West and Central Africa Division and gender mainstreaming Having analysed the current situation of women in WCA, the paper now turns to a presentation of the way gender mainstreaming has thus far been addressed by IFAD’s Africa I Division. The following overview covers 45 projects in division’s portfolio, including all ongoing projects and some projects that were completed as of December 1998. The purpose is to identify the instruments and modalities for gender mainstreaming with regard to (i) targeting, (ii) monitoring and evaluation, (iii) sensitization, (iv) capacity-building and empowerment, (v) group promotion, (vi) gender staffing and (vii) policy dialogue. The overview also examines the sector-specific approaches adopted by the projects so as to reach women more effectively. Women’s needs have most commonly been addressed through a combination of income-generating activities aimed at women and support for women’s access to credit. Education components have also typically targeted women, while health and nutrition activities have targeted them exclusively. However, the integration of women in main project components, including agricultural production, irrigation and livestock, seems to have been more difficult. Instruments and modalities for gender mainstreaming Targeting Of the 45 projects reviewed, women are identified as a priority target group in 31 (69%). One project is specifically directed at women (the Support to Rural Women Project, in Gabon), and four (9%) have a women component or sub-component. Eleven projects (24%) have a women-in- development (WID) theme, while some projects have allocated specific resources for women (Smallholder Credit, Input Supply and Marketing Project (SCP)). In many project areas, women and children make up the majority of the local population and are therefore an important component of the target group. This is the case of the Niger Dguié Rural Development Project (PDRAA) which specifically targets women and children. Furthermore, the growing number of rural female-headed households throughout the WCA region is resulting in more projects directly targeting single women. For example, in Chad’s Ouadis of Kanem Agricultural Development Project (PDAOK), a substantial number of single women (20%) are included in the target population. The results thus far seem to indicate that these women are very responsive to initiatives. This is the case not only in Niger, as women’s responsiveness to extension and innovative practices is recurrent in most countries within the region. Once women have been defined as part of the target group, project objectives aim at improving their situation, for example in rural areas. The first specific objective of the Agroforestry Project to Combat Desertification (PAGF), for example, is the strengthening of economic interest groups and women’s groups, while another objective is the promotion of income-generating activities that target women and youth. In the Microfinance and Marketing Project (PROMIC) in Benin, three of the four main objectives directly concern women, and income-generating activities among women and women’s improved access to credit are essential components. Although projects identify women as an important target group, obtaining women’s participation in project activities seems to be a much more difficult task. One of the major reasons for this may be that women’s needs, time constraints and roles in the specific society are not carefully established during project formulation. Thus, project activities may be drawn up for women, but women do not participate because their needs have not been addressed or their participation is not approved of by their peers. Often, the project identification team’s first contact is with male beneficiaries; women are bypassed because information regarding the team’s visit does not reach them or because the women cannot attend the meetings, due to lack of time, or to impediments resulting from their social position. For example, one method for determining the needs of beneficiaries is through village assemblies. Projects such as the Fouta Djallon Local Development and Agricultural Rehabilitation Programme, in Guinea, have shown that the village assembly approach reproduces the existing social network, thus keeping women in marginal positions. Women’s needs are apparently targeted most effectively through specific women-oriented activities. However, women are often the targets of project sub-components only, so that there is a risk that women’s access to the major project components is limited. For example, the Mauritania country portfolio review states: "When women have been targeted by the projects, it has been through the identification of specific women oriented activities. The problem of their insertion in the development process has not been addressed and appropriate strategies have not been found. . . . There has not been an adequate identification of the specific needs of this section of the agricultural population, despite the increasing feminization of the agricultural workforce, and the increasing responsibilities of rural Mauritanian women, in consequence of the high male mobility." The Guinea portfolio review reaches similar conclusions regarding the lack of a gender-specific strategy: "participation and the support of grassroots organizations’ target group includes women but projects do not include specific