AWD Report 2020
includes providing support to female entrepreneurs.539 Cameroon’s Country Programme for Decent Work 2014–2017 aims, under Priority 1, to increase decent employment opportunities and income-generating activities, particularly for women, young people and vulnerable groups.540 The objectives of São Tomé and Príncipe’s National Social Protection Strategy 2015 include eradicating extreme poverty in the country. Similarly, one of its main goals is promoting employability and access to safe and decent work for those outside of the labour market, including young persons, women and persons with disabilities.541 Because women tend to have low purchasing power and to lack access to credit, countries across the Central African region have carried out targeted initiatives. One important initiative has been granting microcredit to women to improve their economic status and create women-owned businesses. Burundi has created a microcredit fund and a platform to allow women to share their experiences on earning and saving money.542 In 2017, the rural microcredit fund reportedly created 32% more jobs for women.543 In 2011, Chad created a dedicated ministry responsible for the granting of microcredit to women and youth.544 Microcredit is granted to women who lack access to regular banking services to promote their economic development.545 In 2019, the relevant ministry in Chad had contracted eight microfinance institutions.546 As a result of targeted initiatives, DR Congo reported a rise in the share of female clients of microcredit institutions, with 49.8% women beneficiaries in 2015.547 In Gabon, the National Social Assistance Fund supported 200 women to carry out income-generating activities in 2016.548 Most Central African countries have introduced various policies and programmes that provide capacity-building and support to women’s income-generating activities. In Cameroon, the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family organises capacitybuilding for female entrepreneurs as well as training with woman on setting up and managing income-generating activities.549 In 2018, 27,750 women were trained.550 With a view to empowering women, several Central African countries have also implemented poverty reduction programmes. For example, Chad, in collaboration with the World Bank, has implemented the Safety Nets Program targeting poor households with pregnant women and children under the age of 15.551 The project, which began in 2016, provides households with a monthly sum of CFAF 15,000 (US$25) every two months and incomeearning opportunities for households in N’Djamena’s urban and peri-urban areas.552 Some of the Central African countries have implemented strategies
Figure 4 Central Africa: Firms with female participation in ownership (% of firms) Chad 13.1%
to ensure a more equitable distribution of national budgets. The
DR Congo 15.1%
2017–2021 Action Plan of the Burundian National Gender Policy
Congo Republic 31.8%
sensitises sector ministries on the involvement of gender units in sectoral planning and budgeting.553 In DR Congo, the National Strategy for Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting aims to address the burden of unpaid work on women.554 In 2019, Congo Republic reported the training of relevant departmental bodies on gender-sensitive budgeting in public finances, including monitoring budget allocations to gender.555
Gabon 33.1% Cameroon 39.7% Burundi 44.0% Central African Republic 53.3% No data available for Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe. Source: World Bank, Gender Statistics DataBank.
1.3. Challenges and Gaps While Central African countries have made progress in legal, policy and institutional reform concerning women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, challenges and gaps remain, leading to disparities between men and women. Across the region, poverty and lack of purchasing power among women remains a substantial barrier to economic equality. Although all Central African countries provide for paid leave for mothers, and many provide for some amount of paid leave for fathers, the work–family balance is unequal. Like in other regions, women in the Central African region are responsible for unpaid care work and childcare. In Chad, household chores and child care tend to be viewed as “women’s work.” In addition to this, rural women also
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