The village of Thiaméne Taba, commune of keur socé, 17 km from Kaolack (central region). Land of agriculture and livestock, this town nestled in the heart of Saloum is celebrating the international rural women’s day on October 14, 2020. As coordinator of the National Alliance for Women and Land, CICODEV, a member of the Alliance, has come to support Senegal’s national federation of rural women. This strong empowerment and mobilization of rural women was made possible thanks to the support of technical and financial partners Wildaf West Africa, Diakonia, and the International Land Coalition (ILC).
It is difficult for the women of this locality to empower themselves. There are several reasons for this:
– in order to cultivate and feed their families, they are forced to rent land at 50 thousand fcfa per hectare.
– Difficulties in accessing agricultural inputs due to a distribution that does not include quotas for women.
– Difficulties in accessing agricultural materials due to policies that do not address the specific needs of women.
– Problem of the mobility necessary to commercialize, produce…
Standing in front of the public Ms. Ndiouck Mbaye, the president of the National Federation of Rural Women of Senegal called on the authorities to organize “the foundations of agriculture and land” to put a definitive end to the difficulties that women face in these sectors.
“You can’t rent land to a woman to cultivate and then force her to compete in the business market with men who haven’t gone through the same process. This practice reinforces inequalities and must be stopped,” says Amadou Kanoute, Executive Director of CICODEV Africa and coordinator of the National Alliance for Women and Land.
Absa Sylla, Coordinator of the National Federation of Rural Women and National Focal Point of the Kilimanjaro initiative read a strong plea from the Wildaf West Africa on the impact of Covid-19 on rural women. A plea articulated in 7 points below
Wildaf West Africa took advantage of the International Rural Women’s Day celebration to advocate for :
– a resumption of women’s economic activities in the context of the pandemic
– access to social services for women and girls
– put an end to the growing vulnerability of women and girls and to gender-based violence- protect women and girls in the face of the food crisis
– Increase women’s representation and participation in decision-making spaces.
-provide women and girls with access to information
-better equip women and girls to deal with the burdens of social norms
The rural women of Thiaméne Taba celebrated their day in style with drumming, dancing and on the microphone. They demanded :
– land
– agricultural equipment
– inputs
– water
– electricity
– Adequate funding
– health infrastructures
The men of the village (imams, village chiefs, neighborhood chiefs, husbands, sons, brothers…) were also on board and committed to further supporting the fight and the empowerment of women and girls.