“Power Woman” in rural Zambia Communicating to address and engage problems about charcoal use and child marriage
Zandra Nilsson
Communication for Development One-year master 15 Credits Date of submission: August 9th, 2020 Supervisor: Florencia Enghel
Abstract A lot has been done in the past years to improve gender equality globally – operations such as UN Woman, the Sustainable Development Goals in Agenda 2030 and the work of many international non-governmental organizations. Nonetheless the world is still far from being gender equal. As of today, more women than men live in poverty, which also makes them more vulnerable to climate change. This degree project explores what and how women in rural Zambia communicate to their community members to change their behaviors concerning the use of charcoal and to prevent child marriages.
Through the lens of communication for development and social change, the theoretical framework was constructed with gender communication concepts and the Diffusion of Innovations theory. The material was collected during a minor field study of three weeks in Zambia during March 2020. A qualitative study was conducted with semi-structured interviews and field observations.
The results from this study indicate that all the women communicated through interpersonal communication with different emphasis when speaking about child marriage or charcoal use. When communicating about preventing child marriages, the focus was mainly on the problems child marriages resulted in, while communicating about the options to charcoal the focus was rather on the positive outcomes. In addition, the women targeted the whole community when talking about child marriage, while targeting primarily other women when communicating about substituting the use of charcoal with lamps and pellet stoves.
Keywords: Communication for Development, Gender equality, Child marriage, Charcoal use, Deforestation, Climate Change, Solar Panels, Power Woman, Zambia, Rural Africa.
2 Acknowledgements
Thank you to Malmö University for giving me the opportunity to conduct this field study and to participate in the Communication for Development master program. These two past years have been very inspiring and educative. Especially a big thank you to my supervisor Florencia Enghel, who have given me support and guidance through the writing process of this degree project.
Thank you to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for giving me the chance to receive a Minor Field Studies scholarship to gather data for my master’s thesis in Zambia.
A big thank you to NGOCC and We Effect in Lusaka and Stockholm for your time, energy and help during this field study. Without you this degree project would not have been possible.
3 Table of content
1. Introduction 5 2. Background 8 2.1. Overview of Zambia 8 2.2. Electricity access and charcoal use in Africa 10 2.3. Child marriage in Africa 11 2.4. We Effect, NGOCC and Power Woman 12 3. Literature Review 16 3.1. Energy access and deforestation in Botswana and Zambia 16 3.2. Parents and contraceptives’ influence on child marriage 18 4. Theoretical framework 20 4.1. Diffusion of Innovations theory 20 4.1.1. The innovation 21 4.1.2. Communication channels 23 4.1.3. Time 23 4.1.4. Social system 24 4.1.5. Criticism of diffusion research 24 4.2. Gender communication 25 4.3. Theory of gender and power 27 4.3.1. Sexual division of labor 27 4.3.2. Sexual division of power 28 4.3.3. Cathexis (social norms and affective attachments) 28 5. Methodology 29 5.1. Semi-structured interviews 29 5.1.1 List of interviewees 31 5.2. Fieldwork and observations 32 5.2.1 List of observations 33 5.3. Selection of respondents 34 5.4. Ethical considerations 34 5.5. Limitations 35 6. Analysis 36 6.1. Power Woman use of interpersonal communication 37 6.2. Communication to adress problems with firewood and charcoal 40 6.2.1. Seven advantages highlighted in the communication 41 6.3. Communication to change mindset concerning child marriage 45 6.3.1. Four problems highlighted in the communication 46 6.4. Empowerment or gender equality 47 6.5. Biggest challenges when communicating 48 7. Conclusion 50 Bibliography 54 Appendices 58 Annex 1. Interview guidelines 58
4 1. Introduction
Even though gender equality is a fundamental human right and essential to achieve with sustainable development, the world is far from being gender equal (UN, n.d. a). Globally about 12 million under-aged girls are married every year and many of them can’t stay in school. Many of the girls who get married before 18 years are forced into marriage and can suffer from lifelong consequences – both physical and psychological. Compared to non-married peers, married girls suffer worse health and economical outcomes, which also will have an effect on their own future children (UNICEF, 2020). In addition, climate change impacts men and women differently, given their different roles in the household and in the community. Women are more vulnerable to climate change because they are often poorer, receive less education and are not involved in decision-making processes that affect their lives (UNDP, 2011).
In many rural areas across Africa women are responsible for the household including cooking and caring for the family. Only about 44% of households in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity or clean cooking opportunities and therefore depend on firewood and charcoal. This results in health issues such as lung problems that cause close to 4 million deaths every year (Practical Action, 2019). In Zambia women spend 2,3 hours a day collecting wood to burn at home and another 4–6 hours a day cooking (FAO, 2018).
Zambia ranks as one of the countries in the world with the highest level of inequality globally. 58% of Zambia’s 17 million citizens earn less than the international poverty line of 1.9 dollar a day (The world bank, 2019). This might be one of the reasons why child marriage is not unusual in Zambia, just like in many other African countries. 31% of the women in Zambia got married before the age of 18, and 6% got married before the age of 15 (UNICEF, 2018).
The non-governmental organization We Effect, founded in Sweden, initiated a program called Power Woman that started during the second half of 2018 and is planned to finish in the spring of 2020. The overall purpose of the project is to
5 economically empower 200 rural women in Zambia and contribute to poverty reduction through promoting environmentally friendly technologies. But the project also engages its participants to communicate and advocate the disadvantages with charcoal and firewood. Furthermore, the project address problems with child marriages and communicate why they should be stopped (M. Chonya, project manager from We Effect, personal communication, 23 October 2019).
We Effect is implementing this project through their local partner Non-Governmental Gender Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC), which is an umbrella organization that works with projects addressing gender equality and development through networking, communication and advocacy. In 2018 when the Power Woman Project started, it was from the beginning set out only to focus on the poverty reduction through environmentally friendly technologies and spreading of information about the disadvantages with charcoal and firewood. At that time, NGOCC had just finished another project concerning child marriages in Zambia, that had been very successful, and several people had showed an interest for it to continue. NGOCC and We Effect decided to interlace the people involved in the child marriage prevention project with the Power Woman Project. When NGOCC – together with local membership organizations – had to select participants for Power Woman, they firstly looked for and prioritized mothers to daughters that dropped out of school because of early marriage (E. Banda, project manager at NGOCC, personal communication, 2nd March 2020).
The short-term goals of the project is to help the women participating, who live in rural areas of Zambia to (i.) get better access to light after dark and non-harmful cooking equipment, (ii.) get an income by selling lamps to others, (iii.) get support to get their underaged daughters out of marriages. The long-term goals of the project are that the women will spread enough knowledge in their communities, so people understand not to use charcoal and firewood, and what harm is does to marry off their daughters before the legal age. For the participating women to succeed they are given training in how to use, install and maintain solar panel lamps and pellets stoves. Also, they are given recommendations about how to communicate with community
6 members about the problems concerning child marriage and charcoal burning (M. Chonya, personal communication, 23 October 2019).
The problems that the Power Woman Project is facing and working against – child marriages and no access to electricity and healthy cooking equipment – can be connected because they both affect women from the lower class the most. Poverty is the main driver of child marriage, which forces families to marry off their daughters. If the daughters are married off there will be less expenses for the family and a “bride price” is often an income for poor families. The daughters will not receive an education after the marriage but are expected to take care of the household (Girls not brides, 2020). Firewood and charcoal are the only affordable fuel and easiest to access, which means it will be used by people from the lower class. Since women are the ones cooking, they will be at greater risk for breathing smoke or burning (Practical Action, 2019). In the long term, when the environment is badly affected due to charcoal and firewood the women suffer the most once again, given their different roles in the household and in the community (UNDP, 2011).
We Effect can get results in numbers of how many lamps that has been sold and how many women that are participating, but We Effect has not done an evaluation about how the women get the results. This degree project analyzes how the women communicate concerning the use of charcoal and firewood, and their communication regarding child marriages in Mumbwa, Zambia. The study focuses on two interconnected main research questions.
Main research questions: How do the women participating in the Power Woman Project communicate in order to address and engage their communities’ members about the problems concerning child marriage? How do the participants communicate in order to address and engage their communities’ members about the problems concerning the use of firewood and charcoal?
This study relates to the field of communication for development (C4D) and social change by looking at how interpersonal communication is used to change adverse
7 behaviors that have a much stronger negative impact on women than men. In this degree project I (the researcher) saw an opportunity to learn more about how women communicate in a male dominant society, and to better understand what challenges they are facing and how they tackle them. In March 2020 I spent three weeks in Lusaka and Mumbwa, Zambia, to collect data. The field study was planned to last for two months but was interrupted due to the Coronavirus pandemic – nonetheless I managed to collect valuable data before international travels were stopped. The fieldwork was possible thanks to a Minor Field Study (MFS) scholarship from SIDA. The methodology includes semi-structured interviews with women from the Power Woman Project and in-field observations. By using a theoretical framework constructed with gender communication concepts by K.G Wilkins (2016) and R.W Connell (1987) this study analyses how communication can be conducted by women to change their lives. Also, E.M Rogers (1983) Diffusion of innovations theory is used in this study, which will give a better understanding to how the communities in the rural areas adapt to new innovations – in this case environmental-friendly-technologies – and communicate to others about them.
2. Background
In this section an overview over Zambia will help to understand the project and the life situation of the women being interviewed. The facts regarding electricity access and charcoal use in Africa clarify the goals of the project and why the women need to communicate about it. Background about child marriages in Africa also helps to get a wider view of the participants’ lives. Furthermore, We Effect, NGOCC and the Power Woman Project are presented.
