Fostering Gender Equality in Rural Communities for Sustainable Development By Empowering Women And Girls Through Sensitization - fundsforNGOs

Women have a critical role to play in all of the Sustainable Development Goals with targets specifically recognizing women’s equality and empowerment as both the objective and as part of the solution. The centrality of gender equality, women’s empowerment and the realization of women’s rights in achieving sustainable development has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. The main objective of this project is to foster gender equality, for sustainable development by empowering women and girls through sensitization, the creation of networks among women and youth groups within the community as well as training of trainers as ambassadors to their various groups and communities. The specific objectives of the project include sensitize the women and girls on aspects of human rights and gender equality and organize a training workshop to train trainers who will serve as ambassadors to their various groups and other groups within the community.

Executive Summary

The centrality of gender equality, women’s empowerment and the realization of women’s rights in achieving sustainable development has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. This is evident in a number of international norms and agreements including the principle 20 of the Rio declaration on Environment and Development adopted in 1992 in its statement regarding the full participation of women being essential to achieving sustainable development.

It is with this understanding that Excellentia Cameroon has designed the project under the Excellentia “Seed to Fruit Tree” Project (The SeFT Project).

The main objective of this project is to foster gender equality in the Menji municipally, Lebialem division, for sustainable development by empowering women and girls through sensitization, the creation of networks among women and youth groups within the community as well as training of trainers as ambassadors to their various groups and communities.

With specific objectives to:
- Sensitize the women and girls the Menji Municipality on aspects of human rights and gender equality
- Organize a training workshop to train trainers who will serve as ambassadors to their various groups and other groups within the community.
- Create a network between existing women and youth groups within the community as well as a radio program “Drivers of Development” to come up once a week.

For the outcome of this project, the women and girls of Menji will be empowered with knowledge on gender issues and the creation of a network among groups in the community to keep the flame of the project burning. Also, the creation of the radio programme “Drivers of Development” will create awareness on gender issues across the entire municipality.

As concerns the output and beneficiaries of this project, 6 women’s groups and 4 youth groups will be visited for sensitization, 200 plus women and youths will be sensitized directly,3000 and more individuals will benefit from the training by the trainers and 10,000 plus individuals will benefit from the radio program done by us and by members of the network after we had left.

As concerns the time frame, the project will last for one month beginning from mid-January 2016 to February 2016.

The budget of this project sums up to a total of XXX

Statement of Need

But this objective will never be realized if it remains on papers, rather than someone going to the field to ensure the practicality of this vision.

The effects of gender inequality are felt mostly by the rural women and girls who are held down by traditions and customs and are completely ignorant of what they are worth as women. Therefore, the efforts towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls should be highly encouraged at the rural communities.

It is with this understanding that Excellentia Cameroon has designed the project titled “Fostering Gender Equality in Rural Communities for Sustainable Development, under the Excellentia “Seed to Fruit Tree” Project (The SeFT Project).

The SeFT Project is an initiative of Excellentia with objective to empower individuals by the dissemination of knowledge through seminars, workshops, speaking engagements and mentorship programmes all with the sole aim of transforming potentials from seeds to fruit trees capable of contributing towards societal advancement and sustainable development. Some of the activities of the SeFT project include “The Excellentia Mentorship Forum” held monthly, “The Excellentia Orientation and Mentorship Camp” which is intended to begin in July 2017 and is meant for teenagers, speaking engagements in schools, meeting groups and institutions, and now “Fostering Gender Equality in Rural Communities for Sustainable Development”.

By this project, we intend to get into remote communities, beginning with the Southwest region and gradually move to other regions as funds will permit us. While in this communities, we have three things to do namely: Carry out sensitization among women and youth groups, do a three days training workshop with representatives of groups as trainers to go back and train members of their various groups, and finally create a network within groups in the communities.

If this activity can be carried out in majority of our local communities, then we are sure to record a laudable contribution towards the realization of sustainable development by 2030.

