Inequality in the sharing of power and decision-making
Insufficient institutions and mechanisms to promote the advancement of rural women
Lack of awareness of, and commitment to, internationally and nationally recognized women's rights
Poverty and the status of rural poor women
Female-headed households and other vulnerable groups
The prospects for women's participation in decision-making has increased considerably since independence, an important step toward ensuring that Namibian women, who comprise over half of the population, both contribute to and benefit from development. However, key leadership and policy-making positions within the government as well as in rural organisations remain the domain of men.
Prior to Independence, women were virtually excluded from participation in the ruling government structures. 18 Women are clearly more visible in leadership positions today, but the balance of power has changed little. Only 2 of the 18 ministerial posts are held by women. Women account for only 6 of the 72 members elected to the first house of parliament, the National Assembly. Although these women have used their positions to advocate for gender equity, their efforts may reinforce the lack of commitment of their male counterparts, who perceive gender concerns as women's issues to be handled by women. Efforts to promote gender equality in decision-making must therefore aim to increase the commitment of male leaders as well as to alter the balance of power between men and women.
For rural women, the election of representatives in local and regional government offers the prospect for increased access to power and decision making at the local level. Many have pinned high expectations on these representatives to work to improve conditions in the rural areas and to redress past inequities. Indeed, an exit poll of the election revealed that an average of two-thirds of voters were aware of their party or candidate's position on such issues as land policy, poverty, education and unemployment.19
Residents in towns, municipalities and 'villages' (which are in essence, small rural towns) are represented by local authority councils. Importantly, with the active lobbying of the Minister of Regional, Local Government and Housing, one of the two women ministers, the government enacted an affirmative action provision for the first elections of local authorities. By stipulating that party lists must include a minimum number of women candidates, the provision ensured that almost 38% of candidates fielded were women. In some instances, lists with no women candidates were changed. while other lists were revised upwards of the required minimum. The provision did not, however, require that women nominees be given priority for filling seats which were won, and the final results showed a drop to 31.5% of seats filled by women. The provision clearly boosted the participation of women in the elections. However, it will not apply to future elections, which will be contested on the basis of individual candidates rather than party lists.20
Rural women in constituencies outside of small towns are represented through the 13 regional councils. Each council, in turn, elects two of its members to the National Council, the second house of Parliament. Although the councils do not undertake service provision, they have the mandate to undertake regional planning and development, and have responsibility for land use planning, economic development and natural resource management within the region. The National Council is intended to amplify the needs of rural constituencies onto the national level.
For these elections, no similar affirmative action provision was made and candidates contested the election as individuals. Moreover, parties attached more prestige and power to the regional councils. Interviews with party representatives revealed that many people made gender-based distinctions between the two elections. Respondents attributed political importance to serving on the regional councils. They saw local councils as involved in "non-political" issues such as social and community concerns -- more natural extensions of women's work.21 As a result, women are extremely underrepresented in regional councils. Only 12 (6%) of the 195 candidates were women. The elections resulted in only 3 women regional councilors (3 %) of the 95 elected. Only one woman was elected to the 26 member National Council. Additional data on local and regional elections is provided in Tables 7 and 8 respectively.
In sum, following Independence, women continue to hold few policy-making positions at the ministerial level. They wield little authority over decision-making, including the development of sectoral policies. Table 9 shows the number of women in filled management positions -deputy director up to permanent secretary -- within the four Ministries most directly concerned with rural development.22
Most noticeable is the lack of women in the management cadre of the Ministry of Agriculture itself. Constitutional provisions, together with administrative demands, meant that many Ministries retained employees of the colonial administration. The current composition of MAWRD in part reflects the legacy of the Ministry's almost exclusive focus on white, commercial agriculture.
The Ministry of Agriculture recently lost another senior woman, who became the Director of Agriculture at the restructured development parastatal, the Namibia Development Corporation. Her staff includes two departmental leaders and a six-person interdisciplinary consulting team which guides programme directions and design. The sole woman on the team is advising on horticulture.
The drafting of policy and legislation often evolves out of government-appointed committees assigned to explore complex legal and political issues. Here again, women 's participation has been limited. Two commissions of direct relevance to rural women farmers have included the Technical Committee on Commercial Farmland, whose recommendations on the acquisition and reallocation of commercial farmland are expected to reach Parliament in late 1994; and the Commission of Inquiry into Traditional Leadership, whose investigation is expected to form the basis of a bill defining the role of traditional authorities in land allocation and customary law. The former boasted only one women of its nine members; the latter commission of 12 members did not include any women. After lobbying from concerned staff within the MAWRD, the National Task Force on Agricultural Policy added a woman to the six-man committee. Her involvement has prompted the Task Force, which is drafting a sectoral White Paper, to give greater attention to the role of women farmers and to gender issues in agricultural planning.
Women also remain underrepresented in the leadership of institutions outside of government. In communal areas, traditional authorities hold responsibility for allocating land and adjudicating disputes. With the exception of a few female chiefs and "headmen", women have been and remain almost completely excluded from positions of authority under traditional systems. Only through family lines can women hope to influence the decisions of traditional authorities.23
Although no statistics are available, discussions suggest that non-governmental organisations have made the most progress in promoting the participation of women in organisational management and leadership. Many organisations have adopted policies, often entrenched in their constitutions, which specify that women must constitute a certain percentage of membership and/or positions on management committees and organisational boards.24 The forthcoming Co-operative Act includes provisions that cooperatives in which more than a third of the total members are women must have at least one woman on each Management committee and subcommittee.25 Policies such as these, while not yet balancing power, have helped to diversify leadership structures.
However, the management and field staff of NGOs are primarily men, while the participants in the community groups they serve are mostly women. Some NGO staff feel that extensive travel and overnight stays in the field deter women, who must still tend to household and child care responsibilities. That women often don't have driver's licenses is also seen as an obstacle; this is, of course, easily overcome by supporting driving lessons, and one NGO's recent advertisement for a rural-based position successfully encouraged female applicants by noting that lack of a license would not be a handicap. An overemphasis on secondary or tertiary qualifications may also exclude women, whose qualifications are often more experience-based.
Within community groups, farmers associations and other local-level organisations, a gap continues to exist between membership at the community level and participation in decision-making. As one respondent wryly observed, "Women are the foundation, but they are expected to be a quiet foundation." Women are often praised as the backbone of self-help efforts and community development, but this recognition does not always translate into access to leadership and decision-making. In some self-help programs that work with households, although a woman may be the active participant, her husband is the registered member, attending meetings. Some local associations have also drafted statements that guarantee women have one or more places in management structures. However, this may not guarantee meaningful participation. One observer noted that female committee members are often relegated to be association secretary. Commenting on farmers associations in particular, he noted that news of important issues and opportunities, often channelled through informal networks, frequently bypasses the female members.
The level of authority which women wield in community groups differs from region to region. In the Owambo regions of the North, where the war and labour system have torn households apart, women are seen to be more independent and willing to take on positions of responsibility and decision-making within local initiatives. In contrast, it was noted that in other rural areas, such as the communal areas in the East, women who do attend meetings sit on the sidelines and speak infrequently. This submissiveness was attributed to a lack of confidence and leadership skills on the one hand, and the hostility of men towards their participation on the other. However, a recent survey of women in an Owambo district underscored the reality that organizational meetings and structures do not take adequate account of rural women's workloads, schedules, and distances from rural centres.26
Women's groups, NGOs, and government networks have proliferated since the transition period and are bringing awareness of gender imbalances into the mainstream. However, institutions which enhance women's role in agriculture and food production and advocate on behalf of women farmers are few and far between in Namibia.
Although widespread information on participation in NGOs and community institutions is sparse, several recent surveys have sobering results. Only 5.9%, 1% and .75% of 1800 women surveyed in the Owambo regions reported involvement in women's groups, literacy groups and self-help groups respectively. Only 12 women in total were involved in committees around village water, health and literacy. Another survey, covering a district in the Omusati region, showed that 40% of respondents (both sexes) were involved in community structures; these were predominantly church groups and to a lesser extent, school committees. In the Eastern Communal Areas, 81% of respondents (half of whom were women) had not participated in development projects. 24 % were in farmers associations, only one-third of whom were women.27
The constellation of national organisations formed around women's issues includes women's wings of the major political parties, nonpartisan groups such as the Namibia National Women's Organisation (NANAWO) and the Federation of Namibian Women, and organisations dedicated to specific issues or sectors, including counselling and violence. Several national nongovernmental organizations and unions have gender coordinators and/or gender-based programmes.28 Dominated by educated, urban-based women, these organizations have yet to establish a significant presence in rural regions, particularly in the communal areas. Their agenda emphasizes improvements in employment conditions and other goals of more relevance to urban women. Conflict over perceived party loyalties, as well as a sense of territoriality over specific regions have, limited the impact of women's organizations.29
At independence, the government established a Department of Women Affairs (DWA) in the Office of the President. The role of the DWA has been to facilitate the inclusion of gender issues into national development, to advocate for policies and legislation which are gender-sensitive, to coordinate the gender-related activities of government ministries and to provide a point of contact between government, NGOs and donors promoting gender issues. DWA has also coordinated public education campaigns. In part through advocacy by the DWA, the National Development Plan for 1995-2000 will specifically address gender issues sector by sector, rather than in a separate section on Women in Development.
