Women's Economic Empowerment

DEVELOPPEMENT ECONOMIQUE ET SOCIAL DES FEMMES A TRAVERS LES ENERGIES RENOUVELABLES AU SAHEL (SENEGAL, MALI ET NIGER) – DESFERS »

Ce rapport final de l’étude de base et cartographie des activités génératrices de revenue (AGR) dans le cadre du Projet «DEVELOPPEMENT ECONOMIQUE ET SOCIAL DES FEMMES A TRAVERS LES ENERGIES RENOUVELABLES AU SAHEL (SENEGAL, MALI ET NIGER) – DESFERS» reflète les informations recueillies et analysées au Mali, au Sénégal et au Niger. Il établit les éléments de base qui permettront de réaliser de manière adéquate le suivi du projet au niveau des résultats et objectifs.
Le répertoire et l’analyse financière des AGR féminines permet de déterminer le type d’AGR pouvant bénéficier d’un accès à l’énergie renouvelable dans le but d’améliorer leur production, productivité, efficacité de leur processus de transformation, systèmes de vente de leurs produits.
Les deux parties (répertoire et analyse) aident à identifier les AGR ayant des activités liées ou potentiellement liées à court et moyen terme, à l’utilisation et à la commercialisation des produits liés et/ou issus de l’énergie renouvelable.
Les informations recueillies mettent à jour également aussi bien les AGR qui utilisent ou peuvent utiliser l’énergie renouvelable ainsi que des actions préalables dont ont pu bénéficier les AGR et les membres des groupes d’épargne et crédit mutuel (EPC), comme les formations techniques, cours d’alphabétisation, développement de plan d’affaire, etc.). Read More...

Mawe Tatu Rapport Etude de Base

Cette étude évalue un programme de développement néerlandaise nommé "Mawe Tatu" (M3), qui vise à l’amélioration de la gestion économique des ménages; à la réduction de la violence basée sur le genre à travers des relations plus égales entre femmes et hommes ; et à la réalisation de comportements de santé sexuelle et reproductive plus sains dans huit territoires dans les provinces du Sud et du Nord Kivu de la RDC. Le programme Mawe Tatu combine pour la première fois une approche de micro finance pour accroître la participation des femmes dans l'économie des ménage avec des interventions favorisant l'égalité entre les sexes à travers la
réduction de la violence basée sur le genre et l'amélioration des droits de santé sexuelle et reproductive des femmes. L’étude examinera les changements dans la participation économique des femmes, la prévalence de la violence basée sur le genre, et la prise de conscience des droits sexuels et reproductifs Read More...

Mawe Tatu English Summary of Endline Evaluation

This summary presents key findings of the endline study contucted to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Mawe Tatu" (M3) program in North and South Kivu Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The M3 project was implemented to improve the household economy of vulnerable groups, to reduce gender-based violence through improving equity in gender relations; and to improve sexual and reproductive health among women, men, and youth.
Guiding questions included:
1. Did the household economy, and the socio-economic situation of women improve as a result of the introduction of VSLAs?
2. Did men get successfully engaged to support women’s economic autonomy, to reduce gender-based violence, and to support women in their decisions about their sexual and reproductive health?
3. Were young women and men empowered to take healthy decisions for their sexual and reproductive life?

Full evaluation (in French) here: http://www.careevaluations.org/evaluation/mawe-tatu-evaluation-finale-phase-i-et-etude-de-base-partielle-phase-ii/ Read More...

MAWE TATU Évaluation Finale Phase I et Étude de base partielle phase II

Ce rapport est le livrable final de l’évaluation finale phase I du projet Mawe Tatu et l’étude de base phase II du projet.
Pour rappel, Mawe Tatu est un projet financé par le gouvernement néerlandais (de Décembre 2015 à Mai 2019) et mis en oeuvre dans les provinces du Nord-Kivu et du Sud-Kivu. L’objectif général du programme est que, d’ici 2019, les femmes, les hommes et les jeunes (hommes et femmes) des cinq territoires concernés du Nord-Kivu et du Sud-Kivu deviennent des acteurs clés dans la promotion de relations plus égales entre hommes et femmes qui empêchent les VBG(Violences basées sur le genre), favorisent une meilleure gestion économique des ménages et des comportements plus sains en matière de santé sexuelle et reproductive (tels que la planification familiale, dans une perspective trans-générationnelle).
Trois résultats contribuent à atteindre cet objectif :
• 23 900 femmes, organisées en associations villageoises d'épargne et de crédit (AVEC) et en réseaux AVEC (RAVEC), améliorent leur statut social et économique et influencent la promotion et l'application de leurs droits,
• 10 000 hommes adoptent des attitudes et des comportements qui contribuent à améliorer les relations de pouvoir et à réduire la violence sexiste,
• 24 655 filles et garçons développent des relations saines et travaillent ensemble pour promouvoir l'égalité des sexes.
Les responsabilités des organisations sont liées aux trois résultats du projet et sont définies comme suit :
• CARE Nederland était responsable de la gestion des contrats et du contrôle de la qualité
• ADJ était responsable du résultat 1 relatif à l’autonomisation des femmes,
• COMEN était responsable du résultat 2 et de la partie du résultat 3, centrée sur les hommes et les garçons s'engageant dans une masculinité positive et luttant contre la violence sexiste.
• CARE RDC était responsable de la partie du résultat 3, axée sur l’éducation sexuelle complète (CSE), et
• Swiss TPH en charge du suivi et de l'évaluation ainsi que de la recherche opérationnelle Read More...

