THE REGIONS
In this section:
Women in Mali Learn to Run for Elective Office
Peru Teachers Help Students Think for Themselves
Cambodians Protect Forests from Overcutting
Help to Civil Society Invaluable in Ukraine Election
AFRICA
Women in Mali Learn to Run for Elective Office
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Members of the multifunctional cooperative of Gombatou,
Niafunké, hold books for women candidates about
elections.
Kadidia Dienta, USAID |
BAMAKO, Mali—In societies like Djenné,
a woman’s place is usually behind the scenes. The Bambara
people put it this way: ce ba koro be na k’a turu
kala kelen do, or every single man has a braid under his
hat. She is the consultant; he is the decisionmaker.
But that is slowly changing, as women begin to step out
and wield greater influence in Malian society, in part with
help from U.S.-supported training activities.
The training works to enhance women’s roles in civic
education, business management, advocacy, public speaking,
and conflict prevention.
In addition, the program takes aim at deeply rooted traditions:
both men and women in Mali have been brought up to think women
aren’t meant to lead.
That was the case for 60-year-old Sirantou Bocoum, a widow
from Djenné, an urban commune in the Mopti region,
who joined the training sessions and overcame her long-held
beliefs.
“In this culture, people believe that a woman is not
meant to be a leader,” said Bocoum, who was elected a
communal councilor. “But I am confident in myself and
my leadership capacities. My victory [in the election] was
not a mere surprise.”
The Agency program has so far hosted 224 training sessions
for more than 8,800 women in half of Mali’s administrative
regions.
In those zones, the number of female candidates rose from
85 in 1999 to 318 in 2004. And the number of communal council
seats held by women was 41 in 2004, up from 22 seats in 1999.
The women—and some men—see more work ahead. After
one civic education training session, one man from the region
said he now understands that men have been an obstacle for
women.
Bocoum said: “I am committed to working for the cause
of women in Djenné because, as it stands today, we
have very little right to mix in what are still considered
men’s affairs.”
Mali is a mostly Muslim country of 12 million on the southern
edge of the Sahara Desert in western Africa. It is about the
size of California and Texas combined. The literacy rate is
40 percent for women and 54 percent for men, and the life
span is about 45, according to the online CIA World Factbook.
Women said participating in the training programs breaks
the chains of male-dominated decisionmaking and raises their
self-confidence. They see that they can be political players
in their communities.
“Before the training, we were living in the darkness
of ignorance,” said the president of a woman’s association
in Gombatou, Niafunké. “Now, we have gained lots
of knowledge and information. We will now use our veils as
belts to fasten ourselves and participate more in the management
of our community development activities.”
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Peru Teachers Help Students Think for Themselves
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Girls in a rural school use information and communication
technology. The virtual world is helping 75 educators
in Peru share their skills, ideas, and suggestions.
CAPTIC |
LIMA, Peru—Teachers in Peru are learning how
to bring life to the classroom and make students think for
themselves rather than just memorize facts—a vital step
away from the rigid schoolrooms of the past.
A recent aid program has shown teachers how to drop the
lecturing role and become more like facilitators, while students
do less memorization and more exploration and collaboration
with their classmates.
Educators say students develop better reasoning and problem-solving
skills with this approach, which has been a hallmark of American-style
teaching since World War II.
A small pilot program, supported by USAID, in February 2004
at 12 primary schools and four teacher training centers helped
64 teachers use the internet and video cameras to move away
from a traditional style of teaching to what educators call
a “student-centered” approach.
USAID’s partners in the program, called Strengthening
Teaching Practices through Information and Communication Technologies
(CAPTIC), include the Peruvian minister of education’s
Huascarán Project (an effort to boost quality in Peru’s
rural and urban schools), the Education Development Center
Inc. (EDC), and the Concord Consortium.
CAPTIC is active in four regions of Peru’s highland
and jungle areas—Junin, Oxapampa, Cerro de Pasco, and
Ucayali—that have low student performance and limited
resources. The Huascarán project is promoting use of
computers and the internet among local schoolchildren.
The regions are distinct in language and geography, but
everyone meets on equal footing at the project’s website.
The teachers use video cameras to tape their classroom efforts.
They then upload the images for the other educators to watch
and critique.
During one online chat about a project he was preparing,
Alipio Luis Carhuallanqui, a teacher at the Mariscal Castilla
School in Oxapampa, Pasco, told the other teachers: “I
felt the desire and the motivation to communicate with you,
to go online and read your comments. The comments felt alive
and made me laugh and reflect.”
As in other parts of the world, the teachers in Peru found
the student-centered approach a difficult concept to master.
CAPTIC is providing ongoing support to them. Workshops are
providing personalized technical guidance, showing the teachers
not only the basics of using a computer but exactly how to
translate the ideas they’ve gleaned from the web into
classroom lessons.
Teachers learned to ensure both boys and girls get access
to the technology. Girls continue to lag behind boys in education,
particularly in rural communities. According to a USAID report
in 2002, close to 40 percent of women in rural areas have
not completed primary school, compared with 28 percent of
rural men.
“One year is a short time horizon to ensure that teachers
grasp the concept well enough to actually change their teaching
practices, but we hope to continue providing support wherever
it is needed,” EDC General Project Director Daniel Light
said.
The teachers in the program are enthusiastic, but CAPTIC
organizers want to ensure the gee-whiz factor of the technology
does not overshadow the education goals. “What we need
to ensure is that the technology supports quality education,”
said Project Director Sonia Arias.