2.1. Overview of Zambia Zambia is a landlocked country in southern-central Africa (Utrikespolitiska institutet, n.d. a). Since 2011, Zambia is considered a middle-income country because of an economical growth of 7.4% between 2004 and 2014. However, this growth only benefits a few in the urban areas and had little effect on reducing poverty. Zambia ranks as one of the countries in the world with the highest level of inequality globally.
8 58% of Zambia’s 17 million citizens earn less than the international poverty line of 1.9 dollar a day. Three out of four poor live in rural areas (The world bank, 2019) where the lack of energy access rate is high and leads to heavy use of firewood, causing deforestation and climate change (We Effect, n.d. b). A study done by SIDA (2008) revealed that women in Zambia spend more than 800 hours a year – or 2,3 hours a day collecting firewood, compared to Zambian men that spend less than 50 hours yearly. Women collect wood for the household to be able to cook, while men collect wood to sell it. Moreover, Zambian women spend 4–6 hours on cooking per day.
The gender inequality index of 2017 shows that Zambia has a Global Innovation Index value of 0,517 – ranking the country number 125 of 149. Women hold only 18% of the seats in parliament, and 39% of women graduate from secondary school (UNDP, n.d.). The literacy rate nationwide was 70,2% in 2010, but shifted depending on area and gender – in rural areas it was 60,5% and in urban areas 83,8%; males had a literacy rate of 73,2% while women’s rate was 67,3% (FAO, 2018). Child marriage is not unusual in Zambia, just like in many other African countries. 31% of the women in Zambia got married before the age of 18, and 6% got married before the age of 15. Furthermore, about 28.5% of the girls aged 15–19 years old got pregnant (UNICEF, 2018).
64% of the people living in rural areas in Zambia are women, and they are 80% of the food producers (FAO, 2018). In the rural areas, 24,1% of the household is female- headed (FAO, 2018). Even if the women are the primary food producers, including preparing and processing, they are not the main decision-makers in the household. Most often they don’t decide what of the produced food they can eat themselves and what they have to sell. In the agriculture sector, 70% of men are self-employed, 23% are unpaid family workers, and 7% paid employees. Among women, 39% are self- employed; 59% unpaid family workers and 2% paid employees. Women are often considered unpaid work force, although they are providing the majority of the family labor (FAO, 2018).
9 The majority of the population are Christians, 75% Protestants and 20% Catholics. Zambia’s modern culture is a blend of values, norms, and spiritual traditions from more than 73 ethnically diverse people. All 73 ethnics groups can be categorized into three different in heritage systems: matrilineal, patrilineal or bilateral. However, all the tribes in Zambia follow a male dominant system (FAO, 2018).
Data about gender-based violence in Zambia is very limited. Data from 2007 (FAO, 2018) indicates that one in five women has experienced sexual violence at some point of her life, and almost half of all women have experienced physical violence at some point after the age of 15. In 2014, 13,3% of Zambian citizens aged 15–49 were registered HIV-positive in Zambia nationwide. Among women the rate was 15,1%, while among men it was 11,3% (FAO, 2018). The fact that HIV is constantly higher among women also demonstrate the presence of underlying causes of transmission such as gender-based violence, harmful gender norms and unequal power relations (FAO, 2018).
2.2 . Electricity access and charcoal use in Africa In 2017 about 89% of the world’s population had access to affordable electricity, but still around 840 million people lived without access to it. According to Sustainable Development Goal 7, providing people with access to modern, reliable and affordable energy services is one of the key development priorities that should be achieved by 2030 (Practical Action, 2019).
Moreover, a third of the worlds population rely on dirty cooking fuels and technologies that effect people’s health significantly. Close to 4 million people each year die prematurely because of illnesses connected to household air pollutions from bad cooking technologies such as solid fuels and kerosene. According to a survey conducted among several rural communities in Kenya, Togo and Bangladesh by Practical Action (2019), people with no access to clean cooking fuels and technologies don’t prioritize cooking over other aspects of energy access. Reasons for this could include lack of awareness about the health impacts of cooking with solid fuels and also because cooking is women’s duty which could give it less value. Furthermore, the use
10 of firewood and charcoal causes deforestation in many areas and contributes to climate changes (Practical Action, 2019).
Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest access to electricity worldwide, with a rate of 44% while most parts of Latin America and Asia now have reached close to 100% electricity access. Lack of electricity is particularly a problem in rural areas (Practical Action, 2019). It’s also of importance to keep in mind that Africa has the fastest growing and youngest population in the world and will be the world's most populated region, overtaking China and India, by 2023. Africa has a need to meet this growing need of electricity – it will be essential for the continent’s future (International Energy Agency, 2019). By 2040, the lack of access to electricity will be extremely concentrated in Africa – 90% of the global population without access to electricity and 50% of the global population without clean cooking opportunities will be living in Africa (Practical Action, 2019). Africa produces 62% of global charcoal, mostly in sub-Saharan African countries, while Europe produces 1,2%. Two thirds of all the households in Africa rely on wood fuel and the portion of energy use from harvest wood is as high as 90% (FAO, 2017).
2.3. Child marriage in Africa Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and another child or an adult and constitutes a human right violation. The cases of child marriages are declining worldwide, from one in four a decade ago to approximately one in five today, but it’s still a widespread problem. 12 million girls under 18 years of age are married each year. In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of child marriages is 37% (UNICEF, 2020).
Girls who marry before the age of 18 face immediate and lifelong consequences, such as increased risks of: dropping out of school, experience domestic violence, becoming socially isolated, unintended pregnancy, becoming pregnant during adolescence, getting sexually-transmitted infections, maternal mortality, poor mental health and poverty. They have worse health and economic outcomes compared with their non- married peers, which eventually will be passed down to their children and continue
11 damaging a country’s capacity to provide good health and education services (UNICEF, 2020).
2.4. We Effect, NGOCC and Power Woman We Effect works in more than 20 countries. The organization was founded in 1958, in Sweden and has its headquarters in Stockholm. We Effect’s core strategy is to strengthen cooperatives of people living in poverty through long term economic thinking, social responsibility and membership-based democracy. It cooperates with local organizations such as: farmer organizations, cooperative federations and other democratic organizations. We Effect’s funding comes partly from private donors, donations from corporations and grants from SIDA (We Effect, n.d. b).
Since approximately 70% of the global population living in poverty is women and girls, We Effect especially targets women in partner organizations to secure them the same rights and entitlements as men, for example regarding access to financial resources. Their goal is for those organizations to enable women and men to practice their rights on equal terms (We Effect, n.d. a).
Power Woman is the name of one of We Effect’s projects in Zambia that started during the second half of 2018 and is planned to finish in the spring of 2020. Women are being trained in using, maintaining and marketing solar energy sources. When the project started the overall purpose was to empower 200 rural women economically and to contribute to poverty reduction through promoting environmentally friendly technologies. The project aims not only to increase the income for these women by giving them lamps to sell, but also diversify livelihoods and give them reliable energy since they also receive lamps to use for themselves (M. Chonya, personal communication, 23 October 2019). We Effect is implementing this project through their local partner Non-Governmental Gender Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC), which is an umbrella organization that works together with 97 different membership organizations addressing gender equality and development through networking, communication and advocacy. In 2018 when the Power Woman Project
12 started, NGOCC had just finished another project concerning child marriages in Zambia that had been very successful, and several people had showed an interest for it to continue. NGOCC and We Effect decided to interlace the people involved in the child marriage prevention project with the Power Woman Project. When NGOCC – together with local membership organizations – had to select participants for Power Woman, they looked firstly for women with daughters that dropped out of school because of early marriage. These women got offered solar panels and lamps that they could sell in order to be able to afford keeping their daughters in school, which meant they could terminate their marriages. Not all of the participating women have daughters that have been taken out of marriages, but many of them do. The participants that don’t have a daughter to support, have been selected by the committee. How the committee choose participants are not clear, but all participants has to be women living in the rural area and be in need of support to get an economical income. Not all the participants were chosen at the same time, but during the whole time period between 2018–2020, therefore the committee didn’t have to fill a quota directly. The Power Woman Project was from the start supposed to focus only on poverty reduction through promoting environmentally friendly technologies and reducing climate change, but later extended the focus also on increasing the number of girls staying in school and advocating the stop of child marriages (E. Banda, project manager at NGOCC, personal communication, 2nd March 2020).
13 The Power Woman project is active in different districts in three of Zambia’s provinces: Central province, Luapula and the Nothern province. In the Central province the project is operating in Mambwa, Kapromoposhi and Mulenge districts; in Luapula in Mansa and Chipili districts; and in Northern province in Cibave, Mulala and Katuta districts. These areas were chosen mainly because all of them suffer from deforestation, as well as child marriages being a common practice (E. Banda, personal communication, 2nd March 2020). This degree project will focus only on the Power Woman Project in the Mumbwa district.
NGOCC’s membership organizations in the districts set up the so-called committees where the committee members are the village chief or someone representing the chief. Because of traditions the chief has power and the people in the villages listen to him. The committee members know if a girl is married before the age of 18 and can approach the families in order to involve them in the Power Woman Project. For a girl to get involved in the project, several individuals need to understand and accept why she should terminate her marriage and go back to school: the girl herself, her parents and her husband. The village committees also organize information sessions about the problems with child marriages and why it is important to empower women (E. Banda, personal communication, 2nd March 2020).
Picture 1 and 2.
14 The women participating in the project are given three bigger lamps connected to two solar panels (see picture 1 & 2). These are for their own use, not for selling. These lamps can give light to three indoor rooms, which means the family can stay up after dark to spend time together, read, study or do other actives. Furthermore, every female participant is also given 6 smaller movable and rechargeable lamps each, which they can sell to other people. The idea is that with the earnings from selling the lamps the women will have enough, approximately 1000 kwacha (about 50 euros) to start a small business of their own. When the six first lamps are sold out the women could get more from the supplier to sell, but then they will not get the whole profit but part of it. They are also given a cooking stove and pellets bags (see picture 3 & 4). This will result in a healthier way of cooking with less carbon emissions, and they will save time, since they don’t have to collect firewood (E. Banda, personal communication, 2nd March 2020).
