Georgette [user:field_middlename] Konate

My contributions

• Posted on 10 Dec 2019

  Are agriculture programs supporting women to improve their livelihood?

  Discussion

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    Georgette Konate

    Independent consultant Independent consultant

    Burkina Faso

    Dear Jackie,

    Just a modest contribution in response to the important and relevant questions you raised on the role and place reserved for women in projects and programs relating to the agricultural sector. 
    I begin with the last question to say that taking into account the gender theme is essential if we want to achieve the objectives:  induce positive and lasting effects and impact for all in the communities with which we work as stakeholders.
    In my opinion, the gender approach is the participatory approach par excellence in terms of development, if we give ourselves the necessary means for its proper implementation (ensuring its integration throughout the project and program cycle; using confirmed expertise on the issue; ensuring that all activities contributing to the management of this theme are budgeted, etc.).
    Regarding lessons learned; the effects and impacts of projects and programs for women as well as the various recommendations made on this subject; I would recommend, as examples, to refer particularly to the evaluation reports of the FAO country programs in Burkina and Niger; carried out under the aegis of OED in recent years. For Burkina Faso, the evaluation covered the period 2010-2015. While for Niger the evaluation extended over the period 2011-2016. The issues raised in this discussion were raised to some extent in the terms of reference for this exercise.
    Answers to certain questions on the participation and empowerment of women can also be drawn from the rich documentation produced by FAO and its partners on the "DIMITRA Listening Club" tool used in Niger as well as in Senegal, (for cases that I have had the opportunity to visit through evaluations in recent years).
    Sorry to have been general in my reaction but I think that for this theme it will be more useful to use real documentary sources to have more precise answers.

     

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• Posted on 15 Oct 2018

  Challenges of evaluation

  Discussion

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    Georgette Konate

    Independent consultant Independent consultant

    Burkina Faso

    Hello,

    A small contribution in response to the big and big question raised by Hynda about the constraints on evaluations of rural development or food security projects. It is difficult to exhaust the subject in this context ...

    • A major constraint is the lack or quality of studies on the baseline situation in project intervention areas. When these studies are not done in the state of the art (good diagnosis, complete analysis of the starting situation with the participation of men and women), the evaluation afterwards is not easy. It is an essential step when one wants to work in a perspective of qualitative change of a given situation because it makes it possible to orient the actions and to make a relevant choice of the actions and the actors and actresses ...

    • As part of the monitoring of the progress of an agricultural development project in a region in Burkina some years ago, the project identified poultry farming, among other things, as an income generating activity for women. This activity never flourished in the localities chosen simply because culturally it is an activity always devolved to men to preserve the harmony in the families ... A good diagnosis and a good analysis at the beginning would have made it possible to choose socially accepted activities or to think about strategies to help make the changes necessary for the well-being of all.

    • Another difficulty is the formulation of quantitative and qualitative indicators: indicators, when they exist, do not always make it possible to measure progress or changes induced by interventions at the community level. Gender issues: this theme is often forgotten or added to project documents as an attachment; which does not facilitate evaluations. We have already talked about it earlier with this  group (https://dgroups.org/?8cvm4jpt ). Gender is a cross-cutting issue and should be taken care of from the beginning of the project formulation process. This is a very important issue in our countries in Africa where women contribute 70% to 80% of agricultural and vegetable production.

    • Another constraint is the time allocated to the evaluation and the budget allocated for this purpose: in the formulation of projects, there are not enough resources for monitoring and evaluation. This is detrimental to the successful completion of this activity, which is very important for the proper implementation and achievement of the objectives of the interventions.

    My modest contribution on this subject.

     

    Georgette

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• Posted on 29 Jun 2018

  Gender and evaluation of food security

  Discussion

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    Georgette Konate

    Independent consultant Independent consultant

    Burkina Faso

    Hello all,

    Following my message of 29/06/18 related to the subject, many of you responded (Bintou from Mali, Elias and Emile from Benin, Dowsen from Zimbabwe, Mustapha, Dorothy and Emmanuel ...) giving me information, points of view as well as documentary references on the proposed questions.

    I am aware of the fact that we have not exhausted the question but the very useful reactions you have made will certainly allow me to reinforce my own opinions on the issue and especially to move forward in my work with more confidence.

    Many thanks to everyone and also to Alena for this very informative information on the questions asked.

    I welcome further contributions!

    Cordially

    Georgette

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