Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Empowerment in Rural areas in
Cote d’Ivoire
(POWER-CI)
Village Savings and Loans Proposal
April 2006
Contact persons:
Auguste Kpognon, Country Director, Kauguste@careci.org
Yacouba Serifou, Finance and Administrative Director, serifou@careci.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 3
2. COTE D’IVOIRE BACKGROUND .................................................................. 3
3. PROBLEM STATEMENT ................................................................................. 3
a. Poverty ..................................................................................................... 3
b. Gender analysis ........................................................................................ 4
i. Gender from a traditional and cultural perspective .............................. 4
ii. An enabling legal and political environment ...................................... 4
iii. The real picture of gender in Cote d’Ivoire today.............................. 4
4. CAPACITY STATEMENT ................................................................................ 5
a. Experience and Core Strategy in Cote d’Ivoire........................................ 5
b. CARE’s Experience in Community-Based Micro-Finance (CBMF) ...... 6
c. CARE’s Experience in Working with Women ........................................ 7
5. RATIONALE FOR PROGRAM LOCATION AND SELECTION OF PROGRAM
PARTICIPANTS ..................................................................................................... 8
6. PROJECT FRAMEWORK ................................................................................. 8
a. Goal ........................................................................................................... 9
b. Specific Objective #1: .............................................................................. 9
c. Specific Objective # 2 ............................................................................ 10
d. Specific Objective #3: ............................................................................ 11
7. PROJECT STRATEGIES ................................................................................. 12
a. Involvement of Men ............................................................................... 12
b. Networking ............................................................................................. 13
c. Rights Based Approach………………………………………………..15
d. Gender Based Programming and Participatory Approach ..................... 14
8. MONITORING AND EVALUATION ............................................................ 14
9. SUSTAINABILITY .......................................................................................... 15
10. BUDGET ......................................................................................................... 15
2
1. INTRODUCTION
Since September 2002, Cote d’Ivoire is experiencing a socio-political and military crisis
which is pushing the country among the poorest countries in Africa. After this civil war,
the country, owing to several donors through International Non Governmental
Organization has started its reconstruction. As often in developing countries the path out
of poverty for most vulnerable households and women requires economic frameworks
that address their exclusion from the economic mainstream and decision making
processes. This proposed project will seek to address this through Community Based
Micro-Finance specifically targeting the most vulnerable people, particularly women. It
will also focus on increasing their knowledge of their rights and responsibilities and assist
them in securing skills to access and participate in economic and decision-making
processes. Further, using CARE’s rights based approach, the project will raise awareness
of and support the community and political leaders to fulfil their responsibility towards
the most vulnerable groups as duty-holders. Last but not least, the project will build the
capacity of civil society (CSOs) and community based organisations (CBOs) to provide
more appropriate pro-poor services and to better represent their interests in various fora.
2. COTE D’IVOIRE BACKGROUND
Despite many positive steps towards reconstruction, Cote d’Ivoire is still grappling to
come to terms with its recent past. To promote development and reconstruction, the
Government of Cote d’Ivoire has embarked on a series of socioeconomic, justice and
political reforms. Yet, major problems still remain. With a total population of almost 18
millions, 55% of who are women and with a fertility rate of about 5%, children and
adolescents constituting to 45 % of Cote d’Ivoire’s population. Cote d’Ivoire has not been
spared by the HIV-AIDS epidemics either with a prevalence rate of 10%.
Cote d’Ivoire’s wealth is essentially earned from agriculture mainly coffee and cocoa
which price per kilogram has fallen at its lowest level since more than ten years. This
situation has lead to an increase of poverty in rural and semi rural areas of the country.
All of these figures show how vulnerable are the country’s inhabitants in both urban and
rural areas.
3. PROBLEM STATEMENT
a. Poverty
According to the results of participative research appraisals carried out from October
2004 to April 2006, through three CARE social cohesion projects, it appears clearly that
the majority of Ivorians consider poverty to be the major problem facing the country,
followed by HIV-AIDS, reconciliation, illiteracy, safe water and scarcity of land. Many
people live under extreme poverty, mainly due to the weak monetization of the rural
economy. It is estimated more than 30% of the people do not have access to clean
drinking water. The decline in coffee and cocoa selling price has been another major
setback for Cote d’Ivoire’s farmers, due to several factors: declining world market prices,
liberalization of coffee and cocoa policies.
