10.032016

Gender-focused, community-led development in rural Africa: The Hunger Project’s Epicenter Strategy

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The Hunger Project is a global, non-profit organisation committed to the sustainable end to world hunger. For the last twenty years, they have been supporting the implementation of the African created and led Epicentre Strategy, which has proven to be an effective, affordable, and replicable strategy that has helped mobilise nearly 2000 communities into 123 community hubs known as ‘epicentres’. Around 1.6 million Africans are estimated to have benefited from the strategy, and in 2014 alone, nearly 46,000 people were trained in nutrition, more than 850,000 kilos of food was stored, and 3,665 children enrolled in epicentre-based schools. This brief published by The Hunger Project outlines the Epicentre Strategy, draws on experience to provide lessons learned, and advocate the wider importance of community inclusion and women’s empowerment in sustainable development.

 

The opening section of the brief describes what the Epicentre Strategy consists of, namely four distinct phases: the mobilisation of communities through workshops, and the establishment of networks between communities, and inclusive of local government; the community-led construction of an L-shaped epicentre building, complete with food bank, meeting hall, public latrines, clean water, and a health centre; the commencement of work to address the needs of the community in health and nutrition, education, food security, microfinance, women’s empowerment, advocacy and alliance building, and the environment; and lastly, a two-year transition period where monitoring remains in  place, but the centre is facilitated in becoming self-sufficient and sustainable.

 

A case study is presented in the words of Dina Amartey, who joined The Hunger Project’s women’s empowerment programme and went on to become a trained animator in Ghana. Dina benefitted hugely from the meetings and activities, learning how to be more independent, and developing a vision. The brief goes on to discuss the work of The Hunger Project in empowering communities in: the leveraging of the resources of local government; sustainable food and nutrition security; education and adult literacy; health and disease prevention; water, sanitation, and hygiene; enterprise and youth development; establishing global partnerships; and measuring...

10.032016

Literacy and education for sustainable development and women’s empowerment

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That women comprise two-thirds of the world’s non-literate population has been a matter of concern for the development sectors for decades. Despite a number of high-profile literacy initiatives and interventions, the gender disparity is persisting in many countries, leading UNESCO to publish this report examining the ways in which literacy is approached with regard to development. The guiding assumption of the report is that only by looking in depth at the processes of literacy learning and development practice can we start to address the challenge of narrowing the gender gap in literacy attainment.

 

Traditionally, educational policy-makers and planners have focused on literacy access and outcome, while researchers have directed attention to measuring social and economic benefits. Meanwhile, there has been a lack of focus on the social processes associated with literacy learning and development. This report sets out to take a wider lens on literacy, to include a more nuanced examination of how and why literacy programmes can contribute to sustainable development, and processes of women’s empowerment.

 

The authors begin by mapping the conceptual field of sustainable development, providing a short history of the concept from its introduction by the World Commission on Environment and Development in its 1987 report. The role of education within sustainable development is discussed, including the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014) initiative. The report then discusses women’s empowerment, including in the contexts of formal and informal learning approaches, and raises issues regarding the limitations of planned development interventions.

 

The authors then focus on the implications of taking a sustainable development and women’s empowerment approach to adult literacy and learning, before reviewing trends in policy and programming. The report notes a shift from functional aims regarding literacy, such as teaching women basic literacy to understand specific development goals such as sanitation, maternal/child health, and nutrition, toward a more politicised rights-based approach that directly challenges gender relations and roles. Finally, the report reviews a wide range of adult literacy programmes through a gendered Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) lens that uses what the authors call the ‘three pillars’ of ESD: economic growth, social equality, and environmental sustainability. Programmes are grouped and analysed according to which of the three pillars is the primary objective, though the authors note programmes should, and often do, combine at least two of the three, and are preferably as cross-cutting as possible.

