Armenia: Male Exodus From Rural Communities

 

In the villages of Armenia’s Gegharkunik region, women describe themselves as “almost-husbands”, since they have to do the tasks once performed by their now absent menfolk, as well as their own work.

Around eight per cent of this eastern region’s population of 240,000 travel abroad every year as seasonal labour, mainly in Russia. According to the national statistics agency, Gegharkunik has the highest proportion of economic migrants of any region in Armenia.

Some of the migrants return every autumn, while others, like Shushan Hovakimyan’s husband, barely come home at all.

Hovakimyan, a teacher in the village of Nerkin Getashen, lives with her two sons and her 66-year-old mother-in-law, while her husband is away in Russia most of the time.

“My husband was last home two years ago – he can’t come that often,” she told IWPR. “He could at least come and see his aging mother. I’m not important. I really worry about losing my husband, but what can I do?”

Hovakimyan’s husband sends money home now and again, but it is rarely enough to support them. She says that by the time she gets her monthly wages, “I’ve already built up so many debts that I don’t know how to distribute my salary.”

It is hard for men to make a living in Gegharkunik. In this mountainous environment, winter lasts the best part of six months of the year, and there are few jobs around apart from farming, which is barely profitable.

Samvel Ghazaryan, 50, is one of the few men living all year round in Nerkin Getashen. He spent 15 years as a labour migrant abroad, but returned to care for the family 12 years ago when his wife Larisa fell ill.

Despite Rhetoric, Women Still Sidelined in Development Funding

By Charundi Panagoda

Women in Muslim-dominated Metiabruz district in eastern India look forward to better opportunities after their IT education. Credit:Ranjita Biswas/IPS

WASHINGTON, Feb 6, 2012 (IPS) - As U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro once put it, "Women hold the keys to unlocking the barriers to sustainable development."

Women play essential roles in the global economy, agriculture and development. But while the rhetoric regarding the importance of women's inclusion in development projects has peaked in recent years, actual gender-inclusion in investment projects often fails to walk the talk.

The main challenges facing sustainable development in the future are gender inequality, climate change, natural resource degradation and the global recession, said Melanne Verveer, U.S. Department of State ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, at a recent conference on gender equity and sustainable development.

"No effort to advance sustainable development will succeed that does not take into account half of the world's population," she said. "Women have long been promoting solutions to sustainable development challenges. They’ve been promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation, protecting biodiversity and vital ecosystems, securing water access, and combating indoor air pollution."

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), women are responsible for half of the world's food production. And they continue to bear most of the responsibilities at home, from caring for children to providing meals. Therefore, women's participation is vital to the success of sustainable development projects.

However, while acknowledging the importance of gender equality for development, the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs) continue to make gender-insensitive decisions, Elaine Zuckerman, the head of Gender Action, told IPS.

"A lot of people propose gender equality, women's rights, women's empowerment, but then when you look at what is budgetised, where the funds go, there is a huge disconnect. I think it's critical to translate the rhetoric into investments... A lot of IFI staff don't still, but those who do often speak in a vacuum," Zuckerman told IPS.

IFIs still view gender as a "soft issue", Elizabeth Arend, programmes coordinator for Gender Action, told IPS.

In 2011, while the World Bank's World Development Report (WDR) highlighted gender issues, the Bank's budget for "social development, gender and inclusion" investments decreased to 908 million dollars from 952 million in 2010. The Bank's spending in this thematic category represents less than two percent of its 2011 budget, Arend noted.

"It is not enough to have a handful of 'gender experts' in an institution like the World Bank… nor is it permissible to address gender in a single paragraph within a 160-page project appraisal document. IFIs must understand that every component of every project in every sector has gender implications, and that marginalising gender issues fundamentally undermines the effectiveness and sustainability of IFI investments," Arend told IPS.

Many IFI projects fail to address gender inequalities that prevent women and girls from participating and benefiting from project activities, experts say. And women tend to disproportionately suffer when gender inequalities are not included in development project designs, as exemplified by the World Bank-financed West African and Chad-Cameroon pipelines project.

Research by Gender Action in partnership with Friends of the Earth found that because gender dimensions were not taken into account in the project, "IFIs reinforced (existing) second-class status by sidelining women in consultation processes, discriminating against women in compensation schemes and employment opportunities, and undermining women’s critical livelihoods."