ASIA AND THE NEAR EAST
Cambodians Protect Forests from Overcutting
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Prak Chanty, an NGO representative, works with Pu Antreng
villages to identify their lands on a map.
Lori Severens, USAID |
MONDULKIRI PROVINCE, Cambodia—Clear-cut forests
with tree-stump stubble and mud-clumped roads are the usual
remains after deforestation in Cambodia, where vast tracts
have been logged since the civil war ended in 1993.
“I want my children to see all the nature this generation
and past generations have seen,” said Vin Sen, deputy
chief of Pu Chri village.
“My daughter has only seen a tiger in a poster. Pangolins
used to be very common, but we couldn’t find one to show
our children.”
Some 60 percent of Cambodia—or 11.2 million hectares—is
forest, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Approximately
8 million hectares are currently in production, a figure considered
higher than necessary.
Recent improvements to roads in Mondulkiri Province near
the Vietnam border—particularly improvements last year
between the provincial capital Sen Monorum and Koh Nhek—allowed
new settlers to arrive and claim land for themselves.
As the amount of forest clearing has increased, tensions
led to clashes between residents and forest land grabbers.
“It comes to a point at some time when the communities
can’t lose any more and conflict erupts,” said Mary
Melnyk, the senior advisor for natural resources management
in the Bureau for Asia and the Near East (ANE).
To ratchet down the conflict, forest residents, government
officials, NGOs, and others have come together to speak their
minds.
USAID is funding three NGOs—the Agri-Business Institute
Cambodia (ABiC), Community Forests International, and WWF-Cambodia—to
help Cambodians devise solutions to the forest and land conflicts.
The groups translated forest and land laws into Khmer and
the indigenous Pnong languages. They also help Cambodians
survey and register their ancestral lands and participate
in land-use planning.
Residents received cellphones and walkie-talkies to use
as they search for illegal loggers. They have confiscated
chainsaws, logs, and lumber. “When they confront some
of them,” said Melnyk, “the reply is ‘You have
no rights.’”
Villagers in another part of the country had a grenade thrown
at them while protesting the establishment of a 300,000-hectare
plantation.
To build support for forest protection, USAID is producing
two videos that showcase growing efforts in Cambodia to save
its forests and strengthen rights in forest communities.
Cambodians depend on their forests for food, medicine, and
fuel. Traditional “spirit forests” also require
protection from clearing.
Logging threatens animal species such as Asian elephants
and raises the likelihood of soil erosion and flooding.
Because of human rights abuses by the people grabbing lands
and logging illegally, Cambodians are now speaking up to protect
their forests. The videos will explain this and show Cambodians
asserting themselves to save the forests.
Through the NGOs’ work, including a Community Forestry
Alliance for Cambodia, USAID has contributed over $1 million
to the project.
One film shot in Mondulkiri aims to raise awareness in the
Western world about the vitality of the forests and how they
are being threatened. It will be shown on USAID’s web
site.
The second video, which will be completed in late summer,
is geared to Cambodians, NGOs, and other interested parties
actively working on forestry issues in the country.
Video production is continuing, with several more trips
planned to Cambodia to conduct and shoot interviews.
Cambodia is one of 11 countries covered by ANE that experiences
conflict over forests; others include the Philippines, Afghanistan,
and Indonesia.
EUROPE AND EURASIA
Help to Civil Society Invaluable in Ukraine Election
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Special Forces troops guard the Presidential Administration
Building—which protestors had decorated with balloons—during
mass demonstrations in Kiev.
USAID/Ukraine |
TBILISI, Georgia—Lika Revishvili, a disabled
woman in this Caucasus state where such people are usually
ostracized or placed in institutions, was able last year to
hold her first job and attend law school.
Revishvili, 18, was offered a job educating non-disabled
children about the legal and human rights of kids with disabilities.
“I plan to visit schools and train not only children,
but teachers and school directors as well,” she said.
“The trainings will be a very good opportunity for
me to grow professionally and to assist other disabled people
to be integrated into our society.”
She got the job after she attended the 8th International
Congress on Including Children and Youth with Disabilities
in their Home Communities, held in Stavanger, Norway, in mid-June.
Since 2000, USAID has helped delegates from more than 20
developing countries attend the biannual congress, which focused
this year on creating support networks that integrate the
health, education, and recreation needs of disabled children.
The meeting also explored the legal rights of disabled people
according to international law.
“I could never have imagined myself in the role of
a trainer for children having no disabilities, but attending
the Norway congress gave me a lot of confidence and so I agreed,”
said Revishvili.
“Meeting so many people from other countries working
on disabled children’s rights made me believe that there
really is a chance that we can make a difference in Georgia.
“My dream has always been to help other disabled people
understand what they can achieve by simply knowing and exercising
their rights,” said Revishvili, who is of small stature
and has an open, ready smile.
Physically disabled since birth, Revishvili gets around
with the help of a crutch and her ever-present father, who
travels with her to and from school everyday and helps her
navigate a university accessible only to the non-disabled.
He half-carries her up the stairs in the university’s
law building and eases her into her chair in class each day.
In Georgia, people with disabilities are deeply stigmatized
and usually excluded from mainstream society. Disabled students
often attend separate schools or are institutionalized.
Most families in Georgia are too poor to afford to care
for disabled children.
“My job is to explain to healthy children that people
with disabilities have similar rights; they also want to study,
to work, and to live like ordinary people,” she said
of her new job.
USAID funded eight of Georgia’s 14 congress delegates
this year. UNICEF and the Embassy of Norway to Azerbaijan
funded another six delegates.
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