by Molly Scott-Cato

‘The large-scale public-spending cuts that are being threatened by the new coalition government in the UK are ensuring that we recognise the true value of everything that has been gained through the growth of the welfare state since 1945. We feel secure members of a caring society because we know that our basic needs will be met through taxation if we fall into difficulties in our personal lives. Yet the emphasis of the same government on the Big Society also gives us a chance to explore what is valuable about mutual and co-operative forms of economic organisation, and of to remember the systems of reciprocal relationships that dominated local economies before the era of globalisation and still do in many areas of the world.

The words that best characterise the globalised market economy, the abstract values for which it strives, are efficiency and competition. The discourse of new public management has slid these same values into the public sector. In contrast, the mutual and sustainable economy should be characterised by sufficiency and co-operation. As communities we will seek to establish what our real needs are, and provide for these together and through our own efforts, rather than as individual consumers. If the state has undermined our ability to feel any real sense of control over some of the most important areas of our lives, the market has sucked creativity and joy out of our working lives. Social and co-operative models of economic activity offer to restore both.’

photo credit: gaborbasch

Issue 53.3 looks critically at the impact of the sub prime crisis, the politics of money and the impact of the crisis on women. It also examines local markets, strategies for sustainability, solidarity economies and care networks as ways to empower people and encourage greater civic agency. From both a rights perspective and a critical development perspective, the journal issue looks at how to develop diverse modes of production in different parts of the world. It features innovative ways to understand possible alternatives to global capitalist economies as part of the search for sustainable futures.

Development Volume 53.3 will be launched at the HIVOS meeting ‘Knowledge & Change: Theory and practice of development dilemmas’ to be held in The Hague, 29 September 2010.

See the table of contents

Getting Out of the Trap- Interview with Josine Stremmelaar

Stories of local economies: UK

Stories and images of local economies: Tanzania

Stories and images of local economies: Romania

Stories and images of local economies: Southern Africa

Stories and images of local economies: Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Café de Mujer: case study from Guatemala

Stories and images of local economies: Tanzania 2

On the occasion of the virtual launch of Development 53.3 ‘Sustaining Local Economies’, Assistant Editor Laura Fano Morrissey interviews Josine Stremmelaar, Hivos’ Knowledge Programme Coordinator. This issue of the journal was produced in partnership with the Hivos’ Knowledge Programme.

LFM What in your opinion is the main message of Development vol 53 no 3  issue?
JS There are several messages, one of them is that sustainability is important and that it’s possible to become more sustainable also economically. And I think that the various practices described in the journal show that there are ways of redesigning state-society-market relations and that can be micro level, alongside the macro level. Therefore one of the answers is that sustainable local economy and a sustainable agenda in the economic field is something that is not only worth pursuing but is also possible. Other messages relate to the fact that we can still use the momentum of the crisis to rethink how the market, the state and society interact. Everyone agrees that liberalization has gone too far. There seems to be an increased call for the participation of the state but I think it is too soon. There are many other issues at stake, which are related to how you can ensure sustainable livelihoods. These are issues not only for people in the west but worldwide we have to ensure that the west doesn’t finish all the resources before everyone else. So we are talking about going beyond standard reflections that the state should take over. We need to reflect how the market be embedded more effectively in society as well as what role the state can play. I think the key word is accountability, it is very important that citizens hold their governments and businesses accountable.

LFM How is the Hivos Knowledge Programme sustaining local economies?
JS An example is the Small Producer Agency in the Globalized Market. I think one of the things we can do with the Hivos Knowledge Programme is to better reflect and create partnerships among people from different sectors, from academia, from business, so that we are able to bridge seemingly unresolved ideological differences between people who focus on a rights-based approach and people who focus on a market based approach. Dialogue is vital if we are to reconcile these visions.  What we are trying to do with the Knowledge Programme is to have a much more critical reflection between business, between NGOs, between state about how local economies can actually work for poor people and how we can make sure it is sustainable. Instead of running around after this crisis, going for quick fixes, which again will not work,  we need to find long-term solutions. We really need to sit together and then act together. Looking for an economy that serves society, instead of running away with the money agenda. On 29 September-1 October we are holding a three day international conference where the journal will also be launched in order to foster this dialogue.