Picture 3 and 4.
Every woman that participates in the Power Woman project will be given training as well. There is one training session that lasts for a couple of days, and the women will be taught how firewood and charcoal affect the climate and what options there are. In the end of the last training day NGOCC shows the women how to go from door to door
15 and inform people about the positive aspects of chargeable lights and how to sell the six lamps they were given. After training, the women continue going door-to-door informing about the solar batteries and energy use. While writing this degree project, in March 2020, 188 women had received the technology and the training and another 50 women have received the training but not the technology yet (E. Banda, personal communication, 2nd March 2020).
3. Literature Review
This chapter will offer an overview of related research that I have used as a basis in the development of my methodology for this degree project. By reviewing empirical studies from previous research, I got a better understanding how to shape and develop my own research method. Therefore, the empirical results have been the main focus in the literature review section, in order to better understand how to shape and proceed with my own methodology outline. The chapter is organized in two thematic clusters: 1) energy access and deforestation in Botswana and Zambia 2) Parents and contraceptive’s influence on child marriages.
3.1. Energy access and deforestation in Botswana and Zambia A study in eastern Botswana made by Ketlhoilwe & Kanene (2018) shows that women are more often than not the prime household energy users and also responsible for collecting firewood. By making it affordable for women to access energy sources it could potentially result in universal energy access and decrease climate change. 88% of the 493 respondents in the study used firewood for cooking. 41% of the respondents stated they need to buy firewood because there isn’t enough wood left to collect close to home, and they worried about spending money. The big demand for firewood has resulted in firewood commercialization, depletion of firewood tree species and an increased impact on climate change. The authors confirm that wood sources are becoming scarcer and transport is necessary which takes more time for the collectors. Furthermore, when there is no firewood to collect, people start cutting down living trees and this may lead to land degradation, poor grasslands and poor harvest, which results in even more poverty (Ketlhoilwe & Kanene, 2018).
16
The study shows other challenges with using firewood too – such as health issues and the struggle to collect and carry the firewood. Respondents have explained how their skin burns, they get high blood pressure and the smoke affects their eyes and lungs. After carrying firewood they experience pain on their heads. The study suggests that if women had access to energy-efficient stoves there would be less smoke, less air pollution and no physical problems from carrying or gathering firewood (Ketlhoilwe & Kanene, 2018).
If clean energy sources could be used it would create several solutions with economic development and gender equality benefits and at the same time significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And most importantly, clean energy sources in rural areas would improve the livelihoods of people. In the long term it would also impact local economies, in terms of production and consumptions patterns, which is a sustainable development goal. Access to affordable energy sources is absolutely crucial for the people at the bottom of the economic system, such as women in rural areas. Solar energy and low-cost energy saving technologies could be added (Ketlhoilwe & Kanene, 2018).
A study by Handavu et al. (2018) found strong associations between socio-economical factors and land use in the Miombo woodlands of Zambia. The result showed for instance that charcoal production has associations with gender, age and wealth; and firewood has connections with wealth. The results of this study underline the importance to understand the relationship between household socio-economical factors and the local forest policies and decision-making processes. The Miombo woodland is an important resource in order to support the households needs in these rural areas – they are highly dependent of the forest products. Therefore, all efforts to stop deforestation should consider addressing the social and economic problems faced by local communities (Handavu et al., 2018).
17 3.2. Parents and contraceptives’ influence on child marriage Gage (2013) researched how parents and guardians’ social influence – through their attitudes and knowledge – could prevent child marriages in Ethiopia. Parents’ perception that marriage before the age of 18 is too early, varied a lot between different communities. Also, the effect of communication exposure concerning legal age to marry varied between communities. One explanation could be that there were differences in the gaps between the child marriage prevention messages and the norms in these communities. Bigger gaps make it more likely that individuals would resist the message. Respondents living in a community with high social pressures – compared to people living in communities with low social pressures – showed a strong positive association with the odds of supporting daughters’ rights to choose their marriage age. Religious leaders engagement in child marriage preventions showed no significant effect on the odds of supporting daughters’ rights to marriage choice. The results of the study suggest that programs to prevent child marriages should underline advantages of delayed marriages and embrace a social influence perspective. Social influence can happen through personal interactions, communications or observations, and can vary from direct advice to a more indirect influence.
Bhan et al. (2019) studied how parent-child relationships affected the chances of the children getting married before turning 18 years old. Data from 1648 surveys filled in by girls in India, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Peru established that 18% of the girls got married before the age of 18 years. In Ethiopia even 13,8% got married before the age of 16 years. The study found that if parent-girl relationship quality is high and the communication in early adolescence is good there is a smaller chance of the girl getting married before 18 years, even significant lower chance at getting married before 16 years. Higher parent-child relationship qualities are characterized by perceived love, fairness and pride in the child being particularly important. If parents are supportive it allows the girls to express their opinions, while pressure from the family or the community might lead to girls agreeing to an early marriage even though they initially felt reluctant (Bhan et al., 2019).
18 McDougal et al. (2018) study shows that girls who speak to their parents about their preferences are more likely to get married later. Girls who live in homes characterized as less invested in her preferences or have abusive parents, are more likely to proceed with an early marriage. The study also shows that girls who had lost one parent were more vulnerable to early marriage. The most common reason for parents to pausing a proposal or delay a marriage was to support the girl’s completion of education (McDouglas et al., 2018). Other factors that put more pressure to marry off the girls before the age of 18 years was: if the girl had dropped out of school; if she had gotten her menstruation at an early age or if her mother had a low level of education. This study shows that efforts to improve parental engagement and communication in early adolescence can be a protective factor against child marriages (Bhan et al., 2019).
Steinhause et al (2019) made a study about social norms related to child marriage Malawi. Qualitative questionnaires were given to adults who identified themselves as decision-makers for one or several girls between the ages of 10–17 years. Their research found that child marriage may not be a strong social norm in the communities, because 89% out of the 1492 respondents expressed that “Most girls in this community marry before the age of 18”, but only 53% expressed that “Most people in this community expect girls to marry before the age of 18”. Child marriage may not be social norm in these communities, but indirectly perpetuated by other norms related to youthful sexuality and access to contraceptives. They believe child marriage occurs due to lack of alternative options for teenage girls. Child marriage is a result of poverty and norms surrounding young girls sexuality. The study shows strong, negative attitudes towards adolescent sexuality and the access to family planning services and contraceptives: only 44,5% states that they think girls have the right to access contraceptives or family planning. This prevents the girls from accessing information about sex and contraceptives since it’s their decision makers, often parents, who decide whether or not to give girls access to sexual health services (Steinhaiuse et al, 2019).
Yaya et al. (2019) research how child marriages are associated with fertility outcomes in 34 sub-Saharan African countries. 54% out of the 6215 female respondents were
19 married before the age of 18. The study showed women who got married before the age of 18 were 8 times more likely to get more than 3 children compared to the women married after the age of 18. Women married at a legal age were less likely to experience early childbirth and a rapid repeat of childbirths. Moreover, the study shows that women that experience child marriage are more or less as likely to use modern contraceptives as women married after the age of 18 (Yaya et al., 2019).
The study concludes that social change programs on child marriage would help to decrease the number of child marriages and reduce the number of children being born. It’s of great importance that men are included in social change programs too, since they are the ones marring children. Modern contraceptives could also help to reduce child marriage, because many girls enter marriages due to unwanted pregnancies. Finally, law restrictions about a minimum marriage age at 18 are fundamental since evidence shows that child marriages are connected to sexual and reproductive health problems (Yaya et al., 2019).
4. Theoretical framework
This section provides an overview of theoretical frame that works as the foundation for this study´s research outline and data analysis in order to shape answers to the research questions. The theoretical framework adopted preexisting theories – Diffusion of innovations theory by Rogers (1983) and Gender and power theory by Connell (1987) together with the conceptual approach on gender and communication by Wilkins (2016). By using already existing theories I got support in the process of shaping the interview questions and how to analyze the findings.
4.1. Diffusion of Innovations theory Everett M. Rogers developed the Diffusion of Innovations theory in 1962. Rogers (1983, p.5) defines diffusion as “the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels overtime among the members of a social system”. Diffusion of innovations theory has four main elements: the innovation, communication channels, time and social systems (Rogers, 2003). The diffusion of innovation theory
20 has in my degree project been helpful to better understand how community members in Mumbwa have accepted the environmental-friendly lamps and cooking equipment and adapted their everyday life around it. Also, how the idea and discussions around child marriage can be considered as an innovation too for some of the communities’ members. The participating women in the Power Woman Project are affected by these innovation and change, since they all receive solar lamps and pellet stoves and many of them are involved in a process where they received support to bring their daughters out of marriages. These factors are in turn relevant when the women communicate to others about these, so called innovations. In this section I will clarify how Rogers (1983) four elements have been adopted and used for this degree project.
4.1.1. The innovation According to Rogers (1983, p.11) “an innovation is an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption”. The perceived innovation of the idea for the individual controls his or her response to it. Innovation doesn’t only involve new knowledge, because someone might have known about the innovation without having a favorable or unfavorable opinion about it, nor have adopted or rejected it. It should not be assumed that all adoptions and diffusion of innovations are wanted (Rogers, 1983). For my degree project this is important to bear in mind, because when shaping my interview questions and analyzing the data I assumed that many, or most, of the communities’ members already knew about options to charcoal and options to child marriage – but might not have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about it. When the participants of the Power Women Project communicate about child marriage and charcoal it will affect the communities’ members individual response to this knowledge. Therefore, my research questions focus on what the participants are communicating to effect individuals’ opinions. To describe the perceived attributes of innovation four different categories are used: relative advantage; compatibility; complexity and observability.
