable, and given not only to the farmers who often fail to pass on this important information correctly to their wives. In addition to the question of targetting the training to those who will do the work, or create pressure to ensure the proper care and protection of the forests, two related points arise: firstly, the importance of building on the experience and traditions of the "nursery WOMEN" appropriately including it in the training materials; secondly, the importance of recognizing the potential for the aims of forestry development of existing systems, building on them rather than substituting for them. The Upper Volta project anticipated the involvement of women's groups as vehicles for introducing the improved stoves. These groups would also be useful to stimulate participation for planting and care of the wood- lots. Introducing forestry in the school curriculum as proposed in Nepal, and encouraging school tree blocks (to provide building poles and fuel for cooking school meals) in Tanzania can instill respect for trees in girls as well as in boys and a habit for caring for and protecting them. - 17 - Ensuring the availability of trained personnel to deal with all aspects of the social forestry projects is recognised as critical to project success. However, the requirements for technical *agronomic skills, are frequently much more clearly enunciated than those for the "softer" aspects of the project, such as social research/feed-back or motivating community participation. Skills which often are essential for acceptance of the technical inputs. Also the need for the training of female agents for "women's activities" to be linked to the agricultural and forestry training is frequently overlooked. All the projects make provision for training and for extension. The Malawi project makes provision for training of the farmers and their wives. Providing courses for wives is a very positive (and unique) aspect which hopefully during project implementation will not be interpreted as excluding women without husbands (widows or wives of migrants). Women from Nepal who will become the agents in charge of promoting the improved stoves will be trained in India. Demonstration of the benefit of social forestry in the Uttar Pradesh project, are in its village trainiig component directed at both men and women. The training of women as trainers and as animatrices in these projects will facilitate the approach to women in the project area and the two-way flow of information from women and about their areas of responsibility which will benefit the project, contribute to monitoring it, and indicate where its impact could be improved. - 18 - The extension agent,agronomist, has usually talked with the farmer, often with the elite farmer, not with the family, approaching women only where there is provision for a home-economics type of intervention. Frequently projects have failed to understand the important roles of women in decision- making and implementation of village level activities. The "invisibility" of women does not mean they are not involved in household and community choices for acceptance of change, including those related to satisfying their basic need of fuel for cooking. Increasing the numbers of women trainees as change agents would serve to increase women's visibility in project activities, and improve the chances of achieving project objectives. IV. Trees and Nutrition The value of fodder for livestock was noted more often in the Bank reports than the importance to human diet of many trees in providing supple- mentary, sometimes survival, foodstuff such as leaves, flowers, nuts, fruit, bark and roots. A probable reason for this is that women were not fully involved as informants when project data was being collected. Many projects emphasize the supply of fruit trees among the seedlings offered to villagers for planting. The Indonesia project includes nurseries which produce forest and fruit tree seedlings for the improvement of home gardens, tree farming, aforestation and silvipasture. Homegardens, located around the homestead, provide farmers, especially the poorest, with the basic ingredients for survival. This typical homegarden is a mixture of fruit trees, firewood trees, and trees which produce building materials, with under-plantings of annual and other herbacious plants such as roots, tubers, medicinal plants, - 19 - and vegetables. Together, these plants form a close-canopy similar to natural forests which protect the soil from erosion. The mix usually depends on the farmer's relative need for home consumption and cash crops. One of the objectives of the project is to improve nutrition,and in many activities of this sub-component, women's interest and involvement would be significant: replacement of existing crops with improved varieties, improved lay-out, increased vegetable production for home consumption. The Nigeria forestry plantation project also aims to improve nutrition by encouraging inter-cropping with the forestry plantations. Farmers will be allocated temporary plots in the forest reserves,given extension advice and improved planting materials, and they will plant annual food crops until the trees close canopy. The project aims to increase the productivity of their traditional low risk system of mixed cropping. In view of past problems with unpredictable supply of labour to maintain the forests, this project is establishing forest villages in the project areas and allocating land around the villages for kitchen gardens for workers and their families. It can be expected that women will