Since 1965 the Dutch government has a separate minister for development cooperation within its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Within MFA, the Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) is responsible for development cooperation policy and for its coordination, implementation and funding.
Post-colonial phase to 1980
The Dutch focus was technical assistance for tropical agriculture, focusing on increasing agricultural production, for example through intensive breeding programs for livestock and food crops (e.g. tubers, grains) at international research institutes, by supporting irrigation and drainage infrastructural projects or by providing fertilizer support. Neither the role of men or women, as agricultural producers, was sufficiently acknowledged.
1980 – 1995/2000
In the 1980s the focus of Dutch development cooperation shifted towards integrated rural development programmes / regional development programmes, which were not limited to agriculture, but also would address non-agricultural income generation, local infrastructure, drinking water supply, etc. These IRDPs put communities more central to development. In projects more attention was paid to women, but initially mainly through special activities for women (WID approach), such as handicrafts or homestead production, often building on existing women’s roles. In agricultural research the role of women farmers became more visible.
Gradually also the participation of women in decision making bodies was promoted, as was the access of women to productive resources, education and health. The main approach to involving women remained rather small-scale and often through support to e.g. women’s cooperatives and “self-help” women’s groups.
1990’s until 2008
From the 1990’s onwards there was a shift in focus from women’s development towards gender approaches, the latter considering social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female, and the relationships between women and men. For the Dutch MFA it resulted in the adoption of the ‘mainstreaming women in development’ policy and approach, also referred to as ‘gender mainstreaming’. However, clear guidelines on how to incorporate gender equality and women’s empowerment were not always made available to the policy officers and experts, both at the Ministry (DGIS), the Embassies and within projects. Thematic experts on gender were posted at selected Embassies, starting in India, to address the need for more and better expertise on gender. It was assumed that they also would support and coordinate the mainstreaming of women in the Dutch development cooperation activities. This initiative had started in 1985 by the (then) Minister for Development Cooperation, Minister Pronk.
The inclusion and mainstreaming of women, initially aiming at awareness raising for empowerment of women and women’s income generating activities, contributed in the 1990s and early 2000 considerably to a more visible and higher appreciated and acknowledged role of women in agriculture.
Monitoring and evaluation systems were adjusted requiring sex-disaggregated criteria and indicators for measuring results and impacts of the Dutch development cooperation. However, agriculture, including rural development, did not receive a high priority within the Dutch development cooperation policies in the period between end 1990s to 2008.
2008: a turning point
When the theme Food Security gained importance and the World Development Report 2008 on Agriculture was published, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs became interested again in agriculture as a driver for development. This resulted into a Joint Policy, drafted by DGIS and the Ministry of Agriculture (LNV). Support to the agricultural sector again became a key focus within development cooperation. Although female farmers were acknowledged as important actors in achieving food security, their inclusion was initially not well structured. The 2011 IOB study ‘Improving food security – A systematic review of the impact of interventions in agricultural production, value chains, market regulation and land security’ saw women, and especially women-headed households, more as vulnerable groups impacted by food insecurity, rather than as farmers contributing to improve food security.
2010-2021
In this period the attention to agriculture broadened to addressing entire agricultural value chains, apart from addressing food security elements such as access to food and nutrition. There was more consistent attention to gender mainstreaming within Dutch development cooperation, with gender equality as an explicit aim, aligning with OECD-DAC guidelines and EU targets.
MFA defined that a programme contributed to gender equality if its expected results aim to either:
- Reduce social, economic or political power inequalities between women and men, girls and boys;
- Ensure that women benefit equally with men from the activity; and/or
- Compensate for past discrimination.
Within the Dutch Ministry the use of OECD-DAC’s gender equality policy markers became mandatory for all development projects; these policy markers are linked to minimum criteria for advancing gender equality. The Netherlands were also committed to the target of 75% of all ODA expenditure (as per EU Gender Action Plan 2010-2015) being qualified as gender-sensitive (or Gender Marker 1 or 2), meaning that gender equality is a main objective or a significant objective. This contributed to the requirement that most development projects integrate gender equality into their design and implementation.
The above led to more support for MFA staff for integrating gender into their work. In 2014 the Quick Reference Guide for Integrating Gender into Climate-Smart Development was published, which included opportunities, best practices and tips for integrating gender in all phases of MFA’s policy cycle. This Guide includes a fact sheet on Gender, Food Security and Climate Change.
Between 2014 and 2018, MFA funded the Gender Resource Facility, which provided gender expertise to MFA and its Embassies. In this context a factsheet and a memo on gender mainstreaming and food security was developed, see here.
