Staff Survey - Gender awareness and capacity development needs for gender mainstreaming at ICRAF Report on Findings Nov 4. 2013 Delia C. Catacutan & Ana Maria Valencia About the survey The survey was part of a two-year undertaking to mainstream gender in ICRAF, in response to the CGIAR s mandate to integrate gender in research and action, and contribute to the gender Intermediate Development Outcome (IDO): Women are better empowered and gender equality in decision making and control over resource use, management and benefits is improved. To effectively report on progress towards achieving the gender IDO, a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is being developed for the gender mainstreaming process. The aim of the survey was twofold: to generate information regarding gender awareness as well as capacity development needs of ICRAF staff to mainstream gender in their work, and to establish a baseline for M&E. The survey was carried out online. The questionnaire was piloted at the Science Week 2013 in Nairobi with 15 respondents. The survey garnered a response rate of 76% or 356 out of approximately 500 ICRAF staff globally. 55% of the respondents were males and 45% were females. Majority of survey responents are stationed at HQ and have been working for ICRAF between 1 and 5 years. HIGHLIGHTS OF KEY FINDINGS Addressing gender equality issues is mostly perceived as very important for achieving quality of work outcomes. Most of the respondents evaluate their work as having a positive contribution to the achievement of gender equality in agroforestry. 39% of the respondents understand gender related concepts and are also able to apply them in their work, while 29% understand the concepts but are not able to apply them in their work. Gender budgeting and gender disaggregated data are commonly not understood. Half the respondents have attended a gender awareness seminar or talk, and about a third has received gender training. Of this, only 43 staff received training on gender analysis. Currently, the confidence level to address gender issues in research is somewhat low, with only 19% or 67 respondents claiming to have that confidence. Over 80% of the respondents consider they could benefit from training in gender mainstreaming. Training and support should focus on gender mainstreaming or gender analysis during the first stages of the R&D cycle, such as in project design and problem diagnosis. The results indicate an enabling organizational environment for gender mainstreaming, with a family-friendly work environment, where women s leadership is accepted and valued, and there is a demonstrated leadership and political will from the top management to mainstream gender.
MAIN FINDINGS: I. Perceived relevance of gender issues The results show that there is a high level of awareness regarding the importance of addressing gender equality issues. Majority of respondents perceive that it is important for the quality of their work; moreover, 64% of the staff surveyed report that their work has a positive contribution in bringing about equal access to resources and services in agroforestry for women and men (see Figure 1 and 2). Figure 1 Figure 2
II. Self-assessment of gender mainstreaming capacities As part of self-assessment, a question was included to observe how the staff evaluate their own level of understanding of different gender-related concepts. The results obtained indicate that the most difficult concept to understand is gender budgeting; most of the respondents have either no or poor understanding of this concept. Gender mainstreaming and gender disaggregated data also show reasons for concern; 33% of the respondents have no or poor understanding of the former and 44% of the latter. On average, 39% of the respondents understand gender concepts and are able to apply them in their work, while 29% understand the concepts but are not able to apply them in their work. Figure 3 These results could be linked with the observations in questions 8 and 9, showing that half the respondents report to have attended a gender awareness seminar or talk and 29% have received a gender training. From those who had receive training, 90% indicated that gender related concepts were addressed in the training, while only 42% indicated gender research methods and analysis tools (Figure 4). This means that the number of staff (against total respondents) who had undergone training on gender research methods, and may have
developed capacity for gender analysis is only 43---the gender training was given in 2012 as part of this mainstreaming effort. Figure 4 Regarding where and when was the gender training received, 50% of the trained staff received the training less than a year ago and another 31% between one and five years ago. III. Training and capacity development needs The questions in this section inquire on the particular training needs and support identified by respondents to improve their confidence in addressing gender equality issues in their work. As shown in Figure 5 below, only 19% of the respondents feel confident in addressing gender equality issues. Figure 5
The support preferred by almost 70% of the respondents are training sessions and guidelines and tools on gender mainstreaming. Consistently, over 80% of the respondents believe they could benefit from training to mainstream gender in their work. The results also suggest that gender training should cover the stages of the R&D cycle, with a particular emphasis on the first stage of project design (Figure 6). Figure 6 Figure 7 IV. Gender in the organizational culture The last section of the survey focused on the respondent s perception about the observance of gender equality issues in the Centre s organizational culture. The general picture observe
in Figure Graph 8 is rather optimistic; there is a tendency to agree with all the statements, showing an enabling organizational environment for gender mainstreaming. Almost 80% of the respondents consider that ICRAF promotes a family-friendly work environment, 76% agrees that women s leadership is accepted and valued, and 73% agrees that there is a demonstrated leadership and political will from the top management to mainstream gender in the organization. These percentages decrease when respondents stated their agreement on wheter ICRAF encourages and rewards work on gender equality (51% of respondents) and equitable salaries according to positions, skills and experience (52% of respondents). Figure 8 The survey ended by seeking comments, suggestions and ideas regarding gender mainstreaming capacities and training needs in ICRAF. A number of comments revealed interest and needs for training to clearly understand the gender mainstreaming process. There was concern that focusing too much on gender would withdraw attention from latent issues such as age and ethnicity. Comments were also raised concerning gender equality in staff management, pointing out the need to encourage more women scientists to take on leadership positions, and also to involve more men in gender research, gender trainings and in the gender implementing team.