This International Women’s Day, we celebrate the women who are transforming traditional gender norms and expectations in their societies. CARE International UK works with local partners to support women around the world as they do this, by helping to strengthen their voice and leadership capabilities in contexts where they are often side-lined in decision-making processes. This helps ensure that decisions account for their experience and needs, whether related to humanitarian action, climate action or community decision-making.
In Mali, CARE International UK, CARE Mali and local partner AMAPROS work with women whose communities are at the crossroads of conflict and climate change. Faced with increasingly extreme weather events, they are witnessing a steady degradation of natural resources like water, timber and land for farming, which is increasing competition - and tension – between communities. In turn, these resource constraints can exacerbate pre-existing, negative gender norms. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development funded GENRE+ Phase II project works to counter this by strengthening the voice and leadership of women in climate-affected areas of Mali's Segou region, supporting them to participate in decisions around natural resource management.
Women working with the GENRE+ Phase II project have taken critical steps to shift assumptions and expectations around their role in decision making, creating opportunities for women’s voices to be heard, for decisions to be more inclusive of their needs, and for attitudes to shift in the wider community. Here are the top three changes we’ve seen as a result:
1 More women in decision-making roles
The project supports women in Mali to advocate for more seats for women in structures like local councils, helping to ensure decisions represent their needs, experiences and interests. For instance, women in Marobougou petitioned the male-led local council to create a seat specifically for a woman, something which had not been available to women in the village before. The council agreed to this, and the seat is now held by Fanta Sylla, who was unanimously voted in by the women in the village to take on the role.
Fanta will help to promote women’s interests by ensuring that their needs and concerns are accounted for in community decisions, paving the way for women’s increased participation and representation in local governance at village level.
This is just one story of many from the GENRE+ Phase II project, where women have come together to advocate for new and increased roles in decision-making structures traditionally dominated by men.
2 Women are increasing their independence through literacy
For many women, one of the barriers holding them back from meaningful participation in decision-making is being unable to read or write. For women in Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLAs) - savings groups where women pool their resources together - in the village of Diawarala, this meant they either needed to use methods such as counting stones to manage their savings, or they needed to hire a man who could read and write for them during VSLA group meetings.
These women identified this critical gap and wanted to prioritise tackling this as part of their Women Lead in Emergencies action plans, and literacy became a cornerstone of their activities. The VSLA groups can now manage their resources independently, and members can use their literacy skills in other positions in the community, strengthening the inclusion and voice of women throughout the whole village.
3 Young people are mobilising to take action on climate change
A group of over 130 young people, both men and women, have come together in the village of Tingoni to form an association to help counter the impacts of climate change. This came after the GENRE+ Phase II project brought community members together to create Community Adaptation Action Plans, which raises awareness of the impacts of climate change and the need to adopt local solutions to mitigate them.
In August 2024, the association formed in Tingoni purchased 230 young trees which have since been planted as part of a reforestation drive in the area. In addition, the association's members have contributed their own money to create a fund of more than 240,000 West African CFA Franc, which can now be invested into similar projects.
This is a powerful action from young people living in climate impacted communities in Mali, and one which will also help strengthen livelihoods opportunities for communities who are dependent on natural resources to earn a living.