strategies. . . Project specific strategies based on gender analysis should be defined to take into account needs, assets and constraints." The lack of a specific strategy based on an in-depth study of men’s and women’s roles is mentioned in several project evaluation reports to explain the disappointing results in attempts successfully to target women. In Côte d’Ivoire, the evaluation of the National Services Restructuring Project states: "women are targeted but participation remains small. Without an explicit strategy for improving participation in Regional Technical Committees (CTRs) and extension services and for analysing implications of new technologies on female labour requirements this will likely continue to be the case." Guinea’s portfolio review finds that in three recent projects women are a "special target group". However, apart from support to market gardening, the three projects do not address specific constraints on women or facilitate women’s participation. This is also true of the Smallholder Development Project in the Forest Region (PDPEF) , even though the main expected results include equal access to agricultural land for rice and coffee cultivation by women, together with the benefits to women of training and credit for processing and marketing. An innovative gender and development approach has been adopted in the Upper-East Region Land Conservation and Smallholder Rehabilitation Project (LACOSREP II) in Ghana, which involves the implementation of a strategy aimed at empowering women to obtain an equitable share of the project benefits. The strategy has been the outcome of an in-depth study of men’s and women’s socio-economic roles. A gender-sensitive project design, which takes into account lessons learned during the first phase of the project, is meant to prevent gender bias and gender ‘blindness’ from the outset. The gender-sensitive baseline study permits benchmarking for future monitoring and evaluation, while the project objectives include gender quotas. At least two pilot activities are envisaged to improve women’s access to productive resources through agreements with community leaders, while the project strategy involves the ‘innovative’ idea of working with men to gain their support for women’s empowerment. The project includes affirmative action in plot allocation among all beneficiaries and in efforts to address problems in labour and input supply. Gender training is part of the training for the water users association, while gender training and training in negotiation techniques are given to all beneficiaries. Women are targeted through the provision of special skills training and a household water component; the latter is aimed at reducing the amount of time spent by women in fetching water so that they can participate in the project’s irrigated agriculture activities. Monitoring and evaluation Few projects employ adequate gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems. Of the 45 projects reviewed, only five (11%) mention gender among the main monitoring and evaluation indicators. The monitoring and evaluation indicators in the PDAOK in Chad and in the Rural Microenterprise Support Project (PAMER) in Burkina Faso take gender into account, including an examination of the percentage of women heads of household affected according to target group and to objective. Overall, project evaluations point to the lack of gender-sensitive monitoring as one of the possible explanations for the shortcomings in the integration of women into project activities. An exception is the credit components, since these generally involve a gender breakdown of beneficiaries. However, credit component indicators do not adequately analyse the distribution of loans by amount, with the possible consequence that, while women may be obtaining a respectable number of loans, the loans may be so small that they do not permit profitable investments. In general, project monitoring and evaluation systems need to include easily measurable, gender-sensitive indicators. It is also essential that monitoring and evaluation systems involve gender-sensitive analyses of project benefits in order to ensure that women are reaping the full fruit of their collaboration in the projects. Sensitization It is important for project staff to establish communication channels with women so that women become aware of project activities and the ways in which they can benefit from them. However, simply making information available to women may not be sufficient to obtain women’s participation in the activities, particularly if the constraints faced by the women are not taken into consideration. Literacy is often low among women, who are therefore unable to read documentation. Also, their freedom of movement is usually more restricted (time constraints, cultural factors, need to care for children). Last, if men do not see the benefits of women’s participation in project activities, they may oppose women’s participation. Consequently, it is essential to combine efforts to gain women’s participation sensitization among men regarding women’s needs. This approach is found in more recent IFAD projects, for example in the PDAOK in Chad, in which both the mobilization of women and the parallel sensitization of men have been undertaken so as to offer women more opportunities to engage in new productive activities. If a parallel effort at communication is not made