Despite its placement in the Office of the President, the DWA lacks a high profile. Its ability to coordinate efforts on a national scale is limited by a small budget and a staff not well-versed in advocacy and policy issues. The DWA has no representative or observer in the Cabinet, and so must advocate and lobby indirectly. Rural women are partially served by a DWA grant-making programme for income-generating activities. This programme has proven a drain on the time and resources of the staff, who are unable to fully assess the feasibility and impact of the activities -- and draw lessons which are relevant to development planning. These constraints have meant that rural women are not in touch with government plans which may affect them, nor are their priorities fully addressed in policy and development debates coordinated by the DWA.
The DWA is planning to facilitate an interministerial network on gender issues to be comprised of committed individuals within the line ministries. As yet, no ministry has a focal point for promoting gender concerns. However, in MAWRD, the integration of women has primarily been the task of the former Directorate of Rural Development. Established to improve household food security in rural areas, the Directorate has undertaken two main activities: the provision of rural water supply, and the establishment of Rural Extension Officers (REOs) and Promoters. Their task has been to mobilize communities through income generation activities, education campaigns, and projects to improve food security. Gender awareness and the participation of women has been a priority.30
However, MAWRD's commitment to the Directorate has not been strong. Despite a 10% share of MAWRD's budget in its first two years, the Directorate received in actuality only 5-6% of the Department of Agriculture's expenditure.31 The 20 rural extension officers could not properly serve a vast and scattered rural population. There was also overlap and little coordination between REOs, and the Community Development Extension Service, created by MRLGH. Moreover, some MAWRD staff see rural development as separate (and inferior) to mainstream agricultural activities. In 1993, the rationalization process has merged the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development into the Directorate of Extension and Engineering. It has also created a Division of Rural Development, with the mandate of rural development policy formulation, rural development planning, and coordination of rural development activities. This Division has proposed the creation of a Gender in Development Unit. It is hoped that this strategy will better reorient the agriculture services toward addressing household food security and gender differences. This Directorate has therefore the responsibility for a recently developed initiative to integrate women into agricultural services.
Lastly, it is important to again mention local and regional government. Only limited powers have been decentralised to these structures, and the capacity of the councils remains weak Many councillors lack transportation, and so have little contact with their constituencies Regions in which all or most constituencies lie in communal areas do not have the same revenue bases as those regions with municipalities. As a result, they rely primarily on external funding from the central government, which continues to favour more populated, central regions. Clearly, the elections alone have not ensured a mechanism for democratic participation by rural women.
As discussed in Chapter I, restrictive legislation, war and migration, and divisions fostered by apartheid stunted the emergence of community organisations and a grassroots movement. Group activities, such as digging wells, are common, particularly in the North. However, formal local-level organisation is a new phenomenon. The establishment of community based organisations is hampered by the lack of experience and resources, as well as the expectation that government must direct development and provide most services. This dependency was fostered by the apartheid regime, which built infrastructure and provided free or subsidized services in order to make the reserve system work. Within the current government, highly visible development schemes, usually publicized with a great ceremony, have only intensified expectations.
Community organizations, although receiving support from donors, NGOs or churches, tend to exist in isolation. They are not linked up to larger networks which could help women voice their priorities, experiences and ideas. Regional development networks of NGO and of line ministry staff have been established in the North. Although primarily seeking to coordinate activities, these groups could play a role in bringing the concerns of women farmers into regional and national decision-making fora.
Farmers unions and other rural organizations emphasize the interests of male members and do not sufficiently target rural women. The Namibia Agricultural Union recently established a wing for communal farmers associations. Like their white counterparts in the commercial sector, it is mostly large-scale stock holders, and therefore, men, who are represented. No numbers are available on the levels of membership by women in the associations affiliated to NAU, but few women, mostly widows, own commercial farms in Namibia.
In June 1992, the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) was established to provide a voice and organizational base for communal farmers. Women comprise an estimated 30-60% of affiliate associations. However, the activities of farmers associations stress marketing and surplus production. Absent are programmes aimed at improved food production and food processing for women farmers. NNFU's policy voice on behalf of the needs of its women members has been overwhelmed by the priority given to commercially-oriented agriculture.32
Recognising that women's interests are not advanced in the regional farmers union, some NGOs have encouraged women to form separate associations and co-operatives, with the view that they will have more control and gain more leadership experience through their own organisation. The fledgling co-operative movement is also proving to be a significant force for empowering women to participate and for advancing their interests. Currently, an estimated 200 co-operatives nationwide will register upon passage of the Act.33
Of all organizations, churches boast the highest numbers of rural women. For example, 83.7% of women surveyed in the Owambo regions had active ties to the church, particularly the Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran churches. Many church activities, such as Bible classes, aim to offer moral guidance and social interaction. However, on their own and through the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN), churches have been running development projects since the mid 1980s. The activities of church-based organizations have tended to be welfarist in orientation and limited in scope. Their ability to empower women is hindered by the patriarchal attitudes of the churches themselves, which continue to shape narrow attitudes about marriage and pregnancy, and the role of women in leadership.34
Nevertheless, the churches do provide an important foundation for bringing women together. The Women's Desk of the CCN, and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) have considerable experience with rural women and are well-integrated into national-level gender networks. The recently formed Ecumenical Church Group of Namibia, with membership from 74 denominations, reaches both rural and urban women. The importance of the scattered projects of churches and NGOs should also not be underestimated. The Government has been able to build on these foundations to expand national initiatives aimed at promoting health care and literacy. CCN, in particular, has gained considerable experience relevant to women farmers through its drought relief programmes and agricultural development centres.
Upon independence, Namibia put into place a democratic constitution which promotes the advancement of women. For example, the Constitution prohibits sexual discrimination and guarantees equality between men and women in all aspects of marriage, including at its dissolution.35 An affirmative action provision enables Parliament to enact legislation for policies and programmes to redress past imbalances and specifically notes that "women in Namibia have traditionally suffered special discrimination and that they need to be encouraged and enabled to play a full, equal and effective role in the political social and economic and cultural life of the nation."36 The principles of state policy include a commitment to promote the welfare of the people by, inter alia, enactment of legislation to ensure equality of opportunity for women to enable them to participate fully in all spheres of Namibian society.37 The Constitution also commits Namibia to the promotion of a legal system open to all, improved public health and access to education, and maintenance and sustainable utilization of ecosystems and biological diversity for the benefit of all Namibians. The articles of most relevance to women are presented in full in Annex I.
Namibia has also endorsed various international conventions in support of women's rights, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UNCEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Constitution, together with the UN Conventions, provide an important framework for promoting and evaluating gender equality. However, to date, constitutional provisions have made few tangible changes in the lives of women, particularly rural women. Provisions such as the affirmative action clause merely serve as guidelines and lack the force to require Parliament to enact legislation. With the exception of the first local authority elections, the affirmative action provision has had limited application, within the government service and in the private sector.38 Parliament has passed several laws which enhance the status of women workers, including the Labour Act, which prohibits gender discrimination, offers protection for domestic workers and farm labourers and outlines procedures for establishing minimum wages. However, the Act has little relevance to the majority of rural women who are self-employed or operate in the informal sector.
More significantly, the Constitution provides that all laws in force at independence remain in force until repealed or amended by an Act of Parliament or declared unconstitutional by a competent court. Moreover, customary and common law also remains valid, so long as it does not conflict with the Constitution or statutory law.39 The legacy of people's isolation from the legal system has resulted in few, if any, challenges on the basis of constitutionality. Thus, many discriminatory laws remain in tact. Only through a long process of reform are laws likely to be brought in line with the Constitution and the UNCEDAW.
Discriminatory marriage laws exert the greatest limitations on women's authority over children, control over property, and access to land and credit. Indeed, under both civil and customary system, women are treated as de facto minors. For example, in the absence of an antenuptial contract, most civil law marriages are in community of property. Married women cannot register property in their own name. This gives husbands control over the purchase and disposal of property. Marriage in community of property also restricts women's access to credit; wives require husband's consent and signature to enter into contracts and to initiate law suits. Not recognised as property owners, women are also unable to pledge property as security for credit. The husband is also recognised as the guardian of all children born to the marriage. Similarly, under common law marriages, the upbringing of minor children, including decisions about their education, legally falls under the authority of the father.40
Under customary systems, traditional authorities allocate land, adjudicate disputes and rule on criminal acts, and make judgement over traditional divorce. It is important to stress that customary law was largely influenced by colonial interpretation and intervention. With the cooperation of elites and tribal leaders, colonial authorities saw customary law as "a tool to control resources" including the labour and reproductive capacity of women. The stability of the reserve system hinged on these measures. A confusing web of legal provisions continues to govern marriage for most rural women, as colonial marriage laws have been overlaid onto the customary system. Women in customary marriages are also dependent on husbands' authority to sell property or to enter into contracts. As a legacy of colonial law, a separate matrimonial property regime for blacks in the northern communal areas further entrenches customary law by denying men the right to devise cattle and other movable property by will to wives and children.41
In some communities, husbands are seen to "own" their wife by virtue of paying 'lobola', or bride price. More research needs to be done to assess the scope and implications of this practice, but a survey of the Owambo Regions highlighted considerable variation. In two of three districts, husbands simply gave gifts, such as the purchase of the wedding dress, as part of a civil marriage ceremony. Bride price was uncommon. In contrast, a majority of men in a neighbouring region paid brideprice of 1-5 cattle.42
While legislation is required to ensure women equal rights in marriage, it will be more difficult to eradicate the patriarchal attitudes and power which underpin both legal systems. Divorced women and women with children out of wedlock garner little support, and the church requires the mother to attend a rehabilitation course if her child is to be baptised. A relatively small percentage of rural women are married under customary law (see Table 10).
