ITDG 
Interdev Agroalimentaire  

Development of Womens' Associations in Sudan

	Type de fiche	Expériences/Etudes de cas
	Mise en œuvre	ITDG(Royaume Uni)
	
	Zone géographique	Afrique; Soudan; Eastern Sudan
	Mots clés	TRANSFORMATION AGROALIMENTAIRE; ASSOCIATION; FEMMES

	Echelle d’action	Régional (transnational)
	Public(s) cible(s)	Small- and medium-scale food processors

Contexte
Since the late 1970's economic deterioration in Sudan, particularly in the agricultural sector, has resulted in the growth of female businesses to combat household economic hardship. Their situation was declining as a result of a number of factors including: rapid population growth in urban areas without a significant growth in labour opportunities; social problems caused by divorce or desertion by men; inadequate food policy in Sudan to cope with fluctuations in domestic production; and a liberalisation policy, removing subsidies on essential goods and services.
Women developed small businesses to cope with these circumstances, but typically they were characterised by low levels of skills and capital, and poor working assets and premises.

Problématique / Objectifs
IT-Sudan aimed to improve the status of women by encouraging their small-scale businesses through creating organisational support. The formation and support of Women Development Associations (WDAs) in three areas: Kassala, Gedarif and Quala Elnahal in 1996 and 1997, were a response to production and marketing problems faced by women engaged in small scale agro-processing.  Initially the women had come together to participate in agro-processing training organised by IT-Sudan and they organised themselves into groups to overcome problems they faced as individuals.

The general objectives of the Women Development Associations are :
1. To maximise the benefits of available resources in order to improve members' livelihoods.
2. To minimize unnecessary duplication of work in income generation activties.
3. To facilitate contacts among members and between associations and related institutions.
4. To provide assistance, services and advice to members to develop their small-scale agro-processing enterprises.
5. To produce and solicit information material that is of interests to the membership and wider public.

Description/Mise en oeuvre
The WDAs emerged from food processing training, which has helped to clarify their mission and subsequent goals. The members are driven by a shared purpose:  to improve their livelihoods. 
The WDAs have a numbers of key functions, predominantly training, production, fund raising and, to a lesser extent, marketing. Although they tend to be characterised by reasonably trained cadre, they can lack truly active members. Facilities can be inadequate e.g. essential utensils, office space and equipment. WDAs aspire to team working through meetings and delegate responsibilities but in practice participation can be patchy. 
Good management systems are a challenge and whilst appropriate internal structures exist the definition of responsibilities and administrative systems tend to be inadequate. However, they have clear organisational identity and autonomy and there is good potential among executive committee members.
There are strong linkages with other institutions and this can benefit the membership through participation at events such as shows, access to further training and facilities, even advertising opportunities through radio or television.

Enseignements
  Management capabilities and good administrative systems are critical to the success of WDAs. There is a need for on-going capacity building work to consolidate and sustain the strengths of WDAs. A lack of sufficient income to employ trained staff to run WDAs means these vital functions are left to volunteers. Whilst leadership is enthusiastic they tend to lack experience. They are looking at ways to raise core funding to employ full-time staff, although there is awareness that reliance on donors could become a problem.
  Members are demanding and want to see tangible benefits. There is considerable pressure to expand activities. There are Government institutions and NGOs who could be approached to provide credit facilities to promote expansion.
  There is a need to encourage the committee system rather than concentration of power in the hands of a few. Communication is essential to maintain the interest and enthusiasm of members, keeping them informed of activities and events. This communication can be raising awareness, soliciting members views, formal consultation processes, inviting members to be part of a process and/or run the process.

Auteur : Sue Azam Ali
Saisie le : 20/03/2002 

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