Women’s Economic Empowerment through Gender Transformative Approaches – Evidence from CARE’s Experience in Middle East & North Africa

CARE defines women’s economic empowerment (WEE) as the process by which women increase their right to economic resources and the power to make decisions that benefit themselves, their families and their communities. Our Theory of Change (as discussed in CARE’s WEE Strategy Document) outlines three conditions necessary for genuine and sustainable economic empowerment for women: increased capabilities, decision-making power and an enabling environment. An integrated approach across all three conditions is required to achieve genuine and sustainable change. Increasing individual women’s capabilities can lead to temporary increases in their economic opportunities and income. However, women’s economic empowerment can only be achieved through also transforming unequal power relations and discriminatory structures.

This Learning Brief is created to provide practical learning and present existing tools applied by CARE Country Offices (COs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to encourage a more gender transformative approach to WEE and livelihood programming. This is highly relevant for practicioners from the whole sector working on economic empowerment and livelihood porgramming in fragile settings anywhere in the world. This document can aid a better understanding of gender transformative concepts by livelihood staff, as well as better understanding of the principles of sound economic empowerment by gender staff. This Learning Brief contains many practical insights and allows practicioners to understand how theory and frameworks can have an impact on the actual programming and results on the ground. The Hub encourages teams and practicioners to use this Brief, and the different overviews and examples provided, to reflect on their own work on gender integration, and take steps to move beyond gender responsive programming towards a truly transformative approach for our impact groups.

Learning insights incorporated in the document are based on the learning accumulated by CARE MENA Country Offices (COs) in the last five years under our women’s economic empowerment/livelihood programming. It focuses on two main components of WEE gender transformative programming: economic advancement and gender equality, along with approaches related to engaging men and boys. The evidence of these lessons learned is based on: 1) revision of documentation of more than 12 long term and short term WEE/livelihood programs implemented by CARE in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, West Bank & Gaza, Caucasus and the Balkans, 2) interviews with key informants including gender champions from these COs along with other global CARE gender experts who collectively searched for answers to questions in the themes of gender transformative approaches in WEE programming. Read More...

Strengthening Rural Development Models in Georgia (ENPARD II) Midterm Evaluation

Strengthening Rural Development Models in Georgia seeks to build on the success found by Mercy Corps, CARE and People in Need as they introduced the LEADER model for rural development to the municipalities of Borjomi, Lagodekhi and Kazbegi. In addition to continuing to implement this community-led local development approach, they were tasked with providing more national-level support for other Georgian LEADER implementations with the support of ELARD, a Europe-based not for profit organisation.

A series of interviews and focus groups held with beneficiaries, implementing agencies and other stakeholders provided a very positive picture of the impact being delivered by the LEADER model in these three municipalities, particularly in terms of increased engagement with local governance, community cohesion and economic participation.

Results further suggested that the growing presence LEADER in Georgia’s rural municipalities was positively moving Georgian rural governance in the direction envisioned by the Georgian Government and the Delegation of the European Union, that is, towards a state of alignment with the European Common Agricultural Policy.

The main difficulty identified is that Georgian Government policy looking forward appears to be wavering with regards to its commitment to the LEADER model, despite the levels of investment provided by the EU. Read More...

Pilote d’Apprentissage sur la réplication des AVEC (VSLA multiplier Learning Pilot)

Pour mieux comprendre l’effet multiplicateur des modèles de réplication de FaFa Wa, une proposition pilote d’apprentissage a été soumis au fond flexible des départements Programs et Operations Internationales (IPO) et Programme pour le Partenariat et l’Apprentissage (Program Partnerships and Learning : PPL) et a obtenu un avis favorable.

Ce pilote d’apprentissage a pour but de comprendre :
1. L ‘ampleur (%) de l’effet multiplicateur des FaFa Wa sur la composition des groupes et les résultats découlant de la participation des VSLA après la fin des projets ;
2. La performance de groupements après la fin des projets (positive ou négative) ;
3. L’effet multiplicateur du modèle de réplication de l’initiative ‘’Bombe des Catalyseurs’’ sur la composition des groupes, et les résultats découlant de la participation des FaFa Wa.
Read More...

Women’s economic empowerment in emergency contexts: Niger case study

While discussion of the ‘Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus’ continues within the sector, there remains debate as to whether women’s economic empowerment is a luxury, or even feasible in humanitarian contexts where the priority is to keep people alive. Increasingly, however, humanitarians are seeing interventions aimed at women’s economic empowerment in emergency contexts as a key tool to increase protection and support people in crises to live in dignity. CARE set out to analyse whether financial inclusion strategies like community-led savings groups may in fact represent a way to not only respond to crises, but also to build resilience against them, even in highly fluid contexts.

