REDD+ in East Africa: The gender dimension of the Readiness Plans in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
By Harriet Smith, Student Intern at UCSD, August 2011
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an international mechanism to
mitigate climate change by supporting policy implementation at the national level, with an aim to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions related to deforestation and forest degradation. Furthermore, REDD+ goes “beyond
deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management […] and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks” (UN-REDD, 2009). Although a formal international mechanism for REDD+
is yet to be fully defined, REDD+ processes and initiatives are gaining popularity internationally and are a subject
of discussion in most climate change fora. REDD+ is gaining momentum in East Africa, with Uganda, Kenya and
Tanzania all participating in the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, Tanzania having a UN-REDD
country programme and bilateral REDD programme with Norwegian government has a number of REDD+ pilot
projects established in the region.
Recent REDD+ discussions have highlighted the lack of integration between REDD+ and gender. According to
the Global Initiative on REDD+ and Gender Equality (jointly launched by IUCN, WEDO and WOCAN at COP16),
global REDD+ policies are dangerously close to promoting a ‘gender neutral’ evaluation of forests, given the fact
that they are yet to recognise the differentiated forest requirements of women and men (IUCN, 2011). Due to
cultural gender roles, women’s relationships with forests are restricted to subsistent resources: fuel wood and
Non –Timber Forest products (NTFP) such as medicinal plants, livestock fodder and wild foods; in contrast,
men’s roles tend to be linked with commercial scale timber and NTFP (Aguilar et al, 2007).
Many challenges face female forest users. Factors include gender biases in service provision (credit and
technology access and dissemination), labor constraints, insecure access and tenure to forest resources and
exclusion from decision-making processes (Mwangi et al., 2011; Gurunget al., 2010; IUCN, 2011;Gurung and
Quesada, 2009; Mukadasi and Nabalegwa, 2007).Due to a lack of rights and access to forest resources, women
are often excluded from stakeholder consultations and decision-making processes at the community level which
has a resultant influence on REDD+ implementation by misrepresenting forest user groups and resulting in
unsuitable approaches forest management.
Failure to incorporate gender issues into REDD+ implementation is a risk to REDD+’s long-term sustainability
(Gurung et al., 2010), it is therefore imperative that REDD+ not only incorporates specific gender-strategies into
project implementation, but adheres to, and works with implementing governments to further strengthen national
and regional gender strategies.
By examining the extent of integration of gender issues in the current national REDD+ strategies, this article aims
to evaluate the current status and role of REDD+ in promoting gender equality in East Africa.
Gender strategies in East Africa
The EAC Strategic Plan on Gender, Youth, Children, Social Protection and Community Development mission
statement is to “Enhance community empowerment through people centered and gender responsive
development that creates opportunities to harness potentials necessary for equitable and sustainable
development” (pp. 22; 3.3.1), with specific objectives to “enhance empowerment of individuals, households and
communities” and to “mainstream Gender […] in macro-economic and sector policies and programmes” (pp.22;
3.3.2).
Having ratified the Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1979),
Kenya (2000), Tanzania (1992) and Uganda (2007) all have national gender-related policies.
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Gender strategies in national REDD+ Proposals and Strategies
National REDD+ Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PP) outline the developmental process of REDD+
implementation strategies. Kenya and Uganda are in the R-PP phase. Tanzania has progressed into the
implementation phase, having developed a draft national REDD+ strategy.
Kenya
While traditional gender roles in rural Kenya bring women into direct contact with natural resources (VFA, 2009),
National Gender and Development Policy recognisesthis socio-cultural relationship. For example, Policy
Objective 3.2.1 aims to “remove obstacles to women’s access to and control over productive assets, wealth and
economic opportunities, shelter, safe drinking water and promote measures for conserving the environment”.
Under this objective, the policy aims to “promote more equitable distribution of production assets, wealth and
opportunities”, “increase women’s participation in macro-economic policy formulation” and “create an enabling
environment for women to participate in the conservation of the environment”.
There is clear potential for REDD+ in Kenya to integrate with national policy objectives by directly linking
women with forest management and conservation. The R-PP stipulates that the National REDD+
Coordinator will be dedicated to implementing activities regarding “oversight for particular gender
concerns” (pp.11). However, Kenya’s R-PP lacks specific mention of integrating the women’s role into
proposed implementation strategies. Nonetheless, as the R-PP process advances, the proposal
advocates the application of “safeguards to ensure that social (gender […]) and environmental impacts
are minimized and mitigated” (pp.48).
