THEME: It is always much more difficult to benefit the poor, particularly the poorest, than it is to benefit those who are more well off.

The Support for Women’s Groups in North Kivu project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was financed by the Belgian Survival Fund. It was implemented in a particularly difficult area in eastern Congo, where civil unrest has been ongoing for about eight years. The conflict has resulted in considerable changes at every level. It is still difficult in some parts to maintain normal activities, such as farming, because of looting. Therefore, people have eaten their food stocks, and poverty and hunger are widespread. There have been a large number of deaths among the rural population due both to the conflict and to the accompanying disease and malnutrition.

The major actions of the Belgian Survival Fund project revolved around community development, energy-saving wood stoves, and social forestry. The community development component of the project included a development fund that provided grants to the women’s groups and for associated training. Most of the funding was allocated to individual income-generating activities. There was a menu of some 15 income-generating activities possible, but 58% of the grants were used for goat keeping, and 26% went for small trading, while the rest was employed for a range of other activities such as milling, poultry, rabbits, pig raising and dressmaking. Some women’s associations also applied the funds they received through the project to set up a small microcredit system within the associations. Loans were made to members that were to be repaid with interest.

The project targeted the poorer women. Project activities were channelled to existing associations representing the poorer and the poorest rural women. The poorest of the poor are mainly elderly widows, to whom the associations gave priority. The participatory evaluation of the project brought out some practical but useful lessons on the targeting of such women in North Kivu.

• Logistical problems: The project had difficulty reaching the poorest who lived in insecure areas or areas that are virtually inaccessible even on foot.
• Membership fees: Poor people could not afford to pay association membership fees, so, it was felt, they should be allowed to pay in kind.
• Energy-saving stoves: Those poor who rent a house or who are allowed use of a plot without payment cannot build a permanent energy-saving stove; those who do not have a rain-protected kitchen will not invest in a permanent stove; the de facto woman-headed households cannot build kitchens because prevalent social norms require that kitchens be built by men.
• Social forestry: Many poor women do not own land; they rent their farm plots and house lots, and therefore they cannot plant trees; some poor people lack the tools or equipment to plant trees; some do not plant trees or invest in farm production because of the continuing local insecurity (theft and looting, including the theft of saplings).

In spite of these multiple problems, the project was actually largely successful in reaching the poor and the poorest groups of women, more so than many other projects. Goat keeping was particularly successful and appropriate to the labour capacities of the poorest older widows. It also generated a relatively good income. Women appreciated the status they acquired through their ownership of this valuable asset.

In contrast, the improved wood stoves were not appropriate for the poorest, as these people usually rent their houses or do not have rain-protected kitchens (probably cooking outdoors in the open). However, the evaluation points out that there was a large increase in the number of energy-saving stoves in the project area (from 969 in 2000 to about 9 900 as of October 2002). The majority of women who had been trained in the construction of the wood stoves were building them for non-members (presumably the more well off), and they were therefore earning at least some income through their new knowledge and skills. Only 42% of the members of the associations had their own permanent stoves. Those women who were able to acquire the improved stoves obtained a number of benefits, including savings in the time needed for wood collection and meal preparation, savings on purchases of wood or charcoal and less exposure to smoke, which can cause eye diseases.

The social forestry component was only of interest to the poor if these people could work in a nursery and sell seedlings or plant a fruit tree such as a passion fruit tree, which generates a yield after only one year. Therefore, social forestry primarily benefited women who had their own land or who could use plots owned by their husbands or other relatives who were men.

If a development project is serious about targeting poorer people, including poorer women, it has to be based on good background information about opportunities and constraints. For the poor, there are few of the former and a multitude of the latter. Such essential contextual information is best collected with the active participation of the people themselves, for the people know best what they can and cannot do.

Adapted from:

Democratic Republic of Congo: Support for Women’s Groups in North Kivu, Completion Evaluation Report, Rome: IFAD, November-December 2002.

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