3
b. Gender analysis
i. Gender from a traditional and cultural perspective
Gender roles in Cote d’Ivoire reflect the specific beliefs and expectations that many
African societies assign to women, men, boys and girls on the basis of their sex. The
traditional Ivorian society makes women and girls dependent on men with limited access
to and control over their own economic resources or assets. Women’s social status rests
above all on their ability to procreate, as children constitute the principal source of wealth
and pride. Girls are valued based on their aptitude to perform domestic work and become
« model wives » and their dowry or bride price, paid to the bride’s family, is negotiated
based on their ability and her alleged capacity to produce children. This tradition is the
main cause of early marriages in rural areas all around the country. Mothers are too often
guardians of these practices and continue to perpetuate them. These deeply set cultural
and traditional beliefs against women’s right as human being, have also had an influence
on the political system and were reflected in old policies and laws.
ii. An enabling legal and political environment
Cote d’Ivoire had signed the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women. In addition, since 1990, there is a strong political will
and commitment to mainstream gender equality into national development efforts. As a
result, a Ministry in charge of Women was created and the Ivorian Women
Parliamentarians Association was created. The new Constitution voted in 2000 stipulates
equality between men and women. This political will to reduce gender gaps in Cote
d’Ivoire has materialized profoundly in the education sector where major progress has
been made in the enrollment of girls. The 2002/2003 academic year figures show that the
number of boys in primary schools is almost equivalent to the number of girls. But in the
rural areas, the number of girls attending schools is always inferior to the number of
boys. As for secondary education, the gender gap has also significantly reduced. The gap,
however, still remains high at higher and university education institutions with women
representing between 30% and 40% of all registered students in the current academic
year.
iii. The real picture of gender in Cote d’Ivoire today
Despite the above mentioned commendable efforts, the situation of the majority of
Ivorian women remains extremely precarious. While girls and women’s rights are
recognized in Cote d’Ivoire, socio-cultural norms and traditions are so pervasive that the
reality is all too often one of physical abuse, exploitation, voicelessness and second class
citizenship, above all in rural areas.
Though there are indeed increasing numbers of women getting involved and playing lead
roles in decision making bodies at central level, women’s participation in rural areas
remains very limited, despite the potential offered by the new decentralization policy.
4
Also, women were particularly targeted during the civil war in Cote d’Ivoire and suffered
many atrocities. Although the exact number of survivors of sexual and gender violence
(SGV) committed between September 2002 and November 2004 is not known, it is
thought that several women were raped. In addition, sexual violence, including domestic
violence, early marriages (…) remain rampant. As a result, HIV/AIDS prevalence among
females reaches 10% as opposed to 7% among males. Moreover, it is shown that the
main cause of violence against women is poverty, which is the main source of disputes
between men and women.
60% of the population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture and most of the
agricultural labor is carried out by women. They are in majority responsible of food
production, domestic food storage, food processing, animal husbandry and agricultural
marketing. Yet, majority of the rural women depend on subsistence farming, and thus live
below the poverty line. They lack agricultural training and marketing skills. They have
little or no access to inputs and services, including credit and extension services that
would improve their productivity and adapt their livelihood strategies to changing
environmental and social conditions. Many export-crop marketing cooperatives limit
membership to household heads, thereby excluding most married and unmarried women.
Poor households, and certainly women headed households, are currently totally excluded
from accessing credit as they don’t have any property to offer as collateral, to meet the
conditions of existing credit services. As a drawback, in communities subjected to hard
climatic conditions, poorer households with limited to no food stocks, assets and savings,
are very vulnerable to shocks, such as periods of drought, too much rainfall or epidemics.
This often results in families breaking up as children are sent to look for jobs and money
in Cote d’Ivoire’s major cities or in coffee and cocoa plantations.
Considering that women are the pillars of Cote d’Ivoire’s social reconstruction and have
a very important role to play in the country’s economic development, one understands the
importance of facilitating their access to diversified income sources.
