Men have a crucial role in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. In many traditional societies, men are the gatekeepers to decision making, participation and control of resources and whilst it is vitally important for men and women to share these roles and resources, this cannot be achieved by alienating men.
Pictured: Abdou
Men who are allies not only support women, but they also serve as role models – particularly those who hold high status within society. For Abdou, village chief in Sedhiou region of Senegal, he takes this role and his position seriously.
Abdou’s village is in a remote part of the Sédhiou region of Casamance, Senegal. It is completely off-grid and is a 20-minute drive to the nearest town. Most residents there rely on agriculture for their livelihoods but there are limited opportunities for income generation. All year round, the families have to live off the crops they produce during the rainy season, which falls from July to November. With no training in agriculture and limited access to automated equipment and national or international markets, many families only just manage to meet their basic needs.
But in 2019, Abdou heard through the departmental advisory services about a charity looking to build solar processing units for women’s businesses in the region. Given the limited opportunities for income generation in his locality, and the highly motivated women living there, he discussed it with the community and formally expressed his interest. After a participatory selection process, Abdou’s village was selected by United Purpose as an ideal location to build the sites.
Abdou’s vision was of a community hub, run by women, but supported by everyone in the village and surrounding villages. So he convinced a local land owner to lease a plot free of charge, and mobilised local builders to provide labour to build the unit.
Abdou’s motivation for doing this was simple – he knew it would be a catalyst for other people in the village to develop income streams that are economically viable all year around. Plus, he knew that if women were able to increase their income, entire households would benefit.
Abdou says: “This project has enabled the development of the village with new income generating activities. It has considerably reduced the burden on women to travel long distances to access storage facilities or machinery to process crops. The new products that we have access to, like enriched flour and wholemeal millet, mean the whole community has adopted healthier and more nutritious food consumption habits.”
Since the multi grain milling machine has been installed, the women’s business has embarked on a lengthy training programme to strengthen both their technical and production skills and their business management skills. Abdou or someone from his advisory team has taken part in every single training session, meeting and event since the start of the project.
He wants the women, and the whole community, to know they have his full support.
Read more stories from our work in Senegal:
