Review and appraisal of international support
Independence ushered in financial and technical support from multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies, many of whom had worked only in the wings with the exiled liberation movement. These agencies have emphasized gender issues in programming and assistance to the government and nongovernment sectors. For example, international assistance has been central to supporting the Department of Women Affairs and to women's organizations such as NANAWO and Sister Collective. The international community has placed priority on women's rights and helped to promote the initiatives aimed at legal education and reform education and reform initiatives.
Several agencies, such as SIDA and the Norwegian aid agency, NORAD, have direct grant-making Programmes for activities which specifically target women. More commonly, donors expect applications for financial support to demonstrate gender-sensitivity in project design, management and evaluation. A number of international agencies request that proposals specifically show how women will benefit or be affected. Some donors also request applicant organizations to specify gender composition of staff and management of boards with a view to redressing imbalances in decision-making posts.
These requirements, together with advocacy and networking, have clearly prompted government ministries and NGOs to better address gender issues in planning and implementation. This influence and control is two-directional. For Namibian NGOs and groups excluded from policy processes, international agencies also serve as a channel for influencing policy. Many foreign donors help to promote to government the ideas and concerns of women's groups, farmers associations and other Namibian organizations underrepresented in policy processes.
A donor co-ordination group on Women in Development is helping to reduce overlap in programming and to better spread resources. Separate sub-committees focus on women in micro-enterprises, women and law, women NGOs, preparations for Beijing, the Department of Women Affairs, and women and training.
However, few donors have translated the focus on gender to support to women farmers. Inversely, technical cooperation in the agricultural sector, even programmes targeting communal farmers, have taken little account of gender issues, and so too, have yielded few benefits to women farmers.137 Like many of the groups they support, international agencies are Windhoek-based. Those with regional staff are often engaged in infrastructural programmes, such as rural water supply, or micro-enterprise and have limited contact with rural communities. Agricultural projects for women are often confined to horticulture and forestry and preclude crop and livestock production. In addition to the UNICEF and FAO support described above, a notable exception has been the collaboration of the Danish aid agency, DANIDA, with CCN to recruit and train women extension officers and to improve services for women through pilot Agriculture and Development Centres in the North.
Finally, Namibian staff in government, NGOs and CBOs have already echoed concerns raised in countries with more experience with donors. These include an emphasis on project-based rather than core-funding, bias towards particular regions and paternalism towards Namibian institutions, who find their autonomy and control over the development agenda compromised. Others worry that donor support perpetuates dependency, and that, in the absence of financial support and strong local capacity, many initiatives will crumble.