Nevertheless, many women married under civil law in the rural communal areas are subject to traditional systems of land allocation and inheritance. Societies in Namibia follow matrilineal or patrilineal lines of descent. In either system, a male, be it the husband or a relative on the mother or father's side of the family, is the locus of authority. Thus, in some regions, unmarried women, who do not gain access to land by virtue of marriage, can only obtain land through male relatives. Divorce proceedings can also discriminate against women, who face hearings chaired by men and are often prevented from speaking.43 Elsewhere, in the Eastern and Southern Communal Areas, or in the Okavango Region, women can be allocated land in their own right, but still face discrimination. For example, headmen may give priority to the applications of men, who are seen to be more productive. Alternatively, women may be granted smaller or degraded portions. Women also have little recourse to challenge encroachment of grazing land by larger stock holders or to fight back against stock theft. Some have suggested that judgements favour men in grazing disputes involving both sexes.44
Discriminatory inheritance traditions further contribute to women's tenuous position. In the Eastern Communal Areas, a widow's right to keep her home and maintain access to grazing land depends on the goodwill of the deceased's male relatives. Should she return to her family, the relatives will claim her husband's livestock and may or may not permit her to keep her own.45 Death of the husband often leaves wives in polygamous marriages with virtually no property. In the South, widows appear to be better off, inheriting grazing cards (which regulate rights to use grazing land), livestock and immovable property. In the Okavango Region, the man's family determines who will inherit cattle, typically granting only part of the herd to the widow. Cropland reverts to the widow.
A study for a consultative conference on land reform, held in June 1991, found that women in the Northern crop areas were particularly at risk of losing land and other assets upon the death of husband or fathers (see Table 11). Divorces are also problematic, as many women must turn over assets and property which they have helped to build or purchase. The most drastic examples of discrimination have been reported in the Owambo Regions. The widow does not automatically inherit the land and homestead. Rather, she must pay a fee to the headman to "repurchase" the land.46 In some instances, even widows who raise the money are forced off the land by the husband's family, who, under customary law, can claim the land and all joint property, including the homestead, any joint enterprise such as a small shop, livestock, and even grain stores. These women return to their families or purchase an inferior plot of land. Women in the region feel strongly that this discrimination must end, and in a 1994 gender-based survey, respondents clearly agreed that: women should inherit husbands' land, not families; headmen should not charge widows for land; and, in divorce, property should be split equally.47
Legislation to enhance the status of women has sorely lagged behind the tenets of gender equality espoused in the Constitution.48 However, government groups and NGOs together have stepped up efforts to educate men and women on the rights of women, to press for legal reform, and to enable women to promote their interests through the legal system. For example, the Law Reform and Development Commission includes a Women and Law Committee, which will seek to reform civil and customary law in line with the Constitution. This process is being supported by an NGO-based Gender Research Project, which aims to assess gender aspects of the law and evaluate proposals for reform.
One breakthrough occurred in late 1993, when a chief in the Owambo Region agreed not to force widows off the land or to charge fees for them to remain on their land. This agreement was achieved through patient consultation by members of government and representatives of legal organisations including the Women and Law Committee. When a local headman did not follow the new ruling, widows, with support from members of NGOs, organized a demonstration. However, many villagers and headmen remain uninformed of the proclamation, and past practices continue.49
The effort to reform customary law is part of an ongoing programme, coordinated by the Namibia Development Trust, and the Law Faculty at the University of Namibia, to improve the legal and socio-economic situation of women in Namibia. This process has included the gender-based survey, cited earlier, of three districts in the North. The organizations are now undertaking educational campaigns and workshops to provide information on the difference between being married in and out of community of property -- over half of the women surveyed admitted to not knowing the distinction. Importantly, the survey showed that the majority of respondents rely on their future husbands for advice prior to the marriage, while others seek information from parents and friends.50 The Law Faculty has conducted several workshops for rural communities to show how a properly prepared will can help widows secure rights to (nonmovable) property and land. However. it is proving difficult to change attitudes and misconceptions of traditional authorities and men. Moreover, some customary systems do not recognize wills.51
In addition to the Gender Research Project, programmes are underway to educate women about their rights and how to assert them. One NGO, the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), is running a legal education project, working closely with the Department of Women's Affairs and non-governmental groups. The project has produced pamphlets for use in schools and communities and a manual for paralegals on the rights of women and children. The rights and procedures which have been or will be covered include maintenance, abortion, rights of single mothers, domestic violence and marriage and divorce. Several other groups have cooperated to produce a booklet on women and rape.52 The project is also running legal education workshops in townships and rural centres.
The DWA is also working with government departments and partner agencies to communicate the UNCEDAW, and to generate strategies for action and implementation. The booklet has been produced in seven local languages.
Rural women remain underserved by the judiciary system. Magistrate courts have yet to be established in several of the regions, following the new delimitation in 1992. The legal profession is male-dominated and largely urban-based. It is likely that many rural women are not reached by education campaigns. For example, the LAC has been actively encouraging women to invoke a pre-Independence law, the Maintenance Act, to claim their entitlement to maintenance. The Centre has also supported efforts to improve the enforcement of the Act for men who default on payments. However, while increasing numbers of women in the Windhoek area are taking up maintenance procedures, few women in rural areas appear to be utilising it.53
In addition to its Windhoek office, the Legal Assistance Centre has established branches in five regional centres. Paralegals advise or refer people on cases, most of which concern divorce, maintenance and custody. However, the director of the Legal Education Project is the only woman of ten paralegals involved in the Centre's advice and education functions. Women are often reluctant to bring up concerns about violence, marriage or divorce with men, particularly in light of persistent tolerance towards domestic violence.54 A significant initiative is the pilot Women's and Children's Abuse Centre, a hospital-based centre which caters for rape, violence and abuse of women and children. Although the Centre is Windhoek-based, it is anticipated that similar centres will be established in towns serving the communal areas.
This lack of self confidence underscores the importance that, in addition to legal reform, women must be empowered socially and economically to challenge unjust measures. Indeed, one important process which has increased the awareness of rights has been the exposure to democratic values, both in national elections and through participation in organizations.55
The health and well-being of the majority of children in Namibia is integrally tied to women's roles as farmers and food producers. To date, no national-level statistics on levels of poverty exist, and the country is in the process of establishing a poverty datum line to monitor changes in the ability of poor Namibians to meet basic needs.56 However, recent regional studies suggest that as many as 40% of households are food insecure. In Namibia, household food security derives from two sources: the production and food stores of the household from agriculture and food gathering; and the ability of households to purchase or acquire food, either from cash income, food transfers. or bartering.
The disparity between rich and poor is extreme.57 There is growing differentiation within rural regions, as well as between households at village level (see Table 12). One measure of this is disparity in the ownership of and access to livestock, an important agricultural asset. In Namibia, the decline in crop production and food availability, together with a reduction in cash income, are further entrenching many households in poverty.
Households headed by women constitute a significant portion of the food insecure. Definitions of what constitutes a household, as well as criteria for determining if the head is a female, vary widely.58 Some surveys have distinguished between de jure heads, women recognized within civil or customary law as the official head, and de facto heads, women who are in charge in the absence of a male head.59 Although comprehensive data is limited, regional figures and the national census suggest that between 30-50 % of households are effectively female-headed (see Tables 13 - 16).
Far from homogeneous, female-headed households display a range of composition patterns and socio-economic characteristics. It must also be stressed that a focus on female-headed households masks the vulnerability of single mothers and young married couples, often part of male headed households (see Tables 17, 18 and 19).
A number of factors contribute to the precarious situation of rural women in general, and female headed households in particular. For example, ongoing migration continues to affect the structure of households. In the Northern regions, this pattern is reflected in the noticeable gender imbalances in the productive adult population. Table 20 shows the gradual shift in gender balance from a rural community in the North to a rural town in the South to a Windhoek township.
Migration has created many female headed households with a shortage of adult labour, often resulting in a decline in food productivity. Women must often make up the loss through additional work in the field, including intensive tasks such as tilling and clearing. Data on land holdings is sparse, but several recent surveys in the Owambo Region show that although size of land between male and female headed households is comparable, the amount cultivated is often lower for the latter. Even in regions where gender ratios are equal, women still outnumber men in agriculture.60 In the South, labour shortages are less problematic; however, many able-bodied youths do not contribute fully to agricultural activities.
Shortage of labour is exacerbated by the higher dependency ratios present in female headed households. According to the 1991 census, female-headed households are comparable in size to those headed by males but support more children. Similarly, the household subsistence survey found the average size of a rural household headed by a man to be 9.4, while that headed by a female is 7.4. In contrast, female-headed households have on average 1.9 dependents (those under 16 or over 60), male headed households only 1.4.61 Thus, while female headed households support more dependents, they have smaller households and therefore fewer able-bodied members to assist with agricultural and domestic tasks (see Tables 21 - 23). Although school children do contribute to household chores, they are likely to be a net drain.62 Households who can send their children away to school further benefit from school feeding programmes.
Yet another factor affecting women's ability to procure food is the declining natural resource base. The quality of land is deteriorating, women lack fertiliser, implements and the technical know how to boost the productive potential of their fields. Drought is an ever present threat for communal farmers, whose harvests, in the absence of agricultural inputs, depend even more directly on good rainfall. In the non-crop producing regions, stock-farming households must contend with drought and poor grazing which directly reduce the availability of milk for home consumption. Wild fruits and vegetables, riverine fish, and small animals enhance food security during times of relatively good supply and provide an important buffer for poor households during times of food shortage. However, increasing deforestation and erosion, including along rivers, unsustainable harvesting, and increasing population pressure are shrinking the availability of these foods.
