A rights-based approach to sustainable development: The case of Women for Change in Rural Zambia

\Robyn Wisken

Making Equal Rights Real/Vers la pleine réalisation de l'égalité des droitsMay 1, 2010McGill University

A rights-based approach to sustainable development:

The case of Women for Change in rural Zambia

Robyn Wisken

How the rights-based approach to development can work within the local culture to overcome resistance to change, and make rights real for

marginalized populations

Women and Rural Development Marginalization of Women• Traditional practices include: sexual

cleansing, early marriages, wife battering, and wife inheritance • Victims of land grabbing• Female children significantly less

likely to attend school

Standard of Living• 32% of people living in the rural

areas of Zambia have access to improved water sanitation, compared to 68% of people in urban areas (WHO, 2006)• 36% of people in rural Zambia have

access to improved water sources, compared to 90% of people residing in urban Zambia (WHO, 2006)

MethodologyData Collection:• 43 in-depth Interviews• Observational evidence of

programme activities and life in the rural communities

• Review of institutional documents

Location:• The majority of the study

was spent in the rural districts of Kalomo and Lundazi. Women for Change (WFC) has been active in Kalomo for over 10 years and in Lundazi for just over a year

Women for Change (WFC)

Vision Statement: “Women for Change (WFC) is a Zambian gender-focused NGO working with communities, especially women and children, in rural areas to contribute towards sustainable human development using popular education methodologies.”

• Works with both women and men• Operates from the capital city, Lusaka • Works in 4 of Zambia’s 9 provinces with 236,205 direct beneficiaries• Field Animators spend 3 of 4 weeks each month living in field

Rights-Based Approach (RBA)

• Rooted in legal obligations of duty-holders to provide rights from legally binding agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. • Based on the principles of accountability, universality and non-

discrimination, indivisibility and participation

How WFC Applies the RBA• WFC uses education to empower members to take actions that

lead to sustainable development• The education illustrates to members what development in their

community can look like and what means they can use to achieve it• People are empowered by the “rights” language• Both women and men are involved in the process. They are

drawn by the notion of development, but see what they can gain differently

• Women are interested in both the physical development and social development• Men are more attracted by the

physical development and often resist the social development of women at first.

Depiction of what development would look like

Strategies Used by WFC1. Popular Education Methodologies and Critical Analysis• Brainstorming, buzzing, role-playing, drawing, listing,

singing, dancing, small-group discussions and sculpting human figures• Used to deconstruct the development obstacles in the

community

2. Affirmative Action• To equalize power between women and men and uplift the

social position of women• Membership is comprised of 60% women and 40% men • Women always hold the position of Chair and Treasurer so

they have control and access of resources

3. Traditional Leaders• Traditional leaders have significant influence over people in

their communities• WFC has held conferences and education lessons to inform

leaders of the rights of people in their chiefdoms and how to make these rights real

District Development Association

Area Association

Group Level

The Structure35-40 members for a Group10-12 groups form an Area Association10 Area Associations for a District Development Association

Leadership PositionsEach level is represented by a Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. The Chair and Treasurer positions must be held by women.

Development Over Time“He says resistance was there. When it was first introduced

not everyone accepted it. Some people said... ‘A women is supposed to be beaten because after all we buy them.’ It is

customary that you have to pay the dowry – you are buying the woman and she belongs to you. So then you can do anything. The

resistance was there but (by) this time at least almost everyone has changed their minds and they are seeing that at least

women are able to do those things that we were not accepting them.” (Anonymous 113, [Community Participant]. Interview by

Author, Kalomo, Zambia. 26 July, 2009).

“So she is saying at most of the trainings of leadership, they have helped her because from that she is now able to stand in front of

people. She is able to lead her people without feeling intimidated... She says that leadership was one of those things that was just regarded for men. But now she has learned that even as a woman she can also lead. She is leading 3200 people.”

(Anonymous, 104, [District Chair]. Interview by Author, Kalomo, Zambia. 25 July, 2009)

Kalomo

Gender• Household chores are shared more

equally• Women are more involved in the

household decisions• Land grabbing has decreased• Wife battering is far less common • A development centre has been built

Economic Improvement• Becoming registered community-

based organizations• Goats have been bred and are now

shared with group members• Money is being used to meet other

needs Achievement Towards Basic Rights• A basic school has been created and attendance is high • A food bank has been organized • A borehole has been put in place that provides water for over

600 people • Still struggling with health services

WFC has been active for over 10 years

Food Bank in Kalomo

Group members attending a field trip on

goat rearing and chicken farming

Lundazi Gender• Resistance is still strong• Early Marriages are common, female

children less likely to attend school• Active participation of women is low

when men are present

Economic Improvement• Still at the early stages• Community members can see the

changes and want to join because of them

Achievement Towards Basic Rights• Can see where the programme is taking

them• Hunger, no boreholes, lack of clothing

for children and limited school supplies

WFC has been active for just over 1 year

Area Association Garden

Distributing pumps for gardens

Women for Change members attending a workshop on leadership, HIV/AIDS and gender

roles

Obstacles and LimitationsSocial and Cultural• The pace of change is slow

Geographical • Government officials do not visit the

communities • Members have trouble accessing local markets due to road conditions • Takes a toll on WFC operationally

Weaning Off• Have taken steps to decrease

dependency• WFC has been active for 18 years and

has never exited from any of the communities they support

Financial• Donor dependent• Project versus programme focused

Popular Education Methodology tool to reduce dependency

ConclusionWorking from the local context• The development process and

programming models must reflect an understanding of the community and respect the pace of change for which the community is ready.

• Cultural changes do take place, but are based on concerns community members already had. The change comes from the people within the culture, and represents changes that they want.

Working with Groups• Change is supported and maintained by men and women • Change takes place at the cultural and systemic levels • Members can share of knowledge• Members are seen as a collective when approaching duty-holders• Affirmative action ensures women’s rights are upheld within the

group

Workshop attended by 223 members