Our interactive presentation will focus on how social dynamics and norms in Liberian communities shape the participation of women in local forest governance institutions as well as how women are finding ways to make these institutions more participatory and equitable.
As part of the Upper Guinea ecosystem, which contains significant endemic plant and mammalian diversity, Liberia’s forests are a global good. Industrial logging is one of the few avenues to earn export revenue for the country, and forests are important sources of sustenance for rural communities. As pressures for conservation are increasing, the extraction of forest resources remains critical for the country’s economic growth and the survival of rural livelihoods. The inherent tensions between conservation and livelihood goals are being played out at the community level making the character of local forest governance institutions particularly important. However, the responsibility of managing and protecting forest resources traditionally falls on male elders, and forest governance institutions in the country are patriarchal institutions. The tumultuous political history of Liberia has also made these institutions particularly susceptible to corruption and patronage.
Data was collected from two communities in River Cess County Liberia between January and August 2017. We had conversations with 37 community-based institutions in order to establish which community members participate in forest governance processes. We conducted individual qualitative in depth interviews with 181 community members to understand how gender and other social statuses, social norms stemming from the organization of livelihoods in forest dependent communities, and the definition of forests as male spaces define how different kinds of women can participate in forest governance institutions.
We are currently completing the analysis of data. Preliminary results show the convergence of social sanctions and rewards (including gender based violence), logics underlying livelihoods within communities, and the legacy of corruption and patronage do limit participation of women in the management of forest resources. However, there is also evidence that women are finding ways to overcome these limitations, for example, by challenging conventional notions of forest based livelihood activities as men’s work. The results of our analysis will also be presented at a workshop to women’s NGOs at the Commission on the Status of Women in March this year. The aim of the workshop will be to help us to think through how community women’s efforts can be meaningfully supported through programming and policy. The results of the workshop will also be included in the presentation.
Ecosystem: Forest , Resources: Forest , Big Issues: Gender issues , Big Issues: Resource use , Solutions: Empowerment
