The focus of the toolkit on labour-saving methods to reduce the domestic, rather than the productive, workload is to refocus attention on this relatively hidden but persistent hindrance to IFAD’s drive for rural transformation.
Moreover, without redressing the disproportionate burden of domestic work on women, progress towards the global goals to end poverty, hunger, malnutrition, food insecurity and gender inequality will be seriously hampered. This is acknowledged in target 5.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which calls on governments and development actors to recognize and reduce unpaid domestic work, and redistribute responsibility for carrying it out.
This toolkit comprises a teaser, a How To Do note, and a Lessons Learned note on labour-saving technologies to reduce the domestic workload: why they are needed, what they are, the benefits involved, and how they can be integrated into IFAD-supported operations. The Lessons Learned note draws from a study about the labour-saving outcomes of IFAD water investments.
In addition, the toolkit includes a compendium on labour-saving technologies and innovations in East and Southern Africa, of relevance to women’s work at home and on the farm.
The toolkit is intended for country programme managers, design teams, project staff, development partners and the general public.
You can download this toolkit for free here.
