NACA/USAID Thematic Studies on Gender in Aquaculture in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam

The Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) conducted the project “Thematic Studies on Gender in Aquaculture in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam”, a component of the USAID (United States Agency for International Development)-funded Maximising Agricultural Revenue through Knowledge, Enterprise Development, and Trade (MARKET)) project in 2014-2015. MARKET Project was aimed to strengthen the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) institutional platform for improving regional food security. Aquaculture has been identified to be important to food security, and mainstreaming gender into MARKET’s activities in aquaculture value chains is crucial to inform policies and decisions which will be gender sensitive and balanced so the vulnerable members of the value chains are not marginalised and neglected. The studies on gender in aquaculture in Lower Mekong Initiative countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) ,Thailand and Vietnam, consisted of assessments on the current status of gender policies relevant to aquaculture, key issues in women’s empowerment and participation in aquaculture value chains, and identifying organisations working on promoting gender in aquaculture. Case studies on women’s involvement and gender issues in selected aquaculture value chains in each country were also produced. In this paper, we focus on the process, challenges and opportunities of running a project which introduces gender studies into mainstream aquaculture institutes.