Community engagement for inclusive rural transformation and gender equality
Community engagement is now recognized as a critical component of international development practice and humanitarian assistance. It facilitates agency and the empowerment of all social groups in rural communities, enhances local participation, sustainability and ownership, and builds upon local resources and capacities, thereby leaving no one behind.
Recognizing the importance of community engagement as a key factor in achieving a world free from hunger and poverty, and as a prerequisite for community-led collective action, FAO organized a series of five webinars between 2020 and 2021 titled ‘Community Engagement Days.’[1] This created a space for academics, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), development and humanitarian agencies and field development practitioners to come together to explore the concept of community engagement, exchange experiences and good practices as well as challenges and opportunities to bring these approaches at scale.
The webinars provided an opportunity to share research and field experiences across five interlinked themes (gender, resilience, peace, evidence, and collective action), encouraging reflection and dialogue on community engagement strategies, practices and approaches. Nearly 1,000 participants from NGOs, governments, the United Nations (UN), international development organizations, civil society, the private sector, and academia joined the series.
Based on these conversations it became clear that while multiple definitions of community engagement exist – and there is no “one size fits all” – these definitions do share common approaches (community-led, rights-based, gender-responsive/gender-transformative); principles (inclusive, participatory and people-centered, conflict-sensitive) and characteristics (contextual and adaptive, and empowering). The key outcomes of the webinars highlighted the importance of recognizing and challenging power dynamics, integrating reflexivity in research and implementation, prioritizing gender equality, fostering resilience and peace, and supporting collective action. Furthermore, the need for systematic knowledge sharing and creating spaces for ongoing dialogue and peer-to peer learning was emphasized to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of community-driven initiatives.
The Community Engagement Days webinar series was not a standalone initiative but a platform for discussion aimed at exchanging experiences, forging innovative alliances and partnerships to highlight the value of community engagement in both development and humanitarian contexts.
Given the scope of the series, the shared experiences were just a snapshot of existing approaches and practices. To provide an opportunity to expand the audience and hear voices from a variety of actors, the Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division of FAO (ESP) initiated this call for submissions and invites stakeholders to share their experiences, good practices and views on community engagement for inclusive rural transformation and gender equality.[2]
This call for submissions is open to individuals and organizations from both the development and humanitarian sectors who have experience implementing community engagement strategies, interventions, approaches/methodologies, or innovations. It also welcomes contributions from a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, sanitation, civic engagement and others critical to inclusive rural development.
Through this initiative, FAO is eager to hear more, learn, and exchange insights both internally and externally on what interventions and practices have worked and what can be improved in community engagement and community-led collective action to achieve inclusive rural transformation and gender equality. By capturing a diverse range of contributions, FAO aims to promote the adoption and scaling-up of community engagement approaches, address barriers to their implementation and refine these practices to make them more inclusive, effective, and sustainable.
| Please use the submission template in any of the three languages (English, French or Spanish). The background document can serve as a reference for completing the template for submissions. |
The submissions will be publicly available on this webpage and featured in the proceedings report of this call, enhancing the visibility of participants' work and fostering learning, inspiration, and networking among a broader audience. Depending on the relevance and content, FAO may also include contributions in knowledge products such as case studies, compendiums, and reports, and use them to inform its work on community engagement and collective action, with due acknowledgment of the contributions. Beyond this call, the initiative offers participants the potential for continued engagement and collaboration, laying the groundwork for further learning, networking, and community-building.
Criteria for submissions
We are looking for ‘good practices’—tested methods that have proven successful in multiple settings and can be widely adopted. We also consider ‘promising practices’—innovative approaches that have shown success in a specific context and have the potential for broader application but may need more evidence or replication. Both types contribute valuable insights for continuous learning and improvement.
