By Helen Bradbury: Team Leader, Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme
We are in an interesting conundrum. Gender in most places has been written-in to law. Bar a few notable exceptions, every country in the world, has varying degrees of success in applying universal suffrage. Fifty countries are signed up to the CEDAW convention (the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women). On the CEDAW world map of Discrepant Government Behaviour Concerning Women, the countries shaded dark green which denotes ‘virtually no enforcement of laws consonant with CEDAW or such laws do not even exist’, are where you expect them to be and in fact they are relatively few. It is the next two categories which disturb, covering the vast majority of the globe, the mid and lighter green, where laws are partly or fully consonant with CEDAW but there is little effective enforcement or spotty enforcement of them and the issue is low priority or hit and miss. After the gains, the laws and ratifications of the last centuries it seems that we must tread very carefully indeed for we must counteract indifference, in which inertia and inactivity stop us moving forward.
In Britain in 1913 Emily Davison threw herself under the kings horse at the Epson Derby, women were in and out of prison under the cat and mouse act where they were let out to gain in strength after their relentless hunger striking and brutal force-feeding and then put back in again. They engaged in arson, attacked works of art. This was the fight for the vote for women in Britain, visible, violent and vehement. In 1928 they got franchaise equal to men. Whether you were fighting for or against, agreed or not, you cared, passionately.
Those of us who interest ourselves in activities concerning the development of equitable solutions to development problems, who are concerned with ensuring that both women and men benefit from strategies designed to impact the poor, have probably at some time in our dealings experienced a certain phenomenon. I was vastly reassured recently, if not slightly depressed, to see that even Hillary Clinton, one of the most powerful women in the world, had experienced it:
“I have been championing the rights of women and girls around the world and here at home for many years,” “and I got tired of seeing...foreign leaders, business executives, even senior officials in our own government...smile and nod when I raised these issues… ‘Oh right, I knew she was going to raise women and girls, I will just sit here and smile, it will pass, and then we’ll talk about really important things."
Hillary Clinton, Data2X Press Event, New York, January 12, 2015
Being Hillary Clinton probably guaranteed the smiles, in my dealings, in the course of programming and most notably with all levels of government, I have experienced some less sanguine reactions, but most often a shrug, an intake of breath, a glazing over, a good time to check the cell phone and a knowledge as she rightly points out that it will pass fairly soon, being as it is, as everyone has figured out, an add on. It is insidious in its passivity, there is no heat in the exchange as we are all of course in agreement, and the issue slips away, dissolves in inactivity.
How then do we keep it alive? How do we stop it being an add-on and counteract indifference? How do we make it real in a constructive way? How do we make sure it gets done?
Equitable solutions and women’s economic empowerment (WEE) which is what we work for on the ALCP, require hard work and they are difficult to do, but not because the means to achieve the solutions are complicated, they are in fact extremely simple, but they do require coordination, commitment, cooperation, and most of all persistence. Tools, procedures, operating mechanisms and strategy for ensuring women’s economic empowerment must be built in to the programme structure, adhered to and carried out every day as normal. They must be operationalized. The issue of indifference here noted in government could equally be applied to development. Not in ethos and intent, but in practice. In a recent literature review of measuring women’s economic empowerment, of the thirty projects reviewed only eleven had an indicator to measure the most basic of all WEE measurements; access to services. The primary recommendation in the review for projects to improve their WEE performance was to collect gender disaggregated data. This is just the bottom line.
We talk of complex issues, change pathways, negotiating ancient customs of how to measure agency over household income. Just doing the basics would be a great start and essential first step. Hillary Clinton is of course once more on the button with Data2X—a joint project, with the Clinton & Gates foundations, UN and others, to gather and start a gender data revolution, which will allow policymakers to recognize problems more clearly and create more informed policy. The first step is clear, we all know what to do, we just need to do it and keep doing it.
