Gender issues are widely recognized in many workplaces including in Fisheries. Especially in small scale fisheries that were found that it can support livelihoods for women and men work together. Thus, the SSF Guidelines recommend that gender mainstreaming should be an integral part of all small-scale fisheries development strategies, considering different cultural contexts. Therefore the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) have agreed to conduct the Gender Dimension in the Value Chain of Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture in Southeast Asia project to improve and strengthened gender dimension in selected small-scale fisheries and aquaculture values chain in Southeast Asia The project composes of four (4) main activities are site training for enumerators on gender concept and analysis and development of a data collection protocol, data collections, and analysis to collect the data on Gender Dimension in the Value Chain of Small-scale Fisheries, data validation workshops, and preparation of a report on gender analysis and communication product and Regional Workshop. The project sites composed of four (4) countries, as follows: Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand.

To initiate the data collecting, it needs to strengthen the capacities of Gender concept and gender analysis to staff who are work for fisheries management and Development project, therefore the first activities to preparing for data collection training workshop for the staff to clear understand the gender concept and know how to collect data to understand gender context in fishing communities.

This project will be conducted in small-scale fishing communities in the Southeast Asian countries where comprehensive gender studies are needed, specifically in Myanmar, Laos PDR, Philippines, and Thailand. This project will include the marine and inland waters where the project sites are categorized as A) marine capture fisheries in Philippines, B) mariculture in Thailand, C) inland aquaculture in Lao PDR, and D) inland capture fisheries in Myanmar.

The main goal of this project is to carry out the gender dimension in the value chain of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the Southeast Asian region in support of the SEAFDEC Gender Strategy and SSF Guidelines. The specific objectives are:
2.1 To identify gender issues and appropriate interventions in the fisheries value chain
2.2 To promote gender equality and equity in decision-making processes and organizations, fisheries technologies, and policies
2.3 To empower men and women in small-scale fishing communities in sustaining their livelihoods.

3.1 Report on the gender dimension in the small-scale fisheries value chain that can be used as a basis for field interventions.
3.2 Communication product conveying good practices to promote gender in fisheries
3.3 Capacities of Fisheries officer of SEAFDEC Member Countries in Gender integration in Fisheries were strengthened

The project will commence by organizing an inception meeting with gender focal persons and fishery management officers from the national fisheries agencies in participating countries as well as relevant partners to introduce the project. Also, the background and proposed activities at each project site will be presented by the respective countries. Subsequently, a training workshop at each project site will be organized with gender focal persons and fishery management officers from the national/local fisheries agencies, researchers, enumerators, leaders/representatives from the small-scale fishing community, and partners. The training workshop will include an overview of gender concepts as well as methods and tools for gender analysis utilizing the “Practical Guide for Gender Analysis in Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture in Southeast Asia” which is being developed by SEAFDEC. Also, the team of researchers will be established, and the schedule of activities will be discussed. After the training workshops, the teams of researchers will be deployed at their respective project sites. For the gender dimension at each project site, the gender-sensitive indicators will be verified at each stage of the fisheries value chain following the thematic areas of the SSF Guidelines, namely:

I. Responsible Governance of Tenure;

II. Sustainable Resource Management;

III. Social Development, Employment, and Decent Work;

IV. Value Chains, Post-harvest, and Trade; and

V.Disaster Risk and Climate Change. The results of gender analysis will be used to identify the appropriate interventions that will be implemented at each project site.

The expected outputs are gender-disaggregated data which are essential in official fishery statistics to influence appropriate, equitable, effective, and targeted interventions, policies, legislations, and informed decision-making for the benefit of men and women. Since the SSF Guidelines recommend developing a specific set of materials on gender to effectively disseminate the information on gender in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, the results of this project will be presented in written format (e.g. written report, case study, community profile, etc.) and/or through audio-visual presentations. Finally, the final results of this project will be disseminated to the stakeholders at the project sites, SEAFDEC Member Countries, and interested parties to serve as a guide in formulating/revising local and national fisheries policies for incorporation into regional fisheries policies to achieve gender equality and equity in the entire value chain of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture.

Therefore, the four (4) mains activities under the project are:

1 Site training for enumerators on gender concept and analysis and development of a data collection protocol

2 Data collections and analysis to collect the data on Gender Dimension in the Value Chain of Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture.

3 Data validation workshops to recheck and return data to all stakeholders.

4 Preparation of report on gender analysis and communication product and Regional Workshop to a shared lesson learned to all SEAFDEC Member Countries.

The project on Gender Dimension in the Value Chain of Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture throughout the project period (18 months: from 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2021). The following activities will be carried out during the project.