Tanzania
A key priority in Tanzania’s Policy on Women in Development (1992) is to ensure women’s “right to own and
inherit resources and implements for production” (18.i) and calls for the “involvement and incorporation of
women’s participation in the planning process” (30) and “plans at all levels [to] reflect and indicate clearly the
required resources and the contribution of women” (34).
Although Tanzania’s R-PP acknowledges the lack of women’s participation in decision making
processes, proposed implementation strategies fail to address the issue. The R-PP states that
“Something ought to be done to make sure that equal rights on claims to land are secured for the
spouses as required by land policy and land law” (pp.18), however makes no specific mention of this
under proposed strategies.
Uganda
Primary objectives of Uganda’s Gender Policy are to “reduce gender inequalities […] to achieve improved and
sustainable livelihoods”, “strengthen women’s presence and capacities in decision making for their meaningful
participation in administrative and political processes” and “ensure inclusion of gender analysis in macro-
economic policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation” (3.3). Specific strategies include
“promoting a Gender and Development approach that is based on the understanding of gender roles and social
relations of women and men as well as the Women in Development approach, which focuses on women
specifically” (4.0.ii) and “ensuring gender responsive development planning at all levels” (4.0.v).
Uganda’s REDD+ R-PP recognises its requirement to “ensure the active participation of all people and
affirmative action of all women, […] in the [forestry] sector’s development. Although there are no specific
strategies aimed at gender equality, the R-PP does state that “A study shall be conducted to identify
solutions to the low performance in the enforcement of forestry legal provisions, its underlying causes
and potential for pro-poor mechanisms to safeguard against negative impacts on the vulnerable,
including gender issues” (2.3.1.2, pp.76).
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Women collecting firewood at Rwoho forest reserve: Photo UCSD A woman & a child cooking using a biogas stove: Photo UCSD
Discussion and conclusion
The REDD+ process is relatively new across East Africa. As a result, the three R-PPs advocate very few
synergies with national gender policies. Gender issues are apparent within all 3 R-PPs, however there is a clear
lack of specific strategies to safeguard and promote gender equality within REDD+. This may be a result of recent
REDD+ operation in East Africa, but in accordance to the literature, it would be futile for REDD+ not to include
explicit gender aspects in its implementation.
Borrowing from REDD-net’s recent publication on Gender and REDD+ in Asia, there are useful tools and lessons
that can inspire REDD+ readiness proposals for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to mainstreaming gender. In
addition, REDD+ should follow national gender policies to develop gender equality, ranging from decision-making
processes to resource tenure. Furthermore, REDD+ needs to implement forest management mechanisms which
integrate gender specific resource consumption in order to maintain sustainability and address resource equity.
References
• Aguilar, L., Araujo, A. and Quesada- Aguilar, A. (2007).Reforestation, Afforestation,
Deforestation, Climate Change and Gender.Fact Sheet. Costa Rica: IUCN.
• Draft EAC Strategic Plan on Gender, Youth, Children, Social Protection and Community
Development, 2011-2015
• Gurung, J., and Quesada, A., 2009. Gender-Differentiated Impacts of REDD to be
addressed in REDD Social Standards. Care International, and the Climate, Community
and Biodiversity Alliance.
• Gurung, J., Giri, K., Setyowati, A. B., and Lebow, E., 2010. Draft Gender and REDD+: An
Asia Regional Analysis. USAID.
• IUCN, 2011.Attending to Gender. The IUCN Forest Conservation Programme
Newsletter, Issue 43.
• Kenya RPP
• Kenya: National Gender and Development Policy, 2000.
• Mukadasi, B., and Nabalegwa, M., 2007.Gender mainstreaming and community
participation in plant resource conservation in Buzaya county, Kamuli district,
Uganda.African Journal of Ecology.45 (s1), pp. 7-12).
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• Mwangi, E., R. Meinzen-Dick, and Y. Sun. 2011.Gender and sustainable forest
management in East Africa and Latin America. Ecology and Society 16(1): 17. [online]
Available at: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss1/art17/
• REDD-net, 2011. Gender and REDD+.
• Tanzania REDD+ Strategy
• Tanzania: Policy on Women in Development, 1992.
• The Uganda Gender Policy, 2007.
• Uganda RPP
• UN-REDD, 2009. About REDD+. [online] Available at: http://www.un-
redd.org/AboutREDD/tabid/582/Default.aspx Accessed: 19 August, 2011.
• Volunteers for Africa, VFA, 2009.The role of rural women in natural resource
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