Particularly affected by environmental change, as well as by historical land dispossession are women and their families in traditionally nomadic pastoral or hunting-gathering communities. Bushmen peoples have faced considerable social disruption, caused by restricted access to land and by the influence of the military. Many now live on the margins, squatting in small towns or as overexploited shepherds or maids in the households of communal farmers. Those employed in the military found themselves in precarious circumstances with the withdrawal of the South African Defence Force and the loss of wage income. One group, the Ju/'hoansi, have resettled on traditional grounds, and are working with outside groups to develop a mixed economy including horticulture, cattle-rearing, and craft production in addition to foraging. It remains to be seen how new economic patterns will alter gender roles.
As a result of these conditions, few households, whether male or female-headed, produce enough food to be self-sufficient. The gender survey of the North found that less than 5 % of all households surveyed had produced a surplus of millet; the majority did not have enough grain in storage to stretch between harvests. Protracted drought no doubt contributed to this extreme situation? but many Northern households must regularly supplement the millet or maize harvested with meal from elsewhere.63 Even in the best of years, agricultural production is inadequate to meet basic food needs. Since women are the majority of farmers, they are most likely to bear the risk and uncertainty of agriculture.
To meet basic food needs, households therefore augment production from subsistence agriculture with cash or in-kind income from other sources. In addition to purchasing food, cash is also needed to pay for school fees and uniforms, medical bills, clothing and special events. Needs for cash can be severe, and households are occasionally forced to sell food stores or important assets to meet expenses.
Although almost three-quarters of the population participate in agriculture, the main contributor to subsistence across households is cash income directly from formal employment or by way of cash and non-cash remittances from an absentee member. (Tables 24 - 27 show the access to and relative importance of income sources for various regions.) Access to formal employment is the most important distinction between the absolute poor and those able to meet food and income needs. Female headed households have fewer members employed formally or informally than male headed households (see Table 23). Interestingly, a survey in the Omusati Region found that absentee members of male headed households were more likely to be formally employed than those in female headed households, who were almost twice as likely to be looking for work.64 There are few financial returns to offset the absence of labour.
Moreover, rising unemployment and social breakdown of the family have shrunk the amount and frequency of remittances. The gender-based survey of Owambo districts found that less than 15% of households receive cash remittances, often assumed to be the mainstay of incomes in that area.65 Similarly, a study of coping strategies in the Erongo Region found that remittances are in decline. 45% of households interviewed had at least one member who had lost his or her job since 1991. Many have taken up ad-hoc employment, earning barely enough to survive.66
One of the most vulnerable groups are women employed on farms or who are in households in which the principal breadwinner is a labourer on a commercial farm. Over 36,000 farmworkers support an estimated 230,000 dependents, on wages ranging between N$80380/month.67 Many labourers receive few leaves of absence, and like migrants in the cities, may start second families or lose contact with their rural household. Female workers on farms are in a more precarious position, as their work is often on a casual basis, and they lack job security. Wives resident on the farm have often found themselves evicted upon the death of their husbands.68 A newly formed farmworkers union and several local associations aim to represent farmworkers and to encourage enforcement of the Labour Act. However, it must be noted that some of the worst abuse and exploitation of farmworkers occurs on communal farms, where immigrants, marginalised peoples such as the Bushmen, and even poor relatives work for little or no pay.
In the absence of income from remittances or formal employment, women rely more heavily on cash or barter from informal sector trading, such as beer brewing or crafts. Casual labour or piecework is also increasing in importance. A day of weeding can earn some much needed cash or ensure several cups of maize meal for food-poor households. However, this transfer of labour, by reducing a household's agricultural productivity, increases dependence on the largesse of wealthier households.
The reliance on cash is even greater in stock-farming regions. Two recent surveys of the Southern and Eastern Communal Areas found that the majority of households, regardless of wealth, get their food from shops. Purchasing power, then, is the principal determinant of food security. Although inclined to maintain high numbers of livestock, wealthier households own herds large enough to support at least the occasional sale of animals.69 In contrast, 88% of female headed households in the South receive no cash income from the sale of animals. These and other poor households, live on drought relief transfers, the charity of relatives, or senior citizen pensions.
The extended family is an important network for food distribution, and in turn, household food security. Food gifts, such as cups of maize meal or gifts of fish, thus enable poorer relations and their households to survive food shortages and to defer the impacts of drought or other crises. The shift towards nuclear family patterns appears to be increasing the prospects for joint management of the household on one hand, but is eroding the social and economic support system of the extended family on the other. Some observers have noted that the Namibian Constitution implicitly recognizes the nuclear family as the main family pattern, and so might not fully promote the rights and security of women in other family situations.70
Among households without another source of cash income, access to a pension is the primary determinant of food security. Namibia and South Africa are the only two countries in Africa which offer universal pensions for all citizens over the age of 60.71 The income from the pension, paid out bimonthly, is intended to provide a safety net for the elderly, many of whom lack the security of savings and other financial resources. Historically, it formed part of the strategy of the South African regime to ensure a minimum level for survival in the reserves. However, pensions have become a critical element for survival in many rural households across the country. 41% of respondents in the survey of the southern communal areas cited pensions as their predominant cash source. Over 50% of surveyed households in two Northern districts have members who receive pensions72 (see Table 24).
Although those with pensions are more secure than households without a regular source of income, the social and economic dependence on female pensioners is high. In Namibia, senior women undertake many household and agricultural tasks, and often bear primary responsibility for childrearing. This responsibility, along with the bimonthly pension, enables adult members to leave children in the care of seniors and migrate to urban areas. Relying on this support, young women are now increasingly moving out of rural areas to follow their partners or to seek employment or informal sector work in cities and rural towns. Interestingly, even as pensioners, women are more likely to use the income for the family, and a recent survey showed that grandmothers were almost twice as likely as grandfathers to contribute to the payment of school fees in their household.73
Ironically, the pension system has reversed the social security system prevalent in most of Africa, whereby children are responsible for supporting elderly parents. Rather than enhancing the well-being of elderly women, the pension system may be increasing their vulnerability. Complacency around pensions may account in part for the decreased flow of remittances and paternal maintenance. Indeed, by accommodating the migration of adult labour, pensions appear to inhibit increased agricultural productivity.
Households unable to produce or purchase food often ration basic foods and forego essential sources of protein such as meat or fish. Female headed households have more dependents but less means to obtain food, and so face the greatest risk of poor nutrition among children, nursing mothers and the elderly. Data is inconclusive, although a 1990 survey of rural centres in Owambo found that undernourishment and stunting were more prevalent in children of female headed households.74 In the Southern Communal Areas, female headed households feed more people but obtain less food, including essential components such as meat and milk.75
As noted above, many households are unable to produce enough food for the whole year. Storage problems, including the loss of crops or dried food to pests, affect food availability and nutrition value. Furthermore, employment and casual labour opportunities often do not parallel periods of food shortage. Lack of cash income and food shortages are further compounded by high prices for maize meal and basic food stuffs in the shops. In the South and East, where food is purchased, cash flow determines the abundance of food; as a result, the number of meals typically declines over the course of a month, or for pensioners, a two month period. In crop producing regions, the "hungry season" before harvest is a period of intense labour, which strains the health of nursing mothers.
Thus, nutrition levels in Namibia are particularly prone to seasonal and crisis (drought)related food shortages. A 1992 national health survey found that Namibian children have high levels of wasting as a result of acute food shortages. As shown in Table 28, malnutrition levels are considerably higher in rural areas.
The survey showed that levels of malnutrition in children differ little by gender, although females are slightly more likely to be stunted. Education of the mother is a factor only at the secondary school level or higher. Mothers at this level are half as likely to have children who are stunted. They also have fewer wasted or undernourished children. While higher levels of education might enhance awareness of nutrition, this difference probably reflects the increased access to employment enjoyed by women with higher educational qualifications.
Although there has been little work on food preferences and consumption, the diets of many Namibian groups include foods rich in protein and vitamins. In the Northern crop areas, women grow and gather several varieties of leafy greens. The Namibia Development Trust survey found that almost 93% of households grow beans, and 36.7% grow ground nuts, while a recent survey of Okavango found that over 80% of households consume fish. In the Eastern and Southern regions, milk is an important dietary staple. These practices enhance nutrition levels and suggest that agricultural research and extension must look beyond productivity to incorporate nutritional needs and diversity.
The health and well-being of household members not only rests on the availability of food; rather, household food security is also related to distribution of food and income within the household. Indeed, the very notion of the household as a production unit tends to gloss over competing interests and the uneven access and control over resources within the household. The right and ability of women to control the products of their own labour is central to the advancement of rural women in Namibia.
Namibia is no exception to the gender division of labour which characterises rural communities throughout the world. Women carry out the bulk of domestic and agricultural duties, while men are responsible for specific spheres of activity, such as herding and marketing livestock, ploughing fields, or constructing homes.76 Men are more likely to allocate or share specific tasks with others, or take on tasks that utilise higher levels of technology, such as animal-drawn traction. In contrast, women are more likely to be engaged in the actual work itself. One survey found that women in the Owambo Regions are twice as likely as men to work in the field.77 Children share in domestic and agricultural tasks while still young, but soon get tracked into gender-based divisions as they grow older.
