The Gender and Decentralisation Programme was implemented in Lira District, Uganda from February to April 1997. This was a sensitisation programme undertaken to create awareness at the community level on the need to support and enable women to effectively utilise the opportunities provided by the Constitution and the decentralisation policy to participate in local level decision-making processes. It was carried out in the 24 sub-counties of Lira district and the four divisions of Lira municipality.
The Gender and Decentralisation programme in Lira district provided the opportunity for women and men to discuss and examine the issue of women in leadership positions. A strategic moment was chosen: just before the Local Council elections. The programme provided a chance for women to strategize for effective participation in community leadership.
The participants included leaders from local councils, clans, religious groups, women's groups, youth, and other small groups. Specific emphasis was put on women. During the workshops, participants used their experience to evaluate and learn from each other about how far women had come in the struggle for equal participation in politics and leadership, the challenges and constraints they face, and how this process can be supported.
The workshops focused on household and community roles for both women and men. While there was agreement by both men and women on what women do, men's roles were disputed by women and some men. They insisted that even when men undertake certain roles, they do as little as possible. It was pointed out that men work only 2 - 3 hours a day. The discussions revealed that women do all the reproductive work, undertake most of the productive work and take up a bigger share of community roles. Women are continuously taking up roles that were traditionally men's tasks.
Though the programme is rated highly successful, there is no guarantee that this success can be sustained. Therefore, in addition to a training programme, a follow-up programme ought to be designed to reach more people. People's attitudes cannot be effectively changed by a one-time activity
The experience of integrating gender into Lira District development planning has shown tentative success. The gender assessment study and the sensitisation programme are initial steps that require follow-up, to build on what has been achieved. The most important aspect of such follow-up should be sensitisation and building the capacity of elected policy makers and implementers to enable them to integrate gender in policy making, planning and implementation of programmes.
Decision making at community level is a new concept. In the past, decisions were usually made by the central government and passed on to lower levels of government. Following the decentralisation policy, local communities make their own decisions through their local leaders. These leaders need to be able to analyse and articulate development plans for their communities. Both women and men Local Council members will benefit from training in Council work, information gathering, consensus building with their electorate etc., which will enhance their capacity to better undertake the role they have been elected for.
Most Council Members elected to leadership positions are eager to perform their duties well and to instigate change in their communities. This provides an opportunity to involve them in issues, which require a new way of thinking. At present day, politicians know that gender and women's empowerment is an issue that they cannot ignore. A sensitisation and training programme for elected Local Council Members would be very useful. This could be done at two levels: at the district level and at sub-county level, for both women and men Council Members the sensitisation should focus on gender relations, while the training should aim at imparting skills in gender analysis and how to engender local council policies and programmes.
At least one third of the Local Council members are women, but they are not participating effectively in the Council debates. Special training is required for women Council Members to build their self confidence to speak at Council meetings / public gatherings and to teach them skills to better analyse social problems and development issues and to get informed on policy issues.
There are women and other civic organisations that undertake training in leadership skills, but they do not cover the whole district and their programmes are neither specific to women Council Members, nor comprehensive enough to reach and benefit grassroots levels. There is need for these organisations to specifically target women Local Council members as a way to enhance advocacy for policy change on addressing women's issues. With women Council Members adept to articulate broader development issues, they will also be able to identify and rectify lacunas in the development programmes in targeting women sufficiently. For this to happen, women Council Members need to be trained in analysing policy issues in terms of gender and the formulation of gender policies. Training women Council Members in these issues is an investment for the benefit of the majority of rural women.
Whereas politicians are responsible for policy making, technical people are in charge of the implementation of these policies and they advise politicians on policy issues. The technical experts in different sectors such as health, education, agriculture and community development need to know how to integrate gender considerations into programme planning and implementation. Most of them have had training that was gender blind. Integration of gender concerns in technical fields is important for the implementation of policies. The technocrats who are mainly at district level, need to recognise that gender is a crosscutting issue and need to be trained on how to integrate gender issues in the development programmes.
Gender issues need to be integrated at all levels of programme implementation. At community level, most development programmes are implemented through extension workers in different fields, like agriculture and health. These field workers could be trained to integrate gender in what they do. Furthermore there are the teachers at primary school level. Some of them could be selected for training in gender issues to enable them to make gender central to their work.
Training the field workers is important, as they have the opportunity of close interactions with grassroots people. Training field workers would ensure that gender is included in all their community work, which reaches the majority of the people. It is important that such training be joined to instructions on the use of participatory approaches, which -one- would build upon the interest, creativity and hopefulness raised during the gender and decentralisation programme, and -two- would provide room for "local" solutions, taking into account cultural and customary laws that hinder women's full participation in politics and leadership.
It is important that all the whole sensitisation and training process be re-enforced by IEC materials in the local languages. Posters based on the issues raised during the programme should be produced to bring the results closer to the people and to enable them to better appreciate the situation.
Monitoring and evaluation tools need to be designed based upon both the gender assessment study as well as the report of the Gender and Decentralisation programme. These tools should focus on gender representation at all the local government levels, on commitments made to the implementation of the Local Governments Act 1997, as well as impact of the various training programmes.
The Gender and Decentralisation programme in Lira district could be replicated in other districts as well. Each district needs to design and develop their own programme for training Local Council Members in a comprehensive and sustainable manner.
