DOCSLIB.ORG

Mapping Early Marriage in West Africa a Scan of Trends, Interventions, What Works, Best Practices and the Way Forward

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Mapping Early Marriage in West Africa a Scan of Trends, Interventions, What Works, Best Practices and the Way Forward MAPPING EARLY MARRIAGE IN WEST AFRICA A SCAN OF TRENDS, INTERVENTIONS, WHAT WORKS, BEST PRACTICES AND THE WAY FORWARD BeNIN LIBERIA BURKINA FASO MALI CAPE VERDE MAURITANIA CHAD NIGER COTE d’IvOIRE NIGERIA GAMBIA SeNEGAL GHANA SIERRA LeONE GUINEA TOGO SePTEMBER 2013 A STUDY SUBMITTED TO THE FORD FOUNDATION, WEST AFRICA OFFICE Marriage West Africa Report 2013.indd 1 9/19/13 9:08 AM MAPPING EARLY MARRIAGE IN WEST AFRICA September 2013 Research Team This study mapping early marriage in West Africa is the product of two years of discovery and learning by a team of development researchers. The result is not only an exhaustive report on the current status of the problem and efforts to combat it, but also an important model for future studies in other areas of the world where the practice persists. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Principal Researcher and Author: Judith-Ann Walker One valuable aspect of this study is that it surveys a wide region where few studies on child marriage have occurred in the recent past. It examines trends in the practice over 12 years in 16 countries, providing The Author, Judith-Ann Walker is a founding member With: Sarah Mukisa, Yahaya Hashim and Hadiza and Director of the development Research and Projects Ismail readers with a broad and comparative understanding of the issue. Another major contribution is the Centre (dRPC). Born in the Republic of Trinidad Editor: Joanne Omang thought-provoking list of best practices and lessons learned that emerged from the researchers’ scrutiny and Tobago, Judith-Ann has lived and worked as a of existing interventions and evaluations. The report also acknowledges its own gaps and limitations, development practitioner in Northern Nigeria for the making clear the need to monitor, evaluate and learn from the various strategies to end child marriage past 20 years. She holds a PhD in Development Studies Field Investigators and highlighting the important role research can play in uniting efforts across diverse fields affected from the International Institute of Social Studies, by the issue. Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She is an ASHOKA Benin Akimi Yessoufou Innovator and is currently an Echidna Guest Scholar Burkina Faso Bagre W. Olivier at the Centre for Universal Education, Brookings Burkina Faso Jeremie Compaore The study is relevant for a range of stakeholders. Impact investors will benefit from the report’s suggestions Institution. The dRPC is a non-profit third sector think Chad Seid Sultan Ali for how to support civil society organizations and hold governments at regional and national levels tank which utilizes participatory approaches to mobilize Chad Emmanuel D’nalbaye accountable for ending child marriage. Government and regional bodies will find much to consider indigenous knowledge on development issues and in the study’s detailed menu of recommendations for measures against child marriage at three levels: problems impacting negatively on the lives of women Cote d’Ivoire Seri Jean Jacques law and rights; policy and institutions; and projects and actions. and children in particular. The small `d’ in the dRPC Gambia Nurudeen Bar reflects the founders’ commitment to the software of Ghana Stephen Afranie For the Ford Foundation, this report is a crucial step forward in our efforts to end child marriage and development. Guinea Nounkoumba S.Y an example of how our valued partnerships with organizations around the world are critical to helping Special thanks to Margaret Hempel and Friday Liberia James Y Sumo empower women everywhere to control their reproductive health and claim their full human rights. Okonofua at the Ford Foundation for their Mali Aisse Diarra encouragement and support; to Kathy Bonk and the Mauritania Elkhalil M Abdellahi Communications Consortium Media Center, Bremmer Niger Mariama Amadou & Goris Communications, photographer Robin Wyatt, Margaret