Few studies have assessed the allocation of time and work responsibility within rural households, and information on the division of labour among different ethnic groups remains somewhat superficial. The economic value of women's work remains underrepresented in research. In contrast, the growing system of casual labour offers some evidence of the productive value of women's labour (although this is clearly not reflected in amounts of payment). Even less consideration is given to women's roles as mothers and caretakers. These roles not only exert physical demands, but entail ongoing planning, attention, and emotional demands.
A gender-based division of labour is arguably complementary. This has been observed of Ju/'hoan society, in which male and female domains are seen to reflect the mutual interdependence of the two sexes.78 While this interdependence may have been a feature of pre-colonial societies,79 the division of labour currently present in most Namibian groups has been distorted by ongoing social and economic change. For example, the transformation of rural economies from agriculturally-based to income-based has increased the work load of women. As noted above, women often make up for the lost input of absentee husbands or family members by taking on additional tasks.80
Interestingly, as the participation of men in farming activities decreases, the authority of women over agricultural processes may increase. More information is needed to understand the role of men and women in making choices concerning field preparation, seed selection, or care of livestock. Even in male-headed households, Northern women appear to have some say in deciding which crops to grow and when to plant. Women are increasingly responsible for livestock production, traditionally a male domain: the NDT survey found that in 22 % of households, women are the principal person in charge of cattle. In the Southern and Eastern Communal Areas, women are responsible for milking and lambing and exercise control over these processes. In the South, where smallstock predominates, women also make decisions about herding and grazing. (Tables 29 - 32 present some findings on women's decision-making authority at the household level.)
Women and children in all rural regions collect water for domestic use and wood, the principal source of fuel for the majority of rural households in Namibia.81 Routine tasks such as these, as well as collecting wild foods, fruits, and materials, are made more difficult by a shortage of resources. Some households walk more than 5 km to obtain wood. In regions lacking water infrastructure, households must travel well over one hour to fetch water during the dry season.82 In addition to hindering agricultural work, labour shortages affect the frequency and distance of trips which poor households can make for water and fuel. Thus, poor households must ration out supplies and/or continue to exploit resources located near to the homestead, contributing further to the spiral of environmental degradation. Men participate in these tasks only if transportation, such as a donkey cart, ox sledge, or truck, is used, or if the household has ready access to a tap or pipeline. Thus, improving access and supply of water not only reduces time but increases the likelihood of men's participation.
It is in the home that male participation is most lacking, and men benefit by having greater leisure time as a result.83 Child rearing, food preparation and maintaining the homestead all place considerable demands on a woman's time; in the North, over an hour of each woman's day is spent pounding grains, while women in pastoral systems devote much of their mornings to milking and tending livestock. As discussed above, households are increasingly relying on purchased foods. This eliminates processing and preparation work but affects nutrition and constrains cash flow.
The entry of rural households into commercial activities also increases the labour burden of women. In households able to achieve marketable surpluses. women must ensure subsistence output and contribute to cash crop production. If women have access to the additional income, then the returns to increased labour can be worthwhile.
However, rural women in Namibia continue to have an unequal say in decision-making over agricultural production. Women are expected to utilise their harvest to feed the family, and in some regions, women even farm both individual plots for subsistence and common plots in which men control the harvest. In de facto female headed households, the husband's absence does not necessarily increase a woman's freedom to make decisions. She might be entitled to sell produce on an informal scale, but for more significant decisions, such as hiring labour, she defers to her husband.84 Women exert even less authority over the sale and disposal of livestock. Men dominate the marketing and slaughter of stock, and although they may confer with their wives, it is men who negotiate prices. In a husband's absence, a woman is expected to consult with his relatives. Reportedly, many women in the Eastern and Southern Communal Areas still wield no control over the sale of animals they themselves own. Moreover, if her animals are sold in a lot, her husband can determine the share she receives.85
Women's participation in decisions over the allocation of cash income appears to vary by the composition of the household and the marital relationship. In general, female headed households are more likely to make financial and other decisions jointly with family members. In male-headed households, authority over income and resources is generally vested in the head, but joint decision-making is also commonplace, particularly among nuclear families. There is little work on different areas of responsibility, but women appear to participate more in decisions about health, education and childrearing.
Of course, authority is not clear cut, and women employ a number of strategies to enhance their control. For the most part, women are entitled to spend income they have earned through casual labour or non-farm production as they choose. Some women prefer to work for income in kind, since they know that men are less likely to make claims on maize meal than on cash.86 Not surprisingly, it is women who also dominate food for work programs, while men hold out for opportunities for cash.
Efforts by the government to boost the production and marketing of traditional crops, such as millet, or of livestock, particularly goats, must take care not to marginalise women.87 Elsewhere in Africa, crops which women traditionally grow and sell on a small scale have come under the control of men as commercial prospects improved.88 Schemes initiated by the First National Development Corporation (FNDC) appear to mirror this pattern. Male headed households utilise the labour of wives and families to produce surpluses and to diversify into crops such as cotton and groundnuts. Men have also been able to resettle and participate in special farming ventures managed by the Corporation, knowing that their wife will maintain the family and homestead. Women lose twice, as they see few benefits from the surplus production and contend with dwindling incomes from small-scale marketing. In short, women work more but get less.
Agricultural policies and programmes continue to overlook the central role of women in agriculture and reinforce inequality in women's access to: 1) productive resources, including land, labour, inputs and technology; and 2) support services, such as credit, extension and research. Moreover, the failure to acknowledge women's agricultural knowledge and experience makes gender divisions over decision-making even more pronounced. Ultimately, policies must go beyond simply improving services to exploring ways to enhance women's legal and social ability to take up services.
On a national level, the constitution maintains the distinction between commercial land and communal land. Historically, legal control of the communal areas was placed in the colonial government or the reserve administrations. At independence, this ownership transferred to the new government. Property held under private title, including commercial farms, is seen as lawfully owned and therefore exempt.89 Thus, since the majority of black farmers continue to reside in communal areas, they remain disadvantaged by inequitable distribution of land.
In June 1991, the Prime Minister convened a national conference on land reform and the land question. Background papers and debates showed that the affects of dispossession, the nature of land problems and attitudes towards land reform and policy differed by region.90 The constraints facing women across the nation to obtain land also vary and cannot be generalised. However, conference recommendations made special note of ensuring rights and support for women. In its recommendations, the Technical Committee on Commercial Farmland (TCCF), mandated to evaluate land policy options, has recommended improving women's access to and control over land, through improved rights, affirmative action programmes, repeal of discriminatory statutory and customary laws, and representation on regional or district level land bodies, should they be formed.91
The recommendations of the TCCF are still under review. In the absence of legislation, customary allocation of communal land by traditional authorities prevails, with households gaining usufruct rights to residential land, for crop production or grazing as well as access to common pasturage.92 As discussed earlier, rural women still gain access to land through men, as wives, daughters, sisters. The security of their tenure is also jeopardized by discriminatory marriage customs and inheritance systems. There is no accurate data on landlessness in Namibia. While it is commonly assumed that most households do have access to land under customary law, some landless widows have been forced to move into the households of relatives.
The conference recommendations accept that ancestral land claims will not form the basis of restitution and so preclude large-scale land reform. Current strategies target increasing the Land available to communal farmers and improving the productivity of the existing land base, through improved range management, crop production or alternative uses. Without careful consideration, these options will yield few benefits for women farmers, and may diminish their access to land even further.
For example, efforts are underway to increase land availability by opening up communal lands which are underutilised due to a lack of surface water. In Okavango, the drilling of boreholes is enabling farmers to resettle and to graze livestock away from the river, which currently supports the densest population in the country. Others have moved their herds but maintained homesteads and some stock near the river. However, women are less likely to take up opportunities to resettle or to cultivate new fields. Their child care and domestic responsibilities preclude settlement in marginal areas, which continue to lack basic infrastructure and health care and education facilities. Moreover, the benefits gained by increased crop production are offset by reduced access to fish, veld foods or other natural resources. The distance of fields away from the homestead adds to the time and labour of travelling and transporting harvests, inputs and equipment back and forth.
It is wealthier households and those who own more stock, who most benefit from newly opened grazing lands. These households have the resources to hire herders, and can readily maintain existing lands and keep herds in the new grazing areas. Female headed households lack these resources. In marginal areas, control over water can also dictate access and use to land. In some regions, individuals effectively control water points. Of note, MAWRD is encouraging the formation of village water point committees. To date, the participation of women in the committees has been limited, particularly in regions where men tend to control water infrastructure.93
A second strategy aims to relieve pressure on communal lands, particularly in stock producing areas, by enabling communal farmers to purchase commercial farms through a low interest loan programme. No gender-disaggregated data is available, but to date, a small number of farmers (67), primarily large stockholders, have been granted loans under the scheme. For many farmers the financial incentives of relocating are low, as grazing and water in the communal areas is free. Ostensibly, the scheme should indirectly benefit poorer households, including those headed by women, who would gain by improved grazing due to lower numbers on the range. However, as has happened elsewhere, farmers with commercial farms continue to graze livestock on communal lands.94
Elite farmers are also fencing the communal grazing areas at an alarming rate. Many enclose prime grazing areas and dominate water sources. This is effectively privatising the communal lands and reducing the access of poorer households to land. Some farmers are consequently cut off from dry season grazing, a severe constraint to productivity, which rests in part on a strategy of opportunistic and flexible grazing patterns. Illegal fencing has also inhibited the migration of game, an important source of meat for the Ju/'hoan and other groups which actively hunt. The TCCF recommends immediate legislation to stop the fencing, but to date, the government has taken little action against it.95
When asked if they would like more land, 89% of respondents in a survey for the land conference naturally answered positively. On the surface, this response would suggest increased pressure on land. According to one report, for example, average land holdings in the Owambo Region have dropped from 6.3 ha in 1968 to 2.6 ha in 1980.96 However, this drop also reflects the declining importance of agriculture. Households engage in a range of other income activities and so cultivate for consumption rather than surplus production. Ultimately, for many households, the problem is not access to land but rather the ability to utilise it efficiently. Female headed households particularly lack the labour and inputs to cultivate what they do have, and one observer noted that some households farm only 112-1/3 of their arable land.97 Households, in turn, are unable to farm cultivated areas efficiently. For example, many households only weed once, although two weedings are preferable.
