Theme: Rural women play a much greater role in infrastructure improvement and maintenance than is commonly recognized. In development projects, it tends to be forgotten that poorer farm women in many developing countries perform physically demanding tasks every day of their lives. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that such women also often become involved in infrastructure improvement and maintenance. This includes the provision of heavy physical labour when needed. Such involvement by women occurs even more commonly when men have emigrated from the area. Women’s Participation in Infrastructure Improvement One of the earliest IFAD-supported agricultural development projects in China illustrates this point. The project was implemented in two of the poorest counties in Hebei Province. During the slow months in agriculture (October to mid-March), many men in this area emigrated in search of wage labour. Therefore, in spite of the obvious physical demands of these activities, it was the women who participated in the project’s slack season activities such as tree planting, the building of earthworks, well digging and land leveling. Similarly, in eastern Guatemala, the IFAD-supported Prozachi project also found that, as more men began working as day labourers, women had to take over an increasing number of tasks formerly carried out by men. Often, it was the women who turned up to work in the project's soil conservation activities, for which the incentives were rations of corn, beans and cooking oil. An IFAD study in Madhya Pradesh, India, found that, in many communities, women, as well as men, undertake shram dhan (voluntary labour) when they tire of waiting for the panchayat (village governing body) to perform needed infrastructure improvements or maintenance. Commonly performed voluntary labour activities include the digging and maintenance of wells and nallahs (irrigation ditches), the construction and repair of primary schools and their furnishings and the construction of small bridges over rivers. Whatever people build themselves, they also maintain. A rapid impact assessment of the IFAD-supported Lowlands Agricultural Development Programme in The Gambia documented how the programme has relied on simple technology and the mobilization of community labour among men and women for land reclamation, the enhancement of access to land and the improvement of the water retention of the land. The activities undertaken with the involvement of women include the rehabilitation or construction of dikes, spillways, bridges and causeways. A 1996 IFAD gender and social assessment in Botswana discovered a surprising situation in the remote area dweller or “bushmen” settlements, where the non-farming population of very poor Basarwa and other ethnic minorities live. The study noted that one of the main sources of cash for the women and men in the settlements was Government labour-based drought relief programmes (during years that are declared “drought” years). Most of these involve infrastructure improvement of one kind or another. But it is the women who work more often than men do on these programmes. Women’s Participation in Infrastructure Maintenance The project in Madhya Pradesh, India, provides several examples of women’s involvement, together with men, in the maintenance of various types of infrastructure. Women’s role as the caretakers of wells and as active members of drinking water supply committees is well recognized all over the world. However, sometimes, projects assume that rural women will not directly participate in irrigation system maintenance or road maintenance. This is not true, at least in many countries. In 2000, IFAD conducted a thematic evaluation of irrigation water users associations under IFAD-supported projects in all regions. It found that, in several instances, including cases in which gender issues had not been addressed, women participated in the construction and repair work in the irrigation scheme at the tertiary level. This undermines the view that women cannot contribute fully to irrigation system maintenance (for instance, in Kenya). This view can be used to exclude women from access to irrigated land. In some countries, women are as active as men in the digging and maintenance of irrigation canals. It is also not unusual for women to be actively involved in road maintenance. In fact, when men have emigrated, as in many African or Asian countries, it is the women who turn up to provide the labour to clean out culverts and repair potholes. This also happens in Latin America, as in the case of the PROZACHI initiative in Guatemala. Some of the tasks formerly carried out by men that women are now taking over include road maintenance. Development projects need to reflect more awareness of the role of rural women in infrastructure improvement and maintenance. This can have implications for the scheduling of work, the types of tools provided and the incentives offered. Nor should the assumed inability or unwillingness of women to provide such labour be used as an excuse to exclude women from access to irrigated land. Adapted from: IFAD, MAGA and Government of the Netherlands. 1998. Prozachi: The Story of a Development Project among Peasants in Zacapa and Chiquimula. Rome. IFAD. 2001. Rural Poverty Report 2001: The Challenge of Ending Rural Poverty. Oxford University Press, February. IFAD. 1995. The Status of Rural Women in China. Rome: IFAD. (Other sources are as cited in this publication.) IFAD, Office of Evaluation. 2000. Thematic Study on Water Users Associations in IFAD Projects. Rome. Heli Perrett. 1996. Botswana: Community Development of Wildlife Management Areas Project, Social Assessment. Rome: IFAD, December. FAO Investment Centre, February 2001, The Gambia: Lowlands Agricultural Development Programme, Rapid Participatory Impact Assessment. Rome. Vettivel, Surendra Kumar. 1997. India, Madhya Pradesh Tribal Development Project: Participatory Development Framework, Community Institution Building, Indigenous Social Structure, Women's Participation, Role of NGOs. Rome: IFAD, June. |
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