Relative advantage is one of the strongest interpreters of an innovation rate of adoption because it makes it possible to calculate the proportion of its benefits and the cost of adopting the innovation (Rogers, 1983). Rogers (1983, p.213) explains
21 relative advantages as “the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the idea it supersedes”. Higher level of social organization or community can influence the adopter’s motivations to increase relative advantage of an innovation. The category of relative advantages is of great significance when answering this thesis’ research questions. The participating women in the Power Woman Project must be able to understand and communicate the benefits with the climate-friendly- technologies and why this innovation is better than charcoal and firewood. Also, they need to understand and be able to communicate about why child marriage is problematic. Furthermore, since the initiatives are coming from a well-known NGO in the area the chances of motivation might increase. The relative advantages can be measured in relation to convenience and economic terms (Rogers, 1983) which are important factors in the analysis of this thesis.
Compatibility means that the innovation must meet the needs of the adopter to ensure high rate of innovation adoption. And complexity is about how difficult the adopter thinks the innovation is to apply – there is a possibility if the adopter finds it too difficult, he or she will resist it. Both these two factors are taken into consideration when developing the interview questions to better understand the women’s needs. Clarification of their needs will motivate or oppose with the need for the innovations – and this affects how the women communicate about the innovations to others. In order to understand how easy or difficult the new technologies are to use I observed a demonstration made by one of the participants in the project.
Finally, observability is described as “the degree to which the results of the new innovation are visible to others” (Rogers, 1983, p.232). If the benefits of an innovation are clear to others more innovation will follow. The term diffuser is being used to explain someone who recruits adopters of innovation (Tanye, 2016). By understanding the observability in this degree project, I will better understand how the women are making the benefits visible to others. When the women in the project makes the benefits clear for other community members there is a bigger chance they will adopt too. By using the factor observability in my interview, it will help to answer the question of how the participating women in the Power Woman Project communicate
22 to recruit more adopters – since they are, so called diffusers.
4.1.2. Communication channels The rate of adoption of innovation also changes depending on the communication channels. Communication can be channeled through interpersonal communication or through mass media that are intended to reach more people (Tanye, 2016). Mass media is an effective channel to use at the knowledge level, but at the stage of persuasion interpersonal communication is more effective. Interpersonal communication channels often allow adopters to overcome social-psychological barriers such as selective perception and selective exposure (Rogers, 2003). Therefore, there’s a bigger chance potential adopter will adopt an innovation through interpersonal communication (Tanye, 2016). The diffusion of innovations theory implies that interpersonal communication is very effective when the people involved have the same socio-economic status and education (Rogers, 2003). Most of the women in the Power Woman Project communicate with others from the same socio- economic group and from similar backgrounds as themselves. More, most of them don’t have the possibility to communicate through mass media and many of them don’t have access to it either. Therefore, interpersonal communication is of big importance.
4.1.3. Time Time is one of the key factors in the diffusion process and should therefore not be ignored. Rogers (1983, p.20) defines the time element in terms of the decision process, innovativeness and rate of adoption. The decision process involves five stages: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. The innovativeness is how the adopter identifies the new aspects of the innovation. To better understand the innovation process there are interview questions in this degree project asking the women how much time they need before they might, or might not, notice a change in mindset regarding climate-friendly-technologies and the alternatives to child marriage.
Finally, the rate of adoption is how many people in a community that adapted to the
23 innovation during a specific period of time (Rogers, 1983). The Power Woman Project will be active during a 2-year period and even though We Effect have made some predictions about how many people will be reached it is difficult to calculate a somewhat accurate number before the time period is over. The participants of the Power Women Project can be admitted during any time of this 2-year-period, both beginning or later on. The women plan their own time and don’t have to follow any time schedule and can therefore decide when and how to communicate and persuade members in their communities to implement the innovation.
4.1.4. Social system A social system is made of individuals and it’s impossible for all individuals to adapt to an innovation in the same amount of time – some need longer than others to access and accept a change. All social systems have opinion leaders, change agents and aides. There can be three different kinds of innovation systems in a society: optional, collective and authority decision process. In an organization collective decision and authority decision is necessary for an innovation to adopt well (Rogers, 1983). By including questions in the interviews about their social systems and how decisions are made the theses will get a better understanding of their communication to their communities.
4.1.5. Criticism of diffusion research There are some criticisms of this theory that one should be aware of and keep in mind when using it for research. Rogers (1983) mentions four criticism: firstly, its pro- innovation bias – it means believing an innovation should be diffused and adopted by all members of a social system, it should be diffused faster, and the innovation should not be re-invented nor rejected. Another way of explaining pro-innovation is what Nelkin (1973) calls the technological fix, which is an overdependence on technological innovation to solve usual social problems. This could lead to ignoring lack of knowledge about innovations, understatements of a rejection of an innovation, fail to study programs design to stop diffusion of a bad innovations or overlooking re- inventions (Rogers, 1983).
24 Secondly, Rogers (1983) mentions the individual-blame bias, which is the tendency to hold an individual responsible for his or her own problems instead of blaming the system they are part of. In many cases the causes of social problems lie in the system of which the individual is a part of, and this is something one needs to be aware of in order to get an effective solution to the problems. The third criticism Rogers writes about is the recall problem that may occur when researchers ask people to remember the amount of time that it took them to adopt to a new innovation. Rogers’ (1983) fourth point of critique is the issue of equality in the diffusion of innovation, meaning that socioeconomical gaps among the members of a social system will affect the spread of new ideas.
All four of these critics are taken into consideration during the analysis of the data. Different scenarios could take place without the interviewees themselves realizing it – maybe a overdependence that the new cooking equipment should solve social problems; or holding individuals responsible for not being able to buy or sell the equipment; or the interviewees might not recall the amount of time it taken them to convince other people about the benefits with the new equipment or benefits with not giving away a child in marriage. Most likely failure to adopt innovation is due to lack of opportunities, rather than in-built traditional resistance to change (Rogers, 1983).
4.2. Gender communication Wilkins’ book Communicating gender and advocating accountability in global development (2016) she tries to answer the question: “why have we not done better in improving women’s conditions given the visibility and resources appropriated for thus purpose by the development industry?”. She explores the answers by writing that we need to understand the limits of the dominant development narrative. The conveyed concepts development, communication and gender are all being criticized of being very narrow.
Firstly, when development narratives encourage neoliberal initiatives, we lack opportunities to question the structures and norms which individuals make their
25 decisions within. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the difference between women’s empowerment and gender equality. When development work focuses on women’s empowerment instead of gender equality it favors neoliberal interests such as individual achievements over social or structural changes. Women’s conditions can’t be improved definitively if their free choices are encouraged but later constrained by limited societal structures. The narratives of individual empowerment of girls and women detract from discussions about the patriarchy that enables the commodification of women to add to global profit that only enhance the few wealthy at the expenses of many others (Wilkins, 2016). We Effect aims to improve the short- term life condition of the women included in the project by giving them economic opportunities. At the same time the focus on stopping child marriage and allowing girls to continue their studies, aims to longer-term structural changes in the direction of a more permanent gender equality. Still, the Power Woman Project focus on empowering women and favors individual achievements. And do not focus on social or structural changes. With Wilikins’ concept at mind, the analysis of this thesis will question how the Power Woman Project have individualize the community members instead of uniting them.
Secondly, when development work only focuses on women, we will not understand gender as a critical condition in social relationships connected with other individualities and relations. Communication needs to be considered as a global resource that is linked to neoliberal development as the hegemonic method, but also linked with the potential for communities and organizations to offer opposition (Wilkins, 2016). In the Power Woman Project communication is mainly linked to the neoliberal concept of development, since it is the key to selling the solar lamps and to give the women a chance to make a profit. Gender, development and communication come together in this project when the participating women are trying to improve their lives and their community members’ lives through interpersonal communication.
According to Wilkins (2016) even though norms and structural condition are considered during development work, problems are often conceived to belong to individuals. Therefore, the presented solutions for women and girls in development
26 work are individual changes rather than social changes involving men too. In order to actually change the gender gaps, we would need to involve programs and policies that encourage changes in norms and structures. This would require advocacy in working to change policies and norms – with its final goal being to reduce inequalities. A narrative of equality rather than empowerment is needed for a serious change to be possible. In the Power Women Project reducing poverty through empowerment has been prioritized over working towards equality.
4.3. Theory of gender and power The Australian sociologist R.W Connell developed the Theory of gender and power in 1987. The theory links issues of gender, power and social specific norms leading the context of intimate relationships (Raj et al., 1999) and allows an understanding of the complicated interaction between gender and power beyond the individual perspective. According to Connell, there are three structures that characterize culturally-bound roles between men and women: the sexual division of labor, the sexual division of power and the structure of cathexis (Connell, 1987).