Livestock provide milk, meat and dung for fertilizer. Income from the sale of animals, meat and by-products enhances food security and provides a 'nest egg' to cover unanticipated expenses, such as medical costs. In Namibia, cattle are also imbued with social and cultural importance.
As shown in Tables 33 - 42, there is growing differentiation in the ownership of cattle and other livestock among rural households. Unequal access and control of grazing enables wealthy households to expand their herds, while poor households face a decline in herd size. Recent studies suggest that female headed households on average own fewer animals and are more likely to own no cattle at all. The cattle they do own tend to be lower-value.98
In the Northern regions, a shortage of draught power poses a barrier to crop production. Many female headed households do not own or have free access to draught animals and ploughs.99 Cash-strapped households further lack the option of hiring labour and so till the land.100 Households often use two methods of ploughing in order to maximise available resources (see Tables 43 and 44). In contrast, households with draught animals can tap into an added source of income by renting out animals and ploughs. Those forced to hire must wait and so run the risk of late ploughing. Recent droughts have compounded the situation, killing many donkeys and reducing the availability of draught power throughout the North.101
As inputs are becoming more available through government schemes, farmers coops and private outlets, the demand for credit is growing. Small-scale farmers have historically been unable to access credit through banks and government institutions, which require titled land as security. Banks in the rural areas only operate in administrative centres and cater to those who earn salaries. Prior to Independence, the development parastatal, the then First National Development Corporation (FNDC), had the mandate to provide loans in the bantustan areas. These loans were granted primarily to urban-based entrepreneurs to set-up nonagricultural businesses, although a few loans were granted to commercially oriented agricultural enterprises.102 Only an estimated 10% of the loans have been granted to women Few financial institutions have been willing to bear the added costs and risks of administering loans in small amounts.
The largest obstacle to credit faced by women continues to be the restricted rights of marriage in community of property. Married women still require the consent of their husbands to enter into contracts and loans. Few institutions have sought to address this problem.
To a limited extent, programmes run by non-governmental organizations have enhanced women's access by targeting small loan programmes to them. The Private Sector Foundation, which supports informal and small business development, has a loan programme specifically for women. Also important is the fledgling credit union movement. Credit unions have been established in the SCAs and Owambo regions, where an estimated 70-80% of the members are women. Several farmers associations are also supporting credit schemes for their members. The unions provide an opportunity for farmers to access loans without collateral restrictions. The process has been one of trial and error, and NGOs continue to explore models appropriate to Namibia. However, credit unions of necessity serve people with income and so are concentrated in rural centres. The women who participate are those with a reliable income, such as government employees or those engaged in small enterprise.103
The Namibia Development Corporation (NDC), restructured from the FNDC, has also run a mini-loan programme for entrepreneurs in the small business and informal sector. This programme, too, has served urban residents, who seek support for petty trade and small ventures such as hair salons or shops. Farmers involved in NDC agricultural projects can obtain small sums of money for the purchase of inputs such as seeds through an informal loan programme. It is not known if women have been able to benefit from this service.
Since late 1992, over 450 small-scale communal farmers have also been able to obtain loans through a special scheme administered by MAWRD. Over three quarters of the total amount granted has been for the acquisition of stock, with the remainder for crop production and infrastructure.104 In the absence of conclusive gender-based data, this suggests that women may be underrepresented, as the purchase of stock often falls to men. The cost and burdensome administration of the programme has led to considerable delays in loan approval and pay out. Its success has also been hampered by the fact that many extension officers remain unaware of the scheme or lack experience with credit.
Currently, MAWRD is developing an agricultural bank equipped to administer a loan programme designed for small-scale communal farmers. The programme would support those farmers who can use loans to increase their productivity, and, in turn, their incomes, through the purchase of inputs, permanent improvements, or the introduction of perennial crops. The programme would make loans to individual farmers organised into informal groups and to formally registered cooperatives. It is anticipated that these approaches will promote shared responsibility for loans and increase the prospects of repayment. The proposed model does not consider affirmative action for women, but it is hoped that loans managed through cooperatives will reach women. Training in gender aware approaches and the hiring of female staff are recommended. Standard credit schemes cannot meet the needs of the poorest, whose incomes are too low to invest. As a result, vulnerable households resort to informal mechanisms, to meet immediate cash and food needs. For example, households may put up a portion of the future harvest as 'collateral' for loans or as payment for ploughing services. In some regions, a system of loaning cattle, known as mafisa, enables poor households or those with sudden losses to replenish their herds. The borrower tends the animals in return for draught power, milk, and ownership of any calves born. Local shops often allow customers to purchase goods on credit or through barter. In the southern communal areas, an estimated half of households maintain accounts with shop keepers. People also buy clothes, furniture, and large items on laybye and payment plans from larger retail chains. While helping rural residents to overcome shortfalls in food and cash, these mechanisms also increase the likelihood of indebtedness, thereby exacerbating food security over the long term. 105 involvement of women in these mechanisms should be examined and considered when designing credit programmes.
Finally, households save in order to make investments or as protection against unexpected expenses. In Namibia common wisdom holds that for most households, savings are in the form of cattle, seen as stored wealth. No doubt true, but as noted above, women have little control over the disposal of livestock and so lack access to this form of savings. However, households can and do save cash earnings, although those headed by females face greater difficulties in saving. Nevertheless, a survey in an Owambo district found that 45 % of female headed households and 73 % of male headed households save. The mean amount saved differed greatly with the former saving only N$ 227, usually keeping it at home. The latter saved an average of N$ 966 and was more likely to save at a bank.106 These results, although inconclusive, underscore the need for women to gain information and access to savings institutions, including the bank, post office, and community savings groups. Programmes that promote resource-sharing, such as shared control of draught animals and ploughs, or revolving seed banks, can also address the needs of women farmers with limited access to cash income.
Many interventions could enhance the productivity of small-scale farmers. For example, improved application of dung and seed bed preparation could increase harvests of staple crops. However, agricultural extension and services have historically served the interests and needs of commercial farmers. Although steps have been taken to reorient support towards subsistence farmers, many programmes fail to take account of the activities and priorities of women farmers. Initiatives that would benefit women often do not reach them.
The legacy of neglect toward communal areas under the apartheid era continues to hinder the effectiveness of extension and veterinary services.107 There are too few staff overall to serve the vast numbers of farmers. For example, 25 extension officers in the Owambo Regions serve a population of over 84,000 farmers, resulting in only one officer for over 3,000 farmers. Not surprisingly, many households have little if any contact with extension services. A survey of Okavango Region found that only 1/5 of households had received extension.108 The NDT survey found that only 13 households of 1365 total had been visited by agriculture or rural development extension officers.109
Time-consuming administration of the sale of inputs and other commercial services compounds this problem. A review of extension in an Owambo district found that not a single extension officer had spent more than 30% of his or her time with farmers and so reached only an estimated 18% of farmers.110 Farmers who purchase seeds or fertiliser from extension offices often do not receive any advice about the use of inputs. In the Northern regions, regional agriculture staff spent as much as 90% of their time administering the tractor scheme. MAWRD has been unable to meet the high demand for the programme which may constitute unsustainable financial drain on the Ministry, which subsidizes an estimated 94 % of the actual cost.111
Women are less able to take advantage of these services, which, for the most part, are provided out of regional centres. Branch extension offices do not have the infrastructure to supply seeds, fertiliser and other services. Veterinary services, including the provision of medicine, are also centralised. Some extension officers lack transportation.
Consequently, farmers must expend time and money to reach the central offices. This disadvantages women who are considerably less mobile than men. In many regions, women lack access to transportation and so usually walk. In some areas, such as the East, cultural norms dictate that women stay close to home; as a result, they have little contact with government institutions. Although ownership of donkey carts is comparable, female-headed households in the South are less likely to own trucks or cars, important for travelling the long distances between settlements.112 In the Northern areas, female headed households are less likely to own bicycles or cars, and so make fewer journeys to towns.113 Lack of mobility also limits the involvement of women in auctions and marketing.
Extension and veterinary officers do not record the number of farmers contacted by gender. As shown in Tables 45 and 46, men comprise the majority of extension and veterinary staff. In some regions, where women must defer to men, there are few female extension officers to encourage and support their involvement. Extension officers often communicate with male farmers and do not seek out women farmers, who consequently rely on second-hand information from husbands or male relatives.
Clearly, the gender of extension officers alone will not guarantee that women are better served. However, the approach of male officers is often shaped by training and cultural proscriptions which value livestock production over agronomy and commercial production over subsistence and household food security. Despite the merger of rural development and agricultural extension, many officers lack exposure to concepts of household food security and integrated development.
