Empathy Generation (Phase 1) - Kit.nl

Objectives and ScopeOBJECTIVESECONDARY DATADuring the ’Empathy Generation’phase, primary and secondaryresearch was done with the objectiveof uncovering the barriers toempowerment that women face incocoa-growing communities andto generate actionable insightsfor potential future strategy andintervention design.Secondary data was reviewed atthe outset to ground the team andthroughout the empathy phase tohelp with high-level validation of thefield research findings. Quantitativedata from the Demographic HealthSurvey (DHS) and UNESCO allowedfor indicative comparisons betweencountries, from which we also sharefindings in this report. The referencessection contains a full description ofthe sources that were used.FIELDWORKThe aim of the qualitative research wasto understand and expose women’sbehaviors, experiences and attitudesin relation to the (in)equality and (dis)empowerment that they face in theirdaily lives, the underlying rationale forthem, the context in which they takeplace and who informs and influencesthem.10 RESEARCH APPROACHORIGINAL SCOPEOur starting point was to understandthe daily lives and rich realities ofwomen of all ages in the community,at home and in their workplace. Theresearch was centered around ‘womenin cocoa-growing communities’, ratherthan ‘women in cocoa’; on-farmactivities and women’s role in cocoaproduction were not the focus. Thelocal cocoa value chain, or cocoa’s firstmile, was explored as an institutionalstructure with its own role ininfluencing gender norms.INITIAL AREAS OF INQUIRYInformed by the Women’s and Girls’Empowerment Model we identifiedseveral areas of inquiry to guide ourresearch: Who are ‘the women’ and howdo they evolve throughout theirlifecycle? Who are their key influencers andstakeholders? What are the key institutionalstructures that influence their dailylives? How is their access to and controlover resources? Are they able to exercise agency intheir lives? Do they have choice and voice inpower relations?

Geography and TimelineThree key countries from the Marscocoa supply chain were chosen asthe focus for the research: Indonesia,Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The fieldworkwithin those countries took place inselect regions where cocoa productionis significant.Locations included hard to reachcocoa-growing villages and feedertowns that service cocoa’s first mile.The various sites were selected basedon the Mars supply base and partnerrecommendations. The intention wasto include a diverse representationin terms of culture, level of availableservices, connectivity, communitysize and presence of (pre-)existinginterventions.Indonesia - June 2019Côte d’Ivoire - October 2019Ghana - November 2019Indonesia - March 2020GhanaCôte eIndonesiaTarenggeMasambaBumi MulyoDue to the Covid-19 pandemic the 2nd phaseof fieldwork in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire wasunfortunately canceled.RESEARCH APPROACH 11

Iterative and Open FieldworkBASED ON ‘DESIGN RESEARCH’Our research approach was open anditerative, learning from the research ineach country and building on for thenext phase. Real-time in field synthesisalso enabled refinement of topics andrespondent criteria based on new areasof interest and/or when saturation wasreached. Our questions were updatedthroughout the process as we learnedand became more focused. Therefore,not all topics were discussed equally ineach country or community.APPROACH TO DATA COLLECTIONData collection was semi-structured,through flexible conversations, whichwere held in situ and tailored torespondents’ profiles and emergingpersonal stories. Insights weregenerated through different qualitativeresearch formats, methods andcreative visual stimuli or probes. Theseincluded, amongst others, small groupdiscussions, in-depth interviews, walk12 RESEARCH APPROACHalongs, flashcards, collage-making andon-site observations.ITERATIONSIterations were made during ourEmpathy phase which led torefinements of our original researchscope. We will explain the rationalefurther in our findings, but three keyrefinements were: Zoom in on adolescent and youngadult life stages within women’s lifecycles Place more emphasis onunderstanding the perspectives ofmen and boys as potential allies andgatekeepers Prioritize girls and young women whoremain in cocoa-growing villages overthose that are pursuing educationand/or employment (in towns/cities).The findings presented in this reportreflect these iterations.

Impression of research activitiesINFORMANT INTERVIEWSFOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONSIN-SITU OBSERVATIONSMAKING COLLAGESCARD SORT ICE BREAKERARTIFACT ANALYSISRESEARCH APPROACH 13

Research RespondentsWe spoke with more than 200 peopleacross the three countries during ourfieldwork. They included young womenand adolescent girls, but also manyof their influencers, such as parents,partners, siblings, teachers, nurses andcocoa’s first-mile service providers.The Mars partners and suppliersin-country facilitated respondentrecruitment through their network inthe local cocoa value chain. We aimedto spend a full day in a community,which enabled us to interact withadditional respondents (‘snowballing’),next to those who were identified inadvance.PARTICIPANT CONSENTAll participation was voluntary and(informed) verbal or written consentwas requested. Pictures of peopleand their personal- or workspaceswere only taken with consent(except in some cases of public streetphotography).14 RESEARCH APPROACHOverview of research respondent otalTotal female593921119Young/adolescent (16-25)10191645Women (25 )4920574Total male13201245Young/adolescent (16-25)46616Men (25 )914629Influencers1512835Total877344199*Excluding intercept/spontaneous conversationsFor further respondent demographics see the Appendix of this publication.