 

The paper concludes with recommendations and action points concerning four key areas that can, if addressed, help to ensure that literacy programmes can respond to sustainable development goals, and that education for sustainability takes a transformative approach to women’s empowerment:

 

  • Literacy policy should build on and strengthen the interconnections between the three pillars of sustainable development by developing a more holistic, cross-sectoral, and empowerment-centred approach. Suggested action points include the planning and evaluating of adult literacy programmes through the framework of ESD by governments and international agencies, and for programme staff and education policy-makers to expand collaboration across sectors.
  • A wider range of research evidence is required to inform policy-making and planning: international development agencies need to build research capacity in partner organisations; policy-makers should promote participatory approaches, at national and local levels, that include poor women and girls; and literacy teachers and programme staff should be trained to conduct research so that they can continuously reflect, learn, and teach.
  • There is an urgent need for education-focused sustainable development to incorporate a gender dimension, and promote a transformative approach to women’s empowerment. Participants in ESD debates must ensure that a gendered analysis of literacy, and a holistic, transformative approach to women’s empowerment, informs future ESD goals and strategies. Such an approach must recognise both formal and informal sectors as agents of change, and be supported through capacity-building in gender awareness and planning.
  • The post-2015 Education for All goals must explicitly recognise the importance of literacy to sustainable development and women’s empowerment. All participants at the conference must advocate for a stronger commitment to adult literacy within the goals. Additionally, governments and international agencies should increase funding for adult literacy, and mobilise the private sector in partnerships with national adult literacy programmes to increase both funding and...
10.032016

Technical seminar on measuring rural women’s empowerment: key issues and challenges

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Global success for policy actions on poverty reduction have been patchy over the last 15 years; East and South Asia have seen significant advances, but in other regions the story is different, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa where poverty has actually deepened. Facts and figures are abundant in detailing various impacts of such poverty, but consistent data availability and reliability is a huge problem, with universal limitations as well as context-specific challenges. In preparation for a 2015 UN Women technical seminar in Milan on measuring rural women’s empowerment, CeSPI drafted this issue’s paper to explore the specific issues and challenges associated with data gathering in the context of rural women, from design, to implementation, and analysis.

 

The draft defines and conceptualises women’s empowerment through a literature review, before explaining the strategic importance of rural women’s empowerment, and discussing the challenge of making proper measurements and indices. On this last point, the authors talk about the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of gender and development related indices produced by different international agencies, and note that all suffer from a lack of data availability. Lastly, the implications and limitations of the measurement of social institutions are covered, from family to government, with striking commonalities highlighted across all regions and cultures.

 

The paper then picks out ten key considerations from the topics discussed that are important to keep in mind when continuing the debate on proper measurement regarding rural women’s empowerment:

 

  • It is important not to lose sight of the conceptual level in a preoccupation with measuring trends and impact; definition, conceptualisation, and measurement must all be clearly related, understandable, and accessible.
  • Data availability and quality varies greatly around the world, which is a particular problem in developing countries with limited capacities. Such data cannot be considered comprehensive, nor complete.
  • Multiple, complementary measurements should be used when describing something as complex as women’s empowerment. Trade-offs are inevitable, and it is reasonable to limit investigations so long as these parameters are clearly communicated.
  • Data collection is expensive yet invaluable to policy makers, so it is important to make indicators count, to stand for something important, to be time- and place-relevant, and accessible to measurement, and for data to be accessible to as many people as possible to foster innovation and participation.
  • Research should be encouraged to go beyond the micro-macro and quantitative-qualitative paradigms, and experiment with different combinations of research methods and sources, including new opportunities opened by coming data revolution.
  • As many countries and actors as possible need to join in innovation programmes on statistics and data collection, at every level of society, and disaggregated by gender and socioeconomic factors.
  • Smallholder farmers, the majority of whom worldwide are women, must be recognised for, and empowered in, their eco-service provision, yet data collection in rural areas is difficult, complex, and lacking.
  • The debate on the post-2015 development agenda links women’s empowerment to food security and nutrition, recognising the multiple vulnerabilities and proposing transformative goals that address gender inequality and discriminatory social norms; a dual-track of mainstreaming a specific goal concerning gender equality throughout all other goals is required.
  • The last decade has seen a number of frameworks, indicators, and research methods employed, with many strengths and weaknesses identified; these can act as inspiration for enhancement and debate.
  • Finally, the authors recommend that the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) and its sub-indices represent an excellent starting point to measure the interaction between social institutions and women’s empowerment, as it reflects the root-cause societal practices and legal norms perpetuating gender inequalities.

