More money,new household cultural dynamics: women in micro-finance in Ghana

This article reports on research into the impacts of micro-finance on gender roles, the extent to which socio-cultural factors influence these changes, and how such changes affect the well-being of rural Bogoso households in the Wassa West District of Ghana. Findings indicated that micro-finance has changed men's and women's control over decisions and resource allocations, which consequently affected financial responsibilities and the education of children, and largely contributed to household well-being. However, the small size of the loans was a limitation. The article concludes that socio-cultural factors may promote or inhibit well-being in rural households, and that micro-finance is not a sufficient tool in itself to promote women's and households' well-being. It is recommended that if rural people's well-being matters, collaborative efforts in the appraisal, monitoring, and evaluation of micro-finance initiatives, with the government providing leadership, are imperative.     

Failed aid: how development agencies are neglecting and marginalising Rwandan genocide survivors

This Viewpoint argues that international development aid agencies have failed adequately to address the rights and needs of genocide survivors in Rwanda. It illustrates that genocide survivors remain impoverished and marginalised, and that development aid agencies only tangentially, if at all, acknowledge their vulnerability and take steps to empower them to realise their rights. It provides examples of aid programmes that are reaching genocide survivors and urges development aid agencies in Rwanda to design and implement programmes explicitly for genocide survivors.     

Endogenous African Governance Systems: what roles do women play in rural Malawi?

Endogenous African governance systems are criticised for excluding women. This critique ignores several realities that women have played roles different from those of men. This article examines the roles that women play in endogenous governance structures of patrilineal and matrilineal ethnic groups in rural areas in Malawi on leadership, violent conflict prevention, and transformation. It argues that these endogenous governance systems inherently contain features that enable women to actively participate and play powerful leadership roles, though men dominate in terms of numbers and authority. These gender patterns do not seem to change much despite the changing political, social, and economic environment.     

Not just any toilet – women’s solutions to sanitation in informal settlements in Nairobi

Evidence suggests sanitation development is more effective when women are involved. The purpose of this study was to provide women with an opportunity to share their perspectives and solutions to sanitation in informal settlements. Data were collected through 55 in-depth interviews with women in Mathare Valley informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. The most common solution was to build more toilets, but women had a variety of suggestions – including gender-specific solutions. Findings from this study suggest that it is imperative to start addressing women-specific burdens associated with sanitation in informal settlements.     

Where there's no green man: child road-safety education in Ethiopia

Traffic crashes kill 1.2 million people annually, and the number is growing fast, particularly in developing countries. Although child road-safety education is widely considered important, few programmes have resulted in demonstrated improvements in safety. We review road-safety education in Ethiopia and conclude that it is often locally inappropriate and impractical. Such programmes are frequently based on dominant but ineffective educational models imported from other contexts. Drawing on our experience of establishing a community-managed child road-safety education programme in Ethiopia, we suggest how road-safety education in developing countries might become more effective.     

On-the-ground perspectives of women’s land rights in Uganda

This article explores the significance and application of human rights in a local context, investigating the meaning and operationalisation of human rights on the ground. It focuses on the reality of women’s land rights in rural Uganda, when juxtaposed with international human rights instruments: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its implementing covenants, the International Convention on Economic Social Cultural Rights (ICESCR), International Convention on Civil Rights (ICCR), and the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).     

Left out but not backing down: exploring women’s voices against large-scale agro-plantations in Cameroon

This article examines the situation of women around agro-plantations which have taken over their farmlands in the South-West Region of Cameroon through large-scale land acquisitions, and how they have sought popular redress. Based on a survey and focus group discussion among affected women, the findings revealed that women are generally left out of large-scale land acquisition processes. They complained of displacement from their farms and traditional forest resources, which has negative effects on their livelihoods and lifestyles. Despite women’s constrained situation, they have risen collectively against marginalisation, failed promises, and injustices through protests and defiance, achieving some successes in their demands for recognition and compensation.     

Using community indicators for evaluating research and development programmes: experiences from Malawi

Evaluations involving stakeholders include collaborative evaluation, participatory evaluation, development evaluation, and empowerment evaluation – distinguished by the degree and depth of involvement of local stakeholders or programme participants in the evaluation process. In community participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E), communities agree programme objectives and develop local indicators for tracking and evaluating change. PM&E is not without limitations, one being that community indicators are highly specific and localised, which limits wide application of common community indicators for evaluating programmes that span social and geographic space. We developed community indicators with six farming communities in Malawi to evaluate a community development project. To apply the indicators across the six communities, we aggregated them and used a Likert scale and scores to assess communities' perceptions of the extent to which the project had achieved its objectives. We analysed the data using a comparison of means to compare indicators across communities and by gender.     

Culture and women’s land rights on the ground in Uganda

In this article, culture as an ideology is contrasted to culture as a reality. The article aims to make a contribution to the study of land tenure rights in Uganda by using a cultural lens to discuss how women’s land rights are taking shape as regards changing inheritance practices and improving land use patterns through diversified projects. The evidence from the study villages demonstrates that women’s land rights are not only important for women as a category of people, but also for their immediate and extended families, and society at large.