In June 2018, CARE teams conducted fieldwork in two areas where it is implementing ongoing humanitarian interventions. CARE organised focus groups and interviews with communities and individuals in Diffa and Konni where it has delivered humanitarian assistance. The interventions combined blanket cash distributions, and the establishment of savings and credit groups which also provided women with life skills and business training to set up small businesses.

Within a crisis setting, combining a savings group structure including income generation support with humanitarian assistance such as food and non-food items (NFIs) helped women not only to meet basic needs in a more sustainable way, but also improved their independent access to and control over money.

During emergencies, providing women with humanitarian cash to cover basic needs allowed women in savings groups to continue saving and to invest in income generating activities (IGA), rather than using up capital on food.

If crises continue to hit, the positive impact of savings groups set up in emergencies can become strained. In this case, further cash interventions can preserve small businesses.

Membership of savings groups and receipt of IGAs and life skills training increased women’s income and confidence. Membership of a savings group provides psychosocial benefits to women who are suffering anxiety, depression or trauma by providing a social network that meets and talks regularly. Read More...

Kore Lavi Safety Net Beneficiary Resilience Assessment

As part of its mandate, the Kore Lavi program has developed and established a food voucher-based social safety net model for the poorest households in conjunction with the Haitian Government – through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST). This Resilience Assessment contributes to a stronger understanding of the current food security and resilience situations of the most vulnerable program beneficiaries.

Based upon the data collected, the social safety net members – which is considered as the study sampling universe – are mainly affected by Illness, death and drought, respectively. The experiences shared by the respondents also revealed that they often face several types of shocks and stressors simultaneously.

The food voucher had a very positive impact and helped a lot during each key moment: before the shock or stressor affected the respondent, immediately after, sometime after and now. In the different stories that were shared, a certain number of respondents mentioned that they have no other means to ensure their food security - other than the Kore Lavi food vouchers. With regard to the food vouchers indirect contribution, it is important to highlight that 59% of
respondents used the money they saved to pay school fees and 28% to pay medical fees. 36% save it in their Village Saving and Loans Association (VSLA). Yet, there is also an emerging group that used the money to invest in agricultural endeavors and start-up income generating activities.

When comparing the three main types of assets (personal, social and physical-financial resources), it could be observed that especially vulnerable respondents tended to rely on social resources. Generally, the respondents used more negative coping mechanisms that compromise their food security like eating less or less preferred meals per day (58%), reducing expenditures related to household needs (32%), producing charcoal (33%), reducing agriculture production area (20%) and livestock (19%) or selling assets.

The study identified that 22% of VSLA members followed resilient pathways versus 16% of non VSLA respondents. In almost all the signifier questions, there were found small differences between both groups, but not as much as it was initially expected by the Kore Lavi team. Read More...

Kore Lavi Title II Program Haiti – Midterm Evaluation

This reports presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations related to the Kore Lavi mid-term evaluation.

DESCRIPTION OF KORE LAVI. Kore Lavi’s Theory of Change holds that positive and lasting transformation must happen within interrelated domains: (1) where the effective social safety net programming and complementary services reach the most vulnerable populations and protect their access to food while building self-reliance; (2) that achieve breadth and depth in behavior and social change needed to tackle under-nutrition among vulnerable women and children; and (3) that institutionalize accountability, transparency and quality of delivery for mutually reinforcing social protection programs under the leadership of MAST.

EVALUATION METHODOLOGY. The evaluation employed three data collection methodologies: document review, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions.

PRIMARY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.
At the time of the MTE, Kore Lavi had completed data collection in 16 communes demonstrating the ability to adapt and innovate to address the initial data quality problems that existed at the beginning of the program.

In terms of its implementation on the ground, the food voucher scheme is operating well in identifying voucher recipients and enrolling them in the program, distributing food to beneficiaries via paper or electronic vouchers, recruiting and managing the network of collaborating vendors, enforcing policies governing the scheme and overseeing operations. Food received by beneficiary households from both paper and electronic vouchers is inevitably shared with non-household members, including neighbors and even strangers. The VSLA scheme has effectively provided a mechanism by which large numbers of vulnerable women and men living in program communities can save and access small loans at reasonable interest rates to invest in their businesses or children’s education or for other purposes.

SO3 social behavioral change communications interventions are, on the whole, well designed and well implemented. Care Groups, moreover, appear to be an effective methodology for mobilizing women and communicating critical SBCC messages. Community health agents and Lead Mothers play a critical role in SO3 activities. While they are, for the most part, doing a good job and are satisfied with their roles, they also have a number of legitimate concerns related to the lack of monetary compensation and reimbursement for expenses incurred. The program has done a good job identifying and reaching the targeted women and infants.

Kore Lavi has taken a holistic approach to gender integration from design to implementation and has made a conscious and good faith effort to integrate gender considerations in each of the four program SOs.

Kore Lavi has prioritized information management and has demonstrated a clear institutional interest in improving knowledge and learning.

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