14 research outputs found
Closing the gendered energy technology gap in rural Ethiopia: A qualitative study
No full textMuch has been written about energy poverty, but there is relatively limited evidence of what determines the gender gap in energy poverty and how it can be overcome in rural areas. This study used Focus Group Discussions, in-depth interviews with farmers and Key Informant Interviews to analyze gendered information, access, adoption and use of rural energy technologies in the domestic and productive spheres. We find striking differences in how men and women adopt and use energy technologies in both spheres. Substantial asymmetries exist between women and men regarding knowledge of energy technologies, as most information about them is directed to men in the household. Even so, women are typically the primary decision-makers regarding energy technology adoption for domestic use, while men dominate decision-processes in the productive energy technology space. Women remain largely excluded from the adoption and use of agricultural energy technologies, even though they are heavily engaged in agricultural production systems. Our study highlights the need for tailored mechanisms that reach women with information on and means to acquire energy technologies as well as changes in gendered norms to ensure that women benefit equally from their use.Non-PRIFPRI1; DCA; G Cross-cutting gender theme; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food SupplyNatural Resources and Resilience (NRR); Transformation Strategie
Stakeholders, institutional challenges and the valuation of wetland ecosystem services in South Sudan: The case of machar marshes and sudd wetlands
No full textPRIFPRI3; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; DCA; ISIEPT
Relatives, neighbors, or friends: Information exchanges among irrigators on new on-farm water management tools
No full textCONTEXT: On-farm water application in Ethiopia, as in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, is dominated by furrow irrigation, which resulted in inefficient water uses and related economic and environmental problems. A recent project introduced two on-farm water management tools, called wetting front detectors and Chameleon sensors, to some farmers in Koga irrigation scheme and facilitated for other farmers in the quaternary canal, who did not receive the technology, to learn from farmers who installed the tools on their plots.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate the role of different social ties on information exchanges among farmers when some farmers have the signal on how long to irrigate a field during an irrigation event from on-farm water management tools. The study explored the relative importance of being neighbors, friends, spatial proximity of farms, and project induced pairings.
METHODS: The study used a household survey data from all members of quaternary canals in the project that were in the technology, information, and control groups, as well as detailed network modules on how farmers with plots in the quaternary canal are associated with each other. A fixed effects econometric approach is used to control for time invariant household level and quaternary canal characteristics, while teasing out how the different social ties affect the information flow.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results show that being in purposeful friendships as indicated by knowing each other's decision on the use of agricultural inputs and its outcome, as well as being spatially proximate as indicated by having farm plots next to each other or usually passing by each other's plots play a significant role in determining whether information-recipient farmers received information from the technology-recipient farmers as expected. Being relatives or neighbors played a minor role to facilitate information exchanges on how long to irrigate. In addition, ad-hoc pairs of farmers between technology-recipient and information-recipient created through the project within the quaternary canal did not play a significant role above and beyond the existing social ties of friendships and spatial proximity.
SIGNIFICANCE: The findings have implications for effective ways of targeting in future scale up of such technologies as it informs that the roll out of such type of technologies and the extension services around it can better help technology diffusion and learning if they use friends and spatial proximates as anchors of information. That is, at times of over-subscription to such on-farm water management tools, information about the technology and the recommended duration of one irrigation turn can diffuse faster if the limited number of tools are distributed in such a way that friends and spatial proximates have access to a tool, rather than distributing the tools based on being neighbors or relatives.PRIFPRI3; IFPRIOA; CRP5; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; ISIEPTDCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE
Intra-household decisions on cookstove choices and impacts on the welfare of women and girls
No full textThis study aimed to examine the intra-household decision-making on stove choice and understand whether the gender and other characteristics of the household member who decides on the type of cookstove used affect the intended welfare gains for women and girls. Using a nationally representative data set collected by the World Bank in 2018, factors associated with cookstove choices and the impact of the chosen cookstove type on women’s time use were estimated using a generalized structural equation modelling. The findings show that cookstove choices are associated more with the characteristics of the person who makes such decisions within the household than the characteristics of the head of the household. When the person who decides on the types of stoves used in the house is female, literate, married, cooks frequently in the house, and is employed, they are more likely to choose manufactured and self-built stoves. Women and girls in households that use a combination of manufactured and self built stoves spend less time on cooking and collection of fuel for home use and more time on childcare and paid work outside the house compared to women and girls in households that use only open fire tripod stoves. The stacking of manufactured, self built, and open fire tripod stoves frees up women's and girls' time for schoolwork by reducing cooking time, though it increases time they spend on fuel collection.
