Women, the engine of the World

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

2. THE TARGET “Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015” The indicators An overview “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women” THE GOAL • 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 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

3. WORLD BANK DATA An overview Statistics… ….some examples • 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 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

4. ““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 - 70% of the poorest population is female 61% of people living with HIV are women Women’s inability to make health-related decisions: cause of maternal mortality 70% of the illiterate world is female - Boys are favoured over girls in health care - High Infant Mortality Rate - education/income levels of mother X X Gender and the MDGs Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

5. 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 Countries’ profile GEOGRAPHY Burkina Faso Senegal Uganda Benin Ghana Malawi POLITICS Well-governed countries. However they failed to prosper All of them are part of a democratic system of government. Poses innumerable challenges for modern economic development like: diseases, prolonged droughts, and distance from world markets Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

6. STATISTICS • 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 Challanges Countries’ profile Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

7. STATISTICS: Gender Goal Indicators Countries’ profile WORLD BANK DATA Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

8. Key features underpinning all their programmes: • Bottom Up Approach • Gender focused • Local Democracy • Funding • Individual voluntary donations Methodology: Epicentre Strategy • “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”. Project: General Overview North-american NGO Goal: Sustainable End of World Hunger Case study: Benin, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Senegal, Uganda, Ghana • AfricanWomenFoodFarmerInitiative Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

9. AWFFI arises to fill in this vital missing link AWFFI - AFRICAN WOMEN FOOD FARMER INTIATIVE - • Agriculture is the key to Sub-Saharan Africa progress • 80% of the food is grown by women • 1% of the land is own by women • 10% of the credits are destined to women Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

10. THE GOAL AWFFI 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 • 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 AWFFI - AFRICAN WOMEN FOOD FARMER INTIATIVE - Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

11. Scale up Recognized Banks AWFFI –Project Status Project Status Financial Data - 2007 Pilot project to scale up the AWFFI Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

12. AWFFI –SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses • Capacity building • Women empowerment • Economic and environmental sustainability • Multisectorial Approach • Transparency criteria through US rating agencies • No true replicability (preconditions) • Overlapping with other agencies and government activities • Lack of “historical” data regarding the project performance Oppurtunities Threats • 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 • Scale up • Positive externalities Recomendation: increase cooperation with other agencies to take advantage of all the project’s potential. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

13. Gender: precondition for all goals AWFFI and the MDG’s Gender Equality Women empowerment: it contributes to the 3rd Goal by empowering women who become economic and community leaders • Education • Special relationship (which in fact is its target!) • Training • Literacy • Daughters • Informal education All other MDGs Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

14. 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 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

15. Conclusions “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” What future do you prefer?! Or… “Forget about China and India…… women are the next engine of growth!” Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

16. References LINKS 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/ http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_gender.htm www.thp.org http://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 Images www.idrc.ca/.../067-5/img/gender_pove_38_0.jpg http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol20no2/african-women.jpg Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women