To ensure that relevant experiences are captured, we are looking for practices with the following criteria:
| 1. | Engagement of the community: Interventions should deliberately and actively strive to engage a wide range of segments and groups within the community to ensure inclusivity and broad-based participation, fostering a sense of ownership and collective empowerment among all community members, this should in turn strengthen community-led collective action. This means that they should go beyond merely targeting specific groups or formal structures, such as community-based organizations (farmer organizations, cooperatives, and self-help groups) as entry points. Instead, they should engage diverse groups within the community, fostering inclusivity, collective participation and shared benefits. These interventions promote a collective added value where everyone at the community level, regardless of their direct involvement, can benefit. Ideally, the community itself should be the primary entry point for the intervention, though approaches that indirectly impact the wider community are also welcome if they emphasize community value. Additionally, community-wide interventions do emphasize the participation of groups that are typically left behind. While these interventions are designed to be open to everyone, they are strategically inclusive by deliberately creating spaces and opportunities for marginalized or underserved groups to participate. |
| 2. | Inclusive and gender-responsive/transformative: The intervention should prioritize inclusivity, ensuring active engagement from all segments of the community, regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, gender identity/expression, etc. These efforts acknowledge that gender intersects with various social dimensions and identities, including age, ethnicity, indigeneity, health, psychological resilience, disability, socioeconomic and political status or other characteristics. This intersectionality creates compound inequalities and layers of disadvantage and privilege that the interventions aim to address, promoting greater inclusivity, equality, gender transformative change and positive masculinities.[3] This also involves challenging discriminatory gender social norms and unequal power dynamics and fostering attitudes and behaviors that support gender equality and women’s empowerment. |
| 3. | Rights-based and empowering: The intervention should aim for a process of change over an extended period, rather than relying on short-term or one-off activities such as workshops, trainings or consultations. It should adopt a rights-based approach[4], grounded in the principles of participation, inclusion, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and agency. The intervention should position itself at the highest levels of participation (see Figure 1 below), promoting tailored and sustained engagement to achieve long-term impact. By enabling marginalized groups to influence decision-making and enhancing the capacity of individuals as rights holders to know and claim their rights, as well as ensuring that states and public authorities, as duty bearers, fulfill their obligations, accountability, impact, and sustainability can be strengthened. By recognizing and redressing structural inequalities, and by fostering the exchange and development of skills, knowledge, and confidence, community engagement enhances both practical abilities and inner resilience, ultimately contributing to sustainable development. |
| 4. | Self-facilitation and/or participatory facilitation: As a continuous and participatory process the intervention/experience can be self-facilitated by local actors from the outset, embodying bottom-up leadership, or it can be guided by an external facilitator who works closely with the community. The facilitation is focused on enhancing local stakeholders’ empowerment and ensuring their ownership and agency throughout the intervention and beyond (post-project), adopting a forward-looking approach. If the intervention is externally facilitated, facilitators should guide a participatory process that promotes community ownership and autonomy, allowing the intervention to be sustained independently after the project's conclusion. The most effective intervention facilitates the empowerment of the community to take full control, delegating authority, ensuring long-term impact. |
| 5. | Proven implementation: The intervention should either have been implemented or still be ongoing, and should incorporate learning processes throughout its execution. This includes lessons learned and results that can be shared or documented through this call. This knowledge can be generated in various ways, including local and generational knowledge, storytelling, and formal studies or evaluations. The intervention should showcase positive outcomes and lessons learned as well as challenges identified through both traditional and participatory methods. |
While FAO is particularly interested in approaches that specifically meet these criteria, we also recognize the value of methods used at specific phases of an intervention to ensure community engagement. This includes approaches for design and delivery processes or tools used for monitoring, evaluation and learning. Although the call acknowledges that meaningful engagement requires a participatory lens embedded throughout the entire planning and project cycle for higher outcomes and ownership, it is open to learning about tools and methods that support these goals at specific stages of an intervention/project.
Figure 1 Adapted from Pretty (1995), Arnstein (1969), International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), and White (1996). Figure 1 depicts various types of community participation, reflecting different levels of engagement in development interventions at community level. The progression goes from lower to higher levels of community engagement, but it does not prescribe a linear or hierarchical path. Instead, the figure offers a range of possible approaches to facilitate participation, tailored to the specific context and objectives of the intervention. As engagement deepens—from simply providing information to transferring decision-making power to the community— the community’s sense of empowerment and ownership over the process grows. Greater levels of engagement foster collective action, enhance accountability, and enable the community to take the lead in shaping their own development.
The call for submissions is open until 13 December 2024.
We thank participants in advance and look forward to learning from you!
Conveners:
- Lauren Phillips, Deputy Director, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
- Adriano Campolina, Senior Policy Officer, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
Co-facilitators:
- Christiane Monsieur, Project Coordinator, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
- Andrea Sánchez Enciso, Gender and Community Engagement Specialist, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
How to take part in this call for submissions:
To take part in this Call for submissions, please register to the FSN Forum, if you are not yet a member, or “sign in” to your account. Please review the topic note to understand the criteria we are considering for this call. If you wish to learn more about community engagement, you may refer to the background document. Once you have completed the submission template, upload it in the box “Post your contribution” on the call webpage, or, alternatively, send it to [email protected].