Women farmers often have different priorities. Recent studies in the Owambo Region highlighted the interest of women farmers in getting advice on planting and fertiliser techniques and crop rotations. They also stressed the need for reasonably priced seeds, implements, and pesticides, as well as access to millet processing and other technologies to reduce their workload.114 Similarly, for women who till by hand, access to draught animals and ploughs would boost their productivity. They might be better served by programmes to support ploughing services, rather than the more costly and technical approach of tractor services.115
Agricultural services also do not take adequate account of the knowledge and experience of women farmers. Veterinary services and extension for livestock particularly fail to address women's role in the care of animals. Advice and support often stress cattle, with little comparable assistance on small animals, including chickens, which for some households is a more frequent source of protein than beef. Similarly, veterinary services and extension often overlook women's responsibilities for milking and lambing. Emphasizing meat production to the detriment of milk production can affect the nutritional status of households. Moreover, the health and growth rate of young stock is directly linked to milking practices.116
During the recent drought, small holders benefitted least from government subsidies. In order to encourage offtake, the programme included paying an extra amount for each goat or head of cattle sold. While some households waited too late to sell, many small holders took advantage of the cash incentive. However, the government also subsidized the price of fodder so that farmers could sustain herds through the drought. Wealthy stock owners could afford to purchase the fodder and maintain their large herds, while small owners found their herds reduced to dangerously low levels. Ultimately, well-targeted interventions to increase lambing rates, milk production, animal health and small-scale marketing will have relatively greater benefit to female-headed and other vulnerable households.
The Ministry of Agriculture is in the process of establishing Agricultural and Rural Development Centres (ARDC's) to coordinate research extension and training of farmers and to coordinate inputs and marketing. In a pilot programme, the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) has established a handful of similar centres, which are being incorporated into the MAWRD extension service. Of note, the CCN programme especially hired women who had received agricultural training in exile. Over 20 of 28 officers are women, which will considerably boost the representation of women on the MAWRD staff.
By decentralising agricultural services through the communal areas, the ARDCs represent an important step in making extension and support more accessible. The ARDCs also provide an opportunity for the government to reduce unsustainable subsidies and to promote and support farmers associations and rural cooperatives to design and implement agricultural activities.117
Programmes by MAWRD, together with NGO initiatives have resulted in considerable progress in improving research and training oriented towards small-scale farming. An NGO project resulted in a quick-growing, drought resistant millet cultivar -- an important development for small-scale farmers whose livelihoods are tied to unpredictable rainfall. The variety has been distributed and taken up by farmers, who plant it along with local varieties to minimise risk. When able, women have also planted the new cultivar. However, many women lack the cash to purchase seeds or do not know where to buy them, and so rely on seed from their own stock or from that of neighbours. Currently, a millet seed multiplication programme is encouraging local farmers to grow seed stock for sale. The programme aims to increase the local availability of seed stock and enable farmers to generate income.118
Research must be tailored to the needs of small-scale farmers, through on-farm crop trials and livestock research that mirror local farming systems. Indeed, there has been little research and information on local farming strategies, including local knowledge and systems of decision-making. The introduction of new varieties to farmers must also include management of planting. harvesting and storing the variety.
Training is also being reoriented. In 1992, a new curriculum for a 3 year diploma in agriculture was introduced. In addition to technical subjects. extension, rural sociology and agricultural economics are taught. Admission policy at the Ogongo Agricultural College emphasizes regional balance and more representation of women in the student body. However, as shown in Tables 49 and 50, men still outnumber women in enrolment in the colleges.
This gap is even more noticeable when compared to enrolment in agricultural subjects at the secondary level. As shown in Table 51, boys and girls are present in equal numbers in both agricultural science and agricultural production and farming throughout the various grade levels. Interestingly, in grades 10 and 11, there are more girls taking the two subjects, while at grade 12 (matriculation), boys outnumber girls. Since admission into the agricultural college requires grade 12 math and science, boys are more likely to gain entry. This pattern suggests that as youths begin to choose vocational paths, girls are less likely to continue to pursue professional agricultural careers (although they may return to farming). Although gender stereotypes are one cause, another likely factor is the dearth of women teaching agricultural subjects, as well as in extension, who might serve as mentors to young girls.
The curriculum for agricultural subjects at both the junior secondary and senior secondary levels is under revision, in part, through the introduction of the Cambridge system of secondary education. Classes will include a greater emphasis on practical experience and will be made more relevant to Namibian agro-ecological zones. Horticulture and gardening will form one option of the new curriculum for grades 4-7 at the primary level.
However, improving agricultural training at the secondary level faces several obstacles. Many agriculture teachers have their teacher certificate but lack training in agriculture. Plans are underway to include agriculture in-service courses and a new basic education teacher diploma. Agriculture also suffers from the stigma of being a vocational subject, and so gains less attention and resources than academic subjects. Lastly, few schools have the implements, demonstration plots and laboratory facilities needed to integrate practical experience with theoretical learning.119
Namibia particularly lags behind on the development and use of labour saving technology. The vast majority of women continue to pound grains, farm, and collect water and wood by slow, physically-demanding methods. Technology is needed to enhance agricultural productivity as well as to reduce the burden and time of routine household tasks. Freeing up women's time on laborious activities can better enable them to take advantage of economic opportunities. The manufacturing and management of technologies can also provide income opportunities.
A rural electrification programme has reached rural regions in Owambo and Okavango. Although the programme greatly benefits government offices, schools, clinics and missions, few households can afford the cost of supplying electricity to their homes. The availability of electricity could support small scale manufacturing and agricultural processing in rural communities.
Agricultural technology has been confined to costly, mechanized equipment, such as spray irrigation systems and tractors. Tractors and improved traction benefit men and women, who both undertake field preparation. Few technologies are available to women to enhance tasks for which they have almost sole responsibility, such as planting, weeding and harvesting. Any programme that addresses ploughing services should also explore options such as line makers that will make weeding and planting more efficient.120 Any introduction of technology must also evaluate if the device will displace women from casual labour or employment, important sources of cash income.
Improved food storage is also needed to prevent losses and nutritional decline. Large baskets are the granaries for many Northern households, but these are inadequate for keeping stores dry or for keeping out insects and rodents. Training women in alternative processing and drying techniques could also increase the longevity of food. In the Okavango and Caprivi regions, the supply of protein is jeopardized by problems with drying and storing fish. In stock producing regions, spoilage of milk is a problem.
Only a small proportion of women have enjoyed access to food processing machines. The desire is high for these devices, as women and girls spend approximately 50 hours a month processing millet. One survey found that 75% of the poorest households would be willing to pay for processing.' Mills exist at centres in the Okavango and Caprivi Regions, primarily for farmers who are marketing their grains. They have had little success since the design was inappropriate for millet. In the Owambo Regions, a dozen community mills have been established as income generation activities. Poor management has hampered the success of the mills. Expensive milling fees, together with the cost of transportation to the mill are a disincentive for households, particularly those with small amounts to mill. Several reports have also noted that machine milling reduces the taste and shelf life of millet.122
The Rural Development Centre, located in the Oshana Region, is actively involved in the development of appropriate technology. Alternative energy sources is one focal point of the Centre. Pilot programmes will assess the effectiveness of biogas, locally-made charcoal bricks, solar energy, and energy-saving ovens, to reduce reliance on fuel wood and evaporation cool-boxes. Also underway are efforts to improve transportation, such as donkey carts designed to improve transportation of water and harvests.
One innovation of benefit to women has been the aquaroller, a water barrel that can be pushed. Tested during the 1992 drought, the device effectively halved the number of trips and the amount of time to fetch water, provided households with more water, thereby improving hygiene, and increased the involvement of men and children in water collection. Improved water collection, through rain gutters as well as water harvesting in fields are also being promoted. (Tables 52 and 53 provide data on water supply and toilet facilities to rural households. )
Women's knowledge of and reliance upon the environment make them the primary managers of natural resources such as forests, water, soil and vegetation. However, they are theprincipal victims of the deforestation, erosion and degradation scarring Namibia's environment. On a national level, the rural poor compete for natural resources with the demands of Windhoek and other urban centres. Urban residents, along with mining, industrial and commercial users consume proportionately higher levels of water and energy than their rural counterparts. Domestic rural consumption (by 70% of the population) is 85 litres a day/capita, compared to 330 litres a day/capita in urban areas. Irrigation alone accounts for almost 43% of the country's groundwater usage.123 Similarly, many urban residents continue to cook with fuelwood, relying on wood collected and transported from the rural areas.
Paradoxically, rural poverty further perpetuates the destruction of the resource base. Many women recognize that deforestation and other practices are harmful and even have the knowledge to promote conservation. However, in the absence of economic and technological alternatives, women see no other means of survival. A recent survey of fishing along the Okavango river found that many respondents felt that the use of mosquito nets for fishing is contributing to the decline of fish stocks. Despite this, many continue to use the nets, explaining that they cannot afford to buy meat and can no longer catch enough fish to feed the family with traditional methods.124
Namibia is committed to the sustainable utilization and management of its natural resources.125 A national Green Plan actively calls for the participation of local users in managing and benefitting from the environment. However, to date, few programmes have targeted women. In the Northern regions, the planting and caring of trees is a task undertaken by women. Several NGOs are working with women to establish nurseries, including several managed by community groups, and to encourage tree-planting. Efforts are limited in part by access to water supply and fencing, needed to keep out small animals and protect seedlings against wind.
