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Bhelbhageya Devi serves tea and snacks in the women’s forum in the Simardhi Village Development Council (VDC) in Nepal. As a member of the Mushar caste, she would not normally be allowed to touch food meant for other castes, but the Women’s Forum gave her the role to set an example and help overcome social prejudice.
Bimala Basnet from Dharmasthali VDC Women’s Forum in Kathmandu Valley describes the challenge that the forum took to rebuild the VDC office building destroyed during the armed conflict over 2 years ago. The forum received a construction contract through bidding and rebuilt the VDC office without any resistance from the Maoist group. “The forum consists of ex-elected and nominated women representatives and all the women leaders from the community, including the disadvantaged caste. The work of the forum is not affected by armed conflict,” says Ms. Basnet.
Dharmasthali Forum is one of the 32 VDC women’s forums in four project districts, where these women’s forums have been working as de facto local government.
Children from the union council (UC) of Nawansher, District Abotabad in Pakistan, were frequently becoming injured while climbing a mountain to attend school. The primary girls’ school on the mountaintop had no classroom furniture or staircase. Children had to sit on the cold floor. Shaheen Jadoon, elected representative of the UC, organized the local community to form a citizen community board (CCB) to seek government funds for building a staircase leading to the school and to purchase classroom furniture. Since the CCB built the staircase and furnished the school, the injuries of the children have decreased, and the enrollment in school has increased. “I did not know my role as an elected representative of UC before the training,” Ms. Shaheen Jadoodn explains. As a result of the capacity training provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s regional technical assistance project, Gender and Governance Issues in Local Government, through partner nongovernment organizations (NGOs), Ms. Jadoon learned about CCB and mobilized her constituents to form a CCB for government funds.
These are just three of many successes, large and small, of the project, which aims to improve village-level governance in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan by helping female local government officials perform their tasks more efficiently.
Its organizers say the project’s success argues for formalizing its focus on local governance for use in other ADB projects. Broadly speaking, the project, which started in July 2002 and finished in December 2004, did several things well. It improved the skills of local female leaders to make them more effective at their jobs; established women’s forums at the local levels of government that provided an “interface” among female representatives, poor constituents, government line officers, and NGO representatives; and provided capacity-building and gender-sensitivity training to female representatives, women community leaders, and male chairs of local government.
The participation of citizens, particularly women and the poor, is essential for good governance. The project demonstrated that mobilizing grassroots stakeholders for participation makes for better targeting and delivery of government services.
ADB extended its original technical assistance through December 2004 in all three countries, where stakeholders in the project are keen to see it continue.
That is good news for women like Aklima Khatun, a local government member in the village of Ramjan Nagar Union Parishad (UP). When she first bid to oversee construction of a new road in her village, the male members of the UP believed that only men could do the work. However, the chair of her UP, Amagir Haidar, relented. He had been given gendersensitivity training under the project.
Ms. Aklima took up the challenge and saved so much money that the road was constructed almost 61 meters longer than originally budgeted. Impressed villagers donated their labor to the scheme. Lipi Begum from Fultala Upazila describes how she fought against the corruption of a land settlement officer. “The land settlement officer took a bribe and transferred 19 decimal lands of a poor family to another family. I took this matter to the officer, and asked him to return the ownership to the actual owner. The officer asked for taka (Tk)5,000 ($77) as bribe. I did a public protest and took the matter to the higher authority that resolved it in favor of the actual owner. The land settlement officer was transferred from his post.”
Through women’s forums held regularly at the village or local level, female elected officials have the brought together government line officers and the poorest constituents to discuss village needs and ways to mobilize government resources
ADB’s gender and governance project focuses on women because most of the poor are women. By training female local government members, a better interface is developed between local constituencies, government officials, and NGOs.
Through women’s forums held regularly at the village or local level, female elected officials have brought together government line officers and the poorest constituents to discuss village needs and ways to mobilize government resources. This has meant more efficient and coordinated planning at the district and local levels.
The gender-sensitivity training for male chairs and officials has altered their perceptions about women leaders. Women are now more likely to be assigned to local council committees, attend meetings, and be included in the operation of local councils.
The results are clear: by December 2004, female local council members in Bangladesh—through the cooperation of government officers and NGOs—provided 9,755 poor women and young people with access to training in skills development and agriculture, livestock, and fishery extension programs. Some 15,211 poor women gained access to income-generating activities in various poverty programs. And female representatives have mediated in 1,677 dowry disputes; 1,881 early marriage cases; 2,207 cases of polygamy; 5,027 land disputes; 8,604 family disputes; 3,093 instances of repression of women and children; 2,204 divorces; and 2,993 instances of theft.
In Nepal, women’s forums mobilized funds from VDCs for 199 projects, ranging from small infrastructure, construction of a VDC building, income generation, human resource development, to forest and environmental management. Twenty-eight women’s forums are engaged in facilitating VDC’s work on citizenship certificates and the registration of births, deaths, and marriages. They also mediated more than 72 social disputes related to domestic violence against women, polygamy, and witchcraft, and were active in campaigns against alcoholism, drugs, gambling, and trafficking.
By December 2004, women representatives in Pakistan have implemented 190 development schemes, including water supply, road pavement, sewerage and sanitation, street lights, school renovation, a telephone exchange, and a vocational training center for girls. Poor women gained access to microcredit and employment opportunities. A total of 3,686 poor women were referred to a zakat (charity) and Baitulmal committee. Sixty-seven percent of female representatives are now involved in resolution of disputes in domestic violence and divorce cases and have mediated 464 cases on family disputes, violence, divorce, and others.
Similar evidence is shown in all three countries where women representatives are involved in local arbitration. In one typical case in Baghar Para, in the Jessore District of Bangladesh, Salina Begum’s husband began to beat her after her parents failed to pay a dowry of Tk10,000 ($154). She contacted Sharifa Begum, her local female representative in the UP, who threatened to bring a case against the husband for his illegal actions. He stopped.
A unique outcome of the project was the support it received from its major stakeholders. The high level of enthusiasm, success, and sense of ownership illustrates the strength of the project framework and support for its use in ADB poverty reduction programs. The technical assistance framework on capacity building of elected representatives of local bodies and interface among key stakeholders has been incorporated in ADB’s loans in Pakistan: Sindh Devolved Social Services, Punjab Devolved Social Services, and Punjab: Sustainable Livelihood in Barani Areas. The partner NGO, Sarhad Rural Support Program (SRSP), has integrated the elected women’s forum into its community organizing activities in the UC level. The SRSP is working with the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment to form CCBs in Mansehra and Abotabad districts in the North West Frontier Province. Female councilors will organize men and women in their communities to form CCBs in their respective UCs.
A unique outcome of the project was the support it received from its major stakeholders. The high level of enthusiasm, success, and sense of ownership, illustrates the strength of the project framework and support for its use in ADB poverty reduction programs
An operational manual and training manuals developed for VDCs have been endorsed by the Ministry of Local Development in Nepal. A gender and governance committee is formed in each project district by the ministry with representation from VDC women’s forum to facilitate the access of women’s forums to relevant line agencies. Each VDC women’s forum will receive seed money from the district council for the operation of the forum.
In Bangladesh, the partner NGO, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, integrates the TA framework in its ultra poor program, and 2,157 women elected representatives will be involved in 719 UPs in 14 districts to mobilize the Government’s poverty and social safety-net programs for the poor and vulnerable.
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