Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Karen Blanchard

Abstract

This is an exploratory study of five government-sponsored regional workshops intended to produce gender-sensitive strategies for the implementation of the National Agricultural Policy of Namibia. Through my participation in this process I attempted to understand how a particular workshop design, revised and retried three times, served to facilitate the development of agricultural strategies. Moreover, this study examined how workshop participants struggled with issues that directly affected their lives as women and men farmers, field workers, and programme planners.

My primary research question is: Which elements of the workshop were most effective in helping participants develop gender-sensitive strategies for implementation of the Agricultural Policy? I will look at three elements of the workshop to determine whether:

a) the gender-awareness activities were effective in raising the level of awareness of the participants,

b) the facilitators influenced the content of the strategies,

c) the male-female ratio of the participants affected the gender-sensitivity of the strategies,

d) the strategies developed were gender-sensitive.

This study attempts to determine the extent to which the different workshop elements impact workshop results. The aim is to provide guidance for trainers and planners who integrate gender into their work. I will first examine the historical and social climate of Namibia in order to provide a context for the study.

Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Women's Studies

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