Extent to which national development plans take into account the contribution of women

Abstract

Women in Africa constitute about 50.31 percent of the total population and 22.87 percent of the economically active population, while 42*5 percent of economically active women are to-be found in the agriculture sector. During the United Nations Development Decade the United Nations and particularly the African Training and Research Centre for Women (ATRCW), recognizing that the effort to involve women in development activities necessarily (in the light of the socioeconomic and political conditions Africa has to contend with) entails the definition or" clear development strategies which take into account the contribution of women to socio-economic life, the establishment of structures and mechanisms for promoting and following up this contribution of women, and, finally, the release and mobilization of financial resources and the training of the human resources required. ATRCW, then, made considerable efforts to assist member States in establishing or strengthening national mechanisms for women, and in designing projects and programmes whose medium-term objective was to increase the contribution of women to national development efforts. Much indeed still remains to be done, but the essential thing was to make a start, and that is the note of hope for tomorrow.