 

It is hoped that these considerations can help inform what remains the key question for discussion at the seminar in Milan: how to practically improve the measurement of rural women’s empowerment in the short- and long-term, at national...

10.032016

Micro-credit as a strategy for poverty alleviation among women entrepreneurs in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

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All over the world, poor people are routinely excluded from the formal finance system, ranging from full exclusion in developing countries, to partial exclusion even in developed countries. This fact contributes to making poverty a major development challenge, with one often touted solution being that of providing access to micro-loans. Research has continued to report mixed findings on the effects of microfinance factors on poverty alleviation. However, the increased involvement of women entrepreneurs in the major markets in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, in the activities of microfinance banks, NGOs, associations, cooperatives, rotating savings groups, self-help groups, and savings mobilisation groups (or adashi) suggests that further investigations on the relationship between microfinance factors and poverty alleviation should be conducted.

 

That is the aim of this study, which was carried out to identify and assess the relationship between microcredit, and self-employment, education, training and skills acquisition, and economic empowerment in a Nigerian context. It begins by contextualising the needs and challenges of women entrepreneurs, and outlining the microfinance environment. Next, the methodology of the study is explained, which includes the adoption of a survey-based research design, a systematic sampling technique to select the elements that completed the research questionnaire, and a regression statistical method, employed to analyse the data collected from the 343 selected respondents of women entrepreneurs.

 

The null hypotheses tested were that micro-credit: has no significant effect on the self-employment of women entrepreneurs; is not positively related to the education, training and skills acquisition of women entrepreneurs; and has no significant positive effect on the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs. Through literature review, the authors define and discuss the nature of micro-credit, and how it relates to women entrepreneurs, poverty and poverty alleviation, self-employment, and education, training and skills, and economic...

10.032016

The Raising Her Voice global programme

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Oxfam’s Raising Her Voice (RHV) programme is predicated on the alarming inequalities women systemically face around the world. On average, women earn less than half of men, while women account for roughly two-thirds of those who cannot read or write globally. Seeking to address these inequalities and empower women, RHV focuses on long-term and collaborative processes to attain social transformation.

This case study examines the programme as a whole, explaining the feminist theory of change underpinning RHV as including three broad spheres: personal, political, and social, all of which influence women’s opportunities to participate in governance. These areas, once identified and understood, can then be changed in order to strengthen women’s voices. The RHV programme itself focuses on four main areas: enabling poor and marginalised women activists to network and advocate; working with public institutions, including traditional structures; empowering civil society organisations to achieve poor women’s rights as citizens; and disseminating lessons and good practice.

The various aspects involved in these areas are discussed, before wider lessons on the potential benefits of a global programme approach are presented in the conclusion. These include: more effective and manageable disbursement of funds; the potential for ‘cross-fertilisation’ of ideas and lessons; enhanced motivation via being part of a global project; and more direct links between global advisers and local country staff. There are also disadvantages though, one of which is that the common denominator, in this particular case Oxfam, can take away some of the focus that should possibly be aimed at being context specific and...

10.032016

The internet and the Nigerian woman: a case of female undergraduates

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The last decade has seen an information revolution not just in Nigeria, but around the world. The internet is connecting individuals, groups, organisations, and states like never before. Activists, advocates and sub-cultures have all embraced the communicative power of the world wide web to connect, organise, educate, entertain, and empower. However, despite the countless benefits, there are significant challenges concerning Internet access and use for many people, particularly women. It can even impact university students, such as the female students at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria.

This paper examines Internet access and use among female undergraduates at the university, through the use of surveys completed by the students. The findings show that the university computer centre is the predominant Internet access point among the respondents. In terms of how it is used, research ranked first, while financial constraints were the major challenge to access and use the Internet. Respondents found women-related websites useful, but most do not post or contribute material or information on the web. Their interaction with the web instead involves mostly downloading.

The study concludes that Internet access and use among female students, and women in general, would be greatly enhanced if women’s organisations concentrated on addressing the challenges identified in this study; namely the financial cost, and women’s confidence and capacity to interact and produce content. Attention should be paid to students in particular, who have the educational capabilities and potential to impact women empowerment efforts online....