Developing the skills and participation of women irrigators: Experiences from smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa
The report helps users to identify constraints that prevent women from participating in project design and from receiving training and advice
Abstract
Reviews of development literature and data collected by HR Wallingford strongly suggest that women irrigators want training and advice. They feel that training has a positive influence on irrigated production and their management capacity. The report discusses both the shortcomings and successes of the past and provides recommendations for improved training programme solutions.
The report recommends that irrigation developers look beyond the strict confines of irrigation-specific training to help relieve the stress of heavy workloads and family responsibilities on women irrigators. Women's participation in determining and prioritising their own training requirements will be crucial to the success of future programmes. The report then suggests that if agencies and projects are serious in working towards implementing gender-sensitive approaches in the field, then it will be necessary to provide existing staff with gender training.
Recommendations are provided on:
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establishing the importance of providing for training
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relating women’s objectives, production objectives and sustainable development to training programmes
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establishing women’s priorities
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promoting support for training
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balancing training content
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linking with other sectors
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relating training to everyday irrigation practice, policy and planning
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developing demand led training programmes
Citation
Chancellor, F. Developing the skills and participation of women irrigators: Experiences from smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa, HR Wallingford, UK, (1997), 33pp