As part of the national activities of the International Programme of Training on ESC Rights Enforceabililty Approaches, the DEME SO Legal Clinic decided to carry out various awareness raising and communication actions on women’s economic, social and cultural rights in the town of Bancoumana: radio broadcasts, conferences-debates and radio broadcast debates.
Background
In Mali, women represent more than the half of the population (51%), but even though they are in majority, women must face obstacles related to the weight of social and cultural customs. Nevertheless, despite such customs, one cannot ignore that women are, and will always be actors of development, as they represent: 70% of the agricultural work, 80% of food production and 60% to 90% of trade.
Women also greatly contribute to the household and market economies. Yet, despite this active contribution to the development, women have a poor and inequal access to the benefits of its achievements and economic opportunities. This situation appears as an explanatory factor of women’s weak economic power and of the feminization of poverty.
However, Mali has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 10 December 1948, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) of 21 June 1981 and the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
In spite of the efforts of the Malian governement, one has to admit that women, especially from rural areas, do not have easily access to a legal service that would guarantee their economic and social rights within the family, organizations and society.
The present project aims at facilitating and guaranteeing women’s equal and fair access to socio-economic resources.
Introduction
The DEME SO Legal Clinic was able to launch its project thanks to the financial support of Terre des Hommes France, a French association that works towards the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. One should note that the ESC rights promotion is necessarily based on information and awareness raising work, as well as on communication with grassroots communities, especially women and women’s groups. So the organization conducting the project had to carry out activities aiming at improving the target groups’ knowledge of their ESC rights.
The activities consisted in radio broadcasts, conferences-debates as well as radio broadcast debates. They were carried out from April 2 to April 5, 2009 in the rural town of Bancoumana.
The project’s areas of action covered the five (05) following villages: Cissibougou , Kénioroba, Fourda , Madina and Ticko.
The present report will be divided as follows:
- 1-Objective
- 2-Expected results
- 3-Implementation strategy
- 4-Running of activities
- 5-Conclusion
1-Objective
The present project set as its global goal to:
- enable stakeholders and grassroots communities to actively work and promote the economic, social and cultural rights of women and women’s groups.
The specific goal was to:
- prevent abuses by raising the awareness of, and informing the population and women’s groups of their social and economic rights.
2-Expected results
- Grassroots communities and customary authorities will receive information and awareness raising concerning the economic and social rights of women and women’s groups.
- Grassroots communities and customary authorities will adopt a positive behavior in favor of women’s social and economic promotion in the target villages of the rural town of Bancoumana.
3- Implementation strategy
The implementation strategy was based on the dynamic collaboration between the DEME SO Legal Clinic and associations, women’s groups, grassroots communities and local authorities.
It consisted in:
- Informing and mobilizing so as to make ESC rights issues accessible to grassroots communities, especially women and women’s groups.
- Improving the level of knowledge of grassroots communities and especially women and women’s groups through information sessions, awareness raising and a mobilization for ESC rights (radio broadcasts, conferences-debates)
4- Running of activities
*Development – Validation of material
A consultant was appointed to develop a module on women’s economic, social and cultural rights. The aim of this clear and concise module was to make the ESC rights language accessible to the target groups so as to facilitate their understanding. The module drafted by the consultant was then validated by the project manager.
*Production of radio broadcasts
This activity was taken over by the DEME SO local officer after several rehearsal sessions with the project manager. The aim was to give as much information as possible on women’s economic, social and cultural rights. It was scheduled at prime time.
The Bengourou radio served as a springboard to convey the messages and reach the most listeners.
The radio broadcast production spread over a month with a frequency of once or twice per week.
*Production of the radio broadcast debates
This activity was carried out by the local officer under the supervision of the project manager. The listeners had the possibility to be on the air and ask questions after the officer’s speech.
Several questions were asked and received satisfying answers. The main questions dealt with women and land property, the necessary procedure to establish a marriage certificate for grown-up girls who have had a religious wedding, precocious marriages of young girls without their mothers’ agreement, the possibility for a married woman to exercise a commercial activity without her husband’s consent.
*Organization of conferences-debates
The conferences-debates took place at:
Kéioroba, Thursday, 2 April 2009 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Cissibougou, Friday, 3 April 2009 at 10 a.m.
Fourda, Friday, 3 April 2009 at 8 p.m.
Madina, Staurday, 4 April 2009 at 3 p.m.
Ticko, Sunday, 5 April 2009 at 8 a.m.
These conferences-debates relied to a large extent on the module drafted by the consultant.
Many questions were asked and they all got clear answers.
The recurring questions were:
How can a married woman exercise a commercial activity without her husband ’s consent? Has a married woman the right to education when her husband is opposed to it? Can a married woman take part in the cultural life of her country?
*Monitoring work
The manager supervised the whole project. He took part in all the activities planned.
Conclusion
The promotion of women’s economic, social and cultural rights is a hard task which requires an intense mobilization, citizen education, awareness raising and monitoring work.
The knowledge of ESC rights is primordial in all spheres of society and especially at the level of grassroots communities. What is more, the target groups recommended that such activities contributing to the endogenous development of our communities should be made sustainable.
Thank you notes were addressed to the initiators of this project which no doubt contributes to the emergence of a democratic society, securing a sustainable development and good governance.
