Participatory assessment of gendered knowledge and preferences for shea ethnovarieties in Burkina Faso

Participatory assessment of gendered knowledge and preferences for shea ethnovarieties in Burkina FasoMawa KarambiriBioversity International Gender Fellow, Burkina FasoESEE-Wagenningen 29 April 2015

Context

• Shea tree: in Burkina Faso, it is central for people’s livelihoods specifically rural women (used for food, medicine, making cosmetics and for sale)

• Tenure, access and control rights and management rules change according to gender, ethnicity and status of residence.

• Anthropogenic and environmental pressures, threats. • Hence, the assessment of the large amount of biological diversity existing within the species to guide domestication efforts in ways that respect local priorities for the multiple goods and services it provides

Unfortunately there are…

•What shea ethno varieties can local men and women identify and characterize? •Which ethno varieties do local men and women prefer and why?•What are the relevance of gender-responsive participatory methods for investigating local ecological knowledge and preferences?

Research questions

Methods of participatory research

In two villages Bana-Bobo and Bana-Lamogoya

Tools:

• Key informant interviews• Matrix of Identification • Matrix of Preferences ranking.

Group sessions:

• Gender desegregated and mixed age group

• Ethnic group and status of residence (Migrants/indigeneous)

• Data analysis, descriptive statistics.

25 different types (ethnovarieties) of shea

Knowledge and preferences for shea ethno varieties vary according to…

Gender: • Women identified more ethnovarieties than men • Men favor ethnovarieties (fruit) which present suitable traits for

direct consumption while women prefer ethnovarieties rich in butter.

Ethnicity & status of residence: • In village 1, a native recognized less ethnovarieties than a migrant

while the opposite happened in village 2• Migrant women prefer earlier ethnovarieties such as «precocious

shea fruit» because of the land tenure regarding their access rights.

A gender-responsive participatory approach

Table source

In the long term we can: • Turn the research process into

active and long term knowledge sharing between communities and researchers.

• Allow deep connection between research, education and innovation.

As implication

Researchers and shea propagation interventions must be attentive to these local knowledge and preferences to promote ethno varieties that will yield benefits to different segments of the local population, including women and marginalized groups who are highly dependent on the species.

Thank you!

Learn more about shea: http://

www.wca2014.org/shea-tree-women-green-gold/

Contact: [email protected]