4. CAPACITY STATEMENT
a. Experience and Core Strategy in Cote d’Ivoire
CARE commenced programming in Cote d’Ivoire in 2002 and is duly registered under a
governmental ratified agreement which provides all duty and customs exemptions. From
2002 up to now, CARE has engaged in numerous multi sectoral rehabilitation and
development projects in the northern central and western regions of the country assisting
thousands of beneficiaries. Capacity building of civil society in conflicts resolution, food
distribution, urban sanitation and HIV/AIDS prevention, and care and emergency
assistance are the major activities conducted.
CARE Cote d’Ivoire is planning to orient its programs towards multi-sectoral
rehabilitation and development, based on the household livelihood security approach
improved with the rights-based approach (RBA) which believes that all human beings
have a right to basic conditions that support their efforts to live in peace and dignity and
to develop their full potential as human beings. CARE works with communities, in
5
partnership with non-governmental civil society organizations (CSOs) and with the
government, in order to help communities overcome the causes of poverty, to achieve
positive and lasting changes and to live with dignity.
b. CARE’s Experience in Community-Based Micro-Finance (CBMF)
CARE has about 15 years in Africa (Niger, Mali, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, South
Africa, etc.), in Community Based Micro-Finance. CARE has chosen to develop microfinance programs because the core of such programs goes beyond mere access to and
distribution of money to deeper issues such as developing networks and links between
individuals and between them and existing networks. It is important to understand that
micro-finance does not standalone but that it is instrumental to social cohesion and
community development in general. The potential of the micro-finance programs to bring
the community together is considered as vital for the reconstruction of the society in post
conflict Cote d’Ivoire.
The VS&L (Village Savings and Loans) model was adopted by CARE Cote d’Ivoire
during the fiscal year 2006. The VS&L model is expected to help overcome the obstacles
encountered by the poorest people to access external credit, due to the absence of
property or capital to be given as a guarantee to the micro-finance institution. By
stimulating peer-solidarity based weekly savings, participants start saving money
amongst themselves resulting in the creation of a capital which then can be used for
income generating activities and at a later stage, apply for external credits. Participants
have to undergo a very intensive training from CARE and local partners during a period
of six (6) to ten (10) weeks. At a practical level, VS&L groups work as follows:






Savings and Loan Groups (SLGs) are formed on the basis of shared economic interest
and group solidarity. Membership ranges from 25-30, sometimes single sex, sometimes
mixed;
Each group has a management committee composed of a president, treasurer, secretary,
three key keepers and two financial controllers;
Each group determines its own meeting schedule, but at least two one-hour meetings per
month are recommended;
The amount of weekly savings is agreed by the SLG members. Variations to suit the
situation of individual members may be appropriate;
Loans are then be granted to group members, usually for 2-3 months at an interest rate of
10-15% per month, although each group determines its loan terms;
Most groups also have a social or emergency fund through which members can access
interest-free loans to respond to crises they face (such as funeral costs, medical care,
scholar fees, etc.).
VS&L has a proven track record as an engine of economic development and social
solidarity for poor communities. Tangibly speaking, the results of nearly five years of
implementing VS&L across Rwanda through the CLASSE Project speak for themselves
(see below).
6
VS&L – Cumulative Results in Rwanda since 2000







Number of participants
% of women
Number of SL groups
Average individual weekly savings
Total value of all SLG savings
Total value of all SLG loans
Reimbursement rate
22,992
60.0
1295
$0.16
$149,732
$190,896
93%
As the above table shows, CARE has specifically targeted women through its
Community Based Micro-Finance programs. These small savings and loan groups are
powerful vehicles for addressing many diverse but larger social issues including but not
limited to - women’s social status and empowerment.
c. CARE’s Experience in Working with Women
While women have always been active participants in most CARE International
programs, CARE Cote d’Ivoire has not yet systematically tried to focus on gender in its
programs and evaluate the effect of its interventions on bridging gender gaps. However,
according to the CO’s FY06 Annual Operating Plan and in prevision of its long range
strategic planning, CARE Cote d’Ivoire plans to have Gender as a priority area and
efforts to incorporate gender as a cross-cutting issue in its programming are now under
way. Though the majority of CARE staff and partners are yet to be trained, programs,
budgets and M&E plans have to be slowly gender mainstreamed. For example, in the
Design, Monitoring and Evaluation plans, the indicators are disaggregated based on
gender - between men and women - to ensure sufficient women’s participation in
programs and to gain a better understanding of the program’s impact on gender equity
between men and women. The rights-based approach is another instrument that is
currently being adapted to mainstream gender within CARE programs in Cote d’Ivoire as
more emphasis is being put on women’s rights.
