Two-way learning : key gender lessons from participatory community workshops with smallholders in the Baiyer Valley and Kerevat areas of Papua New Guinea

The development literature suggests that women continue to face inequality in the agriculture sectors of most developing countries. In this paper, gender implications arising from four community workshops in two regions of PNG are presented and discussed. The workshops formed part of a baseline study to investigate ways to improve the business knowledge and practices of women food crop smallholders within a larger project. In the baseline study, a rapid participatory learning and action research approach was underpinned by asset-based community development and appreciative inquiry. The paper outlines the two-way learning methodology from community workshops that explored the gender dynamics within an agricultural context. Two specific activities from the workshops and the findings as they relate to gender differences and the gendered division of labour within the communities are described. The activities provided an opportunity for local community members and leaders to reconsider and re-evaluate existing social relations that had mostly been taken for granted. The community workshops have demonstrated that communities are willing to reorientate their thinking to seek more effective ways of family collaboration.