Project Description

General Objective
To foster gender equality in the Menji municipally, Lebialem division, for sustainable development by empowering women and girls through sensitization, the creation of networks among women and youth groups within the community as well as training of trainers as ambassadors to their various groups and communities.
Specific Objectives
- To sensitize the women and girls the Menji Municipality on aspects of human rights and gender equality
- To organize a training workshop to train trainers who will serve as ambassadors to their various groups and other groups within the community.
- To create a network between existing women and youth groups within the community as well as a radio program “Drivers of Development” to come up once a week.

Implementation Strategies

Specific Objective One

- Draft letters to heads of women and youth groups as well as the traditional ruler of the community describing our project and asking for audience with them.
- Arrival at Menji community with project team members.
- Distribution of letters to those concern and get their phone numbers for further communication
- Visit of groups for sensitization

Specific Objective Two

- Preparation of training material
- Arrangement and payment for hall to be used for training
- Arrangement for logistics for participants
- Training proper for three days

Specific Objective Three

- Collect names and telephone numbers of participants if available
- Create a network between the various groups represented with the aim of adding more groups into the network.
- Organize a final meeting with network members at the close of the project

Project Outcome

Specific Objective One

- We will have the opportunity to get to meet with our target population even if they could not all participated in the training
- Before they get detail training from their representatives to the training, they would have had the opportunity to have listened to us talk to them.
- Increase in awareness on gender issues within the community.

Specific Objective Two

- A deeper understanding on gender aspects among women and girls within the community
- Development of trainers within the community who can serve in other communities.
- Increase in knowledge
- Empowerment of women and girls because knowledge acted upon is power
- Will bring about freedom from bondage because ignorance can be considered as bondage.
- Other groups who might not have been part of the training will still benefit from the training as the trainers go about giving talks in other groups within the community.
- Neighbouring communities will also benefit from the training of trainers

Specific Objective Three

- Like charcoal when together continue to glow, a network will keep the flame of the project burning.
- Easy access to follow up the activities of the trainers from the base through the leaders of the network.
  Can always revisit a community to give a helping hand when there is a need because there is a body put in place to communicate with.

Project Output

Specific Objective One

- The Village traditional council with at least ten (10) members will be visited and a talk on the need for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls for a sustainable community be given.
- Six (6) women’s groups will be visited for sensitization.
- Four (4) youth groups will be visited for sensitization.
- Two hundred (200) plus women and youths will be sensitized directly by us

Specific Objective Two

- Two participants will be drawn from each group
- 12 women will be represented
- 8 youths will be part of the training
- 2 representatives from the traditional council will be encouraged to be part of the training
- 22 persons will participate
- 20 trainers will be trained

Specific Objective Three

- 10 groups will be members of the network at the start
- 3000 and more individuals will benefit from the radio program done by us and by members of the network after we had left.

Project Beneficiaries

Direct Beneficiaries
Twenty-two participants will benefit directly from the training, two hundred plus individuals will benefit from both the sensitization and the training given them by their representatives to the training, and three thousand plus individuals will benefit directly from the radio sensitization program “Excellentia Driver of Change”.

Indirect Beneficiaries
The impact of the training will not only be felt within the groups and the radio listeners, but will go a long way to other neighbouring communities the trainers may deem necessary visiting and presenting talks to as well as nearby villages like Belleh, Fossong, Nchemfeng, Ndasoa and even mamfe who can capture the Lebialem Community Radio signals.

Assessment of Project Site

Menji is the capital of Fontem sub division, as well as the capital of Lebialem Division in the south west Region of Cameroon. The Menji council area is bounded to the South West by Tinto municipality in Manyu Division, to the East by the Fongo-Tongo municipality in the West Region and to the South by Nguti municipality in kupeMuanenguba Division. Wabane municipality bounds menji to the North-West, and Alou municipality to the North.

Menji is 42km from Dschang, through un tarred and bumpy roads which are dusty in the dry season and muddy in the rainy season consisting of ascending and descending as the area is described as “hills and valleys”, 45 km from Bakebe which is found along the Kumba-Mamfe road and 256 km from Buea (capital of the south west Region) through Kumba and Bakebe. From Yaoundé to Menji through Dschang, is a distance of 420km.

