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INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 ABIDJAN 000182 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KWMN PHUM AID IV
SUBJECT: Cote d'Ivoire: S/GWI Project Proposals 
 
¶1.  (U)  Embassy Abidjan is pleased to submit two funding requests 
for consideration by the Secretary's Office of Global Women's 
Issues' Small Grants Initiative.  Post's first choice is a project 
submitted by an Ivoirian NGO, the Feminine Center for Democracy and 
Human Rights (CEFCI).  CEFCI plans to implement a 12 month 
education initiative for women and girls in 21 rural villages in 
northern Cote d'Ivoire, where 78% of girls do not attend school. 
Post's second choice project is a submission from Search for Common 
Ground, an international NGO, which proposes combating GBV in four 
cities particularly susceptible to human rights violations. 
 
 
 
PROJECT #1 : EMPOWERING WOMEN AND GIRLS THROUGH EDUCATION IN 
ODIENNE, TAFIRE, AND NIAKARA 
 
IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Feminine Center for Democracy and Human 
Rights (CEFCI) 
 
 
 
CONTEXT 
 
¶2.  (U)  A 2006 study showed that 49% of girls living in Cote 
d'Ivoire had no formal schooling.  Even fewer girls attended school 
in rural areas of the country, particularly in the north, where 78% 
of girls did not attend school.  In these poor communities, the 
education of girls is not only a low priority, but violence against 
women is also widespread and commonplace: female genital mutilation 
is widely practiced, and spousal abuse and polygamy are culturally 
accepted. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U)  High poverty rates in the north ensure that even if 
families have the means to send a child to school, boys are favored 
over girls.  Without any formal schooling, girls learn from an 
early age that abusive treatment towards women is the norm. 
Additionally, girls lacking an education are particularly 
vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, trafficking, 
violence, and abuse. 
 
 
 
PROJECT PROPOSAL 
 
¶4.  (U)  The CEFCI project would work in 21 rural villages in 
northern Cote d'Ivoire for a period of one year and use a 
three-pronged strategy.  First, CEFCI will conduct awareness 
campaigns in the 21 villages, which will include discussions with 
community leaders and parents on the importance of education and 
sending girls to school.  CEFCI plans to follow up these 
discussions and awareness campaigns with the distribution of school 
kits to those parents who cannot afford them for their daughters. 
The second part of the project involves teaching adult women in the 
village to read and helping them to form cooperatives and women's 
support networks.  The third part of the project involves a general 
education campaign for each village, which will focus on how 
communities can combat violence against women and, through these 
efforts, prevent HIV/AIDS.  This will be done through training 
women leaders in each community and through media programming, 
which will reinforce anti-SGBV messages through local proximity 
radios. 
 
 
 
At the end of the project, CEFCI expects the following results: 
 
????         300 women learn how to read 
 
????         105 families send their daughters to school 
 
????         315 school kits are distributed to needy families 
 
????         Female community leaders in each village are trained to 
set up women's support networks 
 
????         5000 booklets on preventing sexual and gender-based 
violence are distributed to communities 
 
????         44 radio programs are aired on local stations 
 
????         126 girls already in school are given material support 
 
????         Creation of a community information center in the CEFCI 
Niakara Office 
 
ABIDJAN 00000182  002 OF 009 
 
 
CEFCI plans to measure its results through: 
 
????         increases in girls' attendance rate at schools 
 
????         increases in women's literacy rate 
 
????         decreases in incidents of violence against women and 
girls 
 
????         decreases in unwanted pregnancies by school age girls 
 
????         decreases in incidence of HIV/AIDS 
 
 
 
BUDGET 
 
¶5.  (U)  CEFCI's proposed budget includes the following: 
 
????         Awareness campaigns (materials, press, etc): $5,540 
 
????         Adult literacy program (materials, teacher per diems, 
transport, radio programming): $35,170 
 
????         Community leadership training sessions, establishment of 
women's networks: $7,960 
 
????         Set-up of community information center (fax, computer, 
video projector, printer, camera, etc): $7,480 
 
????         Distribution of school kits (includes materials, 
transport of kits - car rental, gas, etc): $15,200 
 
????         Research on program set-up, production of documents (car 
rental, printing of brochures, booklets): $11,700 
 
????         Administrative costs: $ 11,198 
 
????         Cushion for unforeseen costs: $1,000 
 
Total Budget: $95,248 
 
 
 
ABOUT CEFCI 
 
¶6. (U)  CEFCI was created by a group of young Ivoirian women in 
2003 to respond to serious violations of women's rights committed 
during the 2002 crisis in Cote d'Ivoire.  The organization's 
objective is to support women in their daily struggle for democracy 
and human rights and against poverty through programs which build 
capacity and empower women.  CEFCI is headquartered in Abidjan, 
with two sub offices in Odienne and Niakara (both cities are in 
poor northern regions).  A staff of ten people work at each of the 
three offices. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U)  CEFCI has successfully conducted projects in the past with 
the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy 
(NED).  In 2008-2009, NED supported a CEFCI program designed to 
increase women's participation in the electoral process, including 
educating women on how to vote and the importance of participating 
in the nationwide identification and voter registration process. 
CEFCI has also received NED funding to advocate for a more 
reflective representation of women in government and politics.  For 
this project, CEFCI plans to partner with the United Nations 
Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI).  It has longstanding 
relationships with the ONUCI Human Rights Office, as well as 
ONUCI-FM and Search for Common Ground. 
 