Hempel Friday Okonofua Niger Roufai Ali and to photographer Stephanie Sinclair for select Director Program Officer photographs and her special work, Too Young To Wed. Nigeria Aminu Hassan Gamawa Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights Youth Sexuality, Reproductive Health and Rights Initiative Senegal Mada Lucienne Tandeng development Research and Project Centre Ford Foundation, New York Ford Foundation, Lagos 63 B Sultan Road Sierra Leone Alpha Banga Kargbo Nassarawa GRA, Kano State, Nigeria Togo Adamou Moussa [email protected] fordfoundation.org 1 2 Marriage West Africa Report 2013.indd 1-2 9/19/13 9:08 AM MAPPING EARLY MARRIAGE IN WEST AFRICA TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents 5 • List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 6 • List of Tables and Figures 8 • Executive Summary 16 • Section 1: Ending Early Marriage in West Africa - Where are We Now? 20 • Section 2: The Context of Development and Under-development 24 • Section 3: Trend Analysis of Early Marriage in West Africa (2000-2012) 36 • Section 4: Trends in Early Marriage in West Africa: A Comparison With Photo credit: Stephanie Sinclair Hotspots in Africa and South Asia 40 • Section 5: Interventions to End Early Marriage in West Africa 48 • Section 6: What is Working (The Best and Most Promising Practices) and What can be Improved? What do Evaluations Tell Us? 54 • Section 7: Recommendations and the Way Forward 57 • End Notes 59 • References 62 • Appendix 1: Research Deliverables Expected Versus Research Deliverables Received 3 4 Marriage West Africa Report 2013.indd 3-4 9/19/13 9:08 AM MAPPING EARLY MARRIAGE IN WEST AFRICA LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES List of Acronyms and Abbreviations List of Tables and Figures ACERWC African Committee of Experts on the ICASA International Conference Tables Figures Rights and Welfare of the Child on HIV/AIDS in Africa ACPF African Child Policy Forum ICRW International Centre for Table 2.0: Socioeconomic profile of ECOWAS countries and Chad Figure 1.0: Summary of recommendations to end early marriage in West Research on Women Africa ACRWC African Charter on the Rights Table 2.1: Currently married girls aged 15-19 years and Welfare of the Child IRIN Integrated Regional Table 3.0: Trends in age of marriage Figure 3.0: Trends in age of marriage in West Africa 2000-2010 Information Networks Ambassadors Girls AGSP Table 3.1: Classification of countries by changes in age of marriage Figure 3.1: Percentage of females aged 15-19 years who are currently Scholarship Program LEAP Livelihood Empowerment married 2000-11 Against Poverty between 2000-2011 Action Health Incorporated AHI Figure 3.2: Percent married and those in polygamous unions aged 15-19 LFPR Labour Force Participation Rate Table 3.2: Females aged 15-19 currently married AHIP Adolescent Health Information Project Figure 3.3: Trends in female primary school completion rates (%) in MGD Millennium Development Goals Table 3.3: Total population of currently married women aged 15-19 as AIDS Acquired Immuno- selected countries 2000-11 Deficiency Syndrome MOU Memorandum of Understanding at 2009 Figure 3.4: Regional variations in age of marriage, Ghana ANPPCAN African Network for the Prevention NDHS National Demographic Health Survey Table 3.4: Changes in female labour force participation rates by age of and Protection against Child marriage 2000-11 Figure 3.5: Regional variations in age of marriage, Niger NGO Non-Governmental Organization Abuse and Neglect Table 3.5: Trends in female primary school completion rates & age of Figure 3.6: Regional variations in age of marriage, Mali NNHRI-WA Network of National Human Rights AU African Union Institutions in West Africa marriage 2000-11 Figure 3.7: Regional variations in age of marriage, Cape Verde CAGE Community Action for Girls Education NORAD Norwegian Agency for Table 3.6 Percent of population living in urban areas 2000-11 Figure 4.0: Child brides in South Asia & sub-Saharan Africa CCTs Conditional Cash Transfers Development Corporation Table 4.0 Regional declines in rates of early marriages, 2012 Figure 4.1: Regional variations in % of women aged 20-24 who were COMPASS Community