A snapshot of respondent typesMATRIARCHSHUSBANDSYOUNG WOMENVILLAGE LEADERSBOYSNURSESTEACHERSGIRLSRESEARCH APPROACH 15

Young women walking down a rural village street, Côte d’IvoireCONTEXT

Country and Cocoa ContextsINTRODUCTIONIndonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghanawere selected as the focus of TheResilience Journey since these are keysourcing countries for Mars Wrigley.Despite the many differences betweenthese three countries in terms ofculture, religion, geographical spreadand socio-economic context, we alsofound many similarities.Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are the worlds’largest cocoa-producing countries.In Indonesia, cocoa production hasdeclined significantly over the lastdecade. Indonesia used to be ranked3rd but is now ranked 6th (Statista2020). Most cocoa comes fromSulawesi (80%), followed by Sumatra(10%) (Laven et al 2016).In rural Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,cocoa is a main driver of the localeconomy, and is the main livelihoodoption for many. In Indonesia, cocoais more interwoven with palm oil andother cash crops. The IndonesianGovernment is currently subsidizingcorn, rice and soybean. This stimulatessome farmers to switch to these crops,making families less dependent oncocoa.cocoa farms’ as the key setting for ourEmpathy phase.In all three countries, cocoa is mainlyproduced by smallholder farmers,living in (remote) rural areas. Theirremoteness brings infrastructural anddevelopmental challenges, which (also)impact the lives of young women.While there are also many obstaclesfor young women ‘who go to thecity’, it is in the village where gendernorms are still more defining to theirfuture and where opportunities forfemale youth are limited. Across thethree countries, girls already becomeresponsible for many heavy and timeconsuming household tasks at a youngage. Young wives are expected toprioritize their household duties overtheir education and income generationand are financially dependent on theirhusbands. Across the three countries,the poor roads and lack of streetlightsin villages, combined with safetyconcerns, limit their mobility.COCOA COMMUNITIES AREDIVERSEThere are many different types ofcocoa-growing communities. Fromcentral feeder towns which act ascocoa distribution hubs, villages whichare close to the farmland and whereinhabitants live close together, to faraway and isolated hamlets. In villages,there is a form of local governanceand there is a sense of community. Weidentified the village with or ‘close toLIFE IN RURAL COCOA VILLAGESPOSES SIMILAR CHALLENGES TOGIRLS AND YOUNG WOMENCONTEXT 17

Despite economic growth in all three countries, humandevelopment and gender equality lag behindALL THREE COUNTRIES AREGROWING ECONOMIESIndonesia ranks the highest for bothindexes and Ghana is in the middle.Indonesia recently qualified as anupper-middle-income country withconsistent economic growth. Ghana’seconomy has also continued to expand.High growth momentum since 2017has consistently placed Ghana amongAfrica’s 10 fastest-growing economies.According to the World Bank (2020),Côte d’Ivoire is one of the fastestgrowing economies in the world.In all three countries, developmentlags behind, particularly in rural areas.People who live in more remote areasoften have less access to health careservices, and the infrastructure inrural areas is often sub-standard.YET, LAGGING IN HUMANDEVELOPMENT AND GENDEREQUALITYDespite the sound economic growthof the three countries, their humandevelopment and gender equalityrates are relatively low, particularlyin Côte d’Ivoire. It is ranked amongstthe lowest countries on global humandevelopment and gender equalityindexes. Of the three countries,18 CONTEXTFurthermore, there is rural-urbaninequality in higher education.Gender inequalities in rural areas arealso higher. This manifests itself, forexample, in fewer labor and incomegenerating opportunities for women,and a low representation of women inleadership positions.HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI) AND SDG GENDER INDEX (GI) 2019CountryHDI RankHDI ValueGI RankGI ScoreNorway10,954487.7United 0,5969456.6Côte d'Ivoire1650,51611148.9Niger1890,37712544.9HDI assesses the development of 189 countries based on their population’s life expectancy, knowledge andstandard of living. Source: UNDP 2019 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Gender Index (GI) measures the state of gender equality aligned to 14 of the 17 SDGs in 129 countries.Source: SDG Gender Index 2019.

A cocoa farmer’s extended family kampung, IndonesiaCONTEXT 19

A multi-generational cocoa farming family, GhanaUSING A LIFE CYCLE PERSPECTIVE

IntroductionThe KIT Model promotes the use of alife cycle perspective as it presumesthat age shapes how the causesand effects of gender inequality areexperienced throughout the stages ofwomen’s lives.Considering their whole life cycle canhelp to identify critical periods in alifetime, and capture intergenerationalinfluences between them. It also helpsto identify the restrictions that womenand girls might face during specificChildhoodphases and the different needs theyhave over time.or have the potential to break the‘disempowerment’ cycle on the other.Therefore, we set out to understandwomen’s journeys over time, whichresulted in the identification of fivedifferent life stages (see graphic below).It is not only age that has an influenceon the shifting barriers and needsover time, but also social and culturalcontexts, such as class, norms,education, religion and informationaccess. We have also sought to capturethis variety of determinants in sixemerging profiles of young women andadolescent girls during those two lifestages.From there, we prioritized twokey phases: adolescence and earlyadulthood. Both have defining‘crossroad’ moments, which mightlead to vulnerability on the one hand,AdolescenceEarly AdulthoodMidlifeMaturityLIFE CYCLE 21

