Gender
Focuses on women’s rights, women empowerment and any gender related issues, including those pertaining to health, peace and conflict resolution, and life skills.
Over the last few decades, gender has come to be a focal point in international development. Incorporating both men’s and women’s different concerns and experiences into the development process is widely viewed to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of projects and programmes. Thus, an increasingly large number of governments, aid agencies and grassroots organizations are adopting policies that include both women and men as participants and decision-makers in development.
Gender in Africa
African women face critical challenges characterized by profound poverty, spread of the HIV/AIDs pandemic, marginalization in the global economy, civil war and conflict, uniquely felt due to their role in society. Across Africa, women are disadvantaged in terms of education, employment, income, access to programs and services, healthcare and the benefits of credit, training, and job projects. Women also bear a disproportionate burden with regard to refuge status, the exodus of men in search of jobs, and changing gender roles.
Volunteering with Gender Programs & Services
Volunteers working around gender issues will also naturally fall into the practical sphere of another niche. It falls in with women in microfinance, agriculture, peace, education, or health initiatives. Adding the gender component is a deliberate strategy towards empowerment and inclusion of women in the development process.
Learn More
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) “Gender and Development.”
- >Millennium Development Goals – (MDG) Report Card: Measuring Progress Across Countries, September 2010 Report, Overseas Development Institute.
- Ngone Diop. “Gender Budgeting for African Development.”
- UNIFEM – United Nations Development Fund for Women
- UN-HABITAT – Water for African Cities
- UN WOMEN – United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
- WORLD BANK – “Engendering Development through gender equality in rights, resources and voice,” World Bank Policy Research Report, 2001.
SpanAfrica Resources for Grassroots & Volunteers
Full Report on Gender in Africa
If you have specific questions regarding SpanAfrica’s Gender niche, grassroots and volunteers can contact us to put you in touch with past volunteers, team members, and grassroots partners that can provide first-hand insights. These specific resources have been developed by the SpanAfrica team and volunteers and can likewise be requested through email.