Please keep the length of submissions limited to 1,500 words and feel also free to attach relevant supporting materials.
[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2021, March 3). Tapping into community engagement for empowerment. FAO Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism. https://www.fao.org/flexible-multipartner-mechanism/news/news-detail/en/c/1378190
[2] The call for submissions is directly aligned with the thematic components of collective action within FAO's Programme Priority Areas (PPAs), specifically Better Life 1 (Gender Equality and Rural Women’s Empowerment), Better Life 2 (Inclusive Rural Transformation) and Better Life 3 (Agriculture and Food Emergencies).
[3] A gender-transformative approach “seeks to actively examine, challenge and transform the underlying causes of gender inequalities rooted in discriminatory social institutions. As such, a gender transformative approach aims to address the unequal gendered power relations and discriminatory gender norms, attitudes, behaviours and practices, as well as discriminatory or gender-blind policies and laws, that create and perpetuate gender inequalities.” FAO, IFAD, WFP & CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform. 2023. Guidelines for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture. Rome, FAO, IFAD, WFP and CGIAR. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc7940en
[4] A rights-based approach to community engagement emphasizes the fundamental human rights of all individuals, ensuring equal opportunities for everyone to claim and enjoy their human rights. Central to this is agency, the ability of individuals to define their own goals and act upon them. By promoting meaningful participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and rule of law (‘PANTHER’ principles) this approach not only addresses power imbalances and systemic barriers but also fosters individual and collective agency.
Please read the article of FAO publications on this topic here.
专题
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Dear Moderator,
I am submitting one of the BRAC's "Community Based Extension Service Providers for farmers" model for ensuring extension services at the community level. BRAC has developed community promoters in different countries in Asia and Africa. With decades of experience strengthening livelihoods and reducing poverty in rural communities, BRAC International understands the challenges farmers face and recognises their huge untapped potential. Its Agriculture, food Security and Livelihood programmes tackle these challenges holistically by catalyzing and creating access to quality inputs and finance and extension services, developing entrepreneurs to widen services, promoting effective farming techniques and proven technology, and facilitate the development of pro-poor agriculture markets.
Head of Food Security and Livelihood, BRAC International
Dear Moderators & Colleagues,
Submitting our learnings from the IDRC-funded ASEAN Green Recovery through Equity and Empowerment (AGREE) project. The project supports low-carbon transition and gender-responsive climate adaptation strategies within agricultural value chains, focusing on rice, vegetables, and yellow corn commodities in Viet Nam, Cambodia and the Philippines respectively. The selection of commodities of focus was based on several contextual considerations on those commodities that are most affected by the adverse effects of climate change, potential to promote women’s economic empowerment, and relevant complementary actions in those countries. The project adopted an action research approach, generating various research outputs to understand opportunities, and barriers to economic opportunities and pandemic-recovery strategies that are both gender-inclusive and climate-positive. Research findings were used to influence activities in Cambodia and the Philippines, focusing on empowering women and promoting climate-smart investments in vegetable and yellow corn value chains through capacity-building efforts to address technology and knowledge gaps.
The write up below showcases learnings and findings from pilot activities in the Philippines. To know more about in-country initiatives of the Philippines for the AGREE project, refer to this link.
ACORNS - Accelerate the Creation of Rural Nascent Start-ups https://acorns.ie
From the Pilot to ACORNS 9
Background
The report of the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas (CEDRA) contained a recommendation that a Rural Innovation and Development Fund should be developed to support “innovative, small scale pilot initiatives that explore the diverse range of potential identified through the CEDRA process”. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine provided for the setting up of this Fund initially in his 2015, 2016 and 2018 budget allocations.
In June 2015, a request for tenders was made, through a public procurement competition, for the provision of a service for the development and delivery of a tailored pilot programme to address the skills, enterprise and capability gaps of nascent female entrepreneurs living in rural areas. Rural areas are defined as those outside the administrative city boundaries of Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Galway. The pilot initiative was funded under the CEDRA 2015 Rural Innovation and Development Fund.