The influence of South Africa, where commercial forestry is an important part of the economy, has resulted in government forestry programmes orientated towards tree plantations and conservation through restricted use. Prior to independence, forestry in Namibia yielded no revenue and so received little attention. Consequently, forestry is not a well-known discipline in Namibia, resulting in a shortage of trained Namibian staff. Programmes to promote social and agroforestry have yet to get beyond the planning stages.
Women have had little positive contact with government staff from departments concerned with natural resource management. In the Okavango and Caprivi Regions, enforcement of regulations on fishing and harvesting of palm leaves (used for baskets) has led some women to view the Department of Nature Conservation Officers principally as policing authorities.126 As shown in Tables 47 and 48, women are underrepresented on the Forestry field staff and virtually absent from the Nature Conservation Officer core. The enrolment of women in the Forestry programme at Ogongo, and in the proposed Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University, should have a significant impact in diversifying the staff of these departments.
Economic research and policy analysis has typically focused on formal sector employment, overlooking those engaged in subsistence agriculture or in other non-wage earning activities.127 This focus excludes the majority of women who the census revealed are own account or unpaid family workers. Among the economically active population, 23 % of rural women are own account workers, while 33% are unpaid family workers Women constitute over 60% of those employed in agricultural and fishery work; this work employs over 70% of rural women classified as employed.
Moreover, it is likely that the 1991 census, while taking account of subsistence agriculture for the first time, does not fully capture the involvement of women in the work force. Over one-fifth of women classified as homemakers were not considered economically active, an approach which overlooks the participation of many 'homemakers' in agriculture and other productive activities. (For more information on employment status, see Tables 54 58.)
Seemingly, one strategy to enhancing the livelihoods of women farmers is to support them to produce marketable surpluses. Cash earnings from agriculture could be used to enhance household food security and at higher levels, to invest further in agricultural activities or to support small-scale, non-farm enterprises. However, while agriculture is the largest sector of employment, it is not a major source of income. Farmers with surplus production to sell must contend with a poorly developed formal market, in part due to the high cost of transporting livestock and produce, particularly from the North. For communal farmers, including women, informal markets are often more profitable and convenient for occasional sales.
More importantly, for many households, improving agriculture is secondary in importance to gaining waged jobs. Agricultural productivity is no longer sufficient to ensure household food security, let alone to generate cash income. Instead, households rely on cash income from non-agricultural sources to supplement food production. Thus, off-farm employment and income generation are central components of agricultural and rural development in Namibia. More importantly, strategies to empower rural women must enhance their access to and control over cash income.
The expansion of Windhoek and other towns continues to overshadow regional development in Namibia. 42% of jobs in the formal sector are in Windhoek, home to less than 10% of the population.128 In rural areas, public sector employment constitutes the primary source of employment. Wage-earning opportunities in the private sector are confined to work on commercial farms or in construction or local shops.
As a result. urbanisation is rising steadily, and growing numbers of migrants are straining housing and social service infrastructure. The situation of school leavers is particularly problematic. The 2,000 new jobs created each year fall far short of an ILO estimate that the creation of 20,000 formal sector jobs in a five year period is needed to curb unemployment. Many youths are detached from agriculture and other rural activities and view only civil servant posts or salaried positions as acceptable employment. Social problems, such as alcoholism, crime and violence are on the rise, particularly in rural towns.
Women are not adequately represented in formal sector employment. In 1988, women comprised 33 % of those formally employed. The 1991 census showed little change, with women accounting for 31% of the formally employed, and 25% of those employed in rural areas.129 Rural women have higher levels of literacy and educational attainment than rural men, but are less likely to get unskilled jobs, such as in construction. At the same time, they are far less likely to be literate or to have reached secondary school than their urban counterparts and are less likely to obtain professional positions (see Tables 59 - 62). The NDT survey of 1800 women in the Owambo Regions found that over 90% of respondents had never been employed in the formal sector. Another study in a nearby location found that men were twice as likely to have a job in the formal sector as women.130
Women must contend with lower pay, less management responsibility, and the low status attributed to female dominated professions, such as nursing and teaching. Even in these professions, the male to female ratios are reversed at senior levels. Men outnumber women in management and business occupations. Women make up the large army of domestic workers employed by middle and upper class households in urban towns. Importantly, this category of employment is now protected under the labour act. Although not well-enforced, the act provides an important framework for action by the recently formed domestic workers union. The new farmworkers union will also lobby for improved working conditions and rights of this class of labourers and their families.
The situation is more difficult for rural women in formal employment. Those who are employed often lack job security and medical or other employment benefits, in addition to low pay, as low as N$25 month.131 Pre-schools and creches, in short supply in the towns, are virtually non-existent in the rural areas. Thus, employed mothers must rely on family support for the care of children. As noted above, leaving children in the care of pensioners and relatives has allowed many women to migrate to urban areas.
The government aims to promote foreign and private sector investment in the communal areas. Commercial enterprises around commodity crops, such as cotton, oilseeds, and sugarcane, are being developed. Options to boost off-farm employment include agro-industries around the processing of food and products as well as non-agricultural manufacturing and services. However, experience so far suggests that many agricultural development schemes offer limited job creation. As a result, improved productivity through subsistence-based land use might yield greater economic returns.132
There is also potential for employment through public works programmes. Two labour-based road projects have been undertaken in the North, with the first road already completed. Recruitment and hiring policies stressed that women should have an equal opportunity to participate. At first, communication, channelled through the headmen, failed to reach women. This reflects the persistent division that wage-earning opportunities are for men, while women are expected to take up food for work activities. However, at the urging of the donor, renewed efforts resulted in a labour force of between 28-40% women. However, women were less likely to be promoted to positions of more responsibility. Of note, an informal taboo existed among rural residents of both sexes against the participation of married women who were seen to be supported by their husbands. Thus, the project made only minor inroads in changing attitudes but did improve the wellbeing of women and their families. Some women were able to invest in production or in their own education.133
Finally, several pilot programmes are assessing the potential of community-based wildlife programmes to enhance conservation and to generate income for nearby communities. It is too early to judge the effectiveness of this option, although such programmes still require enabling legislation which recognises local rights over land and resources. However, to date, the focus has been exclusively on game, traditionally a male domain. There are few programmes aimed at community-based resource management of trees, plants and fish -- resources more utilised by women.
Unable to find formal jobs, women are engaging in petty trade and other informal sector activities. Unlike in other African countries, most regions in Namibia lack a tradition of entrepreneurial activity. Only since Independence has a lively informal sector, with open markets and home enterprises, begun to emerge. However, as with formal employment, the informal sector has quickly become stratified by gender. Men dominate activities with high profit margins, such as taxi-driving or middle-level trade. Women carry out activities, such as selling cooked food, brewing beer, and making baskets or crafts, with low profit margins and considerable time requirements. Incomes are low, averaging N$50-80 month. However, some women entrepreneurs have turned small-scale activities into lucrative businesses. For example, women in the Caprivi dominate the marketing of fish, and a number of successful fishmongers own boats, hire fishermen, and provide credit. The production and marketing of baskets also appears to be flourishing, and the informal marketing of large baskets in Owambo extends into South Africa.
Many groups have identified the potential of income generating activities to improve the livelihoods of women and their families. Church institutions, NGOs, and government groups, including the Department of Women Affairs and the Directorate of Community Development, are mobilising women around community level projects. Increasingly, spurred on by the success of initiatives in other towns and villages, women themselves are coming forward to request support for income generation. As a result, projects are blossoming throughout the country.
Yet, to date, a small proportion of income generating activities have enjoyed success in improving the incomes of women and in expanding their sphere of skills and experience. While it is important that projects utilise women's know-how, many activities are centred on tasks traditionally seen as women's work; projects include bakeries, sewing and needlecraft, brickmaking and gardening. As a result, women learn few new skills and do not always receive training and support in finance and management. In some regions, projects have failed to acknowledge that women in the area do not, in fact, have a tradition of needlework, sewing, gardening, etc.
Emphasizing "women's work" reinforces gender patterns, which may be acceptable if the enterprise is financially viable. However, few initiatives are supported with appropriate planning and feasibility studies. Markets in cash-strapped rural areas are particularly weak. People simply do not have the cash to spend. As a result, income-generating projects tend to be concentrated in rural centres, where government employees and other wage earners provide a customer base. Some rural women are able to sell their goods at livestock auctions or the "pension fairs" which take place on pay out days. Moreover, even rural Namibians have become accustomed to purchasing produce and ready made clothing and products from South Africa. Groups producing clothing and handicraft will also have to compete with the South African market and overcome well-ingrained consumer preferences. Consequently, participants may expend much time and labour only to earn little or no money.
Other constraints to programmes include the lack of affordable materials or the limited availability of natural resources, such as water for gardens or cement, or fuelwood. The burdensome workload of women also inhibits their ability to participate in income generation. An evaluation of community gardens in the North found that the time which women had to put into travelling to and working in the garden diverted their attention away from agricultural tasks. Moreover, the gardens did not consider women's experience with growing tomatoes and other small vegetables in their homestead, where using rainfed production places less demands on their time.
Mobilizing for income generation can also ignore the weak foundations for community organizations. Many rural communities in Namibia are inexperienced in cooperative or group models. Income generation projects must therefore assess if group participation is feasible or if involvement on an individual basis might be more desirable.
Development organizations and community groups are drawing on the growing wealth of experience to redesign income generation activities and improve prospects for success. A number of NGO and government programmes are underway to build capacity in planning, training, management and evaluation of income-generating activities.