Participation for RH Reproductive Health Table 6.0 Evaluation reports of interventions to end early marriage married Action in the Social Sector SMAM Singulate Mean Age at Marriage Figure 4.2: % of women aged 20-24 who were first married or in union CSOs Civil Society Organizations TEGINT Transforming Education for by aged 15 in Africa CS Forum Civil Society-Forum Girls in Nigeria and Tanzania Figure 4.3: % of women 20-24 who were first married or in union below DAC Day of the African Child TFRs Total Fertility Rates 15 and below 18 in global south dRPC development Research TVET Technical and Vocational and Projects Centre Education and Training Figure 4.4: Maternal mortality rates in selected countries with highest child marriage rates ECOWAS Economic Community of UN United Nations West African States Figure 4.5: Contraceptive prevalence in some countries with high child UNFPA United Nations Population Fund FAWE Forum for African Women marriages rates UNGEI United Nations Girls’ Educationists Education Initiative Figure 4.6: High adolescent fertility rates in selected countries FGC Female Genital Cutting UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund Figure 5.0: Strategies used by programs to end early marriage FIDA International Federation USAID United States Agency for Figure 5.1: Number of programs by countries of Women Lawyers International Development Figure 5.2: Programs that cover multiple countries FORWARD Forum on Marriage and the VVF Vesico-vaginal fistula Rights of Women and Girls Figure 5.3: Reduction of child marriages as an objective of the program WACSOF West Africa CSO Forum FOMWAN Federation of Muslim Women Figure 5.4: Integrated vs. single strategy interventions Associations of Nigeria WHO World Health Organization Figure 5.5: Education interventions and integration points GNI Gross National Income Figure 5.6: Community mobilization and advocacy programs and integration points Figure 5.7: Fistula interventions and integration points 5 6 Marriage West Africa Report 2013.indd 5-6 9/19/13 9:08 AM MAPPING EARLY MARRIAGE IN WEST AFRICA EXECUTIVE SUmmARY Executive Summary The harmful traditional practice of child marriage The Current Situation persists worldwide.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Inequality of Child Mortality Among Ethnic Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa M
    Special Theme ±Inequalities in Health Inequality of child mortality among ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa M. Brockerhoff1 & P. Hewett2 Accounts by journalists of wars in several countries of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s have raised concern that ethnic cleavages and overlapping religious and racial affiliations may widen the inequalities in health and survival among ethnic groups throughout the region, particularly among children. Paradoxically, there has been no systematic examination of ethnic inequality in child survival chances across countries in the region. This paper uses survey data collected in the 1990s in 11 countries (Central African Republic, Coà te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia) to examine whether ethnic inequality in child mortality has been present and spreading in sub-Saharan Africa since the 1980s. The focus was on one or two groups in each country which may have experienced distinct child health and survival chances, compared to the rest of the national population, as a result of their geographical location. The factors examined to explain potential child survival inequalities among ethnic groups included residence in the largest city, household economic conditions, educational attainment and nutritional status of the mothers, use of modern maternal and child health services including immunization, and patterns of fertility and migration. The results show remarkable consistency. In all 11 countries there were significant differentials between ethnic groups in the odds of dying during infancy or before the age of 5 years. Multivariate analysis shows that ethnic child mortality differences are closely linked with economic inequality in many countries, and perhaps with differential use of child health services in countries of the Sahel region.
