Piloting the FAO Gender and Rural Advisory Services Assessment Tool in Bangladesh Component: Enabling Environment

This discussion paper carefully reviewed different policies and strategies of the government of Bangladesh in line with the Gender and Rural Advisory Services Assessment Tool of FAO. The review shows that there is important political commitment but this is often not accompanied by concrete action. The government policies are found to be extensive but existing documents reported slower progress on implementation. While the government has successfully passed policies that do include passages on gender, {e.g. the National Agriculture Policy, New Agriculture Extension Policy, Rural Development Policy, National Women Development Policy, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers I&II, Seventh Five Year Plan and Two-Year plan (Government’s Plan during 1978-1980)}, there is an implementation gap of these policies. Also, coordination among different departments falls short. None of the policy frameworks have a specific implementation strategy that distinctly addresses gender issues in RAS. For instance, as per CEDAW agreement, the county submits regular report on the progress made in eliminating discrimination against women. However, reservations on articles 2 and 16 pertaining to marriage, divorce and inheritance remain in force. Article 2 (relating to “Obligations to Eliminate Discrimination”) is in direct contradiction to Religious Personal Law, which allows members of different faiths to practice marriage, divorce, alimony custody and guardianship in accordance with the religious faith and article 16 (“Equity in Marriage and Family Law”). Withdrawal of existing reservation on Article 2 and Article 16(1)c was considered and the Law Commission (LC) was requested to review the merit of the reservation and to provide appropriate recommendations. The LC recommended government to withdraw her reservation from Article 2 and Article 16.1(c) of CEDAW. However, Bangladesh shall apply the provisions of these articles in compatibility and harmony with her Constitution and existing laws. The Government is considering the LC recommendation with concern about the potential movements by the Islamic fundamentalist groups are against the withdrawal of the reservations (CEDAW, 2015). Hence, lifting reservation on Article 2 and 16 is a commitment of the GoB to CEDAW is yet to be fulfilled. Although two significant policies (National Women Development Policy 2011, New Agriculture Extension Policy 2015) create provisions to improve access to productive resource, services and income generating activities for women, these are yet to be implemented due to execution problems. For example, the use of a top-down approach, over-dependence on training and visit approach, limited front line human resources, limited policy guidelines and absence of proper feedback mechanism, lack of ICT use, inadequate training centers, lack of coordination and integration in different departments and ministries, and limited number of female RAS advisors, etc. hinder implementation. Despite some favorable policies and strategies, at present RAS is not gender sensitive due to substantial gaps in implementation of policies and lack of proper monitoring. The lack of gender responsive working environment for extension service staff including inadequate facilities of child care, transport, accommodation, occupational health and safety are some of the reasons that discourage women to pursue a career in RAS. Furthermore, education, research and extension links remain weak, hence the extension system fails to come up with solution that could well improve the gender sensitivity of RAS (SAIC, 2006). Therefore, beside policy supports, coordinated and integrated efforts among education, research, and extension organizations could play substantial role to attain gender sensitive rural advisory services in Bangladesh.