1-6 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR RURAL WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN FIVE PROVINCES IN NORTHWEST CHINA

1-6

Project Scope and Relationship to China's Agenda 21

This project seeks to promote activities to encourage women to participate in rural economic development and the conservation of natural resources, and to strengthen women's access to education and decision making power. The project is based on programme area 20A of China's Agenda 21 and is also related to areas 6B, 7A and 8A.

1. Background

In China, 80 percent of women live in rural areas. Of the 180 million illiterates in China, 70 percent are rural women. The situation is worse in the five provinces of Northwest China, where 11.5 million of the 21 million women in the area are illiterate or semi-illiterate. Only 43 percent of these women have received primary education and only a few have received secondary and higher education. They are not able to participate in the economic and social development of the area, nor are they able to play an effective role in the management of their community's natural resources.

China has a long tradition of placing priority of men over women. As a result, Chinese women, regrettably, do not yet participate in sustainable development as equal partners. Prejudice and discrimination against women still exists in society and women do not have the same access as men to education or employment opportunities. Women in China, and particularly rural women, are shouldering the double burdens of social production and child bearing. This hampers their role in taking their rightful place in sustainable development.

The objectives of sustainable development can not be realized unless women attain their full status as partners in sustainable development. Their access to education and their participation in social and economic development directly affects the successful implementation of the national strategy of the sustainable development. Therefore, it is an urgent priority to improve the status of rural women, and through education, to improve their scientific, technological and cultural skills to enable them to participate in sustainable development activities.

The Chinese government and the All-China Women's Federation attach great importance to the improvement of the status of rural women. The Government has promulgated and is enforcing "The Law of The People's Republic of China on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests". Some local governments have legislated regulations on the school enrolment of girls, and on female students' participation in middle and high school education. These efforts need to be augmented by a coordinated approach to improve rural women's access to education, in their participation in social and economic activities, and in their participation in efforts to protect the environment.

2. Objectives

• Long-term Objectives
  • To promote the status of rural women in the five provinces of northwest China and to strengthen their capacity to participate effectively in sustainable development.

• Immediate Objectives
  • To provide access to education for rural women and to develop mechanisms to enable them to participate in sustainable development.
  • To strengthen opportunities for the education of girls in rural areas.
  • To provide opportunities for rural women to develop farming and industrial skills and to increase the number of women professionals and decision makers.
  • To develop administrative systems for educating rural women, in order to give them equal access to educational opportunities.

• 3.1 To develop educational opportunities for girls and training programmes for rural women in the five provinces of Northwest China, based on formal and non-formal educational systems to eliminate illiteracy among young and adult women. The activities will start initially with small pilot projects, and will gradually expand as experience is gained. This will be achieved through the following specific activities:
  • Establish administrative systems that will set task objectives, data documentation, operational procedures, and quality supervision;
  • Establish a responsibility system to guarantee that all school age girls are able to go to school and to receive nine years of education according to law;
  • Implement measures to increase the percentage of girls and women in high schools, professional high schools, and training colleges;
  • Organize on-the-job training and technical skills courses for women at all levels.

• 3.2 To formulate local regulations in the five provinces of Northwest China on the improvement of women's capacity to participate in sustainable development activities, through:
  • Measures to carry out the "Act for Protection of Women's Rights";
  • Means to Ensure that women in those areas have access to land, credit, etc., and are able to set up their own financial institutions;
  • Support for women's initiatives to participate in resource development and environmental protection.

• 3.3 To strengthen women's participation in sustainable development through awareness raising, access to education and mechanisms for participation in social and economic development activities in the five provinces of Northwest China. This will be achieved through the use of popular media, workshops and seminars, educational opportunities, and by promoting the concept of equality between men and women.

• 3.4 The above activities will be implemented in two counties of each province selected as demonstration sites. The specific activities will be to:
  • Conduct surveys among adult women between 15 to 45 on the education received by them. To organize literacy campaigns by making use of formal and non-formal means, such as the original Farmer's Night Schools and the Women's Home;
  • Modify and reorganize original teaching material and develop new materials as needed;
  • provide 1-2 coordinators in each county for literacy programmes and 3-5 part-time teachers in each village.

• 3.5 To strengthen training for women of the area in practical skills by selecting 3-5 counties in each province, where conditions allowed, for the establishment of training centers by making use of the training base for the Spark Program. The centers will then serve as models for imparting skills and increasing the number of women professionals and decision makers. Specific activities will include:
  • In each training center, train 300-500 young and adult women annually in farming skills including poultry farming, processing of agricultural by-products, fruit tree planting, sewing, etc; ·
  • Development of teaching materials in Han, Mongolic, Tibetan, Uygur and Kazak languages for teaching women from these groups; ·
  • Train women teachers in the requisite skills; ·
  • Establish test fields covering an area of 500-1000 mu in each training center to make it an integrated service base for training, experiment and production.

    The implementing agencies will be the All-China Women's Federation, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Commission on Education, the Ministry of Radio, Television and Film, the Provincial Women's Federations and Governments of the Five Provinces of Northwest China. The project duration will be five years.

• 4.1 Chinese Inputs
  • Project management
  • Engagement of experts, scientists and researchers and their in-country travel
  • Any necessary educational materials, instrument and equipment
  • Demonstration projects
  • Teachers, extension workers and women's organizations

• 4.2 International Cooperation
  • Demonstration site.
  • Engagement of experts.
  • Teaching materials, instruments and equipment.

Implementation of the project will enable rural women to participate in sustainable development through education. The pilot training programmes will provide women from selected geographic areas with the necessary skills to take part in social and economic activities. With the experience gained, the training will be extended gradually to include larger area, in order to improve rural women's ability and their degree of participation in sustainable development.

Teaching materials on literacy and practical skills will be developed to suit the needs of the rural women during the implementation of the project. The teaching material will also serve as valuable experiences on raising women's education levels and helping to increase the number of women professionals.