    [Show full text]
  • Legacies of Colonialism and Islam for Hausa Women: an Historical Analysis, 1804-1960
    Legacies of Colonialism and Islam for Hausa Women: An Historical Analysis, 1804-1960 by Kari Bergstrom Michigan State University Winner of the Rita S. Gallin Award for the Best Graduate Student Paper in Women and International Development Working Paper #276 October 2002 Abstract This paper looks at the effects of Islamization and colonialism on women in Hausaland. Beginning with the jihad and subsequent Islamic government of ‘dan Fodio, I examine the changes impacting Hausa women in and outside of the Caliphate he established. Women inside of the Caliphate were increasingly pushed out of public life and relegated to the domestic space. Islamic law was widely established, and large-scale slave production became key to the economy of the Caliphate. In contrast, Hausa women outside of the Caliphate were better able to maintain historical positions of authority in political and religious realms. As the French and British colonized Hausaland, the partition they made corresponded roughly with those Hausas inside and outside of the Caliphate. The British colonized the Caliphate through a system of indirect rule, which reinforced many of the Caliphate’s ways of governance. The British did, however, abolish slavery and impose a new legal system, both of which had significant effects on Hausa women in Nigeria. The French colonized the northern Hausa kingdoms, which had resisted the Caliphate’s rule. Through patriarchal French colonial policies, Hausa women in Niger found they could no longer exercise the political and religious authority that they historically had held. The literature on Hausa women in Niger is considerably less well developed than it is for Hausa women in Nigeria.
    [Show full text]
  • Niger Country Brief: Property Rights and Land Markets
    NIGER COUNTRY BRIEF: PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND MARKETS Yazon Gnoumou Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison with Peter C. Bloch Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison Under Subcontract to Development Alternatives, Inc. Financed by U.S. Agency for International Development, BASIS IQC LAG-I-00-98-0026-0 March 2003 Niger i Brief Contents Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Purpose of the country brief 1 1.2 Contents of the document 1 2. PROFILE OF NIGER AND ITS AGRICULTURE SECTOR AND AGRARIAN STRUCTURE 2 2.1 General background of the country 2 2.2 General background of the economy and agriculture 2 2.3 Land tenure background 3 2.4 Land conflicts and resolution mechanisms 3 3. EVIDENCE OF LAND MARKETS IN NIGER 5 4. INTERVENTIONS ON PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND MARKETS 7 4.1 The colonial regime 7 4.2 The Hamani Diori regime 7 4.3 The Kountché regime 8 4.4 The Rural Code 9 4.5 Problems facing the Rural Code 10 4.6 The Land Commissions 10 5. ASSESSMENT OF INTERVENTIONS ON PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND MARKET DEVELOPMENT 11 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 13 BIBLIOGRAPHY 15 APPENDIX I. SELECTED INDICATORS 25 Niger ii Brief NIGER COUNTRY BRIEF: PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND MARKETS Yazon Gnoumou with Peter C. Bloch 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE COUNTRY BRIEF The purpose of the country brief is to determine to which extent USAID’s programs to improve land markets and property rights have contributed to secure tenure and lower transactions costs in developing countries and countries in transition, thereby helping to achieve economic growth and sustainable development.
    [Show full text]
  • Empowering Women in West African Markets Case Studies from Kano, Katsina (Nigeria) and Maradi (Niger)
    Fighting Hunger Worldwide Empowering Women in West African Markets Case Studies from Kano, Katsina (Nigeria) and Maradi (Niger) VAM Gender and Markets Study #7 2017 1 The Zero Hunger Challenge emphasizes the importance of strengthening economic empowerment in support of the Sustainable Development Goal 2 to double small-scale producer incomes and productivity. The increasing focus on resilient markets can bring important contributions to sustainable food systems and build resilience. Participation in market systems is not only a means for people to secure their livelihood, but it also enables them to exercise agency, maintain dignity, build social capital and increase self-worth. Food security analysis must take into account questions of gender-based violence and discrimination in order to deliver well-tailored assistance to those most in need. WFP’s Nutrition Policy (2017-2021) reconfirms that gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential to achieve good nutrition and sustainable and resilient livelihoods, which are based on human rights and justice. This is why gender-sensitive analysis in nutrition programmes is a crucial contribution to achieving the SDGs. The VAM Gender & Markets Initiative of the WFP Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa seeks to strengthen WFP and partners’ commitment, accountability and capacities for gender-sensitive food security and nutrition analysis in order to design market-based interventions that empower women and vulnerable populations. The series of regional VAM Gender and Markets Studies is an effort to build the evidence base and establish a link to SDG 5 which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
    [Show full text]