be much involved in these subsistence farming efforts. Increasing hunger due to lack of enough wood to cook daily or to prepare protein-rich, long-cooking traditional foods, such as beans or pulses, has been */ noted in several studies. By improving the supply of fuel for use for food preparation, all these projects are of course contributing to improved nutrition, and this is of interest to women as the gatherers of wood, and the preparers of meals, and the decision-makers about consumption patterns. Women can also contribute / Tinker, I. "Changing Energy Usage for Household and Subsistence Activities" p. 4, 1980. - 20 - information on the uses of various species of trees as food, so that the decision on the types of trees to be planted can take into account, their nutritional value to families in the pro4ect.area. VII. Research, Training and Innovations Several references have been made to the need for deeper understanding of the project area population as a basis for designing forestry projects and to the provisions in project costs made for studies. Community level research where women are an integral part of the design, as interviewers and interviewed, not only broadens the data base but also acts as a beginning of awareness on the part of women, (the gatherers of wood and the providers of meals) and of concern from others about one of wome's basic needs i.e., fuel for food. It can also increase commitment towards project implementation. Dialogue is started in which alternative solutions can be discussed concerning energy-efficient stoves, fuelwood lots and other alternatives, In this way the perceptions of the community as to the needs and solutions to the energy problem can be defined, and the rate of adoption of project goods and services accelerated, thus increasing as well the probability of of achieving the targetted economic rate of return. The following socio-economic studies, are among those provided in projects which require information from and about women and should deal directly with them: Mali (survey of willingness to participate and cost comparisons of wood use), Philippines (impact on income distribution of use of wood), Nepal (socio- economic effects of the introduction of Panchayat forests). An interesting approach was used in the durvey of energy use for the */ Burundi urban project. Two university students, a male and a female, were / Mbi, Emanuel, Energy services in urbanisation projects: Energy assistance, Bujumbura Urban Development Project, NAS International Workshop on Energy Survey Methods, January, 1980. - 21 - assigned to neighborhoods in Bujumbura with which they were familiar. This approach, in which women were used as part of research teams, combined with careful clearance with neighborhood chiefs of the introduction of artisans, added a wealth of information to a baseline study which clearly pointed out uses and needs, and made specific recommendations for immediate action. Mention was made above of women building the improved stoves. Where it is socially appropriate for women to do such work, they obviously will require training. Such training could not necessarily be limited to technical skills, but might also include "entrepreneurial" skills, such as management, book- keeping, marketing, establishing credit, etc. With training,women can also contribute to other aspects of the introduction of the improved stoves - testing and re-design, home/community demonstration, and marketing of the stoves, relating such activities to other ongoing programmes e.g., health and nutrition, education. The need for trained personnel for the specifically forestry related activities has been noted. In many regions this like stove building is a relatively new skill, a profession not yet sex stereotyped, and for which both men and women .could be recruited for training. The social forestry projects require a new breed of forester and other support personnel, equipped to deal with both their technical and human dimansions. To ensure that they are available when the projects are to start or in advance e.g., for social analysis, or motivation,require forward planning: assuring the goverments' committment, identifying training needs and institutions, and even sometimes designing the courses (and matetials). Following from what has already been said above it is clearly important that women are involved both at the policy end and as trainees. - 22 - Where the collection of solar energy is being introduced, as in the Bolivian Alti Plano, action-oriented research with women would facilitate the choice Emong alternative uses. For instance, women might be interested in community solar ovens for dehydrating foods for storage more efficiently than by traditional methods used or for precooking of traditional foods, such as beans, which could later be reheated and served at home. Such uses would in addition to conserving fuel and improving nutrition, release women's time from collection of fuel (dung) and cooking; (a) to care for their animals; and (b) to make and market their handicrafts, increasing household resources. Where fuelwood is short, demonstrations of other alternative energy sources, e.g., biogas, solar, or whatever proves appropriate, would both speed up the adoption of alternative sources and technologies and also provide the opportunity for making locally appropriate adaptations on the recommendations of users. Women's groups could be used for such demonstrations. Women could also be involved profitably, in research/demonstration on the possibilities for using waste water in the intersts