Income generating Unit (IGU)
The main thrust of the women’s development activities would be to assist women in the sustainable establishment of income generating activities to be undertaken in or near the home. in some pilot villages. This could be also one of the main objectives of the self-help female groups formed with the support of the Project through its reinforcement of group promotion activities. IGU tend to give women a higher status within the family and studies generally indicate that the greater the amount of income under women’s control the greater amount devoted to their children’s education. heath and nutrition. As previously mentioned generally incomes of women are used for the increase of the well being of the family. However it is essential to guarantee that women will have the control of the funds (saving funds loans etc) and the free disposal of them to implement IGU. During the feasibility study project staff should be very careful on not raised expectations.
As we have previously focused on, the identification of income generating activities should come from a bottom up approach. An IGU should correspond to the needs of women, the failure of this kind of project generally comes from a gap between identifying women’s needs and designing viable project. This means that it may be implemented after some steps have already been carried out with the Project’s support like: PRA with women to identify problems, elaboration of a negotiated development programme, group promotion. All these activities should be carried out using participatory methods. In this context and according to the suggested strategy, it seems more appropriate to focus on planning, organizing and supporting IGU than to give a list of activities. Furthermore the following reasons make that the suggestion of potential IGU should be taken with caution and in any case should not be considered as an exhaustive list:
- The consultant spent no more than a few hours in the villages and several meetings were hold with only a few women who were not always representative of the community’s women at village level;
- In most cases women were not aware of the objectives of the meeting;
- The presence of many official responsible (most of them male) at the meetings did not facilitate the discussions:
1. Potential income generating activities
- Food drying. processing and preservation
- dried fruit, vegetables and herbs
- processed fruit and vegetable
- Preparation and marketing of dairy products
- Agricultural production
- Establishment and improvement of livestock and poultry raising,
- Other activities relevant to agricultural and animal production
- Mushroom cultivation
- Beekeeping
- Forestry produce
- Handicrafts
- Shopkeeper activities
2. General comments
- Characteristics of IGU
- Target groups and participation of beneficiaries
- Main steps of the IGA setting
- Identification
- Technical feasibility
- Economic and financial profitability,
- Planning
- Plans for marketing
- Ways of financing
- Group promotion
3. Training and capacity building needs
Beneficiaries
Different types of awareness and training can be carried out according to the level of competencies of the potential beneficiaries:
- Awareness on the potential IGU at village level. This awareness may be made after the women have identified some IGU during participatory meetings. Some other IGU, seeming appropriate to the characteristics of the village, may be presented. Basic information on the advantages and constraints, the main stages to be followed the types of possible organization;
- Training on the IGU implementation process. Information on feasibility and rentability studies access to financial ways. financing methods (as revolving fund, savings…) management;
- Training on the management of revolving: fund;
- Vocational training sessions relevant to various activities. The training programme should be established with the participation of beneficiaries. The courses can concern various matters (agricultural and animal production, food processing, handicrafts, etc.) Different kinds of courses can be carried out according to the level of competencies of women involved. A difference should be made between basic courses and reinforced courses which target skilled women. Some of these courses can be run at village level and specific courses should be made outside (rural centres, women’s unions centres). The FAO Project will help in organizing the planning of training and in calling on the most competent institutions and persons in the subject;
- Training program on small scale enterprises. This program will target on women interested in creating small enterprises at individual or group level.
It will focus on entrepreneurial development and management skills. The content should include specific areas such, as: management, organization, accounting, marketing, production techniques, quality control, cost benefit analysis, etc ) Entrepreneurship development training will not be appropriate for all women. This program will be designed to focus on those women who show entrepreneurial interest and drive, to tap that drive and combine entrepreneurial development with skills upgrading and training. This program could be developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Women’s Unions in both countries.
