Project

Together against violence and discrimination of women

Grantee: Association des Femmes de Tadjourah

The objective of the project was to contribute to the elimination of violence and discrimination against women in 20 communes of Djibouti’s Tadjourah region. This was to be achieved through awareness raising and mobilisation of the local population; and by building the personal capacities of local actors and structures, followed by the creation of 20 local vigilance groups in the targeted communes. There was, however, a fundamental flaw in the design of the project that reflected a mismatch between the problem identified and the responses chosen.
The grantee’s research identified the principal cause of violence against women as patriarchal attitudes and behaviours that relegate women to an inferior status in the couple, the community and the nation. A weak legal framework to support action to end violence, and weak implementation of existing clauses in the Constitution that promise gender equality were also found. The project did not address these causes but focused on raising the awareness of women, potentially putting them at risk of reprisals.

Read Report
French

Lessons from Project

Explore More Lessons

💡

The project appeared to be effective, but only because the target indicators were quantitative and not qualitative. For example, the project achieved the indicator of training and installing 20 local vigilance groups in the 20 target sites, however evaluators found that the functioning of these groups was not likely to contribute to the project’s objectives.

French Read Report

💡

The evaluators expressed concern that the local vigilance groups’ members were all volunteers and that this might affect the longer-term operations of the groups in Djibouti. Interviews with group members suggested that some groups had continued to work while others had not – a result of the volunteer nature of the groups and a function of the commitment and energy of individual members.

French Read Report

💡

There was particular concern about the role of the local vigilance groups in Djibouti. While there was obvious enthusiasm and energy to improve understanding in the communities, especially from the female members of the groups, the male leaders’ responses to instances of violence perpetuated the community-negotiated outcomes that avoided reporting violence to the authorities and resulted in silencing women.

French Read Report

💡

Project materials contained messages that were in some cases discriminatory and not compatible with international norms. There was concern that the training materials misrepresented the concept of gender and that there was a generally poor understanding of the issue.

French Read Report

💡

The project design was faulty and unlikely to have a positive impact on the problem of sexual and gender based violence. There were in fact indications that the project had a negative effect. Women involved in activities, because of the ingrained patriarchal culture, were pressured to stay silent. In addition the repetition of messages underlining the dependent status of women, and the perpetuation of traditional responses to incidences of violence that deny the legal rights of the woman, for example – were likely to be negative.

French Read Report