Rural development, training and gender

Gender Perspective - Focus on the Rural Poor - An Overview of Gender Issues in IFAD Assisted Projects
(IFAD, 2000)

http://www.ifad.org/pub/gender/engl.pdf

>> Women and poverty

>> Gender perspective

>> Training and gender

Foreword

During the last twenty years, IFAD has learned a great deal about the prevalence and causes of poverty and malnutrition, and has increasingly recognized that taking a gender perspective helps to illuminate the nature of rural poverty. A gender perspective looks at how and why men and women experience poverty differently and become poor through different processes and, in turn, how rural development presents different opportunities and challenges for men and women.

Across all geographical regions, women play a focal (although often unrecognized) role in the survival strategies and economy of poor rural households. Increasing the economic resilience of the poor is largely about enabling women to realize their socio-economic potential more fully and improve the quality of their lives. To do so, women need access to assets, services, knowledge and technologies, and must be active in decision-making processes. Greater gender equity means that women are able to express their potential, to the benefit of the entire household and community.

At the same time, evaluations have shown that if gender specificities are not taken into account projects may increase women’s workload, thus affecting their caregiving responsibilities and health. Projects may also negatively affect women’s control over resources and technologies. Thus gender analysis in design and gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are needed to identify risks and recommend preventive measures. In addition,
variations by gender in roles, relations and the control of assets within a region – and within a country – can be significant. Approaches that have succeeded in one place may not be applicable in another. IFAD recognizes that specific mainstreaming strategies need to be developed to suit different project contexts.

This booklet is the outcome of the review of gender issues in IFAD’s ongoing projects presented to the Executive Board in May 2000 as part of the Progress Report on the Project Portfolio. It illustrates some of the opportunities regarding gender that IFAD has explored in the course of its initiatives. Perhaps more importantly, it highlights challenges that have emerged and that must be addressed if there is to be a significant decline in hunger and poverty early in this millennium.

Complete pdf document