For more on operationalizing WEE in Alliances see: DCED Webinar Measuring Women's Economic Empowerment
Measuring Women's Economic Empowerment in Private Sector
Helen Bradbury is a development professional with a career spanning market system approaches to solving problems ranging from the welfare of working horses in Ethiopia to early economic recovery in post-tsunami Indonesia. She now manages Mercy Corps' flagship market systems development SDC funded Alliances programme in Georgia, and advises on M4P and women's economic empowerment. See www.aclp.ge for more details.
The participation of Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme at DCED Global Seminar was highly appreciated and named within the top 3 seasons of the event by the attended audience. The seminar on the Standards for Results Measurement was hosted by DCED in Bangkok from 14 to 16 March 2016.
Women's economic empowerment, assessing attribution, measuring job creation, and using results information to manage programmes – were the main topics of presentations and discussions featured on the seminar. 130 participants from 38 countries, representing 52 organizations, field programmes and donor agencies gathered for the information exchange, for deepening understanding of DCED standards and for participating in plenary discussions on cutting edge themes.
The full agenda, presentations with relevant links and final summary report are available on the following link: DCED Seminar2016
ALCP photo won in the photo competition on Private Sector Development announced by DCED. Photo is taken in programme financed Wool Collecting Center and it was listed among 5 winners in condition of high competition. Winning photo will be displayed on new DCED website, visited by more than 60,000 unique users per year, and materials printed for high-profile events and publications. It will also be shown at the DCED Global Seminal in Bangkok.
After months of intensive construction work and four and a half years of multi-stakeholder advocacy the first Bio Security Point on the AMR has been opened. By the next transhumance season spring 2016, the country will have proper infrastructure for ensuring systematic health control of the livestock in place.
The event was attended by the Regional Director for Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus, by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, the Head of the National Food Agency, the Governor and Gamgebelies of Kvemo Kartli region and the representatives of private and non-governmental sector. The event was widely covered by the national media.
Posted by Helen Bradbury: Team Leader, Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme
ALCP has been featured on BEAM Exchange. See the story below.
Rural farmers can only grow their income when they have access to the drugs and veterinary services to keep their animals healthy and growing too. Alliances has partnered with a national veterinary inputs supply company to improve access to drugs, information and vet services for poor farmers in rural Georgia. There are strong signs competitors are seeking to replicate the model, which is also scaling up nationally and in neighbouring countries.
The challenge
Over 2 million people in rural Georgia rely on subsistence farming, typically owning less than one hectare of land. SDC has been funding a series of programmes in Southern Georgia since 2008 to improve the livelihoods of livestock farmers.
During initial surveys, Alliances learned that less than 10 per cent of farmers were accessing veterinary drugs or services in their community, in rural vet pharmacies mainly self-stocked from trips to Tbilisi. Others bought drugs when travelling to the capital. In the rural vet pharmacies a limited range of often improperly stored drugs were sold at high prices due to the resultant transaction costs. Local advice was minimal, unavailable or out of date. This had led to a lack of farmer trust in local veterinary products and services and unwillingness to invest.
Suppliers had failed to grasp the market potential of developing rural distribution, lacking both the information and capital to do so. The uncertainty about whether farmers would buy their products meant the perceived risk held suppliers back from making the first move.
Last week, NFA officials met with 19 private sector representatives from dairy and meat sectors in Akhaltsikhe, continuing a series of the meetings held in KK and AJ on new FS&H regulations. Key issues, which could restrict market access, such as form #2 requirements in meat sector and HACCP for dairy sector, were discussed.
The heavy rain and strong wind in Ajara last week saw the DRRWG hotlines have been flooded with calls in Kobuleti, Khelvachauri, Keda, Shuakhevi and Khulo municipalities. From Wednesday morning till Saturday night (November 11th-14th), the Government of Ajara and all five municipalities declared a state of emergency and announced the DRR WG hotline number on Ajara TV and online for the farmers seeking help. Municipal DRR WG members, along with a geologist and a representative from the Road Department, formed emergency response groups in each municipality to immediately respond to calls.