Preliminary results drawn from evaluations of various programs in Africa indicate the
following impact:
-
-
-
CBMF can effectively and cost-efficiently reach the rural women/poor in large
numbers where formal financial institutions have not been able to make a
headway;
CBMF helps women build their financial and economic security through ‘savings’
(which are assets), rather than just through loans (which is a liability, and can be a
burdensome debt) and therefore can serve as women’s means to gain financial and
economic independence within the household and the community;
At household level, CBMF contributes to household members’ readjustment of
attitude and practices towards women, to the diversification and expansion of
overall means of livelihood and increase the households’ ability to manage and
cope with financial shocks;
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-
-
-
CBMF helps build women’s social support network that promotes and supports
their empowerment and improves social cohesion;
CBMF promotes women’s formal and informal leadership role, outside the group,
in the community and local governance and changes women’s social and power
relational dynamics;
CBMF alters the perception of women by men in the community at large;
CBMF is appropriate for organic integration1 with a large variety of diverse sector
initiatives (Food security, HIV/AIDS/ Reproductive Health, Livelihood,
Education) and can therefore help reach many women;
CBMF has the potential to address women’s illiteracy and its effect on their
ability to manage group records (verbally or written);
CBMF strengthens women’s role in micro economy (number of micro businesses,
asset ownership, overall investment/ wealth in the economy);
At policy level, CBMF has the potential to bring about changes in terms of:
o Accommodation within policy environment to recognize, regulate and
experiment with the approach;
o Recognition and visibility of rural poor, especially women, as legitimate
and important clients of micro-finance services;
o Banking institutions’ attitude and policies to service rural poor women.
5. RATIONALE FOR PROGRAM LOCATION AND SELECTION OF PROGRAM
PARTICIPANTS
CARE Cote d’Ivoire usually works in the capital city Abidjan and in the provinces of
Bouake, Korhogo, Man and Yamoussoukro through its Health and Reconstruction
projects. Theses sites have been identified as the VS&L program focus areas. The main
selection criterion is the vulnerability of the people living in the northern, central and
western areas and also the increasing poverty in these provinces located in the rebels
controlled lands. The program will not work in the entire Provinces but will focus on
areas with the highest interest for social cohesion, HIV/AIDS prevention and care etc. In
these areas, women who are often the most vulnerable and at risk people will be targeted.
This program will use a specific approach; it will focus, as much as possible, on existing
CBOs and NGOs of women. In addition, CARE has sufficient experience in these
provinces since it already has existing programs and offices in each of them.
6. PROJECT FRAMEWORK
This section shall be further developed following the participatory planning exercise that
will be conducted prior to starting the program. A detailed implementation plan,
including detailed activities and process indicators will then be produced.
1
CARE country office programs in Niger, Mali and Rwanda have adopted the approach as an integral part
of their community mobilization strategy across projects.
8
a. Goal
To improve the socio-economic conditions of 4,000 poor people, 80% of whom are
women, through increased access to economic opportunities and participation in
decision-making process, both at household and community level.
Expected outcome
-
Increased ability of program participants to help their spouses meet basic needs
(food security, education for children and access to health care);
Changed perception of women by men in the household and in the community at
large;
Increased capacity of poor people, including women, to influence decisions that
concern them both at household and community level.
Outcome Indicators (all indicators will be disaggregated by sex):
-
-
At least 80 % of participants have increased their expenditure/consumption in
food, health and education by a minimum of 10%;
At least 80% of participants have increased their savings and/or assets by 20%
and are able to better respond to financial shocks affecting the household (disease,
poor harvest, etc);
At least 60% of women participants report being perceived and treated with more
respect by their husband at home and/or by men in the community;
Number of new pro-poor and pro-women initiatives in program area.
b. Specific Objective #1:
To increase access of at least 4,000 most vulnerable people, of whom 80% are women, to
economic opportunities.