Girls and women evolve through five life stagesDuring our research, we identified fivedistinct stages that girls and womenin cocoa-growing communities evolvethrough during their life cycle:CHILDHOODLittle girls are playing, with bothboys and girls, and starting to learnat primary school. They are fullydependent on their parents (orcaretakers) to provide for them, andgirls are likely to stay closer to theirmother. Relationships with theirbrothers and sisters are important.new social relationships, including‘dating’. Who and what they see aroundthem influences the formation of their(future) aspirations. Social segregationappears between youth that arepursuing further education (in town)and those that remain in the village andare out of school.EARLY ADULTHOODWhen they become wives and mothers,young women take on caretakingresponsibilities, which often tie them totheir home. Young children, husbandsand in-laws and household dutiescommand their attention, with littleADOLESCENCEtime to pursue their own development.It is a transitional period, often leavingGirls’ bodies are changing, and thetheir community and finding theirprocess of gender socializationintensifies, making ‘differences’ between place in a new home and role, usuallyas a housewife. They have fewerboys and girls more apparent. Moresocial contacts and mobility, reducingtime is spent with peers. What othersinteractions to just neighbors andthink becomes important, whichfamily. During this time, young womenimpacts self-esteem and confidence.are also likely to depend financially onAdolescents are eager to learn andtheir new husbands.connect, so they seek information and22 LIFE CYCLEMIDLIFEAs their children grow older, and theyare all in school, women start to (re)gain more time and mobility. Wiveshave gotten to know their husband andin-laws better while developing theirvoice. New connections and friendshave been made in the community.There is more time and awareness todevelop oneself and learn from pastexperiences to chart goals for this newphase.MATURITYWomen come ‘into their own’ andreach a balance of sorts, they are moreestablished. They may be grandmothersnow as their daughters are likely tobecome wives and mothers at a youngage. If a woman is still married, she islikely to have found a balance with herhusband.

Adolescence and early adulthood are determining life stages, withcritical ‘crossroads’As we progressed through our research,we found that adolescence and earlyadulthood are defining periods during awoman’s life. There are critical junctionsduring this time which lead to differentpathways and potential situationsof (dis)empowerment. The choicesavailable to young women at this timeand the decisions made by or for them,will have a determining impact on theirfuture.The decisive moments identified are: Completing secondary school ordropping out before Losing a parent (due to separationor death) before becoming anindependent adult Learning to generate an incomebefore motherhood/marriage, ormarrying/becoming a mother beforelearning a skill/trade Having time and choice in(potentially) finding a life partner, oran arranged/forced marriage and/orgetting married at a young age Having an unexpected firstpregnancy or a planned first child Having an unplanned secondpregnancy or a well-spaced secondchild.With age and life experience, agencyseems to develop ‘naturally’ over time.Yet, we also found mature womenwho were still in vulnerable positions,such as abusive relationships or livingin poverty. Many of their storiescould be related back to poor optionsAdolescenceand choices when they were young.Therefore, the decision was madeto focus more on these two earlierphases, during which self-confidenceand aspirations for the future are alsoformed.Nevertheless, we continued to speakwith respondents from all age groupsto understand intergenerationalchanges over time, traditional normsand the influencing role of experiencedwomen (and men).Early AdulthoodLIFE CYCLE 23

A collection of wedding keepsakes on display in a family home, IndonesiaCritical Crossroads in Adolescence & Early Adulthood24 LIFE CYCLE

Marriage is everyone’s destiny, and for girls this should happen ‘ontime’The overwhelmingly prevailing normacross the three countries is that girlsshould and will become (future) wivesand mothers. They are expected to bemarried ‘on time’, and at least duringtheir most fertile years. Combinedwith the prevailing disapproval ofdating, marriages often happen quickly,without long courtships. Adolescentgirls who are out of school and notworking are especially at risk of beingmarried at a young age.Five years from now, I’ll stillbe in my twenties. I hope I ammarried by then and havechildren of my own. At leastone child to tie my husband.It is a bigshame forgirls to refusea marriageproposal.This is the dream ofall women. Whenyou are marriedthe woman will berespected.BOYS BECOME HUSBANDS LATERWhile becoming a husband is alsoexpected of boys, they enter into(formal) romantic relationships far laterthan girls. They are given more timeto prepare for their expected role asthe breadwinner of their future family.As a result, they also have more timeto ‘find’ their future wife and girls arelikely to marry husbands that are olderthan them.We can live alone but weare not interested. Wecan’t do the chores, can’tcook. After marriage, mywife will cook.I will continue myeducat

Quotes illustrate findings in respondents’ own words. All quotes are anonymous/not attributed. Icons have been used to identify quotes, data or findings specific to a country and/or type of respondent. Pictures allow the reader to observe ‘first hand’ women’s lives in cocoa-grow