among both the female and male members of society, there is a risk that resentments could emerge, particularly in those projects that attempt to target women exclusively, with the possible consequence that men might impede women’s participation in project activities. Thus, a general conclusion is that gender sensitization should be carried out among all persons involved in projects, so that the sustainable integration of women in project activities is fostered. However, thus far, only seven of the 45 project documents reviewed (16%) explicitly mention gender sensitization (programmed or implemented) within project activities. Capacity-building and empowerment In capacity-building, one of the first barriers that must be dealt with is women’s time constraints, since daily workloads do not leave rural women much time for participation in project activities. Also, time constraints frequently lessen women’s motivation. The Guinea PDPEF, for example, has involved rewards (primes d’incitation, or incentive perquisites) for women’s participation in project activities, although after the completion of a project, such instruments can hardly be continued, and they are therefore unsustainable. An alternative might involve the provision of time-saving tools for women. It has become apparent through analyses of women’s time-use, that, in general, a major portion of their daily workload is dedicated to time-consuming tasks such as fetching water. Thus, a key initiative to reduce women’s workload might be water management schemes, for example through the installation of village water facilities. Once a woman’s daily workload has been lightened, the probability of her participation in project activities increases. For example, in the PDAOK in Chad, village water management has lightened women’s workloads (women’s time having been largely taken up by carrying water). Through the LACOSREP in Ghana, water user associations have been systematically formed, and approximately two thirds of the members are women. The lesson seems to be that if women’s time constraints are not adequately addressed, there is a risk that projects will either bypass women or even increase their workload by pressuring them to participate in project activities along with carrying out their other chores. This has been the case in projects where women have been the main participants in sustainable environment activities. In the Guinea PDPEF, for example, the pre-evaluation report states that women have been essential in the implementation of the project and that their participation may represent additional work, but, unfortunately, the report suggests no solution to this problem. When women are expected to participate in the implementation of project activities, then their workloads must be lightened. The PAGF II in Senegal is an excellent example of a project that has successfully lightened women’s workloads, thus permitting women to participate and benefit from the agro-forestry initiatives. In addition to supporting women’s participation in project activities through the reduction of their time constraints, another objective of a gender-mainstreaming approach is to strengthen women’s capacity and participation in decision-making. Empowerment and capacity-building involve an active approach to ensure women’s equal access to information, technology, credit and inputs. Increasing women’s participation in the decision-making process permits women’s needs to be taken more into account. Empowerment is particularly necessary for rural women facing gender discrimination, and its absence limits women’s participation in IFAD projects. However, empowerment among women does not occur in a vacuum; the wider community, together with local and national government figures, must also be sensitized to accept the social changes resulting from women’s empowerment. Empowering women is among the main objectives of PROMIC in Benin, the Roots and Tuber programme, the Upper West Agricultural Development Project (UWADP) and the LACOSREP II (seven projects) in Ghana, the National Special Programme (PSN) II in Niger, the Programme for Participatery Rural Development (PPRD) in Haute Guinée and the PDPEF in Guinea. Women’s empowerment and capacity-building are mentioned explicitly in 16 evaluation documents (36%), and about half the 45 projects provide for support to women’s groups. A seemingly positive approach towards fostering women’s empowerment and capacity-building is presented by Guinea’s PPDR. The objective of the project is to increase women’s economic power and participation by improving their ability in self-management and the management of associations and by strengthening the entrepreneurial capacities of local women through support for economically viable and socially acceptable activities. In this project, the need for women’s participation in decision-making is tackled through support for women’s groups. Education, training and exchanges with other groups (which may involve travel) are expected to enhance women’s status in the community. The project seeks to reduce women’s workloads in order to make it possible for women to find time to diversify into other activities. The project prioritizes women’s initiatives and tries to improve women’s access to land, inputs, information and credit. The promotion of women’s groups The promotion of women’s groups appears to be an efficient means of reaching