Expected Output
-
Increased access of poor people, majority women, to community-based microfinance services;
Improved access to market/outlets information;
Improved knowledge and skills of participants in managing micro-finance
projects and in business skills development;
Target Output indicators
-
At least 4,000 participants, 80% women, access IGAs, loans and credits through
internal community-based micro-finance services;
9
-
-
30 % participants using new markets/networks to distribute their
goods/production;
At least 95% of participants have significantly improved their knowledge and
skills in micro-finance and business skills development as measured by (needs to
be defined)
At least 90% reimbursement rates for each type of economic support (IGA, loans
and credits).
Activities
-
Participatory mapping of vulnerable people together with existing associations
among the project focused areas ;
Mobilization and sensitization of identified potential program participants as
result of mapping;
Base line survey on the socioeconomic situation of program participants;
Organization of program participants in savings and loan groups;
Identification of the participants training needs in the field of micro-finance
projects management;
Design and/or adaptation of training curricula based on above findings ;
Training of program participants in the management of micro-finance projects and
any other relevant identified topics;
Facilitate the creation of umbrella organizations in each region strengthen and
provide ongoing support and to existing ones;
Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of participants access to micro-finance
services, reimbursement rates and compliance to conditions of service providers.
c. Specific Objective # 2
Increase participation and inclusion of women in decision making processes at both
household and community levels;
Expected Outputs:
-
Improved knowledge of women participants of human rights and responsibilities
and increased advocacy skills;
-
Increased capacity of women to exercise control over assets and resources in the
household;
-
Increased community and political leaders' knowledge, capacities and leadership
skills to listen and respond to the most vulnerable peoples, particularly women,
priorities in development and human rights;
-
Increased access and participation of women in community development
processes.
10
Target Output Indicators:
-
At least 90% of women trained in human rights and responsibilities and advocacy
skills demonstrate an increased knowledge;
-
At least 50% increase in the level of knowledge, confidence and ability of women
to identify and express their human rights issues;
-
At least 60% of women have increased control over household assets and
resources;
-
At least 60% of women are satisfied about their increased capacity to influence
decision-making processes that concerns them outside the household.
Activities:
-
Assessment of women’s knowledge and communities awareness levels of
human rights and responsibilities, including gender;
-
Develop and implement training and awareness raising plans targeting
respectively women and key community and political leaders;
-
Stimulate and support awareness raising actions and initiatives by women,
partners, political and community leaders;
-
Facilitate cell and sector level ‘round tables’ and district and provincial
level town hall meetings on priority issues, particularly women’s,
identified by the community.
d. Specific Objective #3:
To strengthen the institutional and organizational capacity of local implementing
CBOs partner associations in order to improve their ability to better represent and
advocate for the interests of women.
Expected Outputs
-
Increased institutional capacity of CBOs in rights-based approach and advocacy
and gender;
-
Increased CBOs engagement in advocacy with local decision makers / authorities
to collectively find appropriate responses to unmet rights, particularly those of
poor people and women;
-
Increased organizational capacity of CBOs to effectively fulfill their mandate.
11
Target Output Indicators
-
At least 80% of partner organisations (CBOs) apply human rights and advocacy
techniques in their activities;
-
Existence and use of internal management tools by CBOs in at least 80% of
partner CBOs.
-
Actions taken by CBOs to advocate for the most vulnerable people’s, particularly
women’s, unmet rights and development issues have increased by 30%;
-
Actions initiated by CBOs that aim at engaging local decision makers in finding
appropriate responses to citizens’ unmet rights have increased by 30%.
Activities
-
Identification of partner CBOs;
-
In depth assessment of partner CBOs institutional and organizational capacity;
-
Design and implement capacity building plan for identified partner CBOs;
-
Ongoing support and technical assistance to partner CBOs to apply newly
acquired knowledge and tools;
-
Provide training and periodic advice, as needed, to strengthen/support Civil
Society networks and alliances standing up for vulnerable people's, particularly
women’s rights;
-
Create linkages and develop networking between CBOs themselves, between
them and community and political leaders and between them and other
institutions capable of helping them in fulfilling their mandate.