The ACORNS initiative designed to Accelerate the Creation of Rural Nascent Start-ups, developed by Fitzsimons Consulting, was selected as most suitable to achieve the stated objectives. It was designed to unleash the potential of female entrepreneurs living in rural Ireland, who had recently started a business or who had taken concrete steps towards starting a business. The objective was to equip these early-stage entrepreneurs with the appropriate knowledge, confidence, and networks to successfully start and develop sustainable businesses.
Development of ACORNS across the cycles
The fundamental belief, on which the ACORNS pilot was based, has remain constant throughout the cycles. It is a belief that entrepreneurs learn best from each other. Accordingly, the ACORNS initiative was designed to be centred on interactive round table sessions that were facilitated by female entrepreneurs, who had started and successfully grown businesses in rural Ireland. These are known as ACORNS Lead Entrepreneurs. All are volunteers. They are drawn from members of the Going for Growth Community and have experienced the benefits of peer support and facilitated round tables at first hand. All have started and successfully grown their businesses in rural Ireland, so understand the challenges specific to starting and growing a business in a rural location.
ACORNS has consistently been built on a culture of confidentiality, everything discussed around the table stays around the table; collegiality, all seek to support each other in a win:win mentality; and respect for the Lead Entrepreneur and the voluntary nature of her involvement, and for each other and their businesses.
After the pilot, another request for tenders was issued in which, in addition to the provision of support to a new cycle of about 50 early-stage entrepreneurs, it was requested that further support be given to those who had successfully completed the pilot. This was very welcome as there was a clear appetite for continuing engagement on the part of both the ACORNS pilot participants and the voluntary Lead Entrepreneurs.
A Further Development phase was introduced, which saw the original groups meet again with their Lead Entrepreneurs on two occasions over the following cycle. A series of topic-based workshops were introduced, and the Community members were offered the opportunity, if they were trading, to be interviewed, have their story written up and, when cleared by them, professionally formatted and uploaded on to the website.
These additional elements, which formed the basis of an ACORNS Community, have continued throughout the cycles since.
They were augmented in the third cycle, when ACORNS Plus was introduced. This opportunity was presented to Community members, who were serious about growing their businesses. Initially a Lead Entrepreneur from Going for Growth facilitated this round table and gave the participants on ACORNS Plus a Going for Growth experience. Given the demand for places, the following year a second Going for Growth Lead agreed to facilitate an ACORNS Plus round table, so that two of these round tables could be offered. When completed, those who had participated were offered an ACORNS Plus Review the following cycle. This positioned those participants interested in driving forward their businesses, an opportunity to get support to do so. ACORNS Plus is now an integral part of the offering to community members and there continues to be competition for places.
An annual Community Forum was introduced with an associated showcase. The ACORNS Plus participants, who successfully completed the cycle, were celebrated at the Community Forum.
In this way the Community has strengthened and grown. At the start of ACORNS 9, there were almost 250 active members of the ACORNS Community.
The past participants also centrally feature in the media drive, particularly in local print media and broadcast. Specially tailored press releases, in which their testimonials are woven, are drafted with their permission. The community members featured are delighted and amplify this coverage on their social media.
Interestingly, 23% of the selected participants in ACORNS 2 heard about ACORNS from a previous participant. This high level of support, by which previous participants become ambassadors, continues. It may be noted in ACORNS 9 (22%), and in the selection of ACORNS 10 (30%), just completed.
When it was not possible to meet in person during the pandemic the round tables, topic -based workshops and Forum were all held online. While it allowed the initiative to support participants through challenging times, it reinforced that in-person meetings are preferable.
Outcomes
Feedback and evaluation are built into the ACORNS model and is an integral part of the initiative throughout each cycle.
As part of this, at the end of each cycle, the participants are sent their original application forms and are asked to complete an online end of cycle survey, having reviewed their application. The outcomes are self-reported and capture both qualitative and tangible outcomes. These are reported to DAFM at the end of each cycle. They have been outstandingly positive across all cycles.
Similar questions are asked of previous participants at the conclusion of their cycle of ACORNS. So comparisons in terms of their experience and feedback across the nine cycles can be made.
The success of ACORNS has been recognised both in Ireland and across the European Union since it began in 2015.
There have been many opportunities over the course of the cycles to demonstrate thought leadership around the support that is offered in Ireland to early-stage female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland, with the support of the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine.
