Cote d’Ivoire

The training attracted large number of participants: 150 – 350 women and 10-15 men from different communities, religious and language groups who did not necessarily understand each other, or French.

The schedule was over 6 days: 6 hours each day going home for lunch. Although initially many women attended because they thought Nestle-FLA was there to give money for group projects. The 150+ who continued to attend said they were interested in the training. On the final day a large number of women continued to come even after closure of the training, asking what was next.

The high level of enthusiasm also meant that even with 150-350 participants from five different language groups, many of whom had never been to a training before, participants were very disciplined. It was easy to divide into language-based groups that self-facilitated themselves. The wmen you see at the front of the groups were participants who took it in turn.

A key aspect of the methodology to maintain energies and build linkages between communities were songs and dance that participants organised themselves.

The workshop culminated in many women dancing from the chief’s house through the market showing their vision drawings to other women as they went.

Opportunities

Contextual Challenges

• There is a very high demand from women from all communities for their own independent economic activities and in some of the cultural contexts it is likely that women would retain control of incomes. It is necessary to respond to these demands identified by women alongside looking at gender inequalities per se. This is also necessary for women to be able to justify to men the time they may want to spend in meetings and practising the methodology. Initially women should learn to do their own market analysis to gain experience and discipline in making even small income increases, changing
  relations in their households so that men and better-off women are less likely to take over once larger scale activities are started. Through the tools suggested below, women from a similar economic and literacy level have managed to double and treble (up to seven times) incomes and diversify activities in local markets and reinvest their incomes.
• The main focus of the project is gender and so the gender tools have been a focus from the first. The different communities have very different gender issues. Initially most women said there were no gender issues in their families. Some of the communities are matrilineal and so income rather than land ownership is the key challenge. Muslim communities are so far not affected by extremism, but equally emphasise women’s subordination to their husbands in all matters rather than the rights to property and income that Islam gives to women. These issues did however start to be discussed through use of Gender Justice Diamond as the bass for more in-depth discussion in follow-up. It will be important though to follow where there is energy for change, and not to expose women who have serious problems and make them more vulnerable.
• The high level of enthusiasm from participants meant that costs could be kept very low. Participants were not paid at all to attend and did not need transport. Apart from the facilitation team and venue hire, the main costs were flipcharts, markers and a couple of packages of blank A4 paper and pencils, rubbers and sharpeners that were returned at the end. Participants purchased coloured pens etc from the shop if they wished. Local snack-sellers took the opportunities to sell snacks and water in breaks and participants had lunch at home.

• The aim of the project is to work with the community as a whole and existing social structures are fragmented. There are many different ethnic communities living in the same area. These ethnic groups are bound by unequal relationships and speak different languages so communication is difficult. This means that the methodology needs to spread through many informal arrangements from which representative structures can emerge, not through one initial imposed structure. Identifying champions in advance would risk focusing on people who – even if they themselves committed to changing gender relations in their own lives – would start to ‘preach’ gender to ‘illiterates’ and would not be listened to because of divisions within and between the communities with no clear and transparent mechanisms for representation.
• There is a very high level of illiteracy particularly, but not only, for women. There is no common language and most women do not speak French. This means that a certain level of drawing, together with participatory and analytical skills are necessary before women can develop their own plans and that the methodology needs to focus on developing confidence in these areas first. Once that is done, experience elsewhere suggests the rest can come quite fast.
• Interest of men is very limited because the project has already started with women’s associations. Although women were asked to invite their husbands, the Zaranou workshop was conducted in the rainy season and women said their husbands were busy in the fields. So men will take some time to see the importance for them. At the same time the workshop was well received by key men in the community like the chief and also muslim leaders.
• Limited experience with GALS in the local FLA team and lack of budget or plans for external follow up by the international consultant meant that the initial plan of following the ‘Rocky Road to Diamond Dreams’ manual with a small group of 20 pre-identified champions went more slowly than envisaged. It also failed to build on the considerable enthusiasm and interest generated by the initial Catalyst workshop.