Social inclusion of women is crucial to Pakistan's development. Small farmers own more than 85% of livestock with rural women as primary caretakers. Women empowerment is vital to address health and education challenges. Women often put in twice the effort, get a fraction of the returns and are marginalized. To address this challenge, USAID Punjab Enabling Environment Project (PEEP) designed WEinSPIRE to make women farmers competitive players in an inclusive market and link them to various partners, to the market and bring them in the mainstream. WEinSPIRE envisions women having equal opportunities, access to services and market information.
PEEP is working with each stakeholder directly and has created synergies with partners and the target group under WEinSPIRE following an 'inclusive market development (IMD) approach'. This innovative approach includes women in the marketing channel. The L&DDD and the Women Chamber (WCCIB) contributed to WEinSPIRE design and regularly report progress and results to PEEP. L&DDD provides true breed animals via livestock breeders’ associations, veterinary services and capacity building (mobile training buses at doorsteps). The Veterinary University develops the training modules. Microfinance institutions provide credit facilities. Telenor uses ICT-based tools for market and livestock related information dissemination and branch-less banking for women farmers. The WCCIB identifies women farmers and helps in their capacity building.
PEEP M&E team monitors and measures impact of WEinSPIRE through field surveys and organization capacity assessment tools, in collaboration with all partners. Additional indicators have been added to measure progress and impact of the initiative. Total female farmer beneficiaries impacted are 48,000 including 2000 trained on animal husbandry practices, 6000 acquired veterinary services, 30,000 acquired microfinance facility and 10,000 have access to veterinary information.
WEinSPIRE is a partnership-driven model that aims to spur investments, optimize resources while ensuring that sustainability is carefully woven into its design. Each participating organization has its own mandate and is linked together under WEinSPIRE to pool in their resources for collaborative activities. PEEP introduced this market system while the Government’s support, WCCIB ownership and initial buy-in by all partners as well as the market dynamics will ensure that the initiative continues. The private and public-sector partners provide an enabling environment and service delivery that ensure sustainability. Breeders' associations ensure market access for female farmers through provision of true breed animals. The telecom provider disseminates vital market and animal disease prevention information via info alert text messages. Training courses on best animal husbandry practices designed by the Veterinary University create awareness among women farmers. Fully equipped mobile training school buses were set up through the Livestock Department and provide training to women at their doorsteps. Private sector investments of USD 15 million are expected to be leveraged which would raise household income that would contribute towards better nutrition, health and education of women and children.
South Punjab experiences security challenges as the women farmers reside in remote rural locations. They have difficulty in traveling to the main city for trainings as their movements are restricted due to the cultural issues and often cannot travel alone without a male companion. This was overcome through utilizing the WCCIB as a common ground for trainings. For women who were still unable to travel; USAID PEEP leveraged the support of the L&DDD and acquired mobile training school buses for them that have female trainers to conduct trainings at their doorsteps.
Another challenge pertained to the women farmers acquiring loans. Initially, the women could acquire loans from only one bank and that was an issue so we modified the grant to allow them to acquire loans from any microfinance institution. Banks hesitate lending to individuals with poor credit history. However, we are resolving that by registering the trained women farmers as members of the Livestock Breeders’ Associations that are part of the L&DDD. This would enable the women farmers to acquire loans in groups from the banks, something which the banks consider less risky. For other teams, we would advise using a “local systems, cross-sectoral” approach, as defined by USAID and Chemonics, to address such development and cultural challenges.
Indicators used include household income, assets, employment, education, health, knowledge on livestock, access to finance and markets. Prominent changes observed after the initiative has been rolled out are that women feel more empowered, are more aware of their opportunities, have ventured into enterprising solutions for increasing their livelihoods and have better knowledge of animal rearing practices. L&DDD has been successfully assisted with shifting from a curative to a preventive model. Some of the quantifiable results include over 2000 women trained, 6000 women have access to veterinary services, 30,000 women farmers acquiring loans after becoming aware of financing, 10,000 have market information and number of animals reared increasing from an average of 2 to 6 per household. Telenor has launched a new helpline exclusively for women farmers and plans to introduce branch-less banking. Membership of WCCIB has increased. More banks and government departments have expressed a desire to come on board (unexpected outcome). WEinSPIRE was featured on the USAID Radio Show and Chemonics Blog. Significant attention has been gained in print and social media. Inauguration of the mobile training bus photo was awarded the best photo of 2017 by USAID.
PEEP and WCCIB are carrying out 4 research studies in addition to policy briefs, sector and feasibility studies to give the sector an in-depth insight into issues faced by women livestock farmers. A comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions booklet based on questions raised by women farmers in the training, pertaining to animal health, rearing and housing is being developed. The FAQs are categorized according to topics of health, finance, marketing and sustainability which Telenor is using to develop its info alerts. A detailed herd book for breed improvement and a livestock portfolio for microfinance institutions has also been developed.
We provided the lead service of designing this program. The local partners/grantees (NRSP, WCCIB, L&DDD) were extensively consulted in the design for flexibility and integration, due to their knowledge and outreach in the area. A multi-partite MOU was signed with partners. All partners played pivotal roles in the implementation. L&DDD provides breed certification, training, vaccinations and medicinal services. Breeders associations sell true breed animals and link to markets. WCCIB provides training and loan application assistance. Banks give loans. Telenor provides market information and knowledge on best practices in animal keeping.
