REPORT ON RURAL WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

1. REPORT ON RURAL WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2013

2. STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION • Introduction • Objectives • Structure of the Rural Women’s Development Programme • Summit: Successes, Challenges, and Recommendations • Implementation of Summit Recommendations – focuses on concrete actions to be taken ; including participation at relevant regional, continental and international fora • Project-related Challenges • Way Forward

3. INTRODUCTION • In line with Government’s priority on rural development, the DWCPD embarked on a rural women’s development program that included summits and advocacy programs. • The focus of the initiative is on expanding opportunities for rural women

4. The Rural Women’s Development Programme OBJECTIVES • Conduct a series of consultations with rural women and women-owned organizations that will give voice to their issues so that they can be urgently and effectively addressed; • Guide and inform mainstreaming for rural women’s holistic development as well as gender equality at all three levels of government; • Facilitate the acquisition of first hand information by conducting site visits to farms owned or run by women; • Provide an opportunity for decision-makers, implementers and policy makers in Government to listen and use the information to find ways to expedite addressing issues identified; • Take note of efforts made by rural women in terms of income generation and self reliance, and the challenges, faced and look at addressing those that result in closure of businesses, working capital and infrastructure or inadequate exposure and know-how to access marketing and further-processing opportunities, etc • Provide core issues to incorporate and find solutions within relevant legislations and policies such as the Green Paper on Rural Development; the Green Paper on Land Reform, Traditional Courts Bill, Strategy by Agriculture on projects and funding and the Draft Strategy for Rural Women’s Development by DWCPD

5. Structure of the Rural Women’s Development Programme 1. Consultation Summits-focused on: Successes, Challenges, and Recommendations • SUMMIT SUCCESSES • Summits held as follows: 13-14 May 2011 at Karibu Lodge, Mopani District Municipality; 13 August 2011 at Gonubie Hotel; 20 November 2011 at Ugu Discrict Municipality in Port Shepstone ( addressed by the President Zuma and included Widows and Domestic Workers) and 12-13 December 2011 at the Port St Johns Municipality Offices (World Rural Women’s Day) • Broad Participation and Interaction at the summits leading to networking opportunities – delegates from all nine provinces from women political principals, government officials, members of the NGM, Developmental Partners such as UN Women, UNFPA, UNDP, UNAID, ILO, IDT, Traditional Leaders, civil society organisations (CSO), the private sector and NGOs representing among others the following organisations, BWASA; DPSA; YARD; WARD; SAWID; Widowed Women SA; LAMOSA; PWMSA; Landless People’s Movement; Rape crisis and many more. • Promotion of government programmes on education and training, access to markets, funding opportunities and the One Home One garden, including the distribution of agricultural implements such as jojo water tanks, wheelbarrows, seedlings that were distributed at the summit. • Celebration of social advocacy campaigns such as the World Rural Women’s Day

6. SUMMIT: CHALLENGES, SUCCESSES AND PROJECTS • Inheritance is still a problem as most women lack knowledge of the laws of inheritance, Dispossession of property and ukungenwa are still being practiced. • Inadequate or no access to land, nor do they have sufficient control and decision-making in this regard; • Women have established cooperatives which are not able to expand to value addition due to inadequate access to resources and business practices; • Funding for operation, working capital and infrastructure; and no water for both household use and agricultural development; • Low levels of skills, literacy (documents in English) and inappropriate labor practices; • Technical knowledge in completing forms and signing contracts with institutions • Decay of the social fabric leading to crime-children abusing drugs and alcohol. • Underutilization or unsustainable use of natural resources-including unexploited opportunities in agriculture, tourism and mining; • Destruction of infrastructure by natural disasters leave them vulnerable, especially projects by women with disabilities; • Safety and security of their children when they are out to work-need ECDs; and • Stock theft; corrupt officials and access to markets for their products;

7. CHALLENGES CONT… • Need a programme that will address farm workers and farm dwellers such as settlement for them to get a roof over their heads as well as issues of human rights; • No effective monitoring and evaluation of programmes in place and no reporting as a result the government is seen to be doing nothing; • Lack of research and development; and • In some provinces, mining took all the land and women don’t own mines and land as well-what of exploring ownership of disused mines? • CHALLENGES FACED BY WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: • They are not treated like other people in the society they live in and whatever they present is questioned along with their disabilities; • How could people with disabilities reach other people when these people don’t know sign language? Website do not talk, how does a visually impaired person get into the website? • Those who are coming to assist take their knowledge and enrich themselves; • The department is requested to educate people that women with disabilities are women, farmers, mothers and they must remove ”dis” when working with them; and • People with disabilities need freedom as citizens of the country and want to be given a chance to show that they can.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE SUMMITS Measures for implementation in support for women’s projects as proposed by the summits: • Draw a Memorandum of Understanding with Departments such as DRDLR, DAFF, DAC, Dti to agree on how to support women’s projects; • The DWCPD with relevant departments to develop support programmes for the projects that need urgent attention; • The DWCPD and relevant Departments to come up with measures to support women’s projects in the short term and long term according to each project’s needs e.g. skills development to have a good quality produce can be short time support; • Putting up monitoring and evaluation system for women’s projects so that any challenge is identified and addressed on time; and • Host similar summits in Provinces to get a bigger picture of the challenges that women experience.

9. IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS (I) Draw a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Departments such as DRDLR, DAFF, DAC, Dti to agree on how to support women’s projects: • MOU with Department of Rural Development and Land Reform drawn up and finalised in November 2012. Agreement reached on how to support women’s projects as follows: • A management steering committee to be formed between the two departments. This process is currently in progress • Sub-committees will be thereafter established for various projects and programmes together with specific implementation plans • MOUs with DAFF, Dti, National Development Agency and DAC, among others have been drafted and submitted to the departments for finalisation. This process is currently underway.

10. IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS (ii) The DWCPD support programmes for projects that need urgent attention: • Rural women-owned projects (new and resuscitation) with the IDC and other Departments such as the Dti, DAFF and UN Development Partners. • Rural women coops for brick-making and construction projects in Gombani village (Limpopo) and Caquba village, Port St Johns (Eastern Cape). Gombani have already built 6 houses for members of the cooperative and have gone into partnership with the Local Municipality that is building 22 RDP houses and are purchasing bricks from the Coop. • Facilitated the purchase of a brick-making machine by the Provincial Department of Human Settlements to build a resource centre which can serve as a multi-purpose centre and provide various services for women and children who experience abuse. The resource centre will also serve as a facility for training for the manufacturing of sanitary towels. The project has been delayed due to the Municipality not being able to provide water and electricity for the project. • Continued exposure for rural women in conferences such as the UNCSW; Trade fairs in Africa; • Legislative Framework: Ongoing advocacy and mainstreaming in different Departmental legislation and policy development by DRDLR, Traditional Courts Bill, to ensure that rights of women and access to resources are protected.

11. IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS (iii) The DWCPD to come up with measures to support women’s projects in the short and long term according to each project’s needs e.g. skills development for a good quality product: • In partnership with DAFF; National Agricultural Marketing Council; Land Bank; SAWEN and Buhle Farmers Academy in Mpumalanga, conducted a two-week Management Training for Women in Agri-Business. • The inter-active training programme covered a range of topics, including: Marketing management; Financial management; Strategic management; Cooperatives; Securing financing for your business and Basic BDS: How to develop a business plan and other relevant documents. • We are currently working on the Agri-SETA accreditation of the course. • Coordinating the Sanitary Dignity Campaign (SDC) with various Departments and Civil Society. Through the sanitary dignity campaign we are working with IDP, correctional services, schools and rural communities to ensure the production, distribution and recycling of sanitary towels for indigent women and girls with the aim of facilitating the creation of coops where women can produce their own sanitary towels, distribute them and in an environmentally friendly manner dispose of the towels • WRW Day 2012, DWCPD held a one-day national workshop in Free State to support Women cooperatives business management tools (Constitutions; Strategic Plans etc).

12. IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS (iv) The DWCPD should develop a monitoring and evaluation system for women’s projects so that any challenge is identified and addressed on time: • DWCPD has developed a draft M&E Framework as well as a monitoring system for quarterly monitoring visits to identified. • Recommendations for interventions are done with corresponding provinces and relevant Departments; • Projects in Gauteng, Limpopo and Free State have been monitored in the 2012/13 fiscal year. (v) Host similar summits in Provinces to get a bigger picture of the challenges that women experience. • The Department has financial and human resource constraints to execute this recommendation fully but has held rural summits in the Eastern Cape; Kwa-Zulu Natal in 2011 and Northern Cape and North West in 2012.

13. Project-related Challenges • Existing projects continue to face ongoing technical expertise and lack of other resources (e.g. finances - acquire loans from banks as collateral, capital funding and finance injection and working capital) which lead to the state of near collapse and produce of lower quality. This means that markets cannot be attracted. (refer to Limpopo and Free State visits). • In some cases lack of farming (irrigation systems) and harvesting equipment (fishing nets) result in loss of income, • Referrals to implementing Departments for project funding and technical support are not timeously attended to; and this often leads to missed opportunities for women projects and “take over” threats from other parties , e.g. The Fisheries with Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and Poultry with Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Land Bank; • Lack of sufficient human capacity and requisite skills, including GFPs at provincial and local sphere of governments to follow-up with Departments; • Lack of sufficient funding to effectively implement operational plan; • Approved funded business plans but women cannot secure the piece of farming land • Limited or lack of infrastructure development, especially the provision of electricity, water and proper roads by Municipalities.

14. WAYFORWARD • Ongoing lobbying and strengthening of Public-Private Partnerships (Business and UN Development Partners) to support rural women’s projects; • Strengthening Institutional Support and Capacity Building at local level working with Chiefs and Municipal Mayors and councillors-holding information sharing sessions on funding and requirements in different government and training; • Replicating what has worked in other rural areas to areas/ villages in similar conditions (Gombani brick-making project from Limpopo to the Eastern Cape); and • Strengthening our integrated monitoring visits which includes provincial departments for further follow-up and sustainability of projects

15. THANK YOU