LFM What can the concepts of community and local livelihoods bring to the solution of the crisis? Where do you situate the market?
JS It is very important we put faith back in what works on the ground and move the focus away from creating huge systems. Through globalization we are pushing a lot of power, thinking and planning away to higher levels where only very few people can participate. Our economic and political systems where decisions are made have become very untransparent. The solutions reflect this distance and are far removed from what is happening on the ground. It is all very disconnected. However the way it is discussed, it seems as if these global institutions were not made by people, they have become a bureaucracy, and you no longer know how to make sure they still work as it was originally envisaged, ie that people are treated fairly and justly. Therefore I really see the role of communities and their participation in decision making as vital. They are the ones that know how their local markets are working and how globalization affects them. It is deeply unjust that local markets are so affected by global development and people operating in local markets have no influence on global decisions. For  a long time we spoke as if the global was a wonderful cosmopolitan magical place where everyone lives. Now we are aware that the global trends and agreements become a trap and that more people are more marginalized. We have to make sure that the things we do are grounded in local realities otherwise we are in a trap which in the end we can no longer control.

Cover photo credit: suvajack

‘In 2006, the Mwanza component of CARE Tanzania’s Women and Girls Empowerment programme, set out to understand the service and social support context of households managing long-term care situations.

For several years, CARE has supported the formation and training of savings-led microfinance groups, Voluntary Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs). This approach has proved highly popular and successful in poor communities, enabling people – women in particular – to save and lend in ways that can smoothen consumption, generate income and help members protect or incrementally build their basic asset base. VSLAs have also provided an important mechanism for members to strengthen their social capital, from being able to access VSLA’s emergency social funds through to the nonfinancial support provided by the group itself. Recognizing the significance of this opportunity in poor communities, CARE programmes across Africa have also begun to explore the challenges faced by some in accessing and participating in VSLAs. In Mwanza, the project hypothesized that a key barrier for some households would likely be the burden of long-term care and support – a burden likely to have both financial and social dimensions leading to increased exclusion of some households from service and social support systems. This research confirmed the nexus of exclusions around some households – the roughly 10% of households considered to be struggling to cope with their care and support situation by village leaders. This has enabled the CARE team to explore ways to make the VSLA opportunity more accessible and appropriate to the needs of very poor households often increasingly marginalized by their care burden.

In 2008, CARE launched the ACCESS AFRICA programme  – a 10-year programme to provide 30 million people (70% of them women) with access to a basic suite of financial services (savings, loans, insurance, remittances). In a number of the countries where this programme is being implemented, CARE is working with governments and partners to explore the linkages between social protection – through social and productive cash transfers – and access to financial services as a platform for strengthening household food and income security.’

Read the abstract of ‘Social Protection, Livelihoods and the Hidden Economy of Care’ by Dorcas Robinson on behalf of CARE USA.

Click here to read a CARE report on financial services for the poor.

The photos below are from one of the VSLA groups in Tanzania, documenting the weekly meetings, savings and loan process.

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‘The last few months marked an economic downturn for Romania. The country is on what commentators call ‘a €20 billion lifeline from the IMF, World Bank and EU.’ The government took a series of wrong steps in the possible reform. Firstly, it did not reduce the number of public budgeted jobs (in an overcrowded public system that increased more than 100% between 1998 and 2010). Secondly, it increased the pressure on active population and small and medium businesses by increasing the VAT from 19% to 24% and introducing new taxes. Thirdly, it used the first part of the IMF loan to pay the budgetary deficit, instead of investing in the infrastructure the country badly needs. Recovery from the crisis is forecastedto be starting only in 2012.

In this context, Magda (who owns the La Bomba community centre) thinks of her catering ‘business’. Nearby, the courtyard of an industrial space hosts a summer cinema and a open air bar. It opened recently and it brought new clients to Magda: the staff of the place. She prepares sandwiches for them. It took a little bit to gain their trust. As much as she likes the cultural center in her venue, she told me that if she had access to capital she would transform it into a self-service canteen. She knows what to do and she’s done it before. Magda even has the prices for the meal figured out. She said she would not be bothered to enter the ‘white’ economy, as opposed to being in the grey area of her informal cooking. However, for now, access to affordable capital for her is just as utopian as the rapid economic recovery for Romania.’

Read the abstract of ‘Learning from a Flower Market in Romania: Community, social fabric and the promise of economic prosperity’ by Alexandru Balasescu

Photo credit: Cristian Movila

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PhytoTrade Africa is the southern African natural products trade association. We are committed to sustainably harvesting indigenous plant products from southern Africa for the food, beverage and cosmetics industry. Underpinning our approach is a commitment to substantially improving the livelihoods of rural harvesters in Africa, who are mainly women. Through the equitable and sustainable trade in our products, producers are able to gain a fair wage, and have used this income for all manner of essential household expenses, including putting their children through school, visiting the clinic, investing in local credit schemes, or even building a retirement home. The trade in natural products has also enhanced the fabric of rural society, improving women’s self esteem, bringing cultural renewal and strengthening local ties and networks.