women. Women’s groups permit women to obtain economies of scale; they constitute a safeguard against the appropriation by men of those benefits specifically targeted towards women, and they help to make women’s participation in project activities more acceptable in cases where there are cultural barriers to such participation. It has been noted throughout the region that there are limits to the ability of village assemblies to reach women, since these assemblies often simply reproduce traditional structures. Mixed male-female groups are also not promising since women are not particularly active in the management of such groups. Thus, women-only groups seem to be the best starting point. Some projects have therefore emphasized support for women’s groups as a means of involving women in project activities, particularly through management training. Actually, more than simply providing support to existing groups, projects are attempting to change the status of women’s groups. One of the objectives of the Benin PROMIC is precisely to improve the transparency, professionalism and efficiency of women’s groups. In Chad, the PDAOK includes plans for the establishment of about 30 women’s groups (or groups composed mostly of women) for the promotion of activities such as the creation of cereal banks and small-scale livestock development. Smaller specialized groups are to be created to pursue other activities, including vegetable production and the storage and marketing of agricultural produce, meat and artisan products. Women have thus far been very active and have formed 40 of the planned 130 such smaller groups. Women are specifically targeted in the water management activities and will have an active role in protection against sand-dune encroachment. The only shortcoming seems to be the lack of technical assistance and financial resources. In Côte d’Ivoire, the aim of the Marketing and Local Initiatives Support Project in the North-Centre Region is to increase cash incomes in agriculture. Some 300 informal groups, at least half of which are women’s groups, have been created through the project. The PAGF (Diourbel) in Senegal counts among its main objectives increasing the role of women’s groups (food production, nutrition and family incomes) and the promotion of support structures for women. In both countries, the role of these groups has improved, as shown by the graduation of ‘women’s groups’ to ‘economic interest groups’, a change in status that renders the groups eligible for credit with the Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole. Gender staffing A recurrent observation in Africa I Division projects is that local project staff are predominantly male, in part because the planned recruitment of female staff is not always carried out. There are many examples of this: In Mauritania, the staff in both projects are almost exclusively male (a specialist in women’s organizations is the only exception). In the Fouta Djallon I project in Guinea, even when women have constituted the target group, there have been very few female fieldworkers, and, in the Forest Guinea project, the staff is predominantly male (80 men, two women); moreover, the two women are expected to cover 100 villages. Thus, future projects should ensure a gender balance in project management. Some recent projects are already moving in this direction. In Sokoto State in Nigeria, the project has recruited a senior specialist in women-in-development, 24 female Community Development Agents (CDAs) and 24 female Village Development Workers (VDWs). In Chad the training of women group managers has been undertaken (by a woman). In Côte d’Ivoire, gender-staffing efforts have been initiated in collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Support to Women, although there have been difficulties. For example, the Marketing and Rural Initiatives Support Project (PACIL) had a hiring target of 50% women among project staff, but in practice it had to bend to the fact that few women had been trained in professional schools or were otherwise qualified. Policy Policy dialogue has thus far been centred on land tenure issues and credit. The lack of secure land tenure is a contributing factor in rural poverty, and in countries such as The Gambia and Guinea IFAD is attempting to influence local governments to ensure that women are given priority in the reallocation of land. In The Gambia, women have been allocated 99% of the land involved in the Jahaly and Pacharr smallholder project, although it has been impossible to defend women’s traditional control over harvested produce. Cooperation with governments in order to influence them to adopt measures to integrate women in the development process, is generally looked upon positively, and the approach is explicitly mentioned in the Côte d’Ivoire Zanzan Rural Development Project (PDRZ) evaluation report. Similarly, the discussion of gender issues with government and local NGOs is mentioned in the Burkina Faso PAMER. However, few project documents actually discuss policy dialogue or describe concrete steps in this direction. The need for a gender policy orientation is mentioned, but there is seldom any follow-up. Sector-specific approaches Women and household food security The direct link between a rise in women’s revenue and the increase in household food security has been verified through project experiences. Implicitly, it has been