Compass assessment: 2002 document 44 august 2002

F. GENDER ISSUES

1. Sampling
A total of 22 grantee projects were visited and interviewed. 15 of these are CBNRM groups, five NGOs and one government department (Department of National Parks). There are 10 categories of grants given by COMPASS as shown in Table 1:
Table 1: Categories of Project Grants

Project Type	Number Of Grantees	Number Interviewed
1. Afforestation	11	5
2. Capacity building	5	5
3. Beekeeping	3	2
4. Alternative Energy	3	1
5. Aquaculture	3	0
6. Wildlife Management	3	2
7. Herbal Production	1	0
8. Fruit Tree Nursery	2	1
9. Sustainable Agricultural Organic Farming	1	1
10. Other	4	0
Total	36	15

These projects were at different levels of implementation. In order to sample the sites to be visited, a number of factors were considered such as project type, age and performance of different projects. Selection of the projects visited was done with the COMPASS project staff. Some of the best practice sites could not be visited because of distance and the difficult logistical problems. The evaluation was during the rainy season. Therefore, some sites were inaccessible due to the wet and impassable roads e.g. Kalino Fish Farming Project could not be reached even after making two attempts. CBNRM projects are spread all over the country and there are long distances between them.

2. TR 1. Effective CBNRM Administrative and Technical Services Capacity Established

Some of the aspects have already been considered under Section C of this report. In this section, the evaluation focused on the following:

• 
  CBNRM structure and membership by gender
  
• 
  Achievements of CBNRM Working Group
  
• 
  Capacity of CBNRM Working Group to facilitate integration of gender in CBNRM
  
• 
  Recommended gender strategies for CBNRM Co-ordinating group
  

The main objective of the COMPASS Targeted Result 1 is to help establish an efficient and effective coordination of CBNRM activities in Malawi. COMPASS has facilitated the formation of a CBNRM Coordinating Group and Secretariat whose major role is to facilitate a national CBNRM strategic planning process, provide a framework for ensuring that the CBNRM initiatives in Malawi are designed and implemented rationally, and that a CBNRM monitoring and evaluation system to assess the impact of CBNRM initiatives is instituted.

The Partners Association is an informal body whose role is to facilitate collaboration among CBNRM initiatives within Malawi, promote best practices in CBNRM and ensure efficient use of project resources. Members of the Association are NGOs implementing CBNRM in Malawi.

2.1 Membership of CBNRM Working Group

The CBNRM Working Group membership is fourteen, composed of ten government agencies, one NGO, an Environmental Endowment Trust, University of Malawi and one Traditional Authority. The group comprises of the following members: Department of Forestry, Department of National Parks and Wildlife, Department of Fisheries, Department of Land Resources and Conservation, Ministry of Water Development, Department of Energy, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Community Services (Gender), One Traditional Authority, Co-ordination Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (CURE), Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi (Chair), Malawi Environmental Endowment Trust, Department of Environmental Affairs(Secretariat). COMPASS is a non-voting advisor to the group.

There is a gender imbalance in the membership. Most of the members are men. Government agencies form the majority of the membership and usually there are very few women in the required positions. Occasionally, the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi sends a woman to the meetings but there is no regular female representative. The mission is aware that such imbalances in membership are beyond the influence of COMPASS and the Working Group since the Departmental Directors and Executives of member organisations decide representation.
It is not clear how the CBNRM Working Group intends to Integrate and promote the gender equity in the CBNRM policy issues. There is no gender expertise in the group to advise on what should be done for inclusion in the policy issues.
The individuals attending the meetings are usually technical people who are unlikely to influence policy change in the respective agencies.