Photo 1- ‘My life has changed completely.’

‘My name is Khelina. I have five children and grandchildren at home, and as a divorceé, I am the only person to provide for them.

I used to earn money by making reed mats, but this work would take me away from home for a week or more every month. Now I harvest marula kernels from wild trees and sell them to Swazi Indigenous Products – a local company. The kernels are used to make oil which is used in cosmetics products.

Since I started supplying marula almost three years ago, my life has changed completely. I earn 20% more than I used to, which is enough to take care of my family, and I no longer have to leave home. I use the money to buy household necessities like food and soap, and to send the children to school and buy uniforms. I have also joined a credit and savings scheme that offers loans to community members.

Now I am taking part in an organic certification training programme. This teaches me the right way to collect and store the fruits to avoid contamination, and how to keep records of the trees I harvest from. I can get an even better price for my marula by doing this.

I cannot imagine how my family or other people in my village would manage without the marula trade, especially in times of drought.’

Kehlina
Hlane village, Swaziland

Photo 2- ‘Now I have cattle for ploughing.’

‘I have just bought two cows. Cattle are very important to our livelihoods and I am looking forward to the next farming season because now I have cattle to plough the fields. I have also bought two goats and made a contribution to support our local school.

All this was possible because of the mongongo project set up by Kalahari Natural Oils. They buy the mongongo kernels we gather, extract the oil and use it to make cosmetic products for the hair and body.

My husband is very supportive and helps me with collecting the mongongo fruits in the forest and with cracking the nuts. Even the Chief has joined the project! Last season we made K1,800,000 (approximately US$450) from mongongo in only three months. This really helped us to look after our two children and the three children of my late brother-in-law who live with us.

I would like to buy a bicycle and find a place to build a nice house. Mongongo will help us to do this.’

Betha Monde
Western Zambia

Photo 3- ‘My family’s diet has really improved’

‘My name is Hileni from Etale village in northern Namibia.  I have six children. My grandmother taught us how to press Marula oil which we traditionally use in food and cosmetics. I started selling Marula oil to local markets in the 1990s. I later became a Marula primary producer for Eudafano Women’s Cooperative in 2006 after seeing the benefits that my neighbours got from selling Marula.

We collect Marula fruits from our own plots. It takes a month to collect Marula fruits and a month to extract the kernels. I sell about 100kg of Marula kernels per season.

I spend the money from Marula to pay school fees for my children, hospital fees, purchasing food and other household essential needs. I earn much more from Marula than from any other source. People from my community are protecting Marula trees. Some are also cultivating new Marula trees just like I do.

My life has changed because I am no longer poor. My family’s diet has really improved.  Since getting involved in Marula trade I can now afford a range of other foods such as maize meal, bread, rice, sugar and meat.’

Hileni,
Northern Namibia

Photo 4- ‘I built my house and bought a bicycle.’

‘Days with strong winds are best for gathering baobab because we take only the fallen fruits that lie on the ground. We never cut the branches or harm the tree because we want to protect the baobab for future harvests.

The woodlands are close to where we live, so it takes me just an hour or two to collect the baobab fruits. Tree Crops Africa helps by giving me training every year on how to collect the fruit, and process the seeds and pulp.

I have come to depend a lot on the money I earn from it. At certain times, I need to sell rice and some goats as well, but by selling baobab I can send all my children to school – including my adopted son, an orphan. I have also managed to build my house and buy food and clothes and a bicycle.

Although I am on my own, I manage to meet my family’s needs. Some married couples struggle to do this, so I tell them about the baobab trade and how it gives us good returns. You don’t need costly things like seeds and fertilisers to harvest baobab, you just pick the fruit up from the ground.’

Esnati Kamfosi
Kabulika village, southern Malawi

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Read Window on the World

by Ewa Pintera, Karat

‘The photos in the photoessay below come from the exhibition ‘Through Their eyes’ which is the part of the project carried out by KARAT Coalition ‘Through Their eyes, Through Ours: Raising the public’s awareness about development problems faced by women from developing countries in the EU Eastern Neighbourhood, Balkans and Central Asia.’

