In this article, Mrs. Olubunmi Fape outlines the significant events of her life. Born in Nigeria, Fape was greatly loved by her father who wanted to send her to school but lacked the means. She worked as a housemaid and tailor until her first marriage, which soon ended in her husband's death. Her life then became very difficult until she was introduced to the Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN). COWAN gave her a loan to produce garri, a popular staple food made from cassava. The income from this project allowed Fape to feed her family and to send her four children to college. She, in turn, introduced her neighbors to COWAN. Before her involvement with COWAN, Fape had a baby every year. COWAN introduced her to the advantages of child spacing and family planning, and she began dispensing information and contraceptives in her community. She has seen how family planning has helped her neighbors, and her income has gained her the respect of her husband who now seeks her input in family decision-making. Because of her involvement with COWAN, Fape was chosen to represent her community in Cairo in 1994. In 10 years, Fape's garri-making effort has evolved into a women's cooperative with six machines capable of large-scale production.
Over the last 20 years, the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) has developed a training program concerning gender policies and practices; it includes a curriculum, "Gender and Development," and a handbook, "Gender Equity: Concepts and Tools for Development." Gender training focuses on increasing individual awareness of gender issues and incorporating gender practices in programs. CEDPA has expanded its programs to include projects promoting increased decision-making power for women regarding their own lives. Family planning and reproductive health projects now include programs designed to increase "women's literacy, credit and income-generation opportunities, and participation in civil society and the political process." Projects address reproductive and human rights, land distribution, economic expansion, credit and savings, and violence against women. Youth programs focus on the changing nature of gender roles, the equal rights of women and girls, and the shared responsibility and mutual respect of the sexes. In the Better Life Options projects, youth of both sexes attend family life and sex education programs. The curriculum "Choose a Future" provides life skills training for young women; a version for young men will be provided in the future. Including men (community health workers and supervisors, educators, trainers, leaders, fathers, and husbands) in the CEDPA programs is essential for the empowerment of women.
The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) and the Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI) have developed a two-phase training program regarding gender issues for the association's midwives. The first phase focuses on the leadership, management, and advocacy skills necessary to articulate program needs and to take part in making decisions regarding family planning and reproductive health. The second phase concerns the integration of gender into project design. Proposals developed by the midwives include the following: 1) to improve counseling services for women in a district where 70% of the women using contraception do not decide for themselves which methods to use; 2) to reduce maternal mortality in a district where it has increased by 20% and where women have died while waiting for husbands or fathers-in-law to make the decision to bring them to hospitals; 3) to develop gender-sensitive materials concerning HIV/AIDS; and 4) to expand gender training to all levels of IBI, to provide follow-up technical support, and to integrate gender into the mission statement of the organization. Dr. Nafsiah Mboi (member of Parliament and vice chair of the Global Commission on Women's Health), Dr. Widyastuti Wibisana (director of community participation in the Ministry of Health), Dr. Kokila Vaidya (WHO Medical Officer), Carla Bianpoen (gender specialist with the World Bank), and Titi Sumbung (director of the Melati Foundation) helped to develop and to conduct the program. IBI, which has 65,000 members, provides family planning, reproductive health, and maternal and child health services throughout Indonesia.
When Chief Bisi Ogunleye was appointed Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture, the US-educated daughter of a tribal chief still believed that most Nigerian farmers were men. As she traveled throughout the country fulfilling her role, she met a group of women who wanted to start a palm oil and casaba processing plant but lacked the means to get a start-up loan. Chief Ogunleye's efforts to get officials to issue a loan were ridiculed, so she asked her husband to allow her to donate part of her salary to the women. With the $45 from the chief, the women began business and within 3 months had 6 times the original amount. This money was used to help other 6 other women's groups start businesses. By 1985, these efforts were so successful that the chief resigned her government job and founded the Country Women's Association of Nigeria, which has been successful in helping women because it realizes that the most important key to empowerment is having choices.
The discussion highlights the accomplishments of Phoebe Asiyo, who was an alumna of the first Women in Management (WIM) workshops of CEDPA Africa and a Member of Parliament from Western Kenya. Phoebe Asiyo was honored by over 100 guests at a CEDPA Africa Regional Office reception in Nairobi. CEDPA's president remarked that the Honorable Mrs. Asiyo had worked very hard on women's issues in her lifetime with enthusiasm, fresh ideas, and challenges to continue working with and for women. Mrs. Asiyo was elected to Parliament in 1992 as one of six other women after involvement in the Kenya campaign for democracy. Since independence, the number of women legislators has been the highest. Her legislative efforts were encouraged and sustained by involvement in the 1978 WIM workshop, after which she was elected to Parliament (1980). Between 1980 and 1988, there were only two women members: (Mrs. Asiyo and another). Between 1988 and 1992, Mrs. Asiyo served as ambassador to UNIFEM, the UN Development Fund for Women. Mrs. Asiyo considers that women's contribution to political life has been to provide the kind of leadership that empowers and enables the poor and grassroots communities to take control of their lives and their communities. Leaders in power are held accountable for their impact on an impoverished population, with new standards initiated by women. This type of leadership leads to long-term betterment in living conditions.
