The Challenge

Women are the backbone of rural economies throughout the least developed countries. They are marginalized, however, if not excluded altogether, from playing a key role in economic decisions. They are still frequently denied the right of representation in decision-making, the right to own land, obtain loans, or receive an education. This exclusion virtually guarantees a vicious cycle of poverty instead of the promise of sustainable development. Deeply entrenched attitudes that marginalize women, limit the effectiveness of development planning, budgeting and policy setting at the local level.

How We Are Helping?

In 2009 UNCDF, together with UN Women and Belgium, launched the Gender Equitable Local Development programme (GELD). GELD advocates for gender-responsive planning, programming and budgeting at the local level, and helps ensure that development policy and public expenditures are gender-equitable.

Currently being piloted in six African countries (originally initiated in Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, in 2010 GELD was scaled it up to Ethiopia thanks to a generous contribution by Austria), the initiative allocates capital investment grants to local authorities to guarantee that development occurs in a gender-responsive manner. By promoting broad-based, transparent and gender-sensitive participation in decision-making, GELD aims to motivate ordinary men and women at the community level to engage on development issues – while supporting the authorities and institutions who serve them to improve service delivery for all.

GELD programmes have been tested and have repeatedly proved that giving women voice yields better results for everyone. In particular, evidence suggests that building the skills of women to participate effectively, combined with facilitating their access to resources such as information, credit and other basic services, advances gender equality and social justice.

In Detail