7. PROJECT STRATEGIES
a. Involvement of Men
Even though the program will concentrate on women with the objective of having 80% of
women participants, the program will also include men. As mentioned earlier,
Community Based Micro-Finance programs have the potential to advance equity in
relations between men and women. Therefore, having mixed groups is very important for
women’s self-confidence and for changing men’s perception of women. In fact,
experience has shown that women often have better reimbursement rates than men.
12
Micro-finance requires trust building among the various actors (community leaders,
borrowers, NGOs, other external and internal stakeholders), hence also between men and
women. It is therefore not only an important ingredient for good repayment and recovery
but it also contributes to bridging gender gaps.
b. Networking
The success of a micro-finance program also greatly depends on the degree of
networking incorporated in the program both within the community in which it operates
and with external agencies and institutions that can help its development. Networking is
therefore a major program strategy and shall take place at various levels. At an individual
level, the program will start by organizing people in savings and loans groups. At
community level, savings and loan groups will be connected to various CBOs. At an
institutional level, under objective three, the program will promote networking between
the different CBOs and between them and community and political leaders and with
external agencies that can support their work.
c. Rights Based Approach (RBA)
CARE International has been practising a rights-based approach (RBA) in its
programming since late 1990’s. A rights-based approach takes us beyond technical
analysis and solutions and shows that we have to tackle the policy, legal and sociocultural issues at the root of poverty, both to fulfil our commitment to advancing human
rights and to make major and lasting gains in poverty reduction. RBA also means that all
people with resources and power have responsibilities to those in poverty.
CARE’s RBA will be instrumental for the overall implementation of this project,
particularly for achieving specific objective 2, which focuses mainly on increasing
vulnerable people’s, particularly women’s, participation and inclusion in decision making
processes at both household and community levels. This will be achieved both by
increasing the knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of women themselves to assert
their interests/rights in policy and planning processes and also by raising awareness of
both community and political leaders on gender and support them in meeting their
responsibilities as duty-holders. This includes, facilitating information sharing,
institutionalised public debate on policy and planning, and accountability mechanisms.
In this specific project, RBA also means that benefits and harms analysis tools will be
applied to minimize any possible negative impact that maybe created by the project.
There is a need to have a thorough risk assessment and appropriate mitigation strategies
ready – As addressing gender inequality and promoting equitable access of and control of
resources might create conflicts at household and/or community level. Therefore, careful
attention will be paid to anticipating and mitigating these so that they are resolved or
managed peacefully.
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d. Gender Based Programming and Participatory Approach
Gender has been identified as one of the priority areas of work that CARE Cote d’Ivoire
should focus on to address the underlying causes of poverty. The strategy aims “to
redress economic and social inequality, CARE will strengthen analysis, work in alliances
and promote practical ways to address discrimination, marginalisation, gender inequality
and intolerance of diversity.”
In CARE Cote d’Ivoire, though gender has not yet been fully mainstreamed, it has been
identified as a cross-cutting theme that should be integrated, both organizationally and
programmatically. In keeping with this strategy, all staff of this project, at the beginning
of the programme, will receive a gender-specific training. Further, other key programme
and support staff will also be trained in gender. The Country Director and the Assistant
Country Director will also provide the necessary support towards this end.
Moreover, the project will strive to have at least 50% of women in the project staff
including in the senior positions. In order to achieve this, women will be encouraged to
apply and a positive discrimination strategy towards women will be applied during
selection and recruitment.
Participatory mechanisms will be developed to ensure inclusion and participation of
women project participants/clients during project design, implementation and monitoring
and evaluation, along with partners. Their participation is crucial in making a realistic
risk assessment of the project’s possible negative effects on women and in defining
mitigation strategies.
8. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
CARE Cote d’Ivoire’s rights-based design, monitoring and evaluation guidelines will be
central to this project’s monitoring and evaluation work as it provides guidance on how to
define and measure effect and impact-level indicators to know whether or not
interventions are making changes in people’s lives. These will be the basis for
developing a functional and participatory monitoring and evaluation system that
encourages self-assessment, innovation and flexibility, active reflection, learning,
planning and good decision-making.
Project monitoring will be carried out jointly with partner CBOs, communities and
participants throughout the project implementation. Monitoring data will be used to
compile regular progress reports that will be submitted to EDU (CARE USA).