  • Land Access in Rural Africa
    Land access in rural Africa: Strategies to fight gender inequality FAO-Dimitra workshop – September 2008 Land access in rural Africa: Strategies to fight gender inequality FAO-Dimitra workshop: Information and communication strategies to fight gender inequality as regards land access and its consequences for rural populations in Africa 22-26 September 2008 – Brussels, Belgium For Marie Mwira © Dimitra Dear Marie, This publication is dedicated to you, the brave and tireless activist for women’s rights and peace in the Great Lakes Region. You impressed us with your courage and strength in such a difficult environment. The last time we met you, in February 2008, you told us how many of Africa’s problems were connected to customary discrimination against women and to land control issues. Your strategies for dealing with these problems – information campaigns to repackage and disseminate texts and conventions on human rights, education, exchanging experiences, advocacy, and so on – would have fit in perfectly with this document. We will never forget you. The Dimitra team and its partners Marie Mwira was President of the Réseau Femme et Développement (REFED – Women and Development Network) in North Kivu as well as President of the organisation Genre et Tradition pour le Développement et la Paix au Nord-Kivu (Gender and Tradition for Development and Peace in North Kivu). She died of a heart attack in Goma on 2 December 2008. © Dimitra Thérèse, a widow, lives in a camp for displaced people near her native “ hill (colline). Her brothers have refused to give her access to the family land, saying that you cannot mix clans and upset the patriarchal system.
    [Show full text]
  • NIGER State Report 1
    INITIAL AND PERIODIC REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF NIGER TO THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS (A.C.H.P.R) ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS 1988-2002 INTRODUCTION On 15th July, 1986 the Republic of Niger ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted in Nairobi (KENYA) in June 1981. In compliance with article 62 of the Charter, Niger should have presented its initial report on measures taken with a view to giving effect to the rights and freedoms set out in the Charter. Also, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th periodic reports should have been presented respectively in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000. The 7th report is scheduled to be presented this year. However difficulties of all sorts; military coup d’Etats, political instability and armed rebellions, as well as the socio-economic constraints that the country had to bear throughout the decade of the 1990s have not allowed the authorities of Niger to fulfil this obligation. By reason of the foregoing, the government of Niger fervently wishes that the present report be considered as a basic report, replacing all the other seven that Niger should have presented at the dates indicated above. The structure of the report, which is in line with the general guidelines drafted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is as follows: Chapter I: Profile of the Republic of Niger. Chapter II: Legal system, system of government and relations between institutions. Chapter III: Main texts of domestic law relating to the promotion and protection of Human and Peoples’ Rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Menstrual-Hygiene-Management-–-The
    MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT: THE EXPERIENCE OF NOMADIC STUDY AND SEDENTARY POPULATIONS IN NIGER Menstrual hygiene management: the experience of nomadic and sedentary populations in Niger Regions of Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabéri and Zinder UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDÉ II TRAINING AND DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE (IFORD) This study was undertaken as part of the Joint Programme on Gender, Hygiene and Sanitation. It is the result of beneficial collaboration between WSSCC, UN WOMEN and IFORD. WSSCC and UN Women do not share responsibility for the data which were collected by the team at IFORD. Research team Scientific Coordinator Assistant Researchers Pr Honoré Mimche, sociologist Dr Moïse Tamekeng, sociologist Maxime Tiembou Noumeni, demographer Lead Researcher Dr Blaise Nguendo Yongsi, epidemiologist Review editors Rockaya Aidara, policy specialist Dr Mbarou Gassama Mbaye, economist Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the following • Mr Souley Abdoulaye, from the research institute individuals and organizations: LASDEL and the action research centre CRAMS, for his help facilitating the operational phase of this study; • WSSCC for the financing of this study • the people in the regions visited during the study, in- • the Niamey UN Women Office Team, especially Beatrice cluding administrative officials and traditional/reli- Eyong and Maimouna Seyni, for their warm welcome gious leaders, as well as local officials, who welcomed and support for the smooth running of field activities; the survey teams and provided information; • the WSSCC team in Geneva, especially Mrs Archana • the women, girls, men and boys for making themselves Patkar and Mr Anthony Dedouche for their technical available and for their active, voluntary participation in support, with regard to methodology, subject expertise, this study; as well as to those who contributed to the editing, trans- • the team of interviewers who gathered the information.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender Politics of Military & Civilian; the Nigerian Woman
    Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online) Vol.3, No.7, 2013 Cultural and Socio-political issues: Gender Politics of Military & Civilian; The Nigerian woman EJOVI, AUSTINE & MGBONYEBI,VOKE CHARLES POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT COLLEGE OF EDUCATION PMB 2090, AGBOR. DELTA STATE, NIGERIA,WEST AFRICA. ABSTRACT The pattern of culture and socio-political development in any given society generates peculiar structural inequalities between men and women. This goes a long way in determining the opportunities available to both sexes in the economy, politics, religion, education etc which in turn reinforces the roles played by the sexes in the prevailing culture and socio-political order. Thus paper argues and sheds light on the structural inequalities that exist between men and women in which woman’s right are abused is due largely to the patrilineal nature of the society. In Nigeria, Gender politics of military and civilian rule is largely a function of the prevailing and entrenched pattern of human rights practice, the role of the military and political gladiators cannot be overemphasized, which of course is a reflection of the cultural and socio-political values of the Nigerian society. INTRODUCTION The constitutional and legal status of women, and women’s participation in all level of governance have long been taken as key indicators of the general level of democracy, usually on the basis that since women constitute a historically oppressed and marginalized group and at least half of most national populations, their level of political representation and participation is crucial. It is important to emphasize that the term gender is not the same thing as sex because while sex refers to physical difference between males and females, gender concerns the psychological, social and cultural differences between men and women.
    [Show full text]
  • ECONOMIC IMPACTS of GENDER INEQUALITY in NIGER Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized
    ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF GENDER INEQUALITY IN NIGER Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Macroeconomics & Trade and Investments Global Prac�ce Gender Innova�on Lab Educa�on Global Prac�ce Public Disclosure Authorized Africa Region DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF GENDER INEQUALITY IN NIGER October 31, 2019 Macroeconomics & Trade and Investments Global Practice Gender Innovation Lab Education Global Practice Africa Region THIS DOCUMENT HAS A RESTRICTED DISTRIBUTION AND MAY BE USED BY RECIPIENTS ONLY IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR OFFICIAL DUTIES. ITS CONTENT MY NOT OTHERWISE BE DISCLOSED WITHOUT WORLD BANK GROUP AUTHORIZATION. Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................... X CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1 Conceptual Framework ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 2 Methodology For Estimating The Cost of Gender Inequality .............................................. 3 CHAPTER 2 – GENDER INEQUALITY IN ADOLESCENCE: GIRLS’ EDUCATION, CHILD MARRIAGE, AND EARLY CHILDBEARING ................................................. 5 Trends in Educational Attainment, Child Marriage, and Early Childbearing ...................... 5 Impacts Between Education, Child Marriage, and Early ChildBearing in Niger .................. 9 Analysis of Factors Leading to Low Educational Attainment
    [Show full text]
  • The Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management
    FP162: The Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme: Building the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change impacts in 7 Sahelian Countries of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Multiple Countries | IFAD | B.28/02 24 March 2021 GENDER ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN The Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme: Building the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change impacts in 7 Sahelian Countries of the Green Great Wall (GGW)” Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and The Gambia December 2020 Introduction 1. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the agricultural sector remains critical to local and regional economies. It is the basis for food security and an important source of employment, particularly for women. Rural women are the backbone of rural development and national economies, as they make up almost 50 percent of agricultural labour force. In Burkina Faso and Mali, for example, an estimated 93 percent and 78 percent respectively of active women work in agriculture (World Bank, 2020). High levels of rural poverty coupled with a fragile agro-ecological environment impacted by climate change and climate variability make the contribution of women's productive activities to the household and community a crucial element in the survival of the rural population. They work primarily in smallholder production and receive a significantly lower share of income in comparison to men. They bear the greatest blunt of climate change and climate-related disasters, as they have limited access and control over all land, productive resources and information (SCPZ, AfDB, 2019). 2. In addition, natural disasters do not affect all people equally. Marginalized populations, including women, tend to be disproportionately negatively impacted.