The landscape of the council Area is magnificent, uneven and difficult to inhabit. It has awe-inspiring mountainous scenery with its accompanying steep sometimes perilous roads and paths crossed by rushing streams. The main diction used in describing the area is hills and valleys.

It has a total surface area of 106 km² with a population estimated at 27875, 51 of who are female and 49 males, with a population density evaluated to be approximately 263 persons/km².

The climate in this area is of typical Cameroonian-muntane type, made up of two seasons – the wet season that lasts about seven (7) months from April to November with a lot of heavy rainfall in the months of September and October, while the dry season is from December to April; with occasional rainfall during this period. Maximum rainfall in the division has slightly been above 900 mm.

The soils are made up of shallow ferruginous materials derived from ancient basalt especially in the areas of Ndungweh and Quibekwu. There exist some patches of laterite in the down south of the council area. In the northern part of the council area is ferralitic soil derived from granite. These soils are enriched by a high rate of humus formation following the high rate of leave fall and decay. Due to the heavy rainfall in the area, the soil is heavily leached and the rate of erosion is consequently high especially in the upper and middle Essoh-Attah and towards Njoagwi.

The economic activities of the people of the municipality are mainly farming, small scale livestock production and hunting. The main religion in this area is Christianity and the majority of the Christians are the Roman Catholics Christians. A few Muslims are also found in the area.

Detailed Activities

Sensitization within groups
Third week of January 2016, arrival at Menji-Fontem with members of the project team. Within that same week, distribution of letters to drafted to the various heads of groups and the village head as well as the manager of the Lebialem community radio. Follow up of letter through calls and agreed on a date to meet each individual and group concerned.
Partnership with the community radio officially signed on this same week and the programme begins immediately on the specified day of the week.

Fourth week of January through first week of February, visit to all 10 groups for sensitization and arrangement of the workshop. The group will decide on two suitable members of the group to attend the training on their behalf. They will be advised to send individuals who are educated to a level and are fluent and sharp, who can benefit the most from the training and will be able to transfer what they learned back to the group.

The sensitization will comprise of a brief talk on gender issues like gender equality, gender-based violence and other gender ills as well as their negative impact to the women, the family, the society and the world at large. They will be made to see the need for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls towards the realization of a sustainable future.

In localities that have electricity, a PowerPoint projection will be done on videos portraying various forms of gender-based violence in different forms and in different parts of the world with their negative effects. In areas without electricity, a generator will be rented and fuelled for same purpose.

Training Workshop for trainers
On the second week of February, there will be three days training to train representatives of groups. There will be a total of twenty-three (23) participants, including a representative of the radio. The workshop will begin at 8:00 am with the arrival and registration of participants and training proper kicks off at 9:00 am prompt through 5:00 pm. On the last day of the training, the participant will form a network and agree on a day we have a meeting as network members.

Network and Radio Program
By the end of the second week of February, making one month stay in the community, we have a network meeting, where the members will be told on what is expected of them. They will vote executives of the network and make a commitment to see that other communities benefit from the knowledge they have received.

They will as well be drilled on how to continue the radio programme and how they can access help from Excellentia any time it is needed. The meeting will end with a pledge for commitment using the “Ribbon Tree of Equality and Women Empowerment” exercise.

Another two weeks can be added to drill different individuals on air as they participate with us for two weeks on the radio program before it is handed over to them.

By the end of February, we should be packing our bags from the community to be back any time we are called up to offer assistance.

Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation

Reports will be sent to donors at the end of the project, being aone-month project
the project will be monitored by three members of the project team from the beginning to the end to ensure the proper and smooth running of the project.
Evaluation will be done by the donors at various stages of the project

Project Scope
The project will cover the entire menji town including quarters like Nchenfeng, Nchembin, Cooperative, as well as the neighbouring villages like Fossong, Belleh ,Ndasoa just to mention a few.