The following is just a sample of these:
- ACORNS was selected to represent Ireland in the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2018, Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills and was awarded the runner up in this category. ACORNS also featured prominently in the Manifesto for an Innovative Europe, which was developed by the participants of the 2018 SME Assembly,
- In June 2019, ACORNS was cited as good practise by the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry in its report “How Women Start Successful Businesses, female entrepreneurs in agriculture”, with a recommendation that a similar programme could be established in Bavaria. [4]
- ACORNS has also been included in “A Better World” Ireland’s policy for International Development, as an exemplar of the approach that can be adopted in developing countries: “We will explore the potential to learn from and collaborate with Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine’s initiative for Accelerating the Creation of Rural Nascent Start-ups (ACORNS) to promote female entrepreneurship, and other initiatives through multilateral partners”.
- ACORNS was also mentioned in detail in the OECD Report entitled “SME and Entrepreneurship Policy in Ireland”, which was commissioned by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and published in October 2019.
- ACORNS was represented in the Innovation Arena of Enterprise Ireland, as a guest of Enterprise Ireland, at the Ploughing in September for each of the cycles since ACORNS 2, except during the pandemic. This is ideal, as it coincides with the open call for applicants, which is timed to close the day after the Ploughing concludes.
- ACORNS was selected by INTERREG, an EU body, and was showcased in May 2024, as a best-in-class example of effective support for female entrepreneurship in rural locations, at a European conference in Burgos, Spain, organised as part of a Policy and Learning Platform. It was subsequently written up as a good case example and posted on the website, with a confirmatory comment from an associated professor.
From the outset the sponsorship of Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) and the relevant Minister has been acknowledged prominently on the website, the brochure and in all marketing material (backdrops, pull-ups, flyers etc).
It is also prominently included in the press releases that issue throughout the cycle, including at the opening of the call for applicants, when a quote from the relevant Minister is also included. A new photograph with the Minister of the day, a couple of participants and a Lead is taken each summer to accompany the press release for the forthcoming cycle.
The support is acknowledged in any captions that issue to accompany photos throughout the cycle. All the profiles of the past participants, which are professionally formatted, include the DAFM logo, when they are uploaded on the website. The Lead Entrepreneurs and participants in their interview briefing notes are requested to acknowledge the support of the Department, without whose support ACORNS simply would not happen. This is reinforced frequently by the Director when she meets the current group of participants and on each occasion with Community members.
A representative of DAFM attends all the formal events - Launch Forum, Cycle Celebration and Community Forum and is photographed presenting the individual certificates. These photographs are used subsequently in regional press releases.
All of the above reinforces the positive association of the DAFM with ACORNS. The most tangible measure of this is that the Minister, members of the Government more generally or the Department were specifically mentioned in 72% of all media mentions over the ACORNS 9 cycle, which were considerable. This level of positive association is demonstrated year after year.
教授 Adem Hiko Woshie
__________________________________
Prof. Adem Hiko (DVM, MS.c, PhD)
Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Food Safety and Zoonosis
Dear Colleagues,
With this completed form we would like to promote the Integrated Community Development Approach in Europe and Central Asia by FAO REU as well as the forthcoming publication of FAO on Case studies showcasing FAO’s work on inclusion in programming, which will include a case study on this approach among other good practices.
Best regards,
Bianka Laskovics
Dear colleagues,
Please find a complete form attached to present an approach that the ENS Division have been testing since 2022 on the use of participatory video storytelling to enable young people from a diversity of contexts to talk about their lived experience in addressing concurrent issues with climate change, biodiversity loss and malnutrition.
Through this approach, we have been able to capture very interesting examples that are both inclusive and transformative. Many of our “local heroes” are women: the practices and experiences they present are sustainable since they are not project dependent.
regards,
Dear moderators,
On behalf of the Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) team at PSUR, I’m pleased to submit our experience in empowering rural women to engage in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Sierra Leone.