The photographs have been submitted to a photography competition announced in the first half of 2008 in the following countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus,  Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The artists submitting their works were invited to show their own vision of the economic situation of women from their countries in a way which on one hand undermines existing stereotypes related to the socio-economic situation of women but at the same time depicts the current reality of women’s changing lives.

The unique nature of the photos is linked to the fact that it gives an opportunity to present a subjective view of the lives of women from the above mentioned countries, via (as in the title of the exhibition) through the eyes of women themselves. This are photos of women and by women.  The descriptions of the photos are actually statements written by the photographers themselves and are integral part of the exhibition. The descriptions are sometimes very obvious, sometimes suppressing, but they add the personal touch to the photographs, and facilitate deeper understanding of the problems, challenges and joys which fill the lives of the women portrayed in the photos.  During the opening ceremony an international jury consisting of:  Saba Amirejibi (film director from Georgia), Anna Bedyńska (photographer, from Poland and chair of the jury), Poupette Choque (feminist activist, Belgium), Alexandar Metodijev (journalist,  Macedonia) and Valeria Zacharova (photographer, Slovakia) selected the winners. The winner of the first prize is Mariam Amurvelashvili – the author of the serie ‘Refugee-mothers’ from Georgia.

The exhibition has been presented so far in Warsaw, Poznañ (Poland), Bratislava (Slovakia), Berlin, Bonn (Germany), Palace of United Nations Organisation (Geneva, Switzerland) and Bucharest (Romania).

The project has been co-financed by the European Commission and is being implemented by KARAT Coalition with its national partners: Women in Development Europe – WIDE (Belgium), GenderMediaCaucasus Journalists’ Association (Georgia), Permaculture and Peacebuilding Center PpcShtip (Macedonia), WOMNET (Germany), Slovak Centre for Communication and Development (Slovakia).’

See the photoessay ‘Through Their Eyes’

by Noortje Verhart & Rhiannon Pyburn

1. Gender and Global Standards Initiative
Social and environmental certification is a fast growing area in agricultural markets. A plethora of standards and certification programmes exist, though the degree of rigor varies. Some include a focus on the development impact for disadvantaged producers and work to make certification more accessible. Participation in these rapidly expanding markets offers small producers the opportunity to achieve better prices for their products while improving work conditions and their management of natural resources. Certification aims to provide small farmers access to global markets and the associated premium prices as well as the health and environmental benefits of more sustainable practices in agriculture.

However, despite the documented positive impact of certification on small farmer’s livelihoods, scarce information can be found of the impact on gender relations. Oxfam-Novib, Hivos, Solidaridad and KIT started a trajectory to address this information gap in certification programmes and value chain analysis. Information is being collected through case study documentation, literature review and participatory workshops. The aim is to provide recommendations for standard-setting organizations and certification bodies as well as NGOs and support organizations involved in small holder certification, to contribute to gender equality in global value chains.

During the first phase of the programme, case studies were documented primarily in South and Central America. In 2010 the case study focus is East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania), with several cases also in West Africa (Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire). One of the case studies documented in 2009 was Café de Mujer based in Guatemala.

2. How local practice can shape the global agenda
During the recent financial crisis, the meaning of global connections has become painfully clear. A financial crisis in one country can have devastating effects in another. The inevitable linkages through global trade, means that consumption in one part of the world, affects production elsewhere. This has implications for already poor communities and has lead to increased inequalities both at global as well as local levels. Women have been deeply affected by market-led type of development witnessed over the past few decades. As citizens, workers, farmers and carers, women have been bearing the brunt of a type of economic development that prioritizes profit over human welfare and wellbeing: in which productive rather than reproductive work is valued. As a result, the role of women in local economies has often been unrecognised and undervalued.

The financial crisis has stimulated conservative responses, where companies first aim to rescue their own share in the global market. This has affected local economies and women, especially, are paying the price. On the positive side, the crisis has renewed the debate on new economic approaches and especially the role of women in local and global economies. Multinationals are interested in learning more about the inclusion of women in the different layers of their business, and new ways of working are being introduced to better combine productive and reproductive tasks; women’s economic empowerment is back on the agenda.

Social and environmental certification aims to provide small farmers access to global markets and provide a basis for smallholders to claim rights, for example, in relation to decent work conditions. It aims to establish linkages between local and global economies, which strengthen the position of local producers to negotiate better and to profit equally from global trade. Addressing the different roles of men and women in global value chains and improving the position of both male and female smallholders is the modest contribution that global standards can fulfil.

