A joint FAO-aligned initiative training women farmers in climate resilient agriculture and on-farm water management through Women Open Schools in Punjab and Sindh.
Training and Support for Women Farmers to Adopt Climate Resilient Agriculture and On-Farm Water Management
Proposed Joint Venture Project | Farmers’ Integrated Development Association (FIDA) & Trend Nova World (TNW)
Project Overview
This proposed initiative aims to train and support women farmer beneficiaries to adopt Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) and On-Farm Water Management (OFWM) practices through the Women Open Schools (WOS) model in Punjab and Sindh Provinces. The project has been submitted as a Joint Venture between Farmers’ Integrated Development Association (FIDA) as Lead Partner and Trend Nova World (TNW) as Technical Partner, in response to an FAO-supported program focused on climate adaptation, water efficiency, and inclusive livelihoods.
The project is designed as a seasonally synchronized, evidence-driven intervention aligned with Pakistan’s Rabi and Kharif cropping cycles. It combines hands-on learning, side-by-side demonstration plots, and digital monitoring to ensure that women farmers not only receive training, but adopt, apply, and sustain climate-smart practices that improve productivity, resilience, and household livelihoods.
Development Context and Rationale
Women play a central yet often unrecognized role in Pakistan’s agricultural economy, particularly in planting, weeding, harvesting, and post-harvest activities. Despite this, they remain systematically excluded from formal extension services, access to climate-resilient technologies, and decision-making processes related to water and farm management.
Climate variability, water scarcity, and rising production costs have intensified vulnerabilities for women farmers—especially widows, female-headed households, landless sharecroppers, and daily wage laborers. Traditional extension models, often male-dominated and technology-heavy, fail to reach these groups effectively.
The Women Open Schools (WOS) approach addresses this gap by creating safe, culturally appropriate learning spaces within villages, where women can acquire practical skills, experiment with technologies, and build confidence as agricultural decision-makers. By integrating CRA and OFWM into WOS, the project directly links climate adaptation with gender empowerment, ensuring that resilience-building starts at the household and community level.
Joint Venture Value Proposition
The FIDA–TNW Joint Venture is structured to deliver both grassroots scale and technical precision, ensuring high adoption rates and credible evidence for scaling.
Farmers’ Integrated Development Association (FIDA) – Lead Partner
FIDA brings long-standing experience in women-centered rural development, community mobilization, and implementation of Women Open Schools across Punjab and Sindh. Its strengths include:
- Deep community trust and access to marginalized women farmers
- Proven capacity to operationalize WOS and Farmer Field School methodologies
- Strong familiarity with FAO implementation, fiduciary, and reporting standards
- Field-based training delivery in local languages and culturally appropriate formats
FIDA leads community entry, beneficiary mobilization, WOS establishment, and day-to-day field implementation.
Trend Nova World (TNW) – Technical Partner
Trend Nova World serves as the JV’s technical and knowledge partner, responsible for:
- Adaptive research design for CRA and OFWM interventions
- Digital data collection and monitoring systems (ODK/Kobo)
- Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)
- Data analysis, evidence synthesis, and technical reporting
TNW’s role ensures that field-level training is translated into verifiable learning, measurable outcomes, and policy-relevant evidence.
Project Objectives
The proposed project aims to:
- Enable women farmers to adopt climate resilient agricultural practices
- Improve water-use efficiency through practical OFWM technologies
- Strengthen women’s technical knowledge, confidence, and decision-making power
- Generate adaptive research data across multiple agro-ecological zones
- Promote peer learning and women-to-women knowledge transfer
- Support scalable models for climate adaptation in agriculture
Technical Approach and Methodology
The project applies a “Learning Lab” approach, transforming Women Open Schools into practical demonstration and research platforms.
Phase 1: Inception and Evidence-Based Site Selection
Community mobilization is conducted through women-only assemblies, prioritizing climate-vulnerable households. TNW supports scientific validation of WOS sites using participatory GIS tools, ensuring:
- Safe accessibility for women
- Reliable water availability
- Soil homogeneity for fair comparison of practices
- Informed consent and ethical data collection
This phase establishes a strong foundation for adaptive research and learning.
Phase 2: Establishment of WOS and Demonstration Activities
Each WOS is structured around side-by-side demonstration plots, comparing conventional farmer practices with CRA and OFWM interventions. This visual comparison is essential for building trust and encouraging adoption among risk-averse farmers.
Key interventions include:
- Precision planting and improved crop establishment techniques
- Use of soil moisture indicators to optimize irrigation timing
- Climate-smart input use, including bio-fertilizers and low-toxicity alternatives
- Practices that reduce labor burden and production costs for women
Training is delivered in local languages using participatory, hands-on methods.
Phase 3: Digital Monitoring and Adaptive Research
TNW deploys a digital monitoring framework that replaces paper-based reporting with real-time, geotagged data collection. Field teams record:
- Germination and crop establishment indicators
- Water application patterns and savings
- Mid-season crop health parameters
- Simplified cost–benefit indicators
This system enables continuous learning, immediate quality control, and credible evidence generation aligned with international research standards.
Phase 4: Capacity Building and Knowledge Dissemination
To scale impact beyond direct beneficiaries, the project emphasizes structured knowledge sharing:
- Women Farmer Field Days allow participants to present results to peers, extension staff, and local stakeholders
- Training of Trainers (ToT) develops a cadre of Women Master Facilitators
- Knowledge products translate technical findings into simple, accessible formats for wider dissemination
This approach ensures sustainability beyond the project lifecycle.
Gender-Centered Design and Safeguards
Gender inclusion is not treated as a cross-cutting theme, but as the core operational principle of the project.
Key features include:
- Women-only training environments within village boundaries
- Targeted inclusion of widows, landless women, and female-headed households
- Female-led field teams to ensure unrestricted access and trust
- Integration of livelihood-relevant modules such as kitchen gardening and household water efficiency
- Strict safeguarding, PSEA compliance, and community-based grievance mechanisms
These measures ensure dignity, safety, and meaningful participation.
Expected Outcomes
The project is expected to deliver:
- Increased adoption of CRA and OFWM practices among women farmers
- Improved water-use efficiency and crop performance
- Enhanced confidence and leadership of women in agricultural decision-making
- Evidence-based insights for scaling WOS models
- Strengthened institutional learning for climate adaptation programming
Project Status
This initiative has been formally submitted as a Joint Venture proposal and is currently positioned within Trend Nova World’s Project Pipeline as a flagship gender-responsive climate resilience and water management intervention, implemented in partnership with FIDA.
