April 2019 – Issue #30 Dimitra Newsletter GENDER, RURAL WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL EDITION Dimitra Clubs in action © FAO/ Yannick De Mol Yannick © FAO/ © FAO/Gustave Ntaraka ii 30 | dimitra DIMITRA CLUBS IN ACTION Special Edition of the Dimitra Newsletter Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2019 Editorial .....................................................................................................................................................3 Interview with the Coordinator of the Dimitra Clubs’ Programme ....................................................................4 Dimitra Clubs, what impact? ........................................................................................................................6 1. FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION Contents Senegal and Niger - Joint management of cereal stocks to ensure year-round food supplies .............................. 10 DR Congo and Niger - Any food that can be eaten by a man can also be eaten by a woman ............................... 12 The Dimitra Clubs stimulate a varied and balanced diet ................................................................................ 14 2. GENDER AND WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP Women leaders emerging from the Dimitra Clubs ........................................................................................ 18 Gender roles and relations change visibly ..................................................................................................... 20 Testimony. Senegal - “I managed to overcome my shyness and speak in public” .............................................. 21 DR Congo. Dialogue as a tool to fight gender-based violence ......................................................................... 22 Niger. 16 days of activism against gender-based violence .............................................................................. 23 3. COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION Niger. The village of Rigar Djerma breaks out its isolation ............................................................................. 26 DR Congo. Bamboo washbasins to combat diseases ..................................................................................... 28 Central African Republic - Women’s leadership for sustaining peace .............................................................. 29 Testimony. DR Congo - Learning to read and write ........................................................................................ 29 Burundi – Niger. Water, a source of community mobilization ......................................................................... 30 4. SOCIAL COHESION AND PEACE DR Congo. The Twa and Bantus learn to live together ................................................................................... 34 Niger. Together we are stronger ................................................................................................................. 36 Senegal. Solidarity renewed through the clubs.............................................................................................. 37 Mali. Communication and reconciliation ..................................................................................................... 38 5. ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE Senegal. Saré Boubou, a united community facing climate change ................................................................. 42 Mali. The village of Kedou fights against erosion .......................................................................................... 43 Niger. Mobilizing energies to meet the environmental challenges .................................................................. 44 6. RURAL ORGANIZATIONS DR Congo. From “Bosasele” to a savings and credit cooperative .................................................................... 48 A self-development approach to galvanize rural organizations ..................................................................... 50 Niger. A women’s organization supporting food security ............................................................................... 51 7. SHARING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE Community radio, Dimitra Clubs’ natural partner ....................................................................................... 54 Dimitra Clubs use ICTs as enablers for sustainable development .................................................................... 56 South-South cooperation – sharing of experiences between the clubs of Niger, Mali and Senegal ...................... 57 8. THE VOICE OF YOUTH Youth Dimitra Clubs: a driver for local governance ........................................................................................ 60 Niger. Getting married: which choice for young people? ............................................................................... 62 Testimony. Reducing early marriage ........................................................................................................... 63 DR Congo – Youth club of Yanonge, an example of self-determination ............................................................ 64 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................... 65 2 Editorial Dear Readers, Following an interview with the Dimitra It is crucial to continue engaging in this Clubs’ Programme Coordinator, this issue area, paying particular attention to women, This Dimitra newsletter that you are opens with a look at the main results of two youth and groups with restricted access holding in your hands or reading on your studies on the club’s approach. Readers will to productive resources, and whose active screen is a special one. Special, in that it then be able to browse between one impact participation in rural organizations and focuses exclusively on the Dimitra Clubs, an area and another, going through stories community life is limited. This can be empowerment approach launched by FAO 10 and testimonies that narrate the changes seen clearly in rural development projects years ago and which over time has established generated by the Dimitra Clubs in rural and programmes: innovative and flexible itself as one of the Organization’s good communities. development models, such as the Dimitra practices in terms of community mobilization, Clubs, are essential because they bring about gender equality and empowerment. Thanks to the Dimitra Clubs, individual and genuine changes. Essential also because they collective action is at the heart of development But above all, ‘special’ in that it offers a direct build on the human and social capital, and on interventions, supported by dialogue and link between several challenges affecting rural inclusive and sustainable development appropriate information and communication areas and some of the remarkable results technologies. In this way, women and men of I would like to thank all those who have obtained by the Dimitra Clubs in the villages all ages are investing in themselves and in the contributed to this newsletter – often partners of Burundi, the Central African Republic, community, and making their voices heard so in the field – who have done their best, each in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as to improve livelihoods and gender equality, his or her own way, to illustrate the variety of Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. These without leaving anyone behind. results obtained by the clubs, demonstrating results and success stories have been grouped the potential of this approach in all sectors of into eight impact areas of the clubs, which This area of FAO work is not just important development. were identified by a field survey, followed in helping to effectively fight poverty, but by an impact study conducted in 2017: food also for its contribution to achieve other I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter! security and nutrition, gender and women’s FAO strategic objectives, such as eradicating leadership, community mobilization, hunger and enhancing resilience, as well as Junko Sazaki social cohesion and peace, climate change several of the 17 Sustainable Development Director adaptation, rural organizations, access to Goals of the 2030 Agenda. This is evidenced Social Policies and Rural Institutions (ESP) Division information and sharing of knowledge and by the many different themes addressed in the voice of the youth. this issue. What is a Dimitra Club? A Dimitra Club is a group of men, women, or both, who have decided to join together on a voluntary basis to pursue a common goal: find solutions Access to their common problems in the to services and community and solve them using local resources Nutrition resources. One of the first activities Social and food cohesion for any club is to draw up a list of security problems to be addressed. Since the majority of Africa’s rural population Community depends on agriculture for livelihoods, Education governance this theme always features high on the list of priorities. Other issues also Structuring Domains of Health and figure prominently: nutrition, climate the rural world sanitation change, women’s status, solidarity, and impact of the matters related to everyday life: health, education, infrastructure, peace. Dimitra Clubs Access to Gender economic A Dimitra Club is therefore an informal roles and opportunities relations space for discussion and action, which enables communities to influence their Agricultural environment, through communication, Resilience practices inclusive participation and community Climate Women in mobilization.