Key partner staff will be trained on monitoring and evaluation concepts and systems and
will be sensitized on the importance of M&E to program development. This will facilitate
systematic data collection and analysis and documentation of project achievements from
which lessons learnt will be drawn and incorporated in future program and policy
development.
A baseline study will be carried out at the project start-up in order to better define and set
the project targets and benchmarks. Baseline information will also be used to sharpen
14
outcome and output indicators, to render them more gender sensitive and for assessing
project achievements.
Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and tools will be used to collect project
monitoring data and indicators. Data collection tools will be developed in a participatory
manner with partner CBOs and program participants and regularly applied to collect
relevant quantitative and qualitative data.
Participatory annual reviews and reflections will be conducted jointly between CARE
Cote d’Ivoire, HQ EDU and the project partners to ensure that the project is being
implemented as planned and that original assumptions are still valid. A Monitoring and
Evaluation Officer will be appointed to facilitate this activity, to oversee and provide
technical assistance in all the other M&E related activities within this program.
Adjustments or adaptation of the project approaches and methodologies will be made
based on the feedback received through monitoring information, especially with regard to
challenges and identified areas for improvement.
9. SUSTAINABILITY
There are several strategies used in the program that will contribute towards its
sustainability. First, the program will be highly participative both at the level of the
participants (men and women will be enrolled in the Community Based Micro-Finance
scheme) and at the level of program partner CBOs. Second, the development and
implementation of the micro-finance component of the program is facilitated by
organizational and operational systems that are set up as part of the program. They
include a mandatory training of program participants in systems of operations to manage
the micro-finance program.
Objective three focuses on building institutional and organizational capacity of partner
CBOs. This contributes to the program’s sustainability.
10. BUDGET
See Next page for the budget table
LINE ITEM
ITEMS
UNITS
UNIT
COST
5 YEARS
USD
15
USD
1. International Staff
Country Director (5% time)
0.05
60 months
6,500
19,500
Sector Coordinator (15%)
0.15
60 months
6,500
58,500
Sub- Total International Staff
138,000
2. National Staff
Finance & Admin Director (10% 0.10
time)
60 months
1,200
21,600
Project Coordinator
1
60 months
1,000
60,000
Technical Coordinator
4
60 months
600
216,000
Driver
1
60 months
300
18,000
M&E Officer
Sub-Total National Staff
1
60 months
600
36,000
351,600
2
6 days
1,200
14,400
10
240 days
30
72,000
86,400
4. Transport
4x4 Vehicle purchase
1
1 unit
36,000
36,000
Vehicle running costs
1
60 months
500
30,000
Motorbike purchase
2
1 lump sum
3,500
14,000
Motorbike running cost
Sub-Total Transport
2
60 months
100
42,000
122,000
5. Operating
Rent office space Abidjan (10%)
0.1
60 months
2,200
13,200
Consumables (office supplies etc.)
1
60 months
800
48,000
3. Travel
International
Local Travel
Sub-Total Travel
16
Furniture
Office rent
1
1
60 lump sum
60 lump sum
300
1,000
18,000
60,000
Computers laptop
Sub-Total Office
2
1 lump sum
50,000
40,000
179,200
1
15 per day
100
1,500
(HQ 1
30 per day
350
10,500
1
15 per day
250
3,750
conflict 2
15 per day
100
3,000
7. Consultants
Baseline, KAP studies
Annual
EDU)
technical
review
EOP Evaluation
Natural
resource
management
Other consultants
1
1 lump sum
6,400
6,400
Auditors
Sub-Total Consultants
1
3 lump sum
2,500
7,500
32,650
8. Materials and Equipment
CBOs & NGOs equipment
1
60 lump sum
500
30,000
Visibility event
1
1 NGO/CBO
30,000
30,000
36
72,727
Saving/preparedness groups IEC 1
materials and equipment
2000
Intambwe
kits
Sub-Total Equipment
9. Credit Fund
Credit Fund
Sub-Total Credit Fund
TOTAL COSTS
CARE Support Costs (10%)
GRAND TOTAL
132,727
1
1 lump sum
400,000
400,000
400,000
1,818,156
181,816
1,999,971
17