In the last decade there was also a shift from gender-sensitive approaches (with emphasis on women’s practical gender needs) towards gender transformative change. The latter refers to addressing the root causes of gender inequalities, also addressing gender norms, thereby focusing more on both men and women. In this context the MenEngage movement gained ground; this movement aims to involve men and boys in achieving gender equality.
Gender transformative change in agricultural / food security projects is found in several projects implemented by INGOs, such as by ActionAid (POWER) and SNV (EOWE), e.g. as funded by the Dutch FLOW fund (Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women) between 2012 and 2020 (FLOW I and FLOW II). However, also agricultural projects directly funded by MFA or Dutch Embassies increasingly go beyond just women’s participation, instead aiming for increasing gender equality and women’s empowerment, such as the Blue Gold Program in Bangladesh (2013-2021) and the SMIS project in Ethiopia (2014-2019).
The role of MFA regarding gender approaches and its impact on women farmers
The role of the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, the Swiss and Canada in promoting gender strategies contributed to international agreements on actively including women in development processes within the context of development cooperation. The role of women in agriculture was for the first time referred to in the 4th International Women’s Conference in Beijing (1995), and reconfirmed at the Johannesburg Sustainable Development Summit in 2002.
From 2004 onwards ‘Sustainable Development’ was defined to include food security, i.e. emphasising the importance of access to adequate and healthy food for all. This became the overarching international principle for development cooperation policies. The internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000-2015, followed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 addressed inclusiveness and (economic) empowerment of vulnerable groups, including gender equality and women’s empowerment, thus boosting the equitable role of women and men within development.
Since 2008 food security and agriculture are back on the Dutch development cooperation agenda as a main priority. The role of women as key players and decision makers in the field of agriculture is stressed now. Dutch NGOs have been important change agents for women farmers in many countries by introducing sustainable technologies and working with women’s groups for awareness raising and self-esteem. The cooperation of government and knowledge institutes with Dutch and local private sector through partnership approaches -based on the People, Profit, Planet principle- offered opportunities for men and women to enter the labour market or develop themselves as entrepreneurs.
Through cooperation with Dutch private sector and knowledge institutes, like the Wageningen Agricultural University, innovations and investments went hand in hand with also improving job opportunities for male and female farmers / agriculturists. Examples are out-growers schemes and post-harvest activities for a more sustainable livelihood. In partnerships with financial and insurance institutions the Netherlands development cooperation organisations have developed various finance modalities e.g. the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) or pre-financing agricultural inputs, enabling micro finance groups and schemes to receive credits at reasonable interest rates. However, agricultural activities remain risky because of adverse weather conditions such as drought or too much rain -aggravated due to climate change- or other reasons such as locust plagues. For female farmers, who often lack collateral, access to credit remains often difficult, and they even may not be able to open own bank accounts. Women, including women farmers, became the main borrowers of microfinance institutions, see examples below.
Microfinance supporting women farmers: The rise of institutionalized microfinancing, which started with Professor Yunus’ founding of Grameen Bank in 1976 in Bangladesh, was a turning point. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) have mainly women as borrowers: Grameen Bank in 2011: 97%, whereas at global level it is estimated that 74% of MFI borrowers are female. As Professor Yunus wrote (in 1994): “Money going through a woman in a household brought more benefits to the household than money entering the household through a man”.
Over time, the number and coverage of microfinance institutions (MFIs) has significantly expanded. Most microcredits are used for income generating activities for the poor, very often related to agricultural production, such as poultry rearing and keeping livestock. Many microfinance providers also conduct skill and financial literacy training to women’s groups, to increase their capacities to improve their productivity.
To overcome the constraint of weekly or monthly repayments not being compatible with crop farming, various MFIs developed special loans for farmers to be used for agricultural inputs, to be repaid at harvest time. Examples are the Grameen Krishi Foundation (GKF), BRAC (special agricultural loans) and the Rabo Foundation, all targeting (also) women farmers. An article on GKF concluded that “proper credit systems had proven to be very important for agricultural development in Bangladesh”. Despite certain challenges, access to microfinance is seen as an important vehicle contributing to women’s (economic) empowerment.
Main sources: (i) Credit for Female Farmers in North Bangladesh, by Eva Jordans. In: Financial Security for Women in a Developing World, Reader for the Femconsult Conference held 17 January 1996.
(ii) https://borgenproject.org/microfinance-empowers-women/
