Community mobilization and gender sensitization
In the preparatory process of the Project, community mobilization and gender sensitization are the most important processes because these are essential for the success of the Project. In order to involve and motivate people in selected villages, specifically women and youths, in the activities of the Project, the Project will need to mobilize these people and sensitize them in terms of gender by breaking their stereotyped ideas on gender roles through village-based workshops.
Key Activities
- Community Mobilization Workshops
- Gender-sensitization Workshop/Gender Training
Community Mobilization Workshops
Community mobilization will target all people of selected villages, including women and youths. Therefore, the Project should first request the village head or Nokma of each selected village/cluster to call all villagers for the first meeting in particular. Otherwise, he might decide all, including the contents of activities to be undertaken in the Project and who will participate in these activities, by himself or with the members of existing traditional community institutions. Since many people of selected villages have never participated in any foreign donor’s project or even central or state scheme and might not know what a participatory development approach means, BPMU will need to conduct the meetings and workshops at the initial stage of the Project and thoroughly explain to participants in the meetings and workshops what the Project will provide them, what they might be able to benefit from the Project’s interventions, and what they are supposed to do. Main objective of these meetings and workshops are to encourage and motivate them to actively participate in the activities of the Project so that they can not only benefit from the Project, but also contribute to inclusive community development and income generation by themselves. To continuously encourage and motivate the people, specifically at the initial stage of the Project, the Project will utilize local women and men, including youths, as community facilitators.
Gender-sensitization Workshop/Gender Training
In Meghalaya State, there is the strict gender-based division of labor and sphere deeply embedded in tribal societies of all Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo Hills. Based on such social norms, women are supposed to do household chores and child care at home and not to participate in public meetings or take up a decision-making role there because they are men’s sphere and men’s roles. As a result, women tend to be excluded from the decision-making processes of existing community/village institutions, such as Hima, Raid, Dorbar, and Nokma council. As a matter of a fact, women in rural areas play an important role not only in doing household chores and child care, but also in maintaining their household livelihoods by taking responsibilities for agriculture, animal rearing, and forest management work. For example, they do land preparation, sow, weed, harvest, do post-harvest treatments, and carry products to the market and sell them in agriculture. In terms of forestry, they have community forests and their own forests clean, help men building fire line, collect firewood, and collect mushroom and edible wild leaves for a domestic or commercial purpose. Unfortunately, such women’s roles and contribution are usually ignored or overlooked, and women tend to be deprived of an opportunity to raise their voice or integrate their needs in the planning processes of community development led by existing traditional community institutions.
Based on a right-based approach and the critical roles played by women, the Project should involve women from the planning process to implementation and monitoring & evaluation processes of the Project. However, the strict social norms might make women hesitate to actively participate in the decision-making processes of the Project and its activities. Moreover, as many women in rural areas take multiple responsibilities on a daily and yearly basis, they might not be able to spare a time to participate in the activities of the Project. Thus, the Project should make strategic interventions to promote not only women’s active participation, but also their taking a leading role, not an assisting role for men. From the initial stage of the Project, it is important for the Project to approach to both women and men in each selected village and break their stereotyped ideas of gender-based division of labor/role and sphere through gender sensitization workshops. They will need to persuade both the women and men that women are also main actors for community development, so the men will need to assist the women to actively participate in the activities of the Project by sharing the household chores and child care taken up by women.
In order to involve women in the decision-making processes of the Project and promote inclusive community development, the Project’s staff members also need to be free from stereotyped ideas of gender-based division of role and sphere and become more gender responsive. For this purpose, the Project needs to provide them with gender training in the beginning of the Project in particular. Gender training should be focused on how to integrate a gender perspective in the processes of planning, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation and how to ensure women’s participation in decision-making processes of the Project in terms of not only quantity, but also quality. The Project’s staff members should not be satisfied with the ratio of women selected or involved in the committees developed in each selected village, but make it sure that women’s voice be heard in the decision making processes of the Project and their needs be integrated in the planning of the Project at the village level. Each staff member should learn from gender training the importance of integrating such a gender perspective in all processes of the Project.