recognized that this is so because women spend a more important share of their income on household expences than do men. However, few projects explicitly cite women and household food security among the main project objectives. This may be because the association is taken for granted. Only nine projects (20%) have addressed household food security and women, and only one - the SCIMP in Ghana - has as its main objective an increase in food production and the specific targeting of women. Women, credit and income-generating activities Women are most often targeted through income-generating activities, credit components or the establishment and promotion of women’s groups. For example, the first objective of the Gambia Agricultural Services Programme is to increase food security through income-generating activities, while one of the main objectives of the LACOSREP in Ghana is to enhance women’s economic status through income-generating activities. The Banc d’Arguin Protected Area Management Project (Mauritania) includes a special emphasis on Imraguen women through income-generating activities. A component of the Kidal Food and Income Security Programme in Mali provides credit for herd development, crop production and women’s income-generating activities. In projects in Senegal, women are generally targeted through income-generating activities. Income-generating activities are most often associated with credit initiatives. Various approaches have been adopted, ranging from promotion of equal access to credit, to giving women priority in loans (Senegal PAGF II) and from affirmative action techniques involving a pilot loan package adapted to women’s needs, to specialized microcredit services (Ghana LACOSREP II, Guinea PPDR). One of the main objectives of the PROMIC in Benin is to facilitate access to credit especially for women. The Ghana UWADP credit component consists of short-term credit for inventory loans, income-generating activities for women and loans for productive initiatives Repayment performance is variable, but, on the whole, women have a higher rate of repayment than do men. The SCIMP groups in Ghana and especially the women groups have benefited from the credit component, but repayment has been low, while the Sokoto State Agricultural Development Project (ADP) in Nigeria has shown a 100% reimbursement rate on loans to women’s groups for the support of off-farm activities. Results have been positive in Ghana, where 70% of the beneficiaries of the LACOSREP II credit component are women. In Gabon, women constitute 45% of the borrowers, but they also constitute over 50% of the rural population. Projects have often been more successful in places where a tradition of women’s credit groups has existed before project implementation and particularly where the projects exploit the development potential of such structures (the tontines in Guinea among others, or the adashi in Nigeria). In several projects, women’s illiteracy and the precepts of traditional society have constituted barriers to the participation of women. The Sierra Leone North-Centre Agricultural Programme found that women generally show higher loan repayment rates than men; however, problems with literacy and the norms of traditional society inhibit women’s participation in development initiatives. Women lack leadership skills and are bypassed in the allocation of credit; they represent less than 5% of the farmers serviced. To enable women to benefit from credit, several projects associate literacy activities with credit initiatives and help women develop viable loan dossiers (Guinea PPDR, Burkina Faso PAMER). A further constraint is women’s lack of secure land tenure to serve as collateral. Although projects may employ affirmative action initiatives in the distribution of plots, their influence on this issue is limited. Generally, women are targeted in groups that enhance their access to credit. Some projects target groups as well as individuals. The Sahelian Area Development Fund Programme (Mali) targets both women’s groups (created according to the Grameen model, with loan repayments based on group liability) and individuals (through a women’s credit fund). The monitoring and evaluation of women’s participation in credit activities must be comprehensive and include the number, size and final use of the loans. In Mali, the Projet de développement de la zone lacustre found that the final users of the loans assigned to women were often men. Women and marketing In many countries of the region, women are particularly active in the marketing of output. In approximately 25% of the projects reviewed, women are involved in marketing activities and are targeted by the projects in order to support these activities. However, the degree of women’s involvement varies. In some projects women have been specifically targeted, while in others they are reached indirectly by the projects. Some examples in this sector are found in the Central African Republic Savannah Food Crops Rural Development Project, in which women have been successfully targeted, particularly through processing and marketing activities. In the Marketing and Local Initiatives Support Project in the North-Centre Region of Côte d’Ivoire, important marketing methods have been implemented among the informal groups created through the project (at least 50% of which are women’s groups), and the marketing component has been