4.3.1. Sexual division of labor One of the three fundamental structures of the theory of gender and power is sexual division of labor (Raj et al., 1999). At the societal level, sexual division of labor refers to the division of women and men in specific professions. Normally women work in different and unequal positions compared to men. This limits women’s economic and career possibilities. At the institutional level, sexual division of labor refers to social mechanisms such as housework, childcare, caring for the elderly and the sick. This kind of labor is often not considered work since it’s not paid and therefore has less value. Very often, this unpaid nurturing work results in an economic imbalance where women often have to rely on men economically and moreover this allows the men to be in control over the family income. Another social mechanism of sexual division of labor is that men, or boys, are favored for educational completion, which results in men getting more qualified jobs and higher status (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000). In some cases, which is relevant to this degree project, this leads to daughters getting
27 married away, because families that don’t have the possibility to support all the children will prioritize the sons who are still in school. In Zambia only 39% of women graduate from secondary school (UNDP, n.d.). and the literacy rate nationwide for women are 67,3% while for men its 73,2% (FAO, 2018). In this degree project, sexual division of labor gets very visible and clear because women are the users of the environmental-friendly-technologies that the Power Women participants receive and sell to others. When communicating about the benefits with the solar lamps and stoves, focus is on the time women save because they spend less time preparing and cooking food and less time collecting firewood. Therefore, it will be less unpaid work for them, which might lead to a little less unequal sexual division of labor in their households.
4.3.2. Sexual division of power Another of the three fundamental structures of this theory is sexual division of power (Raj et al., 1999). The source of power can be interpersonal or distributed. At the institutional level, sexual division of power refers to social mechanisms such as control in relationships, abuse of authority and disempowering women in the media (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000). Even though women in Zambia do the majority of family labor, men are still the decision-makers in the households (FAO, 2018). When the women in the Power Woman Project goes around to different households in their communities to sell lamps and stoves, the men will have a big influence on the decision of buying them or not, even if they are not the ones using the stoves.
4.3.3. Cathexis (social norms and affective attachments) The third structure in the theory of gender and power is cathexis (Raj et al., 1999). At the societal level, cathexis restricts the expectations that society has about women’s sexuality and as a result this shapes peoples’ perceptions of themselves and others, which in turn limits their experiences of reality. This structure commands appropriate sexual behavior for women and their sexuality is attributed as impure and immoral. At the institutional level this structure is maintained by social mechanisms such as the biases people have with regards to women and men’s sexuality. These biases result in stereotypical beliefs, gender roles and cultural norms such as believing women should
28 only have sex to produce babies and creates taboos concerning female sexuality (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000). Parents fear for their daughters to have a sexual relationship without being married drives many to marry off their daughters at a young age, while they are still virgins.
5. Methodology
This chapter provides information on the research methodology, selection of informants, ethical considerations and limitations of the study. By using a multimethod approach in this thesis there will be a deeper understanding of what the women in the Power Woman Project wish to communicate. The combination of the methods gave me as a researcher a bigger chance to understand, not only how the women think, prioritize and plan their way of communicating, but also how the Zambian culture and society works which also of course influence the analysis of the project. Since I, the researcher, are coming from a different culture from another part of the world, two methods could minimize the chances of misunderstandings compared to only one method.
5.1. Semi-structured interviews Interviews are an adaptable and adjustable way to get data. Human’s use of language is an essential and exclusive way to understand what reason lies behind our actions. Asking people directly about their actions and thoughts is a clear shortcut when searching for answers to research questions (Robson, 2011).
Semi structured interviews are used with flexible design. Thus, that the interviewer has an interview guide that servers as a checklist of topics to be covered and has prepared questions, but the wording and the order of the question are often modified based on the flow of the interview and supplementary spontaneous questions are asked to follow up the answers (Robson, 2011).
Semi-structured interviews differ significantly in their degree of structure, ranging from almost fully structured to letting the interviewer have a lot of freedom. I
29 designed my interview guide (included as Annex A) almost fully structured. The interview guide included an introduction, warm-up part, main-body of interview, short cool-off and closure. The warm up was used to make the interviewees feel at ease and to get introduced to the subjects (Robson, 2011). During the interviews I asked all the questions in the interview guide with a few exceptions, but changed the order depending on the answers. Also, many unplanned follow up questions were added during the interviews to get a deeper understanding of what the women were saying.
Before starting interviews, I asked myself “How do I want to analyze all the collected data?”. With flexible design research there will be massive amount of interview data to analyze, so in order to limit the collection I should know how to use it after, so all the collected data are useful (Robson, 2011). Therefore, I made sure not to ask questions irrelevant to the research and ask open questions, so that there would be space for the respondent to reply in their own words, leading to a more creative analysis. When the respondent gave relevant answers I asked follow up questions to increase knowledge of the phenomena I was investigating.
All the interviews were made face-to-face and were audio recorded and later transcribed. I also took notes during the interviews. In that way I was able to concentrate on what the respondents were saying and if needed I could later go back to relevant sections of the interview and listen again. Since the interviews were face- to-face I could also interpreted their body language and non-verbal signals, which helped me understand what questions could be suitable to follow up with. I conducted the interviews in English and one coworker from We Effect translated them into Tonga for the women to understand better. All of them understood English, but couldn’t speak well – except one. All of the interviewees, except the one who spoke English fluently, answered the questions in Tonga and they got translated back to English. The one woman who spoke English, answered in English but had available support from the We Effect coworker during the interview. All the interviews were between 40 minutes and one hour long.
30 5.1.1 List of interviewees
Interviewee 1 51 years Widow, with six The interview 19th of March old children. took place 2020. inside a school Approximately building, in the at 10.00-10.45 only classroom. am. The school was placed in the rural area of Mumbwa, between villages, so children from different places could join. Approximately 20 minutes with car to the closest village (driving very slow due to holes in the ground). Interviewee 2 35 years Unmarried, living Same place as 19th of March old with her 3 children interview 1 2020. and one took place. Approximately granddaughter. 11.00 – 11.45 am. Interviewee 3 62 years Living in a Same place as 19th of March old polygamous interview 1 and 2020. marriage where 2 took place. Approximately she was the 12.00 – 12.45 second wife and pm. they had eight children. Interviewee 4 36 years Living with her Under some 19th of March old husband and their trees just 2020. five children. outside the Approximately school building 13.00 – 13.45. as interview 1,2 and 3 took place. Interviewee 5 49 years Married with five The same place 19th of March old children. as where 2020. interview 4 Approximately took place. 14.00 – 14.45.
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5.2. Fieldwork and observations The fieldwork was conducted through a three-week minor field study in Zambia. The minor field study was scheduled to last for two months, but due to the world spread Covid19 pandemic the field study had to be aborted after 21 days. Those days still gave me a precious opportunity to experience and observe the research topic in real life- settings. There might be a gap between what people claim to do and their actual behavior; therefore direct observations can be a good methodology to combine with interviews or surveys (Bryman, 2012). During my stay I was able to participate in several events and activities organized by We Effect and at every event I took pictures, recorded videos and took notes. The observation methods used were participatory observation and unstructured observation (Bryman, 2012).
By using participatory observations, I could be part of member of a setting, either in groups, organizations and communities (Bryman, 2012). By doing so I could get closer to the participants normal life – to witness and listen – and be part of events arranged by We Effect and NGOCC. By participating I became a part of the group and not an outsider watching from outside. During the observation there wasn’t any observation schedule involved, instead the aim was to record as much details as possible of behaviors of the participants and later develop a narrative, but focusing on the surroundings, actors and interactions (Bryman, 2012). After the events or activities I made more detailed field notes with reflections, location, time of day, dates and who was involved.
During the first two weeks of my field study I participated in events, meetings and activities together with We Effect. During the third week we (two coworkers from We Effect, two coworkers from NGOCC and me) did a field trip to the Mumbwa district where I conducted five interviews with different women participating in the Power Woman Project. Before the outbreak of Covid19 the plan was to visit Luapula and Northern Province too to talk to women involved in the project there, but when the virus spread more, I had to cancel the plans and focus on the Mumwba district. Before
32 arrival in Mumbwa I couldn’t get in contacts with any of the women I was going to interview, because of language barriers and lack of access to technological devices. We Effect and NGOCC had planned the visit as part of their evaluation strategy, so the women knew we were coming. After the five interviews were conducted the We Effect coworkers and I were invited to come to Interviewee 2’s home. There she demonstrated how the solar panels, lamps and the pellet stove worked, and she also showed us clothes she had been sewing and selling, which was an activity she is now able to do at night thanks to the solar lamps.
5.2.1 List of observations
In the home of Interviewee 19th of March 2020. 2. Her home was 30 Approximately around Demonstration of solar minutes car drive from the 15.30 – 17.30. panels and cooking stove. school where the interview Showing me their home. took place. Listening to a group Under the trees outside 19th of March 2020. The meeting and information the school, same place as meeting was at 09.00, but about the Power Woman interview 4 and 5. Plus, the whole day in Mumbwa Project. Keeping notes and while moving around in lasted until 17.30. records from the whole the district. day in Mumbwa. Helping We Effects with In Lusaka, We Effect Office. Every Monday – Friday work concerning the from 09.00-17.00, from 1st project. – 21th of March 2020. Conference concerning In Lusaka. Several of the 5th of March 2020. women’s rights, organized women from the Power Approximately around by NGOCC. Women Project was there. 13.00-17.00. Educational and training In Lusaka. 6 people were 16th of March 2020. From session, with We Effect and being inform and training 08.30-16.00. NGOCC. by Martin Sekeleti, one of We Effects trainors and writers of information materials. Visiting NGOCC office and In Lusaka at NGOCC office. 12th of March 2020. From working from there a 09.00-17.00. whole day in order to understand their processes better. International Women’s Day In Lusaka, through the city. 9th of March 2020. From Marching, thousands of 08.00-16.00. women marching the
33 streets and uniting. I walked together with We Effect, but several women from The Power Woman Project and NGOCC was present.
5.3. Selection of respondents The interviewees were chosen by me and the coworkers at We Effect together, among the ones considered being more open to speak about their stories and share opinions. I also had to consider the time limit, since we were only able to stay in Mumbwa for one day, I needed to get useful data in that limited amount of time. Therefore, I trusted We Effect to know what women would feel more comfortable to speak with me. One could argue that We Effect got control over who my data came from by helping me to choose whom to interview, but my experience was that We Effect randomly picked the women and would have listen to me if I’ve asked to interview someone else. During all others events before we travelled to Mumbwa, I could speak freely to whomever I pleased as long as I got help with translation in case the person didn’t speak English. There was not a possibility for me to find informants on my own without We Effect’s help, since most of the participants in the project didn’t speak English or had phones or other sources of technologies. And I didn’t have a car with good enough engine and wheels to drive around in the rural areas where the roads where very bad.