of forestry. The run-off from a village pump could be channeled to water a plot of selected trees for village use and which, established near the pump or the laundry would be accessible to women who would care it. Creative ways of using excess water from patio installations and for watering seelings without the extra burdens of hauling water .could be tried, e.g. as more homestead trees are introduced as in the Philippines. Reuse of kitchen and laundry water poses less problems than toilet waste water and human excreta. Appropriate technologies for sanitation, fish culture in the Orient, sugarcane in Honduras, are being used in urban programs. - 23 - More creativity could be used in designing appropriate village-level water reuse programs with social forestry. The use of waste water and human excreta as fertilizer in cultivation of trees could be integrated with community wood- lots or homestead forestry projects. The use of abandoned pit latrines for fruit trees (Mexico) could be encouraged in other areas. The synergistic effect of discussing the introduction of biogas along with a forestry project could be a moving force if done as an integrated part of a community project - i.e., in a health center or community building. It would be important that such a shared biogas facility in a community where easily available local refuse and human excreta was controlled by the poverty group-instead of the village elite, and that women's participation was encouraged. Women supplement their family resources by many fuel using activities in the informal sector. Frequently their earnings from these activities are constrained because of scarcity of fuel at the very time when they need cash to purchase fuel for food preparation. Efforts should be made to obtain more and better information on the cyclical aspects of demand and supply for fuel related to women's food chain activities, to nutrition, and income levels. Such information would help to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of various alternative sources of energy and promote better planning of energy use. Innovations which women introduce at the household level to cope with shortages,can suggest directions for research. / Elmendorf, M. and P. Buckles. Socio-Cultural Aspects of Water Supply and Excreta Disposal. P.U. Report No. RES 15, World Bank, 1978. -24- V. Conclusion and Summary Recommendations Several of the projects reviewed have recognised that the role of women in the design and implementation of forestry projects, especially social forestry projects may be essential to achieving their economic, social, and environmental objectives. They recognised the potential contribution of women as decision makers and actors within the project area beneficiary families, and also, as change agents for rural development. The purpose of this note was to pull together their experience to assist policy makers, project designers and project managers to give more explicit reference to women, which would maximise their impaCt and better assure their participation in the several phases of the project cycle. Among the recommendations which emerge from the review are the following: Given that a significant poriton of fuelwood is used in the domestic sphere of women's responsibility, women should be trained as interviewers for forestry related surveys and approached as informants on: - the cultural preferences for using certain species; - rights of access to collect and use wood and agricultural residue; - costs of fuel, amounts used, who collects it and time taken; - variations in diet according to availability/cost of fuel and season; - uses of indigenous trees, including as food; - subsistence food growing patterns; - traditional management pradtices of available forests; - local women's groups which could support the project in various ways. Women's interest and motivation is critical to community support and participation in planting/caring/managing woodlots, and efforts should be made - 25 - to involve women: - studies of practical actions to promote community support should give careful attention to women's perceptions and priorities; - new tenure and management systems should take account .of women's roles in pre-existing systems; - proposals for nurseries, planting and care of trees, should be built on to the traditions and practices of nursery women; - women should be afforded opportunities for training, including training as animatrices/motivators, and training as trainers which would facilitate approaching other women. Conserving and using available fuel supplies more efficiently is a priority for the whole society, in which women's contribution can be significant: - women should be fully involved in efforts to design, build and evaluate more efficient stoves; - alternative fuels, especially for domestic use, and small scale food processing activities,should be relevant to women's interests and fit into their user habits; - women should be trained to demonstrate these conservation alternatives and where this is culturally appropriate, women should be trained for their manufacture. Project information has confirmed that a major portion of the energy consumption among the poor in both rural and urban areas is for household and subsistence activities and that by and large the detailed information on its usage is inadequate. Women are the principal actors in this domain and successful introduction of innovations to conserve or increase the supply of fuel depend to a significant extent on women's collaboration in their planning, adaptation and diffusion.