Education and extension campaigns aimed at improving the adoption of improved cookstoves in rural Ethiopia would be more successful if they first identified who in the household makes the decision on cookstove choices and then focused their messaging to those persons, who are not always household heads. Cookstove program implementers will have a higher chance of convincing people to adopt self-built and manufactured stoves instead of open-fire stoves if their messaging focuses more on female members of households rather than male members, on those household members who cook frequently rather than those who cook only sometimes, and focus on educated rather than non-educated members of the household.Non-PRIFPRI5; G Cross-cutting gender theme; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesEPTDCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE
Key stakeholders and actions to address Lake Beseka’s challenges in Ethiopia: A social network approach
No full textLake Beseka is a shallow, saline, endorheic lake in the East African Rift Valley of Ethiopia that has dramatically grown in size due to large-scale irrigation development in its catchment area. Recent artificial connections of the lake with the Awash River system to contain lake size have led to a series of changes and impacts on different water users, but are not reflected in lake and Awash River governance and institutions. Understanding who are the key actors affecting Lake Beseka and strengthening their linkages can help identify solutions that sustainably contain or reduce the lake’s size, improve its water quality, and address costs to nearby and downstream populations as well as the environment. Thus, this study analyzed qualitative data collected from net-mapping – a network analysis that identifies actors or stakeholders as well as linkages and relative power positions among stakeholders. The resulting network reflects the complexity of the water governance system including upstream actors who affect the size and quality of the lake as well as downstream actors who suffer from adverse consequences. The Awash Basin Development Authority, Metehara Sugar Factory, regional bureaus, and federal ministries were identified as the most influential actors affecting how Lake Beseka is used and managed. Actors most affected by the lake expansion and quality problems such as downstream communities currently have no role in the governance of the lake. Metehara Municipality, woreda offices, research institutes, and farmers were considered to have moderate influence. Stakeholders who participated in the net-mapping workshops identified flooding, salinity, water-related conflict, and health effects as the four main challenges of the lake. The study suggests that developing multi-stakeholder partnerships or platforms across most influential and most affected actors could support a more comprehensive understanding of the multiple challenges Lake Beseka is posing. It could also foster the development of more integrated solutions that support the different stakeholders in the lake catchment area and the Awash River Basin.Non-PRIFPRI1EPTDCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE
The contributions of Public Works in watershed rehabilitation and irrigation in Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance supported Productive Safety Net Program areas of Ethiopia to resilience and nutrition
No full textThe Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), launched in 2005 and operating in eight regional states, harmonizes the delivery of donor support to vulnerable populations experiencing chronic food insecurity and shocks. PSNP investments aim to improve food consumption and nutrition, while also protecting and developing assets for sustaining stable access to food. PSNP differentiates two types of beneficiaries:
(1) Households with no able-bodied members that receive direct support in the form of cash transfers or in-kind support; and
(2) Public work (PW) beneficiaries, who receive payments in exchange for work on various types of productive investments, such as watershed rehabilitation, irrigation, road and other infrastructure.
This policy note summarizes results from an assessment of the impacts of PSNP investments supported by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) in watershed rehabilitation and small-scale irrigation (SSI) on food security, nutrition and resilience in Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia and Dire Dawa City administrative area between 2017 and 2021. The interventions assessed include area closures, SSI, other physical soil and water conservation practices, and overall watershed-level activities. Investments in SSI included construction of river-diversion schemes, lined canals, earthen canals, ponds and rainwater harvesting schemes. As watershed rehabilitation interventions take years to decades to show impacts, two time periods were used in the biophysical assessment: long-term changes, covering the period of 1984 to 2020, as well as short-term changes that specifically covered the period prior and during the USAID BHA program.
The assessment combined socioeconomic analysis (quantitative and qualitative), as well as high-resolution remote sensing and biophysical modeling in selected watersheds. Remote sensing and biophysical mod eling provided insights on environmental effects and climate resilience of BHA’s watershed rehabilitation interventions, whereas quantitative and qualitative analyses helped identify the food security, nutrition and resilience impacts of these interventions.
Of note, the assessment was undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic and was also substantially affected by civil conflicts in the northern part of the country. This affected both the study design and data access and the implementation of the BHA-supported PSNP PW investments. The results should be seen in this context.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Small-Scale IrrigationNatural Resources and Resilience (NRR); Transformation Strategie
Development of the rural household energy insecurity experiences scale with insights from Ethiopia
No full textThere is little evidence on how energy poverty affects rural households in low- and middle-income countries. To address this, the CGIAR NEXUS Gains Initiative developed the Rural Household Energy Insecurity Experiences Scale (RHEIES) and piloted the tool in Ethiopia using in-depth interviews. We find heterogeneous energy insecurity experiences across locations and gender dimensions
Strengthening women’s access to rural energy sources and technologies in Ethiopia: From research to action
No full textA NEXUS Gains workshop held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia explored entry points to strengthen women’s access to energy in rural area
Impact of electrification on the welfare of rural households in Ethiopia: A gendered perspective
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