Women-led Empowerment - Catalyzing Actions and Responsibilities for Equality

Belle Colline is a rural community development model tested in Burundi that seeks to empower women and girls, eradicate gender-based violence and promote economic opportunities. WE-CARE is extending this model to emphasize recognizing, redistributing and reducing unpaid care work by engaging men in care work, supporting local women’s associations, and community action planning.

Gender norms reinforce inequalities

Women and girls in Burundi do a disproportionate share of unpaid care work, which restricts their access to education and professional opportunities, reinforces harmful social norms and contributes to women’s economic dependence. Cultural attitudes discourage men from taking on domestic tasks, perpetuating a cycle that hinders women’s social and economic progress. Burundi has gender-specific policies that focus on peace, security and economic empowerment. However, these overlook the issue of unequal distribution of care work and the need to involve men.

Supporting collective action

WE-CARE is expanding the Belle Colline model to eight villages, which involves empowering local associations and women’s groups to lead development efforts and reduce gender inequality. A coalition of development practitioners, researchers, women’s rights organizations and the Ministry of Gender are working with community groups to build their collective capacity, involve community members in gender transformative training, engage men in care work, and community action planning. Women’s groups are determining which care priorities to address in their communities and advocating for these to be included in community development plans. The project team is working with key stakeholders, including village and district leaders, to ensure support and involvement in the project.