OCEAN
5.4. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THE WORKING FOR WATER PROJECT ON WOMEN EMPLOYEES
5.4.2 TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING
income, eat better food, buy clothes for themselves and their children and send them to school.
An assessment of women's participation in decision-making in the Project is another dimension of empowerment under consideration. As earlier pointed out in the organizational structure of the Project, only 21.4% of the area managers at the regional level are women and only 17% of the contractors are women.
Although the Project is not a 'women only' project, it was stated at its inception that it would employ women preferentially at all levels such that they constitute at least 60% of the workforce.-Thus in the administrative area, women are yet to be empowered to fully participate in decision-making in such a way that if they were to vote on gender issues in the Project, they would lose out as they form the minority.
training incorporates:
(i) awareness of the importance of water (ii) the need for water conservation , (iii) management skills
(iv) child-care facilities (v) HIV/AIDS awareness (vi) First aid (optional)
To this end, when new labourers are employed, they undergo induction course with their- respective contractors. During the training the aims and objectives of the Project are introduced and they are taught how to use the_ implements and chemicals for weed killing. When asked aboLit the degree df involvement of the women employees in the training, the Project leader said that all the women, including the nursing mothers, are involved in the training and that it is made a prerequisite. However, he reiterated that training on the First aid is not made compulsory for them.
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In order to enhance the training, lessen the burden on the nursing mothers and increase their productivity, a creche was built in the catchment area by the NGO and Welfare Societies to take care of the children. In addition, child welfare facilities are provided and the Project is fully responsible for taking care of the creche. The Project pays R4 per day per child during the training and during the working hours as an incentive. When the Project leader was asked to comment on the benefits of the training programme to the employees, he mentioned becoming knowledgeable in water conservation, equipped in the use of chemicals to kiU weeds and familiar with management of resources. He further stated that the training has helped in enhancing the empowerment of women in:
(i) having the dignity to work, earn salary, live better lives and send their kids to school.
(ii) getting opportunity for other businesses.
(iii) extracting firewood for home use, wood for building and poles for their houses from work sites.
(iv) training in First Aid, water conservation, use of chemicals to kill weeds.
(v) awareness and opportunity to talk with their kids and community members about HIV/AIDS and interventions.
(vi) acquiring managerial skill in budgeting, making choices and planning for their lives.
Participation in training course
Table 6: Women employees' participation in training programme Frequency %
Yes 7 28
No 18 72
Total 25 100
Table 6 shOws that seven (28%) of the women employees had attended the training programme organi~ed by the Project while sixteen have not yet attended
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the course. A further observation of the data collected reveals that five (71.4%) of the seven women employees who joined the Project in 1998 have attended the training course while two (33.3%) of the six women employees who started in 1999 were trained and none of those who started in 2000 has participated in the training. This might imply that the new labourers learnt on the job with the older ones or that they were informed on the use of the instruments and the chemicals
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on site as they started work. The women employees were asked about the importance of the skills they acquired during the training. They responded that they have knowledge about "the invasive alien plants and how much water they consume which eventually deprive us of water resources, ...killing of invasive alien plants, ...handling of the equipment and mixing of chemicals, ...conservation
and management of water resources for future use."
Furthermore, the women employees were asked whether or not the acquired skills would have helped them to become self-sufficient, especially after leaving the job. WE three in response said, "I will be able to go out and be a manager of scarce resources.... I will also be able to help in educating people on water conservation and apply the skills in my home and elsewhere, that is ensuring that our scarce resources do not go into extinction". WE 12 affirmed "Yes, I will be able to help in the ...conservation of scarce resources so that we can leave the future generation with something to live on". In addition, WE 14 stated, " I will be able to work confidently ytithout much supervision". Also, WE 10 expressed that
"I will be able to stant on my own and use available resources to make an improvement". However, WE one stated that although she-'had acquired some skills, she did not know how applicable the skills would be for future use in view of the fact that she was getting older. In addition, WE seven said that "...the skill may not neeessarily apply to what I want to do outside ...but I have gained the skiIJ of being able to manage resources and with the training, I am faster at doing the work effectively."
As much as capacity building in people is important, Garba (1999) in her study of Nigerian women on endogenous empowerment strategy stressed the need to rightly channel appropriate skills and capacities in people who actually need them. Although some of the women under study expressed that they had //
acquired some skills in budgeting, use of chemicals and water conserva~orv.1he research did not explore the transferability of the technical skills. However, two of the women have engaged themselves in petty trading after hours. Moreover, most of the women had earlier reiterated that they looked for work with the Project because of the desperate situations to relieve them of their financial predicament. This might sugg~st that income generation is the underpinning factor for their taking up the job.
5.4.3. POWER RELATIONS IN THE HOUSEHOLDS OF