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International Gender Advisor

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Countries
Ethiopia

Categories
Gender Equality, Local Government and Decentralisation, Market Development, Environment and Climate Change, Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Natural Resource Management, Good Governance and Public Administration

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The Sida-Amhara Rural Development Programme, implemented in 30 woredas in East Gojjam and South Wollo zones of Amhara National Regional State, has focused on reducing poverty since its inception in 1997. Poverty in Amhara Region contributes nearly a quarter to national poverty. The programme has four components: agriculture and natural resource management, infrastructure and social service development, economic diversification and decentralization, which are mainstreamed with the crosscutting issues of population, gender, environment and HIV/AIDS. The guiding principles of the programme are participation, poverty focus, environmental care, gender equality, differentiation and integration.

Women in Ethiopia are among the poorest of the society. In the rural setting, women are mainly engaged in service provision while men engage in wage employment. Women are left with hardly any time to diversify into micro-enterprises. Women need access to credit but the present credit facilities available to them charge high interest rates and collateral requirements found to be a disincentive for those without assets. Much of the caseload of the woreda and social courts is women-related, probably next to land related issues. Most of these cases deal with violence against women and Harmful Traditional Practices (HTTP). Still, the representation of women in all planning and decision-making bodies/institutions remains negligible. Considering that women’s involvement in power negotiations is traditionally absent or negligible, minority representation in present government planning and decision-making is intimidating. This affects women’s self-confidence and gives the male majority the impression that the women representatives lack ‘capabilities’ to participate fully in development and other activities. To change this attitude at local level the gender balance is mainstreamed in all the four components of the program.

The objective of this assignment is:

  • To implement SARDP’s gender programme and insure appropriate and adequate gender mainstreaming.
  • To provide WAB technical assistance in the area of gender sensitivity, gender planning and gender networking.
  • To produce a kit on gender planning to be used by SARDP.
  • To ensure appropriate engendered monitoring and evaluation of SARDP interventions.
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