OBJECTIVE
To educate women farmers on their reproductive health (RH) and rights.

BACKGROUND
In an effort to address problems of health services, the Rural Development Foundation (Yayasan Pengembangan Pendesaan or YPP) has, since March 1995, with the support of the Ford Foundation, embarked on an action research project which integrates RH education into its agricultural programme. This project was located in eight villages.

The YPP, established in 1986, is a non-governmental organisation run by researchers. Its staff are predominantly women and all its male members are feminists.

SCOPE
The YPP uses a bottom-up approach, concentrating its programmes and activities on development, gender and environmental sustainability.

MAIN ACTIVITIES
The project was engendered with a series of public education activities on the importance of health. A Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was carried out to identify needs and to design intervention activities.

Various PRA methodologies employed were:

• Time line: To identify participants’ perception of issues such as family planning (FP), planning, materials, mortality, and RH and rights.
• Seasonality: To identify the relationship between women’s work patterns and their RH.
• Venn Diagramming: To determine participants’ perception and expectations of existing health institutions.
• Individual Family Profiles: To identify women with RH problems such as STDs and cervical cancer.
• Social Mapping: To identify social conditions in the village related to men, women, teenagers, FP practitioners, and contraceptives.
• Matrix Ranking: To identify decisions related to FP practices, sexual behaviour, and marriage.
• Mobility: To identify the relationship between migration and the spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS.

MANAGEMENT FEATURES

Strategy

• Involving men in the project to make it more effective as the reproductive process of gender ideology necessarily involve both men and women
• Organise 2-day sessions bi-annually to enhance knowledge and understanding on RH issues.
• Integrate RH education with agricultural education through the gender-sensitive Agriculture Field School.
• Deliberate on monthly and annual meetings for evaluation and also feedback for programme improvement and development of future programmes.
  

Managerial Leadership

• Evaluate projects to access programme achievements and weaknesses.
• Develop strategic planning methods for effective sensitisation of the target groups towards intervention activities.
• Organise and facilitate training activities and regular meetings for women and their husbands.

Capacity-Building

Integrating RH education into the Agricultural programme enabled the YPP to educate people in rural areas where culture and customs prohibit open discussion on RH.

Mobilising Resources

Training sessions have been instrumental in awareness- raising on RH issues.

EVALUATION FINDINGS

• The participation of male facilitators provided more benefits than costs and greatly contributed towards uplifting women’s status.
• A major achievement of the project is the upsurge in RH knowledge and changes in RH attitudes and behaviour in both men and women.
• The long-standing relationship between the programme and the community facilitates the implementation integration of RH education into the existing agricultural programme.
• Success achieved by the use of plant and crop analogy is evidence that men’s participation facilitates women’s empowerment to exercise their reproductive rights.