Arend believes there are several reasons for the World Bank's persistent gap between gender equality rhetoric and actual funding. First is the historic discrepancy between what the Bank's research team prioritises and what actually gets funded. Secondly, if the leadership doesn’t see gender as a priority, then gender simply will not be integrated in the Bank’s investments. Finally, the Bank is ultimately a business.

"The World Development Report provides an example. Gender Action’s founder, Elaine Zuckerman, has followed WDRs since their inception and has (hardly) seen a correlation between the WDR and actual funding. This holds true for the Gender Equality and Development WDR as well. While the Bank is busy promoting this report and its findings, in addition to its 'Think Equal' social media campaign, it is not investing more in gender at all," Arend said.

However, this situation might be slowly changing. Arend noted that the Bank has committed 40 million dollars to re-launch a "strengthening agriculture public services project" in Haiti following the original project in 2009.

The new project has "developed a financial literacy programme for women agriculture producers and traders, strengthened the agriculture ministry team's capacity on gender issues and supported the integration of a Gender Focal Point into the ministry" as requested by female beneficiaries.

"The (Haiti) project is far from perfect, but this shows that the World Bank is capable of making investments in a gender-sensitive manner. All that seems to be lacking is the will," Arend said.

Three Million Children Threatened by Hunger

By Ousseini Issa

A young child suffering from malnutrition at a nutritional recovery center in Maradi region in central-east Niger. Credit:UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi

BOBOYE, Niger, Feb 4, 2012 (IPS) - Women have been left in charge of many of the households in the village of Zamkoye-Koïra, in western Niger, as food shortages have driven male family members to leave in search of work elsewhere. A national survey of vulnerable households shows that 5.4 million people face food insecurity across Niger.

"The men have gone to look for a way to feed the women and children left behind in the village, because there was no harvest at all this year," 40-year-old Bibata Mounkaïla told IPS.

"We've eaten only once a day for several months," the mother of eight said, in the midst of making a simple porridge out of sorghum that will have to satisfy her family for the whole day. "The situation also means that our children are no longer going to school - the nearest one is in a neighbouring village, three kilometres from here."

Aoudi Adamou, a family head who has chosen to stay, fears the crisis will grow worse if food aid to vulnerable people, announced by the government, arrives late.

"It's only thanks to support from other families that some are still finding something to eat," he told IPS, "but this situation cannot last for long. The authorities have to come quickly with aid if we are to avoid a disaster."

Adamou's distress call is echoed from several parts of the landlocked West African country, which this year faces a serious food crisis following a poor growing season in 2010 to 2011. Poor rains resulted in a deficit of more than half a million tonnes of grain and a shortfall of fodder for livestock of more than 10 million tonnes.

The vulnerability survey, carried out in December 2011, found that more than a third of the population of 15.7 million are in a position of food insecurity - 1.5 million will face severe food shortages.

The government and its partners are trying to mobilise resources to avert this major food crisis - "which is already upon us", according to Eric-Alain Ategbo, the chief nutrition expert for the United Nations Children's Fund office in Niamey, the Nigerien capital.

According to Ategbo, some 330,000 children are facing severe malnutrition presently, and nearly 700,000 more face moderate hunger. "We have seen 20,000 cases of malnourishment across the country, with 5,000 new cases recorded each week (in medical centres)."

Launching an appeal for aid in the western town of Tillabéri on Jan. 17, Nigerien Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said the country needed some 224 million dollars.

These resources would be put towards actions to ease the crisis, such as the launch of a major expansion of irrigated farming, the purchase and distribution of animal fodder, and other efforts against malnutrition, according to Rafini.

But for Hassoumi Sadou, a member of a farmers' cooperative in Niamey, "the success of the operation will depend on the direct involvement of producers in the implementation of the actions. This is still not the case," he told IPS.

The international non-governmental organisation Save the Children, based in London, has spoken out in support of the Nigerien government, calling on the international community to urgently mobilise funds for children threatened by malnutrition.

In a communiqué published on Jan. 27, the NGO said some three million Nigerien children are facing hunger, putting the cost of interventions needed to avoid disaster at 47 million dollars.

N'Dèye Marianne Tounkara, Advocacy Director for the Newborn & Child Survival programme at the Niamey office of Save the Children, says the appeal aims bring international attention to the risk of a major food and nutrition crisis in Niger in the coming weeks.

"We must act quickly to put in place corrective and preventive measures to reduce the threat," she told IPS.