identified by the beneficiaries as being the most crucial one. In the Second Artisan Fisheries Development Project, in São Tomé and Principe, fishermen and women who process and sell fish have been targeted (one palaye women’s community and ten fishermen’s economic interest groups), and the livelihoods of all have been enhanced as a result of the technical assistance and the support given to associations. In Equatorial Guinea, women have benefited from the effects of the marketing project, although they have not been targeted by a specific gender strategy. Women and agricultural production Women bear the heaviest burden in agriculture and represent more than 50% of the agricultural population. Although projects very often include among their aims an increase in agricultural production, women are not involved in these activities to the extent their share in the agricultural population suggests they should be. Women have demonstrated that they are open to new technologies through projects; however, they are forced to deal with more constraints than are men. In addition, women who work their husbands’ fields, as well as their own individual plots, will of course prefer to invest more effort in the cultivation of their own land, even if this is more marginal, and thus their productivity is lower. Also, although women may be interested in adopting new technologies, they may not have decision-making power in this regard, since the male head of household often takes responsibility for the purchase of agricultural tools, including those used by women. Without a strategy that fully takes into account women’s needs and constraints, projects will not be able fully to include women in the development process. Instead, new technologies may bypass women, and women may not be able to increase their productivity. This could result in the greater marginalization of women. The Equatorial Guinea Crop Diversification and Agricultural Services Project offers examples with regard to women and agricultural production. The project counts among its principal objectives an increase in the productivity of rural women. This is also true of the LACOSREP in Ghana. The main objectives of the Gambia Agricultural Services Project include the development and testing of a production system adapted to the needs of women and smallholders through support for demand-driven research and extension. The Sokoto State Project in Nigeria has a component focusing on women in agriculture that ensures that technical support involves women. The main objectives of the Roots and Tubers Improvement Programme in Ghana include the empowerment of women and smallholders to guarantee their access to improved technologies for root and tuber cultivation. However, in some cases, projects as actually implemented have not included women, even in cases in which women have been a specific target. In the Guinea’s PDPEF, credit was not available for agricultural production and management training, and this limited women’s participation in initiatives in vegetable production. In the North Central Agricultural Production Programme in Sierra Leone, special components were supposed to be directed at women, including extension programmes for women farmers; however, extension services and the demonstration of new techniques for the benefit of women were neglected. The Agricultural Services Restructuring Project in Côte d’Ivoire has a training and extension component for women, but women’s participation remains limited, and the mid-term evaluation provided no explicit strategy to address the problem. Women and irrigation Because most irrigated agriculture is on land belonging to men, little has been accomplished for women with regard to irrigation. There are exceptions. LACOSREP II in Ghana, for example, involves women and irrigation. The PDRZ in Côte d’Ivoire emphasizes the irrigation of smaller plots and targets crops traditionally planted by women. There are some cases where women have benefited indirectly from project activities, but others where women have been negatively affected because their workload on men’s irrigated land has indirectly increased. Water users associations have been promoted in many cases, such as in Mali and in the LACOSREP in Ghana. Water management usually involves women, since they are often the ones responsible for carrying water, a time and effort-consuming task. Water management activities, however, may also involve the risk of gender bias since the levy on association members is uniform, although female members generally have smaller plots and use less water. Women and livestock Generally, herding is an activity carried out by men, and the role of women is limited to small ruminants or poultry. Some examples are found in Nigeria in the Sokoto State Project, which involves the training of village advisers on poultry and small ruminants, and in land rehabilitation in the Katsina State Agricultural Community Development Project (ADCP), whereby both men and women have increased livestock holdings as a result of project activities. The National Livestock Project in Togo, however, has not had much impact on women when it has targeted only the larger livestock holdings; after the reorientation towards the grass roots, women began to benefit more clearly. Women and the environment Women have an active role in the prevention of sand dune encroachment in the PDAOK in Chad. In the