5.4. Ethical considerations During the field study I always had to consider ethical issues, such as We Effect being the organization that the respondents got their aid through. The interviewed women might have felt that they were obligated to answer a certain way to please We Effect, especially since a coworker from We Effect was present during the interviews and helping with the translation. This means that information that could have been useful data might have been left out. There is a chance that the answers might have been different if I would have used another translator with no connections to We Effect, and if We Effect and NGOCC would not have been present during the field trip at all. But
34 the translator was herself a young woman, and didn’t have a high position within the organization, which I believe made the women comfortable in her presents. Moreover, the focus of my research is not the results of the project – so either if the women manage to make a profit or not – I was there to focus on their way of communicating, which I did my best to explain to them before the interview.
Before the interview I also explained clearly that I am a student from Malmö University and that the data was only going to be used for my degree-project. I made sure the respondents understood that if there were any questions they didn’t feel like answering we would skip them, and everything they told me would be confidential – no names would be used in the data analysis or in the degree project thesis. I requested their consent to audio record the interviews and use the data for my study, which they all accepted.
5.5. Limitations The whole Power Woman Project is hard to properly cover in a master’s thesis and therefore I had to make adjustments, especially during the current and urgent Covid19 situation. In total almost 200 women took part in the Power Woman Project, spread out in 3 different provinces and eight districts in Zambia. From the start the plan was to visit all three districts but I had to change the plan after realizing I would not be able to stay in Zambia. Therefore, this degree project focuses only on the Mumbwa district and the other district are not relevant for this study. There have not been any studies done in the other districts or evaluations yet that could have been used for a wider understanding of the project. The project evaluations made by We Effect and NGOCC were supposed to start in May 2020, but got delayed due to Corona. If I had the chance to interview and observe women in other districts the results may, or may not, have varied.
Time has been a big limitation in this study. The project was supposed to last for two months, but because of the pandemic outbreak the project got cut short to three weeks with a very short notice, which meant I only had the opportunity to do one field
35 trip into the villages instead of several ones as initially planned. The field trip in Mumbwa also had limited time due to practical reasons such as limited places to stay overnight and the translator didn’t have the opportunity to stay longer than one day.
Moreover, I was the only researcher during this study, so I alone was asking the questions and analyzing the data from the interviews. While shaping the interview guide I had to keep in mind my own biases and do my best to ignore them. During the interviews it was important to limit my impact by not asking leading questions. The selected themes and results are inevitably based on my interpretations of the participants, but I spent a lot of time with the data: listening to the interviews several times, transcribing all the interviews myself, reading them, rereading them, forming themes and categories covered in the interviews and finally selecting data to put into the categories and themes: a reasonably objective process. I remained aware of my background and opinions through the process of analyzing the data and writing the result in order to avoid my personal impact. Time permitting, I would preferably ask another objective researcher to go through the data.
6. Analysis
This chapter will explore the research questions by applying the theoretical framework to the empirical data collected in Zambia. Interviews were conducted with five women in the Power Woman Project. Four of the five women had gotten support from NGOCC to get their daughters out of marriages in order for them to go back to school. One woman didn’t have a daughter of her own taken out of marriage but have been actively working against child marriage for a long time and has been involved in several of NGOCC feminist projects. Since mothers with teenage daughters have been prioritized in this project most participants are a bit older – or at least old enough to have teenage children. Some of the answers may have been used more than others in the analysis, this is due to the relevance of the research questions. This chapter starts by analyzing communication traits used for both subjects in the project: charcoal use and child marriages. Thereafter, it examines seven themes that emerged based on the
36 answers regarding stopping charcoal and firewood use, and five themes concerning child marriages.
6.1. Power Woman use of interpersonal communication When the participants of the Power Woman Project communicate with community members about the benefits with not using firewood and charcoal or the benefits with avoiding child marriages, they do it interpersonally and verbally. Sometimes, but definitely not during all communications, there were other kinds of interactive tools involved together with the face-to-face communication, such as a booklet or a brochure with pictures and short texts. Some of them also dressed in clothes they got from NGOCC’s with their logotype and special patterns, so that people could understand what they were representing, like a uniform (see picture 5).
Picture 5.
According to the diffusion of innovations theory interpersonal communication play an important part in decision-making processes. Rogers (2003) states that interpersonal communication is the best way to change people opinions or persuasion. Therefore, the participating women in Power Woman Project use the most effective way of communicating, but it’s also of importance to understand that the women don’t have much, or any, options to this way of communicating. With no or little technologies, materials or budget, face-to-face communication is the only remaining communication
37 option. The women state that this way of communicating is indeed the most effective way to communicate with community members, because they can talk about the project everywhere they go: in church, in clinics, during children’s health check-ups, on the bus, at the women’s clubs, at farming meetings, village meetings, school meetings and so on. More, they also organize door-to-door visits according to their own project plan.
But there are negative aspects to this face-to-face communication too. They often need to walk far distances to get to people’s homes or to their gathering-points such as a school building, a clinic, church or such. One of the women interviewed stated that she needs to walk for 1–2 hours one way, approximately twice a week. She added that if they, the participants in Power Women, had help with transportation they would be able to reach more people. More, if there had been other ways of communicating through mass media, social media or with technologies, the women wouldn’t have to use only one way of communicating and their communication might have been more effective. The diffusion of innovation theory claims that mass media is a good way to spread knowledge, which is a necessary step before persuading someone. If the women would have had access to other tools and ways of communicating, it could have helped them to make the face-to-face communication more effective. By spreading knowledge and information before they meet face-to- face the perusing moments might been fewer and shorter, because people would already know about the subjects the women come to talk about. The interviewees state it was more difficult to approach people in the beginning when the project had just started and nobody knew about it. When the word spread it got very easy to talk with people and sell the lamps.
Two months after the project started the first set of solar lamps were sold out and ever since then the demand of lamps and stoves is higher than what the women in the project can provide. Sometime this leads to people getting upset and asking the women in the project why they informed them at all.
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The villages where the project is active also organize meetings where the headman – the traditional or religious leader – will speak to the whole village about the projects’ goals and why they are important for the village. The women all say it’s significant that the leader supports them in order for the community members to trust and listen to them. According to Rogers (2003) in all social systems there are opinion leaders, change agents and aides. In this case, the headmen in the villages are acting as opinion leaders and the women in the Power Woman Project are the change agents. The aides would be anyone that agrees with the projects’ goals, even if they are not actively participating in the project. That could be someone that bought lamps or stoves or didn’t marry their daughters before 18. The innovation system in this community is optional, since there has been no collective decision about the changes, and neither has the authorities been involved.
During interpersonal communication it was very usual for the women to exemplify or compare situations when explaining the advantages of stopping either the use of firewood and charcoal or child marriages. Whatever advantage was mentioned, it was often backed by an example from their real lives or a comparison to make the differences clear. Several women said that they compare the cost of candles and batteries with the cost of one solar lamp, so that people would easily understand the long-term economic benefits of the lamps. The respondents stated that in order for them to successfully change behaviors of other community members, they need to make them understand why change is needed. According to innovation of diffusion theory, the participating women have explained the relative advantages for community members, which are significant for people to shape on opinion. By explaining the convenience and economic benefits of not using charcoal and not marring away children, the women make people understand why this change is better.
In their communication they used explanations, feelings and examples that people can understand and relate to. One of the interviewed women said:
39 “In the village there are examples of girls that went to school and who are doing well. And there are other girls that didn’t go to school and are not doing so well.” (Interviewee 2).
“Use examples as you are explaining, don’t just tell people about it. Demonstrate with examples of how those are affected.” (Interviewee 2).
Furthermore, the data shows that some of the women use storytelling to a certain extent in order to affect the community members. Storytelling is a way to convey feelings that the girls might be experiencing when they can no longer go to school or have to collect firewood. The women refer to a person and that person’s feelings, thoughts and opinions, even if this person doesn’t exist in real life. Also, some of the women ask questions they already know the answer to. This way of communicating is more direct, which I believe is mostly used by people with higher status. This is something I noticed by observing how both the respondents and other Zambians communicated. Interviewee 3 had this style of communicating, I suppose because of her higher status due to her age and being considered economically successful in her village.
“Do you have any food in your hands? Why don’t you have any food in your hands? Because there has been no rain!” (Interviewee 3).
“Look at yourself and your husband, when were you married? And what have you achieved? Nothing!” (Interviewee 3).
6.2. Communication to address the problems with firewood and charcoal From the data it’s very clear that the women in the Power Woman Project prefer speaking to other women in the community about stopping the use of charcoal. Except when they go door-to-door, then they prefer speaking with the whole family otherwise the wife will say she needs to wait for the husband to make any decisions and the husband will say he needs to wait for the wife since she knows more about the
40 household. In all other occasions women are targeted and not the men, because according to the interviewees women put their family’s needs before their own, which men don’t. This would mean that there is a bigger chance that the mother would assimilate the advantages.
“Because men just think about making money, but women – when you teach them things – they take care of the whole family. So they are more interested in learning about things that are beneficial for the whole family.” (Interviewee 1).
“Women understand things easier than men. Men just complain and do not take cutting down of threes as seriously as women.” (Interviewee 5).
