IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/caa/jnljfs/v69y2023i4id165-2022-jfs.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of women's participation and empowerment in community land rehabilitation programs: Lesson drawn from Wera District, Southern Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Tesfanesh Ababu

    (Central Ethiopia Center, Ethiopian Forestry Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

  • Gezahegne Siyoum

    (Hawassa Center, Ethiopia Forestry Development, Hawassa, Ethiopia)

  • Deginet Berhanu

    (Hawassa Center, Ethiopia Forestry Development, Hawassa, Ethiopia)

  • Gemedo Furo

    (Hawassa Center, Ethiopia Forestry Development, Hawassa, Ethiopia)

Abstract

Local people's socio-economic and natural resources, especially forest resources, have been affected by land degradation in Ethiopia in the past years. To combat this problem, rehabilitation of community-based degraded land has been performed since 1979. Rehabilitation of degraded land (RDL) is important for forest management strategy regarding the regeneration of degraded forests and related resources through women's empowerment. Because empowered women are key users and managers of resources from rehabilitated land such as forest resources, which leads to sustainable utilization of forest products. The aim of the study was to evaluate women's participation and empowerment in decision-making regarding the rehabilitation intervention. A total of 120 women households (60 user and 60 non-user women) were selected using a stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using a household survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews. The results revealed that there is a significant difference between user and non-user women in fetching water and fuelwood collection time. Furthermore, RDL contributes to improving user women's economic status and social relationships such as livelihood opportunity, social network, build-up of trust and changes in social assets. The result also indicated that women able to participate in forest-related meetings, land use management, use and control of assets, decision-making, and in soil and water conservation measures. Further, user women had greater awareness compared to non-users due to participation in different meetings and other decision-making activities. The findings suggest that consideration of women's participation in decision-making regarding the community land rehabilitation program is important to empower women equally with men.

Suggested Citation

  • Tesfanesh Ababu & Gezahegne Siyoum & Deginet Berhanu & Gemedo Furo, 2023. "Evaluation of women's participation and empowerment in community land rehabilitation programs: Lesson drawn from Wera District, Southern Ethiopia," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 69(4), pages 158-171.
    • Handle: RePEc:caa:jnljfs:v:69:y:2023:i:4:id:165-2022-jfs
    DOI: 10.17221/165/2022-JFS
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/165/2022-JFS.html
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: http://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/165/2022-JFS.pdf
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17221/165/2022-JFS?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kondylis, Florence & Mueller, Valerie & Sheriff, Glenn & Zhu, Siyao, 2016. "Do Female Instructors Reduce Gender Bias in Diffusion of Sustainable Land Management Techniques? Experimental Evidence From Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 436-449.
    2. Abera Alemu & Tesfaye Woltamo & Aklilu Abuto, 2022. "Determinants of women participation in income generating activities: evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lecoutere, Els & Spielman, David J. & Van Campenhout, Bjorn, 2023. "Empowering women through targeting information or role models: Evidence from an experiment in agricultural extension in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    3. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    4. DeJaeghere, Joan & Pellowski Wiger, Nancy & Le, Hue & Luong, Phuong & Ngo, Nga Thi Hang & Vu, Thanh Thi & Lee, Jongwook, 2022. "Why do aspirations matter for empowerment?: Discrepancies between the A-WEAI domains and aspirations of ethnic minority women in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. K. Gayathri Reddy & Varsha, P. S. & L. N. Sudheendra Rao & Amit Kumar, 2019. "Exploring dimension, perceived individual tension and capacity building measure of women empowerment in India," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(5), pages 111-131, May.
    6. Alice W Clark & T V Sekher, 2007. "Can Career-Minded Young Women Reverse Gender Discrimination?," Working Papers 179, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
    7. Fujin Yi & Richard T. Gudaj & Valeria Arefieva & Renata Yanbykh & Svetlana Mishchuk & Tatiana A. Potenko & Jiayi Zhou & Ivan Zuenko, 2020. "Chinese Technology Transfer to Local Farmers in the Russian Far East," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(5), pages 1483-1509, November.
    8. chatterjee, susmita, 2017. "Empowerment translated to transition," MPRA Paper 80067, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    10. Bussolo,Maurizio & Ezebuihe,Jessy Amarachi & Munoz Boudet,Ana Maria & Poupakis,Stavros & Rahman,Tasmia & Sarma,Nayantara, 2022. "Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10142, The World Bank.
    11. Rania Salem & Yuk Fai Cheong & Kathryn M. Yount, 2018. "Is Women’s Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Minya, Egypt?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 807-831, April.
    12. Alice Tianbo Zhang & Sasmita Patnaik & Shaily Jha & Shalu Agrawal & Carlos F. Gould & Johannes Urpelainen, 2022. "Evidence of multidimensional gender inequality in energy services from a large-scale household survey in India," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(8), pages 698-707, August.
    13. Amjad Ali & Marc Audi & Chan Bibi & Yannick Roussel, 2021. "The Impact of Gender Inequality and Environmental Degradation on Human Well-being in the Case of Pakistan: A Time Series Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 11(2), pages 92-99.
    14. Lone Badstue & Patti Petesch & Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Lara Roeven & Mahlet Hailemariam, 2020. "Women Farmers and Agricultural Innovation: Marital Status and Normative Expectations in Rural Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-22, November.
    15. O'Hara, Corey & Clement, Floriane, 2018. "Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 111-123.
    16. Rao, Nitya & Singh, Chandni & Solomon, Divya & Camfield, Laura & Sidiki, Rahina & Angula, Margaret & Poonacha, Prathigna & Sidibé, Amadou & Lawson, Elaine T., 2020. "Managing risk, changing aspirations and household dynamics: Implications for wellbeing and adaptation in semi-arid Africa and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    17. Stephen Woroniecki, 2019. "Enabling Environments? Examining Social Co-Benefits of Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Sri Lanka," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    18. Anju Mary Paul & Jiang Haolie & Cynthia Chen, 2022. "If caring begins at home, who cares for the carers? Introducing the Global Care Policy Index," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(5), pages 640-655, November.
    19. Nandigama, Sailaja, 2020. "Performance of success and failure in grassroots conservation and development interventions: Gender dynamics in participatory forest management in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:caa:jnljfs:v:69:y:2023:i:4:id:165-2022-jfs. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ivo Andrle (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cazv.cz/en/home/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.