Page 39

CGH13_ebook

D emo c r a c y : R u l e o f l aw, r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a n d p a r t i c i p a t i o n Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 38 However, the trajectory for women from educational and economic equality to political leadership is by no means automatic. Inherent conflicts of interest can and do arise. For example, shifts in access to income can alter authority and/or social patterns, provoke hostility or have other negative unintended consequences; children may be disadvantaged if their mothers break away from oppressive family contexts, minorities may suffer additional discrimination and societies as a whole can be destabilised. Research indicates that successful development in these areas – and, indeed, in any development – depends on two principles: 1. Successful development focuses on what people want – not what we, that is to say donor organisations, governments, politicians, etc. – would wish to give them 2. Initiatives that strengthen what already exists in the community are more likely to work The rationale is that an innovation that is conceived and grows organically within the community will allow: leaders to emerge; locally acceptable mechanisms for monitoring and accountability to develop; and people to have a voice and a sense of ownership. This, in turn, will mean that any given project will be more likely to be nurtured and defended if necessary. Existing structures within the community will be more likely to adapt if not pressured to do so from the outside. People in the less developed areas of Commonwealth countries know very well what to do – so our job is to trust them by providing resources. They know, for example, as well as we do that educating girls is development’s magic bullet. But a school on its own is not going to be transformative unless all the underlying fears and traditional beliefs can also be dealt with. The community needs to discuss, explain and agree in order to have a sense of ownership. Once development is entwined with existing structures, cultural, social and other obstacles can begin to be chipped away, worked around or watered down in a way that can never be the case when these principles are ignored. So, by following these principles, programmes to provide women’s education and economic development have a higher likelihood of meeting their own objectives and becoming less dependent on the donor. If backed by high level politics they will also have the capacity to become institutionalised. The development community has a long history of funding education, setting up schools and improving access to finance. Unfortunately, there remain cultural and systemic obstacles to success in many developing countries. These include the mindset of not only men but the older generations of both men and women; the lack of a clear chain of command within government; the need to reassure parents that their daughters will be safe in school. So, while every eventuality has been thought through – finance is in place, training has taken place – large programmes can, and do, still fail due to lack of local government engagement or simply the nervousness or distrust of the community. Women’s educational and economic development can only help women’s political empowerment to flourish if they are home grown and their roots are able to grow ever deeper into a country’s culture and system. Political empowerment is far less likely to be the result if initiatives remain dependent on donor involvement and foreign support. The international community’s role in such projects therefore is to be an enabler, rather than just a provider. One way in which the international enabler community can work is through information sharing. It is, for example, widely acknowledged that women have a special need for information concerning all aspects of reproductive rights in order to take decisions about their lives, reproductive or otherwise. Furthermore, women need information to participate in public debate about issues that affect them and thereby to assist in shaping public opinion. Without such information, women’s power to use their education and economic freedom is limited. In early 2002, on a post-Taliban visit to Afghanistan, a country with which I have been associated for over 30 years, I came across a young man recently returned from Pakistan whose dream was to set up a school for girls. He had begun in a tiny bombed-out building in the extreme west of Kabul. He had 30 pupils ranging in age from seven to 35, attending in three daily shifts. To cut a long story short – I began to support him and gradually the school developed into what it is today: Marefat High School. It teaches nearly 3,000 pupils (both boys and girls) a full curriculum of liberal arts, sciences and vocational training. Pupils go on to win scholarships to overseas universities and then return to teach at the school. They become part of the new educated generation and future leaders in Afghanistan. The reason why this project has succeeded beyond our expectations is that it already existed and is rooted in the community. Even then much work had to take place to reassure parents who had lived through the Taliban regime that their daughters were safe to attend school. The parentteachers association was a powerful force in developing the school and enabled parents and the local community to be involved at all times in decisions that affected them and their children. The sense of ownership by the community means that the school is and will be defended. Box 1: Educating for governance


CGH13_ebook
To see the actual publication please follow the link above