In order to find the right strategies to contribute to gender equality in value chains, global standard setting organizations can learn from their local counterparts, such as Café de Mujer. Café de Mujer is a standard for smallholder women farmers, which aims to improve women’s position in the coffee value chain through recognizing and valuing their contributions. This example illustrates how certification can contribute to women’s welfare and wellbeing in addition to economic development, and address the different values placed on productive and reproductive work. Café de Mujer is a standard developed by a Guatemalan certification body (MayaCert) in collaboration with a producer organization. The standard evolved based both on women’s requests and business interests.

The global financial crisis has led to new opportunities to demonstrate to the business world, policy makers and development practitioners that economic development without a long term perspective that takes people’s well being and welfare into account, is not going to be sustainable. Global standards can be useful ways to ensure that wellbeing, decent work and better prices for smallholder farmers are part of the global economic agenda. Initiatives such as Café de Mujer provide evidence that recognizing and valuing the role of smallholder women is not only socially just, but that also contributes to better business and sustainable economies.

Read the abstract of ‘The Rough Road to Gender Equitable Growth: The case of Cafè de Mujer Guatemala’ by Noortje Verhart and Rhiannon Pyburn

Photo credit: Selma90

by Mwajuma Masaiganah

‘Women’s contribution to countries’ economies, especially local economies, is great. However, in most cases it is not recognized because it is unpaid labour. Recently, women have started a new trend of going into ‘working’- in Kiswahili ‘kufanya kazi’ and not ‘doing activities’- meaning ‘kufanya shughuli’- which do not bring in any income (unpaid work). Working has a connotation of having paid employment while doing activities relates to voluntary/social work which is usually qualitative.

BAWODENE (Bagamoyo Women Development Network) is a network of women in the district that supports and empowers women through training on women’s  human rights, social justice and equality in order to speak out and act openly against sexual violence. The network is also involved in entrepreneurship and ensures that women have access to credit in order to raise their economic status. Through SMEs women are contributing to the local economies that are currently thriving and enabling societies to achieve greater prosperity and starting to live happy lives. The growth of strong local economies through the expansion of trade centers in local communities helps to contribute and improve the establishment of jobs for women and youths. This growth has impacted on the lives of these communities as women support men equally in providing for their families and thus support the growth of the economy in that particular society. Many families now  work as partners, something that never used to happen before.

For a very long time, government economies did not favour women; but local economies will not be strong unless governments start to support women by investing in small sized enterprises to increase the employment of women and youths for improved and strong social development. Women in the district, and indeed the whole of Tanzania, are still faced by many challenges, including lack of funds to hire lawyers to pursue violence cases, funds to provide credit etc.

As the local economy is the real-life economy, the governments should make efforts to look into and strengthen the links and relationships between micro and macro economy, the local and the national, regional and the global in order to bring about economic integration. They should invest in SMEs and in efforts to improve product quality by entrepreneurs in this era of regional integration and support environmental protection by creating awareness. And finally the countries should have a stimulus plan for local spending and on how to sustain these SMEs.’

See the photoessay from BAWODENE

Read the abstract of ‘Sustaining Women’s and Community’s Livelihoods in Rural Tanzania’ by Mwajuma Masaiganah.

Development 53.3, out in September 2010, keeps hammering away at that critical question in this sequel to last year’s issue, ‘Beyond Economics’ (Volume 52. 3). In partnership with the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (HIVOS), this journal issue takes a dual approach:
1) To continue the debate of ‘Beyond Economics’, bringing in new voices and building on the dynamic discussions from the issue, from various meetings and from on-line debates.
2) To document some of the alternatives found in local economies functioning on the margins of neo-liberal global capitalism.

The issue looks critically at the impact of the sub prime crisis, the politics of money and the impact of the crisis on women. It also examines local markets, strategies for sustainability, solidarity economies and care networks as ways to empower people and encourage greater civic agency. From both a rights perspective and a critical development perspective, the journal issue looks at how to develop diverse modes of production
in different parts of the world. It features innovative ways to understand possible alternatives to global capitalist economies as part of the search for sustainable futures.

Development Volume 53.3 will be launched at the HIVOS meeting ‘Knowledge & Change: Theory and practice of development dilemmas’ to be held in The Hague, 29 September 2010 as well as on line on the SID Forum in Development’s contribution to the lead up to the UN meeting
on environment and development, Rio+20.

Click here to read the table of contents.