Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women Women, the engine of the World Daniela Bellucci Maria Edo Alessandro Romeo Miriam Ruscio

Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Women, the engine of the World

Daniela BellucciMaria Edo

Alessandro RomeoMiriam Ruscio


“Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”

the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

the ratio of literate women to men in the 15-to 24-year-old age group

the share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector

the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments

THE TARGET

“Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education

no later than 2015”

THE GOAL

An overview

The indicators


Sub-Saharan Africa: 54% will never enter primary school

70% of the world illiterate are women

Chronic hunger, lack of income education and nutrition is overwhelmingly a condition of women

¾ of world refugees are women

585.000 women – one every minute – die each year from pregnancy-related causes

An overview

….some examples

Statistics…

Girls to boys ratio in primary and

secondary education

Ratio of literate woman to men (15-24 group)

Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector (% of total

non agricultural employment)Proportion of seats held by woman in

national parliaments

East Asia & Pacific 99,1 ... 41 17,4

Europe & Central Asia 96,3 ... 48 12,9

Latin America & Caribbean 101,8 ... 46 18,6

Middle East & North Africa 92,4 ... 18 6,4

South Asia 87,5 ... 18 11,3

Sub-saharan Africa 85,6 ... ... 16,2

Average 93,78 ... 34,2 13,8

Gender Goal Indicators - By region

WORLD BANK DATA


Gender and the MDGs

70% of the poorest population is female

70% of the illiterate world is female

- Boys are favoured over girls in health care - High Infant Mortality Rate - education/income levels of mother

Women’s inability to make health-related decisions: cause of maternal mortality

61% of people living with HIV are women

““Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for

meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable

development and building good governance.” ”- Kofi Annan -

X X


Countries’ profile

UgandaSenegal

Benin

Burkina Faso

MalawiGhana

Poses innumerable challenges for modern economic development like: diseases, prolonged droughts, and distance from world markets

HISTORY

Three centuries of slave trade (1500-1800)

Another century of brutal colonial rule

In the 60´s most of the countries became independent

Sub-Saharan Africa became a puppet in the cold war

From the 60´s until these days sub- Saharan Africa has been in a poverty trap

POLITICS

Well-governed countries. However they failed to prosper

All of them are part of a democratic system of government.

GEOGRAPHY


Countries’ profileSTATISTICS

Ch

alla

ng

es

These macroeconomic gains aren’t translated into improved social indicators

Economic isolation and lack of basic infrastructure in rural households deepen the hunger, diseases and poverty

It is urgent to achieve more sustainable production systems and outlines incentives to protect the environment

Under-recognized potential of millions of women who play a dominant role in farming

2005 5%2006 5% 48,50 3% 27% 19%2007 5% 0,37 40%

2005 5%2006 5% 56,50 2% 41% 42%2007 5% 0,50

2005 6%2006 5% 50,00 4% 71% 31%2007 6% 0,51

2005 6%2006 6% 57,50 2% 66% 49% 28%2007 7% 0,55

2005 3%2006 4% 55,00 3% 33% 41% 40%2007 5% 0,44

2005 3% 54%2006 6% 40,50 2% 54% 18%2007 6% 0,44

2005 5%2006 5% 51,33 3% 49% 34%2007 6% 0,47

Burkina Faso

Malawi

Benin

PopulationGrowth

(% )

Senegal

Average

Life Expectancy

(years)HDI

GDP Growth

(% )

Poverty(% of

household)

Urbanpopulation(% of pop)

Literacyrate

(youth female 15-24)

Uganda

Ghana


Countries’ profileSTATISTICS: Gender Goal Indicators

Girls to boys ratio in primary and secondary education

Ratio of literate woman to men (15-24 group)

Share of women in wage employment in the non-

agricultural sector (% of total non agricultural employment)

Proportion of seats held by woman in

national parliaments

Burkina Faso 76,8 ... 15 11,7Senegal 89,6 ... ... 19,2Uganda ... ... ...Ghana 90,8 ... ... 10,9Benin 72,5 ... ... 7,2Malawi 97,90 ... 12 13,6Average 85,52 ... 13,5 12,52

WORLD BANK DATA


Project: General Overview

North-american NGO

Case study: Benin, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Senegal, Uganda, GhanaGoal:

Sustainable End of World

Hunger

“An epicenter is defined as a cluster of 10 to 15 villages within a 10km radius, with a population of approximately 10,000 people, that come together to meet basic needs.The centerpiece of the strategy is an L-shaped epicenter building that houses the community’s programs for health, education, food security and economic development. The community elects an overall epicenter committee and forms subcommittees to manage each program”.