 
 
POST MANAGEMENT 
 
¶8.  (U)  The CEFCI grant will be directly managed by post's 
full-time Self-Help and DHRF Coordinator, with support from the 
Political Officer, who has grants training and warrant authority at 
post.  The Coordinator will meet with CEFCI before the project is 
launched and will continue to keep in close contact as the project 
progresses over the year.  To ensure proper management and 
expenditure of U.S. funds, CEFCI will be required to submit 
quarterly financial and progress reports, which will be verified by 
the Coordinator through site visits.  Officers from the 
Political/Economic Section and/or the Ambassador or DCM will also 
visit this project to help gain greater visibility and awareness 
for CEFCI's efforts. 
 
 
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ABIDJAN 00000182  005 OF 009 
 
 
looking at the practices in childhood that contribute to these 
problems.  Issues that will be explored include preferential 
treatment of boys in terms of schooling and domestic labor, sexual 
exploitation in schools, child rape, and early marriage. The 15 
programs will be produced and aired on 35 stations for 225 minutes 
of original content and 7,875 minutes of total airtime. 
 
 
 
The project has three primary desired outcomes: 
 
????         Key community members, including victims of rape, are 
carrying out advocacy campaigns and other initiatives to address 
SGBV and other violations against women; 
 
????         Community capacity and networks to respond to SGBV and 
other crimes against women are strengthened in the targeted 
locations; and 
 
????         Awareness of SGBV against women and girls as a crime and 
a problem to be addressed in communities is increased at the 
national level. 
 
 
 
¶14.  (U)  Performance monitoring on these outcomes will be driven 
by the group initially agreeing on the desired outcomes and 
committing to their achievement at each location.  Follow up with 
the project participants and site visits will be taken by a team 
that will include representatives of the Ministry of Gender and 
Social Affairs based in the target areas.  The project team will 
track how many of the training and dialogue exchange session 
participants carry out in subsequent advocacy actions, and meet 
with community residents to assess the value and results of those 
efforts.  The project team will regularly meet with the 
participants to discuss how successful they think they have been in 
raising awareness and decreasing tolerance of SGBV within their 
communities, as well as the challenges they have faced in their 
work.  The project team will help them strategize about addressing 
these challenges, and support them as they develop new initiatives. 
These assessments will be validated with interviews with 
authorities, victims' representatives, and other stakeholders on 
SGBV issues.  On the radio programming side, SFCG will conduct 
focus groups in the four target locations to gage whether listeners 
have changes in knowledge, attitudes, or behavior after listening 
to the programs.  SFCG also periodically carries out listener 
surveys, which will supplement the qualitative information gathered 
with quantitative data. 
 
 
 
Specific outcome indicators that will be used are: 
 
????         Number of advocacy initiatives implemented by project 
participants; 
 
????         Qualitative assessment of the effectiveness of those 
actions; and 
 
????         Demonstration of increased knowledge and improved 
attitudes around SGBV by radio program listeners. 
 
 BUDGET 
 
 
 
Expenses category 
 
Allocation 
 
# of Units 
 
Unit 
 
Unit Cost 
 
Total 
 
Personnel 
 
                $           22,741 
 
Country Director 
 
3% 
 
18 
 
months 
 
 
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ABIDJAN 00000182  008 OF 009 
 
 
dialogues 
 
 $                400 
 
 $             3,200 
 
Meeting and Conferences Costs - EEA production 
 
20% 
 
36 
 
meetings 
 
 $                360 
 
 $             2,592 
 
Other Direct Costs 
 
 
 
 $          25,950 
 
Project Logistics and Operational Costs 
 
15% 
 
18 
 
months 
 
 $             3,500 
 
 $             9,450 
 
Partner support 
 
100% 
 
4 
 
partners 
 
 $             3,000 
 
 $          12,000 
 
Distribution and Airtime Support for National Radio Programs 
 
100% 
 
1 
 
Lump sum 
 
 $             1,500 
 
 $             1,500 
 
Monitoring & Evaluation 
 
100% 
 
1 
 
project 
 
$              3,000 
 
 $             3,000 
 
Subtotal Direct Expenses 
 
 
 
 $          74,688 
 
NICRA 
 
28.63% 
 
1 
 
project 
 
 $          74,688 
 
ABIDJAN 00000182  009 OF 009 
 
 
$          21,383 
 
Total cost 
 
 
 
 $          96,072 
 
 
 
ABOUT SFCG 
 
¶15.  (U)  Founded in 1982, SFCG works in more than 20 countries 
around the world to build sustainable peace. SFCG is operational in 
nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, beginning in Burundi in 1995 
and opening its office in Cote d'Ivoire in 2005 as part of its West 
Africa regional strategy.  Since the launch of the Cote d'Ivoire, 
SFCG has been working with different stakeholders-including 
community leaders, Liberian refugees, Ivoirian internally displaced 
people, women, youth, radio stations, and national government 
officials-to address a variety of issues related to the resolution 
of the country's crisis and its return to sustainable peace. 
Throughout its work, SFCG has identified women as a critical target 
group, recognizing the role that they play as peace builders within 
their families and communities, as well as understanding the 
obstacles that stand in the way of their full participation as 
citizens. 
 
 
 
POST MANAGEMENT 
 
¶16.  (U)  The SFCG grant will be directly managed by post's 
full-time Self-Help and DHRF Coordinator, with support from the 
Political Officer, who has grants training and warrant authority at 
post.   The Coordinator will meet with SFCG before the project is 
launched and will continue to keep in close contact as the project 
progresses over the year.   To ensure proper management and 
expenditure of U.S. funds, SFCG will be required to submit 
quarterly financial and progress reports, which will be verified by 
the Coordinator through site visits.   American officers in the 
political/economic section and/ or the Ambassador or DCM will also 
visit this project to help gain greater visibility and awareness 
for SFCG's efforts. 
NESBITT