Public Policies for Rural Women in Brazil

Caroline Buosi Molina

Ministry of Agrarian
Development

Information about Brazil
Geography: The Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest country located in South America.
It is a federation composed of 26 States, 01 federal district (which contains the capital city,Brasilia) and cities (5564 municipalities). States have autonomous administrations, collect
their own taxes and receive a share of taxes collected by the Federal government.

BRASILIA

São PauloAmazonas

SalvadorRio de Janeiro

Information about Brazil
Population:• Approximately 190 million people• Ratio of men to women 095: 1• 83,75% of the population is urban

Economy: diversified, made by agriculture, industry and many otherservices. Agriculture
accounted for 5.1% of the gross domestic product in 2007.

Society:• 84% of rural establishments is “Family Farming” (more than 4.3 million)• These rural establishments occupy 24% of arable land in Brazil• There are12.3 million “family farmers”• They produce 70% food consumed in the country

Priority Issues in the current policies


Rural women are considered economic subjects, regardless of marital status

Sexual division of laborSocial participation

Major Challenges

Androcentric and patriarchal societyWeak social organization

The gender mainstreaming is not uniformly institutionalized in different spheres ofgovernment: federal, state, municipalDescription job
Policies for Rural Women and Quilombolas Department
Ministry of Agrarian Development

This Department operates in the development of public polcies aimed at promoting social
inclusion, economic rights of rural women and quilombolas communities (descendants ofrunaways slaves who settled in hinterlands in XVIII century).
It operates in an integrated manner, with thesecretariats at MDA, as well as with otherministries and institutions.

Ministry of Agrarian Development Chart

Minister Cabinet

Executive
Secretariat

Policies for Rural Women
andQuilombolas Department
Center for Rural Development
and Agrarian Studies(NEAD)
Ombudsman National
Agraria OfficeSecretariat
forTerritorialDevelopment(SDT)

Secretariat forAgrarian
Re-ording(SRA)

National Institute of Colonizationand land Reform (Incra)

Secretariat for
Familiar
Agriculture(SAF)

Undersecretary for Planning,
Budgeting and Administration(SPOA)

Description job
I have been working mainly with the National Program of Technical Assistanceto rural women. Main developed activities:

Construction and management of Technical Assistance Public Policy;

Technical in analysis, implementation and monitoring processes of Ater – Technical

Assistance and Rural Extension for rural women rural;

Network of Ater to Women national articulator;

Technical and political management with partner entities and organizations;Planning and budget execution of Ater for women.

Major national policies and plans on promotion gender equality

Gender mainstreaming for rural women has been
especially developed in the following programs:
The I and II National Plan on Policies for Women (PNPM);

The II National Plan of Land Reform (PNRA);The National Program of Strengthening of Family Farming(PRONAF);
The National Program for Sustainable Development in RuralTerritories;
Technical Assistance National Program and Rural Extension(PRONATER).

Public Policies that are coordinated by the Policies for Rural Women Department

A - Documentation Program for Rural Women Workers (PNDTR)
To have documentation is a basic condition to access any public policy• Free issuance of civil documents for rural women: birth certificate, identity card, work ID, etc• Issue documentation online through mobile service units, the Express Citizen (ExpressoCidadã). They are special buses that go to rural communities.

B - The Strengthening Family Farming National Program (PRONAF)

The

mostimportant

document

thatidentifies

whether a family is family farming is called DAP(DeclarationofAptitudeforCredit):it

is mandatory to be issue in the name of both, thewoman and the man.

Rural credit: Women can access all the lines of credit Pronaf.

Specifi credit line for women: to support agricultural and non-agricultural activities,
individually or collectively

C - The National Program of Technical Assistance (ATER)
The Technical Assistance National Program mainstreams gender through:Financial projects only for women through calls of projects;



It is mandatory that all projects have activities to support the productive organization ofwomen;

Participation of women in the National Committee for Sustainable Rural Development(Ater - CONDRAF)

C - The National Program of Technical Assistance (ATER)• Training of rural women and technical staff on gender mainstreaming• Creation of a national network, involving the main stakeholders

D - The National Program for Productive Organization ofRural WomenActions:• Identification of productive organization of rural women• Training in public policies to strengthen women’s organization• To capacitate on the elaboration of projects• Call for joint projects•Studies of the access policies to support theproduction and marketingE - Women in Land ReformActions• With Administrative Decree nº981/2003, the joint
titling of land for areas exploited by couple becomes
Mandatory

Households headed by women have a preferencein the land allocation

Training government officers on gender mainstreaming and public policies

Issue to be addressed in mainstreaming gender:
How to improve the gender mainstreaming into all levels of National Program of TechnicalAssistance and Rural Extension

Justification for choosing this issue
I have been working with the National Program ofTechnical Assistance (ATER) for women, anddaily I deal with difficulties of implementation of gender mainstreaming.
Nowadays, this policy has been reorganized. Recently, ATER became a law, and all the legal
instruments are being developed and implemented, including all the normatives to guarantee
and qualify this service to rural women and their organizations.
Considering the present moment, this is a huge opportunity to legitimate and improve thegender mainstreaming into all levels of National Program of Technical Assistance

Usefull knowledge and tools gained through Jica’s ProgramaAmong the new content learned through this course, the PCM is an important tool, useful forplanning and evaluation of projects

Action PlanTitle: Mainstreaming gender in National Program of Technical Assistance
Period: October 2010 - December 2011
Target area: Agrarian Development Ministry
Target beneficiary(ies): 30 government officers and brazilian rural women

Implementing agency: Policies for Rural Women and Quilombolas Department - AgrarianDevelopment Ministry – Brazil
Overall goal: Brazilian rural women are empowered
Project Purpose: Technical assistance activities to rural women is increased and improved
Outputs:
1 - Technical assistance activities to rural women is identified;

2 - Integration strategies are defined, agreed and implemented with others coordinations

Action PlanActivities

0.1. To organize 01 meeting with the coordination of Policies for Rural Women and Quilombolas
Department to present Jica’s experience and also the action plan (04 coordinators);

1.1. To systematize the needs of technical assistance for rural women in 27 states of Brazil, byanalysing the results of the survey and identifying needs of rural women;
1.2. To analyze the needs of technical assistance for rural women connecting with other ruraldevelopment public policies (credit, marketing, production organization, etc);
1.3. To create a portfolio/manual of technical assistance activities regarding the demands ofrural women;
1.4. To organize meetings with the coordination of Policies for Rural Women and Quilombolas
Department to get an approval and show the portfolio (4 coordinators and 5 government)

Action PlanActivities

2.1.To organize meetings with Secretariat for Family Agriculture (SAF) to present the action planand portfolio; to plan their gender mainstreaming action plan; to get an agreement (10government officers);
2.2 - To organize meetings with National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform (INCRA) topresent the action plan and portfolio; to plan their gender mainstreaming action plan; to get anagreement (10 government officers;

3.1 - To check the implementation of their gender mainstreaming action plan, including analysis
reports, activities and budget monitoring.

Thank you very much!