Key features underpinning all their programmes:

Bottom Up Approach

Gender focused

Local DemocracyFunding

Individual voluntary donations

Methodology: Epicentre Strategy

African Women Food Farmer Initiative

http://www.thp.org/


AWFFI - AFRICAN WOMEN FOOD FARMER INTIATIVE -

Agriculture is the key to Sub-Saharan Africa progress

80% of the food is grown by women

10% of the credits are destined to women

AWFFI arises to fill in this vital missing link

1% of the land is own by women


AWFFI - AFRICAN WOMEN FOOD FARMER INTIATIVE -

THE GOALAWFFI economically empowers women through a program of credit, savings and training. Within five years, the women at the epicenter establish and run their own

government-recognized rural bank

The strategy

i. Prior to the creation of a women-led bank, AWFFI operates as a direct credit program:

Solidarity groups of 10-15 women. Income generating activities. Annual Rate of interest. No credit obligations elsewhere. Minimum savings required. Literacy classes. Daughters.

ii. Official Recognition of the Women Led Bank. Conditions:

Participation:

Savings

Training and Exams

Recognition

Milestone event. Signals the transition into self-reliance


Project StatusFinancial Data - 2007

AWFFI – Project Status

Recognized Banks

Scale up

CountryValue of

Loans Disbursed

Number ofLoans

Disbursed

Number of Partners Who

Received Loans

Average Loan Sizege

Cumulative RepaymentRate at End

Cumulativesavings

Benin $49,564 45 698 $71 91.14% $32,876

Burkina Faso $63,677 193 904 $70 84.07% $63,933

Ghana $41,576 58 544 $76 75.32% $20,708

Malawi $4,430 9 81 $55 77.71% $893

Senegal $3,700 4 29 $128 97.07% $59,579

Uganda $4,686 3 35 $134 97,00% $13,314

TOTAL $167,633 312 2291 $89 87.05% $191,303

Pilot project to scale upthe AWFFI

Country EpicenterDate of Official

Government Recognition

Avlamé December 2005Dekpo 39173

Nagréongo May 2002 Zincko May 2002 Loaga December 2004 Toulfé December 2004

Nongfaire December 2004Atuobikrom May 2005

Nsuta-Aweregya May 2005 Matsekope December 2006

Malawi Nsondole November 2005Mpal October 2000 Dahra September 2001 Coki December 2005

July 2004January 2006January 2007

Benin

Burkina Faso

Ghana

Senegal

UgandaWakiso Mpigi

Kiboga


AWFFI – SWOT Analysis

Capacity building Women empowerment Economic and environmental

sustainability Multisectorial Approach Transparency criteria through US

rating agencies

Strengths

No true replicability (preconditions) Overlapping with other agencies

and government activities Lack of “historical” data regarding

the project performance

Weaknesses

Scale up Positive externalities

Oppurtunities

Risk of instability Status quo in the land ownership

system Diseases Risk of climate disaster Food commodity prices recently

have soared. Pillaging could occurred against lands involved in the project

Threats

Recomendation: increase cooperation with other agencies to take advantage of all the project’s potential.


AWFFI and the MDG’s

Gender Equality

Women empowerment: it contributes to the 3rd Goal by empowering women who become economic and community leaders

EducationSpecial relationship (which in fact is its target!)

Training Literacy Daughters Informal education

All other MDGs

Gender: precondition for all goals


WHY AWFFI ?

Another microcredit project…. Why choose this one?

Principles that underpin the project make it powerful and sustainable:

Capacity building, environmental and economical sustainability, human empowerment…local people as agents of change

Sustainable and scalable

Respectful of the essential values underlying the MDGs

Inspired on a “development as freedom” approach

Involvement of private international investors in fair financing process


“Forget about China and India……

women are the next engine of growth!”

Conclusions

Or…

What future do you prefer?!

“There is no time to loose if we are to reach the MDGs by target date of 2015.

Only by investing in the world’s women can we expect to get there”


ReferencesLINKShttp://www.undp.org/women/http://web.worldbank.orghttp://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=UGA,Uganda&hm=homehttp://www.who.int/gender/en/http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_gender.htmwww.thp.orghttp://www.doingbusiness.org/features/women.aspx http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/CustomQuery

Books and Papers“Millennium Development Goals, a look through a gender lens”, UNDP National Reports, 2003”Seven women entrepreneurs”, Report from World Bank“The End of Poverty”, Jeffrey D. Sachs

Imageswww.idrc.ca/.../067-5/img/gender_pove_38_0.jpghttp://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol20no2/african-women.jpg

http://www.undp.org/women/

http://web.worldbank.org/

http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=UGA,Uganda&hm=home

http://www.who.int/gender/en/

Documents

Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women Women, the engine of the World Daniela Bellucci Maria Edo Alessandro Romeo Miriam Ruscio