Assessing progress on participation of women in settlements development

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends promoting research on women's programmes and evaluating progress made with a view to identifying bottlenecks and necessary assistance.

It was reported by Habitat (UNCHS) in 1995 that in Tanzania a group of women from both Dar es Salaam and Dodoma implemented their own survey in order to measure women's participation vis-a-vis men within human settlements. With the support of the NGO, Women Advancement Trust, they have used the survey to negotiate with local authorities. Similarly, in Zambia, women realized that they were the ones doing all the community work, especially fixing roads and communal water sources. They decided to remedy the situation by involving the men in the manual work as well as ensuring that women were represented in the community council. In Uganda, the women have been demanding that men be involved in community building. They also demanded training for women in construction skills and the recycling of waste.