Women are also doing most, if not all, housework including cooking, collecting firewood and taking care of the children, a mechanism typical of the sexual division of labor (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000). When women can control the way they cook and use lights it makes their life significantly easier. The respondents confirm that cooking becomes much easier, and it’s possible to read or do handcrafts after dark.
6.2.1. Seven advantages highlighted in the communication The collected data showed that communication about stopping the use of firewood and charcoal mainly focuses on the positive outcomes that will come as a result of using the solar lamps and pellet stove instead of charcoal. Seven different themes used in the communication were identified. The women in the project used the themes, explained as advantages, when they communicated about the goals of the project, to make community members understand why they should stop using firewood and charcoal. These seven advantages will help to answer the research questions about what is being communicated to the community members and how it’s communicated.
The seven advantages identified are: safety; health; positive impact on climate change; better economy; not having to collect firewood; better light at night; easier and faster to prepare food. During the interviews four of the themes got more attention from the
41 interviewees than others, by either being mentioned before others, more often or more in detail. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that these four themes were considered more important in the communication. The four prioritized themes are: safety; health; positive impact on climate change and better economy.
The first theme is safety – by using solar panels and pallet stoves there will be no open fire. The women communicated that there will be less chances of houses catching fire or people burning themselves. It will be safer for the children and the whole family. The second theme, or advantage, often communicated was the health aspect. Breathing the smoke from the fire is dangerous and causes diseases, which now can be avoided (a factor underlined by Ketlhoilwe & Kanene, 2018 where the participants explain how their skin burns, the smoke affect their eyes and lungs, and they get high blood pressure). Thirdly, the advantage the women focused on in their communication is about climate change. When trees are cut for firewood and charcoal the climate is negatively affected, but if the cutting stops it will be better for the environment: less emission footprint. In the interviews women say because of the droughts the past years people can now relate to the meaning of climate change, because they have seen how the rain season got affected. Before the droughts it was difficult for people to understand the significance of climate change, since they couldn’t connect it directly with their own lives.
“Don’t cut down trees, because it effects the climate change and there will be no rain. Rain patterns are changing because of climate change.” (Interviewee 1).
“This year we didn’t know if we were going to have rains!” (Interviewee 3).
The fourth theme that received more attention, is the economic aspect. They explain how much cheaper it is to buy one solar lamp instead of having to buy candles, gasoline or batteries that run out and need to be refilled. The solar panels will have positive an impact on the family’s economy in the long term.
42 “When you have bought that lamp, the solar light, you have bought everything. There will be no other expenses, it ends there.” (Interviewee 3).
The three themes that got less attention were still mentioned in the interviews, but only after several or all of the four prioritized themes had been mentioned. I draw the conclusion that the four stronger themes are considered more convincing, while the three others are used as extra arguments to back up the four stronger ones. The fifth theme that was used in the communication was no need to collect firewood. This is usually the girls’ or the mothers’ task, so not having to walk far to collect or buy firewood would save them a lot of time. With that time the girls could study, or their mothers could do work that pays money.
“Instead of studying she was there in the forest cutting trees for the charcoal. When she gets home, she is already tired and it’s dark.” (Interviewee 3).
Sixth theme, or advantage, is: have better light at night. The solar lamps that are placed in the ceilings are more reliable, stronger and brighter than candles, kerosene or torches. The solar lamps are also easy to use and have a five-year guarantee. This makes it possible for children to study after dark and for mothers to do handcrafts or such. Some of the women usually bring a lamp with them when they go door-to-door so people will understand what it looks like, while other women choose to bring people to their homes to show them how the lamps actually work. If the benefits of an innovation are clear to others, more will follow and adopt too (Rogers, 1983). The women in the Power Woman Project are what Rogers calls diffusers, since they recruit others to adopt the innovation too.
“We show them the benefits and also show them examples of life before, when we were living with charcoal and firewood and all that, and the life we are living now. A better life – as an example to show them and tell them.“ (Interviewee 2).
43 Finally, the seventh theme is: easier and faster to prepare food with a pellet stove than any charcoal or firewood cooking option, which means once again that time will be saved and everyday life will be easier. To make this point extra clear several of the women brought people to their homes to show how they cooked with the new equipment, so members of the community would understand better. There is a much bigger chance that someone will gladly accept an innovation if they tried it and realize it fits their needs (Rogers, 1983). The women also organize demonstration sessions in the village clinic for people to take part in and ask questions about the stove and how to use it.
The four most used themes have more emotional impacts, while the less used ones are rational and purely practical. They may be used more because they move the community members’ feelings, by feeling responsible for their families’ wellbeing. Moreover, these four most used advantages focus on bigger problems that affect more people in a more serious way. All of them focus on solving problems that could actually be life threating, while the practical ones concern less serious issues.
The seven identified themes can all the connected to relative advantages from diffusion of innovation theory since the themes make it possible for the community members to calculate the proportions of the benefits and cost of adopting the innovation. The themes are answers to the communities’ members’ needs – their combability. In the cases where the women also demonstrate how the lamps or the stove work, take into consideration the complexity and observability aspects of the diffusion of innovation theory. By showing the members of the communities how easy the lamps and stoves are to use it will more difficult to the members to resist it. These demonstrations also make the lamps and stoves visible to others, which also will lead to more people following when they realize the equipment fits their needs (Rogers, 1983).
All seven identified themes can also be connected to Theory of gender and power because all the themes affect women – direct or indirect – more than men based on the cultural-bound gender roles. This could be the reason why the women target other
44 women in their communication about environmental-friendly-technologies. The sexual division of labor are affected when women save time not doing as much unpaid work duties such as cooking and household work. In the long-term women can make more money on their own and if the climate change will slow down the women will suffer less from it. By communicating about these innovations, the Power woman participants are helping other women to regain some power in their relationships and the society.
6.3. Communication to change mindset concerning child marriage Unlike the communication about not using firewood and charcoal, the communication about avoiding child marriages doesn’t focus as much on advantages and positive outcomes. The women tend to talk mostly about the disadvantages and the problems connected with getting married at a young age. Also, unlike the communication about firewood and charcoal, this communication has a larger target group. It is necessary to talk to all decision-makers involved in the marriage in order to make a change. The girls’ parents must understand the problems with early marriage and why they should take her out of her marriage and back to school. If the parents agree, they talk to the girl herself and her husband, and in some cases also the husband’s parents.
The data shows that the women in the project don’t only talk to people after the girls are already married, but also communicate in a proactive way to young people, telling their daughters and their friends to stay in school and wait to get married. One respondent also said she tells the boys in the community to leave the girls alone, because parents are scared of the girls falling pregnant before marriage. The cathexis, from Theory of gender and power, restricts the societal expectations of female sexuality and turn it into something shameful and dirty, which effect the parents’ perceptions. Gender roles and cultural norms create taboos which cause parent to fear that their daughters will have sex before marriage (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000). This is a driver for parents to marry off their daughters at a young age – while they are still virgins.
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“And even a boy child, to tell the boy child not to interfere with the girls in school! Maybe they should stay away from the girls.” (Interviewee 3).
6.3.1. Four problems highlighted in the communication There are four identified problems communicated to community members concerning child marriages. They are: the girl will lack skills and knowledge; physically dangerous; no choice for herself; she is depending on him. The first issue communicated is that marriage at a young age will result in lack of knowledge and skills which can lead to several negative impacts: she will not be able to take care of the new household which is expected of her. If or when they have children, she will not know how to take care of them and if the marriage would be terminated for several reasons, like divorce or the husband passing away, she will not be able to take care of herself.
“Early marriage is bad – because when the child leaves for marriage early they don’t know much about life and then later when, or if, the husband leaves her she is not able to survive on her own because she didn’t grow up and learn any skills.” (Interviewee 1).
The second problem being communicated, is that it could be dangerous for the girl in several ways to get married so young. If she gets pregnant at a tender age there is a bigger chance for her and the baby to get hurt or even die. Since there is a big chance of her lacking the knowledge about family planning and contraceptives she can’t choose or plan when to have children (Steinhause et al., 2019). Also, when the girl doesn’t know how to take care of the household and a family it could result in the husband beating and mistreating her for not doing what is expected of her.
“…you marry off a child at a tender age when she is yet not ready for the marriage life – she doesn’t know how to look after the husband, doesn’t know how to look after the home, those things. So you put the child in trouble! Where if the child is married to an older man she will be beaten
46 everyday. [He will say:] ‘Why didn’t you do this? Why did you do this? Why that?’ Those things.” (Interviewee 3).
Thirdly, a girl getting married too young will not have the possibility to choose the life she wants for herself. In many cases the family takes the decision when and who she should marry and limits her opportunities in life. If she waits with marriage, she will have more and better options because she will have more skills, knowledge and she will know herself better. If she can take her own decision about who and when to marry, her life will predictably be better. Furthermore, she will to some extent avoid the strict sexual division of power if she learns some skills. If housework isn’t her only duty, she will not be completely dependent on her husband and that would give him less control over her. She will also have a bigger chance of getting a qualified job and some status in the society (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000).
“It’s better that she grows up, she goes to school, she does some work or get a job and then she can get married.” (Interviewee 2).
The fourth concern is that the husband of the young girl will not care for her. She would be placed in a very vulnerable situation because she is depending on him. The husband might struggle to support her, he might be selfish or choose to spend the money on something else than her. This is an example of sexual division of power, because he decides over her life since he is economically supporting her (Wingood & DeClemente, 2000). Moreover, he is most likely physically stronger and more educated, therefore he will be able to communicate in superior way with her.