Special Programme for Water Conservation and Agro-Forestry, in Burkina Faso, women have contributed 70% of the environmental conservation work. However, a major problem in Burkina Faso has been the lack of compensation for the work done by the women, particularly because the women’s contribution to the project has meant that their workloads have increased, an outcome that is contrary to the project objectives. As a result, the second phase of the project is to place more emphasis on lightening women’s burden, notably through the promotion of women’s groups, the provision of credit for the acquisition of transport equipment and the development of income-generating activities. Monitoring and evaluation indicators are to be gender sensitive. Women and community development Enhancing women’s role at the community level is a crucial step in facilitating the inclusion of women in the development process. Various examples of such an approach are evident in Africa I Division projects. The PDAOK in Chad, for example, has a gender-sensitive community-structuring programme. The Village Organisation and Management Project (POGV) in Senegal has made progress in strengthening the management capacities of rural communities by promoting participatory structures, including women’s participation. The Sokoto State Project in Nigeria includes a women and community development programme and promotes off-farm activities managed by women. The UWADP in Ghana has a women and community development component that includes training for key staff as future trainers in participatory rural development, communications, gender sensitization and financial management and training for district-level staff and beneficiary group leaders in group management, leadership skills, conflict resolution, and so on. This component has involved the establishment of water user associations, as well as the training of government and collaborating NGO staff. The goal of one of the main components of the PSN II project in Niger is to encourage partnership between community-based organizations and the private sector and the participation of women and youth in community decision-making. In the Support for Rural Women Project in Gabon, women counsellors have been put in charge of sensitization, the support and guidance of the rural groups that have been created, the provision of extension services in areas of interest to women and monitoring the implementation of the agricultural activities of women groups. However, the training of the women counsellors by agricultural technicians has not necessarily been the most appropriate for women community-development agents. Nonetheless, the results have been encouraging given that between 1995 and 1998, women’s representation in village assemblies rose from 60% to 65%, even though women remain underrepresented at the management level. Women and health and education Health and nutrition activities are among those most in demand among women. It is therefore surprising that few Africa I Division projects have health and nutrition sub-components, although most projects include health or education activities. One aim of the Peasant Production and Marketing Promotion Project in Equatorial Guinea is to improve women’s health and reduce their work burden. In Côte d’Ivoire, the objectives of the PDRZ include women’s health and nutrition. The Projet de développement de la zone lacustre (Lake District Development Project) in Mali involves nutrition and health activities, and the Projet de développement du sud-ouest (South-West Development Project) in Burkina Faso includes training for women in elementary health and nutrition and the promotion of rural infrastructure. Although female illiteracy is repeatedly mentioned as a major impediment to the successful targeting of women in project activities, only one of the division’s current projects, the National Services Restructuring Project in Côte d’Ivoire, has a literacy sub-component. However, the Kidal Food and Income Security Programme in Mali has a health and education component and a component of targeted development activities, including technical training for 500 expert women farmers. Other projects involve literacy activities, which usually target women, although precise targeting objectives are not always given. In Chad, the PDAOK literacy programme has successfully targeted women. In Niger the PDRAA has been innovative by adapting literacy campaigns to the needs of women and specific ethnic groups. The PPDR in Guinea has promoted education, training and self-management. Women often have difficulty finding time to participate in meetings or in project activities because of restrictions on their movement. As a result, the Sokoto State Project in Nigeria has established multipurpose village centres that are supported by instructors who go door to door to teach women and help them develop their skills. Another approach adopted by the project to overcome women’s lack of mobility has consisted of radio broadcasts on the environment, child health, and nutrition. In Mali, literacy training is being carried out in villages through the Sahelian Area Development Fund Programme; the training offers incentives and is supported by arrangements that permit some household tasks to be performed by others during those hours when women are attending the training courses. |
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