Conclusion

Because of women’s unequal access to resources in IFAD project areas in WCA, women have been identified as a priority target population. Moreover, in WCA women constitute a majority of those people involved in agricultural population, and they therefore play an important role in agricultural production. Having recognized the crucial role played by women in the WCA region, IFAD has found it expedient to target women in its projects and to attempt to integrate them fully in the development process. Women in rural areas of WCA are faced with a number of specific constraints that must be addressed if future project interventions are to target them successfully. These constraints include:

• The productive and reproductive role of women. As producers, women have an important role in agricultural production on their own land, as well as the land of their husbands. They are also responsible for a number of time- and effort-consuming tasks, including fetching water and fuel wood. Moreover, women also have their role as mothers and must carry out the household chores. All these duties add considerably to women’s time constraints, thus reducing the opportunities of women to participate in other activities, including projects that may be designed for their benefit.
• The insecurity of land tenure and unequal access to productive resources. The insecurity of women’s land tenure limits the ability of women to make productive investments, while lack of collateral is a severe impediment for women in obtaining credit and other inputs.
• Limited access to education and lack of participation in society. Illiteracy rates are high among women, and this limits their access to various services. Their poor education relative to men, along with cultural barriers, also means that women are underrepresented in community decision-making structures.

This review of projects implemented through the Africa I Division has demonstrated that it is not sufficient merely to state that men and women must have equal access to project activities. Women’s particular needs and constraints must be taken duly into account, and specific initiatives must be implemented specifically to address these needs and constraints.

In the past, women were often targeted through special women’s activities, although the integration of women in the overall development process was not necessarily addressed. More recent projects are tending to adopt a gender-mainstreaming strategy. In emphasizing gender, the approach recognizes the need to take account of existing socio-economic conditions, to acquire in-depth knowledge of the roles of men and women and to determine the needs of each before undertaking the design of projects. Targeting women means that projects must consider women’s time constraints and lighten women’s work burdens so as to assure their active participation in project activities.

A major lesson from this experience is that a participatory approach is essential in sensitizing populations, both women and men, since men may impede women’s participation if they are not aware of the advantages stemming from the participation of women in project activities. Moreover, local staff is often predominantly male, with little or no training in gender issues. This must change if women’s specific requirements are to be addressed. Projects must also include gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems in order to avoid gender-biased outcomes.

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