6.4. Empowerment or gender equality According to Wilkins (2016) it’s important to understand the difference between women’s empowerment and gender equality, because when development focus on empowerment it favors individual neoliberal interests instead of structural or social changes. The Power Woman Project is split in this discussion, because the part concerning communicating about the solar lamps and stoves, are very much an
47 individualized empowerment project. The participants in the Power Women Project focus on their own individual development by selling the lamps and making an economical profit. Also, the users of the lamps will be the only ones profiting from it, not anyone else in the society. During the interviews my impression was that some of the women focus on their own gain, because some enjoyed telling me how much they, as individuals, had earned thanks to the project. The women also keep lists of how many people they spoken to and sold lamps to, which are a competitive factor. But one interviewee mentioned the unfairness that not everyone in the communities could access the lamps and stoves but did not reflect over any possibilities to change that.
The other part of the project, when the women communicate about child marriages there is no individual or economic gain for them. The main focus is to make a social and societal change and not to empower anyone individually. This could be one reason why the target group was bigger than when talking about the charcoal use.
6.5. Biggest challenges when communicating To give a deeper understanding of the interpersonal communication between the women in the project and their community members, it is worth mentioning the biggest challenges that they are facing in order to reach their goals. Even though the challenges vary, all of them can be connected to the same cause: poverty. According to the interviewees many people tell them that their income is depending on cutting trees and selling firewood and charcoal, without it they wouldn’t be able to eat. To stop deforestation, social and economic problems faced by the communities must be considered (Handavu et al., 2018).
“[People will say:] ‘When you stop us from cutting down trees to make charcoal what do you expect us to do to make money?’ In that case I encourage them to find other means and explain that because of cutting trees there is no rainfall.” (Interviewee 4).
48 “Okay, you cut down trees, burn charcoal, sell the charcoal... Get some goats, or even chickens – you start up a project, your own project! That you can manage yourself, not someone to come and give you a project! You start your own projects – chickens raring; pig raring; those things. You start small and then you grow.” (Interviewee 3).
Also, some parents say that they have to marry off their young daughters because they need the brides’ price to feed the rest of the family. In order to make real change for women social and structural systems need to be questioned (Wilkins, 2016). The Power Woman Project is partly an individual based empowerment agenda, which profits the women in the project through selling the lamps and the girls through getting out of early marriages. Simultaneously, everyone profits from cleaner air and less pollution when firewood and charcoal use decreases, therefore the project’s agenda gains a partly societal output, even though it doesn’t question deeply the patriarchal root of the problem. Men are not involved in the project, even if they bare a significant amount of responsibility for today’s patriarchal structure of the society. And to reach gender equality we need to consider how gender is connected with other individualities and relations (Wilkins, 2016).
“People say ‘when I don’t have money, the easiest thing is just to marry off my daughter at least I will get cows and I can sell the cows and then have money.’ So most people answer like that about child marriage.” (Interviewee 2).
According to Rogers (1983) all innovations must meet the needs of the adopter and be consistent with existing values, past experience and the needs to the new adopter. The Power Woman Project meets some of the needs of many women in rural Zambia. The respondents show very big appreciation for the fact that their daughters can go back to school, which they talk about to other community members. Through the interviews it’s clear that the lamps and stoves help the women in their everyday lives, but according to my observation the respondents perceived a bigger need to get their daughters back to school compared to having lamps in their homes. The economic
49 aspect connected to selling the lamps was a well-matched need for the participants, all of them mentioned how the money had helped them, but only one respondent focused more on the economic benefits rather than the benefits of having lights at home or girls back to school.
More proactive actions are needed concerning child marriages if a bigger change is to be achieved. Instead of helping the girls when they are already married, it would be helpful to reach the families before the daughters get married. Either by improving parental engagement as previous research suggests (Bhan et al., 2019) or facing the main reason why girls get married away, which according to all the respondents is poverty.
7. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to generate knowledge about how women in rural Zambia communicate to change behaviors in their communities. The study examines what and how the participants communicate to have an impact on other community members’ thoughts, opinions and actions concerning the use of charcoal and firewood on the one hand, and child marriages on the other. The study highlights gender communication concepts from Wilkins (2016) and uses ideas from Connells’ (1987) Theory of gender and power together and Rogers’ (1983) Diffusion of Innovations theory for the theoretical framework.
In order to collect data a minor field study in Zambia was conducted, using semi- structured interviews and observation. The field study was essential since it enabled me to meet all the respondents in person and learn about their lives in Mumbwa, especially since the Corona-virus pandemic might make this kind of data collection impossible in the near future. The observations gave me the chance to see some of the challenges that women in rural Zambia are facing on a daily basis, which gave me a wider understanding of the people, their culture and the local surroundings connected to this project. Thinking back on what I had planned to do during my time in Zambia I can see that I managed to collect the data I needed, even though I met challenges such as time limits while doing my fieldwork.
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The women participating in the Power Woman Project are only using interpersonal, verbal communication when communicating to the members of the community, sometimes in combination with practical demonstrations of how to use the stoves or lamps. The participants emphasize different aspects of the communication when speaking about options to charcoal and firewood, compared to when they speak about options to child marriages. When the women are communicating about not using charcoal and firewood it’s in their interest to make the alternative sound as good as possible since they are selling solar lamps and pellet stoves, therefore they emphasize the positive outcomes. When the participants communicate about child marriage, they instead stress the problems that come with it rather than only positive elements.
Additionally, depending on which of the two topics they talk about, they target and adapt their communication to different people in the community. When the women communicate about not using charcoal and firewood, they specifically target other women in their communities. According to my respondents, this is because women care about safety, health, climate and good economy for the whole family more than the men in their communities. Furthermore, since women are the ones doing all the housework, they will understand how much easier life will be if they don’t have to use charcoal or firewood and instead could use solar lamps and a pellet stove. When talking about child marriages a bigger part of the communities is targeted. The Power Woman participants talk to young girls about their future, they talk to parents of both girls and boys, and they talk to boys about their responsibility not to put girls in trouble by getting them pregnant. The respondents think it’s important that everyone in the community understands the problems with child marriages, not only the child herself or her parents.
Independently of whether the women in the project are communicating about charcoal and firewood or about child marriages, one thing becomes very clear from the analysis of the interviews: the main cause of all of the obstacles encountered by the women can be traced back to poverty. According to the interviewees, many people state that they only cut trees and make charcoal because it’s their only source of
51 income. The interviewed women gave examples of parents saying that they have to marry off their daughter because they need the bride price to take care of the rest of the family. The Power Woman Project follows a social change model where the problems are mainly conceived to belong to individuals, rather than to the whole society. But according to Wilkins (2016) in order to make real change, the social and structural systems need to be questioned at the root.
The Zambian societies are patriarchal communities and men are in charge, but since only women are allowed to participate in the Power Woman Project, this means women are given voice. We Effect and NGOCC encourage women to speak to other community members and give them tools such as knowledge, skills and confidence to do so. This allows the women to influence debates and conversations in the communities concerning women’s rights both about marriage rights, education and household tasks. This gives them a bigger chance to affect their own lives and others. The negative aspect of not letting any men participate in the project is that they don’t get the chance to actively participate in the societal change to end child marriages. Participants speak to some men in order to change their behaviors, mostly in situations involving the marrying of their daughters, but men are not directly involved in the project. Men should be involved in social change programs too (Yaya et al., 2019) since they are the ones who actually marry the underaged girls. Their mindset has to change, not only the opportunities for the girls (Wilkins, 2016).
By exploring and analyzing how women in rural Zambia communicate to reach change in their communities concerning child marriage and use of charcoal and firewood, I have contributed to more insights in the field of Communication for Development. There is room for further research about the internal communication between We Effect, NGOCC and their member organizations, and between the organizations and the women. To get an even deeper understanding of the communication within this Power Woman Project even more qualitative work could be valuable. By interviewing and observing more participants, also in other districts, the findings could be more detailed. And it would be interesting to see if the communication differs in different districts. Furthermore, additional studies should be conducted about projects trying to
52 end patriarchal structures and reach gender equality in rural Africa by using community communication. To conclude, interpersonal communication by the women in the Power Woman Project that reached individuals of the communities, mostly other women, was surely beneficial but to achieve more gender equality and give women in the global south a fair life, systemic changes in the structure of relationships between women and men must be accomplished.
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Appendices Annex 1. Interview guidelines
Warm up phase 1. What’s your name? If you don’t mind telling me, how old are you? 2. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your family? 3. Why did you join the project? When did you join? 4. A. What do you think about the use of firewood and charcoal? B. What do you think of the lamps you are trying to sell? C. What do you think about girls getting married before they are 18 years old? D. How are these three issues connected do you think? 5. What did you learn during the training sessions together with We Effect and NGOCC? 6. What recommendations about communication did you get during the training?
Main body of interview 7. Did you worry about that your daughter’s husband wouldn’t agree at the time when you joined the project? 8. Did you have any other worries at the time when you joined the project? 9. When you go door-to-door and talk about the Power Woman project, what do you say? 10. Who do you usually talk to about the project? 11. Does it matter whom you speak to? 12. What are people’s reactions when you tell them about the project? 13. What do you say in order to encourage members of your community to stop using firewood and charcoal? 14. How long has it usually taken for a member of the community to agree with you and want to make a change? How many times do you need to talk to them?
58 15. What is the biggest challenge when you talk with people about stopping their use of firewood and charcoal? 16. What do you say in order to sell the lamps? 17. What is the biggest challenge when you are trying to sell the lamps? 18. In a typical door-to-door visit, how do you change the subject from clean energy to early age marriage? 19. What do you say about marriage at a young age? 20. What is the biggest challenge when you try to convince people in your community that child marriage is problematic? 21. How and when do you communicate about the Power Woman project and its goals, other than going door-to-door? 22. Do you distribute any brochures or other information materials, in your door-to- door visits? 23. What are the most common questions people ask when you talk to them about the project?
Cool-off 24. How have you benefited from participating in the Power Woman project? That was my last question. Is there anything that you would like to add?
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