    [Show full text]
  • Demographic Profile and Treatment Outcomes of 100 Women with Obstetric Fistula in Niger
    POG in Press, March 2017 Demographic profile and treatment outcomes of 100 women with obstetric fistula in Niger Alison Heller, Ph.D.1 Keywords: Niger, obstetric fistula, West Africa, stigma Abstract: commonly portrayed. Additionally, it was more difficult for women to access surgical repair and that repair was less successful than women Introduction: Due to high fertility rates, low themselves anticipated. Notably, the quality of access to emergency obstetric care, and the care varied considerably between the four fistula poor quality of that care, obstetric fistula is centers. Long waits combined with poor surgical relatively widespread in Niger. outcomes often resulted in negative social outcomes for women. Methods: Mixed-methods research was carried out over a total of eighteen months with 100 1University of Maryland College Park, women with fistula at four fistula centers in Department of Anthropology, College Park, MD Niger, three in the capital of Niamey and outside the city of Maradi. Introduction Results: The one hundred women who made up the research sample reflect marked diversity in Obstetric fistula, a maternal childbirth ethnicity, age, marital situation, parity, length of injury that results in chronic time living with fistula, and surgical history and incontinence, affects an estimated 1 to outcomes. At the time of initial interviews women 3.5 million women in resource-poor ranged from 15-70 years old (average 1,2 31.0±10.6), but had developed fistula from 13-54 countries. Obstetric fistula is caused years old (average 23.4 ±8.4). Women had lived by prolonged, obstructed labor with fistula between 1 month to 50 years unrelieved by medical intervention such (average 6.7 years ±8.6).
    [Show full text]
  • On an Otherwise Typical Day, the President of Niger's Largest
    Excerpt from Alice J. Kang. 2015. Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. © Copyright. University of Minnesota Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. INTRODUCTION Women’s Rights in an African Muslim Democracy On an otherwise typical day, the president of Niger’s largest umbrella women’s association, the Coordination des Organisations Non Gouverne- mentales et Associations Féminines Nigériennes (CONGAFEN, Coordinating Body of Women’s NGOs and Associations of Niger), was at work when two plainclothes police ofcers came to her ofce.1 Te policemen asked to see her. Tinking that she was going to be arrested, her colleagues in the Ofce on the Advancement of Women in the Ministry of Social Development vacated the room, leaving the women’s leader and two friends behind. Te police of- cers, however, had not come to take the president of CONGAFEN into cus- tody. Instead, they had come to deliver a message. Representatives of Niger’s national women’s associations were being summoned to meet with the coun- try’s new leader at the presidential palace the following afternoon.2 Days before, on April 9, 1999, the state radio’s regularly scheduled program was interrupted with military marches—a musical signal that a coup d’état had taken place. Te prime minister announced that in an “unfortunate acci- dent,” President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara had been shot and killed as he was about to board a helicopter.3 Commandant Daouda Malam Wanké, the osten- sible head of Baré’s personal security, became Niger’s new head of state and set up a transitional government.4 Wanké promised the Nigérien people and concerned foreign countries that he would stay in power temporarily and soon organize free and fair elections.5 When the police ofcers left her ofce, the president of CONGAFEN started thinking about her fast approaching meeting with the country’s new leader.
    [Show full text]