If you require any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
Maud
Maud Oustry
Capacity Development Expert (RAI)
Responsible Agricultural Investments Team
Partnerships and UN Collaboration Division (PSU)
Partnerships | Family Farming - Parliamentary Networks - ComDev | Indigenous Peoples | UN Collaboration | Responsible Agricultural Investments - Learning - Agriculture Information Management
Hi
Dear all,
I would like to begin with this question; could the best mechanisms for rural development and engagement be inclusive stakeholders; where all are involved in the affairs and decisions of the community in any area? If this is it, it must be clinically inter-web where all interface with the best strategies, programmes and projects for themselves that foster their interests. However, if we really want global community transformation and accelerated development; it must begin with rural communities, stakeholders’ inclusivity and adaptability. We should be ready to employ all stakeholders in communities irrespective of who they are, ideas and innovation. This will create community’s knowledge hub for the community’s development. This should include the local council’s leaders, elders, women, youths, civil society organizations and private sector, that forms community policies, communal government in our localities. In other words, these people are more knowledgeable and aware of the needs and challenges of every community. The roles of culture and tradition in the environs that affect them, possibly become laws and norms in the local environs. With their knowledge and awareness help can be harnessed and foster indigenous knowledge hub and programmes for the community. The belief, tradition and culture system that are retarded to the community can be abolished for transforming rural communities.
There are archaic and primitive system in some communities that need transformation and these can only be done through inclusiveness. Abolishing these traditional norms and beliefs take systematic approach from insider to carry out. Inclusive system can help transform not just infrastructural development of the community but their mindsets. For example, the educational system, innovation mechanism, women/girls rights and social system inclusion are strong effect of change. Ideas and innovations can be better manage in these rural communities by engaging their minds for productive and modern system. The transformation system can be better worked on in the local level for all to speak with one voice and mind, and participate in community discussion and policies making. They are the best to represent themselves in social delivery of the community. Challenges can be better analyzed and solved with their local language and engagement. This will help to raise and maintain local knowledge management and engagement. This can also be traded at national and international level which will help civilize and abolish primitive and archaic tradition and culture. However, this can be achieved through national and international invitation for thought provoking discussions, workshops, trainings, seminars and conferences that affect communities, thereby accelerating high connection for community practices and exchange of knowledge.
The community knowledge can be tailor towards globalization to reinstate communal system practices in an innovative form. The big factors have been beliefs and culture in these local environs. For example in Nigeria, the misconception of ethnicity for political gain, is something that can be worked on at the local level. Real communal system practice should be reintroduce to enhance national unity in order to stop the misconstrue of politics of ethnicity that divides communities. Communalism helps to stabilize political system within the community. In addition, there should be a less tradition and more modernization that strengthens civilization and national development. This will also strengthen functional family’s system instead of dysfunctional families system that causes social vices in a state.
The values system of community should be study and uphold for transformation. National values begin with community, if these values are worked on, it will reflect naturally in the system without coerce, because it is a family structure system. It could be repeated anywhere because of one voice and implementation. There are also conflictual cultures and traditions that cause insecurity in a community. These should be do-away with to allow transformation and all stakeholders’ participation in rural development.
Meanwhile, gender equality goal needs to be visited and review. Gender inequality is more of rural issue than urban, because of the level of understanding and beliefs. The tradition and local cultures have overwhelmed their civilized mindset as a result of stories by fathers and mothers. These have restricted modern transformation in different localities. Notwithstanding, there is a beautiful aspect of this that has grown and developed the community which has given room for female participation in local events, discussion and decisions. Historically, global community tends to practice universal law that supports man's headship which the female folks are much aware of and probably have long accepted. The universal behavioural trait! The reality of this is that human creature has designed it so, but, however, not to be violated, oppressed nor suppressed by man against her tender nature.
To be more effective in this gender equality campaign, the global system and organizations should intensify effort against women violations, abuse, oppression and rights etc. Male headship is a universal behavior that is difficult to campaign against. The fact remains that this can be champions and intensify as campaign against women violations, abuse and their rights instead of gender equality. It is high time we face the truth and be realistic in this universal behavioral trait and the campaign. Let's channel our energy and resources on women/girls rights instead of equality. This is not to disabuse the current world's campaign but to be more effective and achievable, let's face the fact! Let civilized rural communities through campaign on the need of women/girls rights (to education, freedom of right association, social inclusion etc) and stop women abuse, educate girl child but not in competition with men. Above all let's invest more in human rights. However, this could be seen as my opinion and summation.
In conclusion, we can work together to achieve community transformation with inclusive policies and orientation for local and global system. This will help eradicate local menace that pose threat to rural transformation and development. We can modernize community culture and tradition with inclusive system via consistent awareness and advocacy in our rural areas and standard communal system practices by stakeholders. And more can be achieve for women/girls through social inclusion, education and freedom to right associations.
Thank you.
Esosa Tiven Orhue