Women in Development (WID) Strategy: Comprehensive Management Training Programme

Description

The project aims at implementing the Egyptian Government’s strategy for natural resource management in dryland areas. The main objectives of the project are:

• to conserve the water, land and vegetation resources in the project area; and
• to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of life of the local Bedouin population by providing support for improved natural resource management practices, coupled with agricultural and non-agricultural development.

This would be accomplished by utilizing the existing tribal structure and encouraging maximum participation of the local population.

The project was a pioneering effort for the Government of Egypt, being the first integrated natural resource management project involving local tribal populations in rain-fed areas. Similarly, it was one of the first efforts for the World Bank in the region focusing on key environmental and sustainability issues with strong community participation.

Project components consisted of:

• Water harvesting and watershed management
• Rangeland and grazing management
• Adaptive research
• Extension and training
• Rural finance
• Project coordination unit (PCU)

NSCE has designed and developed a comprehensive management-training program to improve the managerial and operational aspects of Women in Development Unit (WDU) within the “Women in Development Strategy” sub-project. The project is a World Bank-funded scheme executed by the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation with the technical assistance of ICARDA. It aims at developing the capacity of targeted project staff to identify and address the gender issues in the resource management of Matrouh area and to define and operationalize a relevant strategy and action plan.

Services

NSCE carried out a needs assessment of gender issues pertaining the overall objectives, structure and work plan of the project. Subsequently, NSCE conducted a training need assessment of the staff of the WID unit and sub-departments at central and district levels. As a result, a complete result oriented training in gender sensitive planning; management, monitoring, reporting, and structuring means of the unit plan of actions were formulated and delivered. In addition, our team provided regular coaching and follow-up of the training impact throughout the year to monitor the operationalization of the action plan and the gender mainstreaming performance of the project within the natural and human resources development scheme of activities.