Download Middle East Regional Overview - PQDL

MIDDLE EAST REGION (MER)
The MER Context: During 2006 and 2007, a key objective for MERMU has been
to: “strengthen and promote a reflective and evidence-based learning approach to improve
programme quality and impact in the region.” As part of this objective, MERMU and CARE UK
supported a number of inquiries on the impact of projects on women’s empowerment. Four
program teams took part in the research: Egypt, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen
and as a region the teams came together to formulate a set of key and relevant
recommendations that speak to the regional context and priorities.
CARE Middle East Region’s Approach to the SII – MERMU
had two main goals in this initiative:
1. Strengthen the capacity of CARE staff in evidence-based impact research and design,
monitoring and evaluation methods;
2. Apply the global CARE SII research methodology and framework for assessing key
dimensions of women’s empowerment within specific contexts in order to make a
region wide comparative analysis of priority women’s empowerment dimensions.
Definitions of Empowerment, an MER Perspective
In their synthesis workshop, the participating countries gathered to identify key regional
dimensions for women’s empowerment. To establish priorities, the dimensions across the four
country studies were reviewed against four criteria: a) Identified by women and girls
themselves as significant in the research; b) Likely to be impacted by CARE Programming; c)
Likely to cause positive changes in other dimensions; and d) Feasible to obtain valid and
reliable measurement:
Applied to all 4 criteria:
Applied to 3 of 4: regional
Applied to 2 of 4: regional
regional priority
priority
level priority
Information & Skills: The kinds
of capacities, abilities, and
knowledge possessed
Decision making and
Transparent information &
access to services: NonInfluence at the Household
level: Degree of decisiondiscrimination in access to the
making authority and/or
full range of information and
influence in household
services needed for enjoyment
financial management and
of human rights*
over children
Educational Attainment:
Negotiation and
Market Accessibility
Formal schooling but also adult Accommodation Habits:
(Labor/credits/goods): Nontraining/learning
Awareness and skills to both
discrimination in access to
negotiate for an agenda but
employment, credit, inputs,
Mobility in Public Space:
to also accommodate,
control of capital, etc*
Freedom of movement; Ability
compromise with agendas of
to use transport, chaperone
other actors
requirements
*arose as important for women we work with in more than 2 countries in the region.
Egypt
Girls’ Education
Mid-term impact
inquiry
Jordan
Micro-enterprise
Ex-post inquiry
West Bank and Gaza
Sustainable
livelihoods
Mid-term impact
inquiry
Yemen
Sustainable
livelihoods
Ex-post inquiry
Applied to 1:
country level
priority
Self-image, selfesteem1
Group membership
and activism*
Enforceability of
rights*
Consciousness of
self and others as
interdependent
Material assets
owned
Employment/control
of labor
MER’s Impacts on Women’s Empowerment
Since program interventions were so different from one another, as were the studies themselves, it is difficult to highlight
key impacts from across studies. However, there are some trends that a number of MER studies commented upon:
 The interconnected-ness of dimensions of empowerment: A number of studies found that many dimensions
of empowerment are intricately tied to each other and that a shift in one dimension leads to changes in others.
CARE West Bank Gaza gives an example of how various avenues of empowerment connect with one another:
“The project provided beneficiary households with a productive asset (sheep and cisterns, and training. Both the
micro-enterprise activities and increased mobility in public spaces are necessary to expand women’s market
1
Self-image and self-esteem is a key dimension evidenced in all 4 COs and SIIs in the region but only the Jordan country group felt
that it met all four criteria for regional prioritisation, other CO groups felt this dimension is best addressed via its causal links with the
other priority dimensions.



access. Increasing mobility in public space is supported by women’s social networking through associations,
training, meetings and other informal venues. Expanding market access boosts sales of products and provides
women with a small cash income. This income is generally recognized as their right to spend, and thus is
expected to increase women’s influence on household decision-making.”
Staying within Established Structures: Many country offices did not report significant structural changes.
CARE Jordan noted that while a woman entrepreneur interacts more with clients and providers related to her
business, she does not have contact with organizations/individuals outside her work. CARE West Bank/Gaza
commented that besides increasing women’s access to credit, program implementation adhered to “appropriate”
means for women to increase access to markets without pushing any cultural boundaries or norms.
The Role of Men: Across studies, women’s relations with men had not changed significantly. In Yemen, men’s
participation often dominated groups, interfering with the roles of women and some men controlled the use of
their wives’ credit or income. In Egypt, fathers involved in the New Schools Program were no more supportive of
their girls’ education or role in the community than those not involved in the project.
Harms – Increasing women’s workloads: As women bear the responsibility of the majority of household duties,
studies in both Yemen and West Bank/Gaza remarked that programs increase women’s workloads as they take
on project activities in addition to their traditional domestic chores.
MER Implications
Organizational Implications
Programmatic Implications and Ways Forward
CARE’ s Regional Leadership team must work with
relevant program staff to push forward key dimensions
of women’s empowerment for MER.
 Develop and monitor indicators for CARE Program
Principles
 Monitor and evaluate key dimensions of empowerment
across projects within each country program as part of
mid-term reviews and final evaluations.
 Meet with program staff to review and update these
findings periodically: identify key dimensions of focus,
desired impact in these dimensions and pathways to
achieve impact.
Microfinance interventions must respond to local
restraints and women’s realities
 Women in Jordan reported key factors influencing
participation to be:
o Access to and performance of markets,
o Availability of business capital,
o Cooperation of family members in supporting
work in business and household work,
o Motivation.
 Women do not usually work full-time on business as
they combine it with other social duties.
 Most women take loans based on interest rates and
may not participate in savings at once.
Staff must receive support and training to work in
gender issues
 Work with staff to surface our own development biases,
visualize the experiences of local people asked to
provide information, and establish the rights of research
subjects and ethical considerations related to research.
 Training and an organizational commitment to gender
equity through accountability mechanisms like
performance review must be put in place to support
male CARE staff to take gender issues forward.
 Involve staff in analyses to build their role and
capabilities in leading the research and leading action
on the findings.
 CARE staff need more training in participatory learning.
They often instructed members without enabling them
to explore options/make their own decisions.
Broad-based Empowerment Requires Long-term
Support and Strategies
 Supporting income generating activities effectively
requires longer financial support and more training so
women can develop experience and skills.
 Literacy materials and curriculum can play a strategic
role in fostering discussion on sensitive issues, like
family planning.
Engage allies to support women’s empowerment
 Work with parents and men to explore gender and
power dynamics, and to support women’s
empowerment/girls’ education.
 Engage households to support women’s enterprises
by contributing to household or business tasks and
avoid overburdening women.
 Minimize/manage involvement of men that dominate
associations by increasing the managerial,
administrative and financial capabilities of women
members.
 Network women with other organizations and
individuals to promote women’s rights and provide
broader social support beyond income-generating
activities.