Guidelines for the instructor:

The guidelines for the instructor explain the use of the course module in the training session. They list the material required and outline the timing and organization of the session.

COURSE PAPER: The course paper, for distribution to the trainees, describes various aspects of the participation of women in low-income housing projects. Each chapter corresponds to a separate phase of project execution and includes:

(1) a discussion of the reasons for women's participation;

(2) an outline of the constraints to women's participation's;

(3) a discussion of the implications of including or excluding women from participation in the project; and

(4) recommendations on how to ensure participation of women in project execution.

Case studies and examples showing women's participation in sites-and-services schemes and squatter-settlement upgrading projects are drawn from various parts of the world, with the intention of illustrating the diversity of cultural variations globally.

REFERENCES: All articles and books cited in the course paper are included in the list of references. The instructor should make a choice of publications and distribute them to the trainees.

This course module has been prepared as a general module for a training session on the role of women in the execution of sites-and-services schemes and squatter-settlement upgrading projects. The module provides a framework for the course, but it is the responsibility of the instructor to provide additional information and to adjust the course to local conditions.

Target group: Project staff (project managers, community development officers and other staff concerned with community participation).

Number of Participants: 10 - 20 persons

Duration: Three days (minimum)

Location: Easy access to a squatter settlement, a squatter settlement upgrading project or a sites-and services scheme is desirable.

Equipment: Blackboard and, if possible, film projector or video equipment.

Films: "People of the Barrio" (Ecuador) (52 mins) and "Think, Dream, Laugh" (Sri Lanka) (30 mine).

Preparation: The scope for participation of women in the execution of low-income housing projects differs from project to project depending on policy decisions made during project formulation. The scope for the participation of women within those projects depends also on the cultural context in which the project takes place.

In order to link the training to the situation in which the participants are or will be working, the instructor should prepare a detailed background paper before the start of the training session.

This paper should provide a diversity of important background data on the following:

(1) local sites-and-services schemes and squatter settlement upgrading projects and the experience of participation in those projects;

(2) the cultural position of women in the particular society in which the project is to be implemented;

(3) relevant information on the economic situation of women and their participation in the labour force.

A day before the session starts, the instructor distributes the course paper, the background paper and any other relevant material to the trainees, so that they may read them and gain an overall impression of the issues to be discussed.

Training session (one day): The instructor and trainees together read through the course paper and discuss the opportunities and limitations of women's participation in the different phases of project execution, relating them to their own experiences. At the end of each chapter, a number of questions referring to the issues raised in the chapter have been listed.

These questions can be utilized during the session to review the chapter and discuss its relevance for the working situation of the trainees.

Fieldwork assignment (1-2 days): For this purpose the participants have to be divided into groups of three to five participants.

Each group is assigned the task of preparing answers to a number of questions raised in the course paper. Depending on the number of participants, groups can be formed around such topics as:

- women's access to housing projects;
- women's participation in housing and settlement design;
- women's involvement in project implementation;
- women's participation in maintenance;
- women and project financing.

The groups can collect information on these issues by interviewing government officials, visiting upgrading projects and reviewing literature. The instructor can invite resource-persons from relevant government institutions and other organizations to assist the groups.

Some of the fieldwork assignments may not be easily carried out, owing to lack of available data. They may act, however, as consciousness-raising exercises whereby project staff become aware of the lack of information pertaining to women and the tendency towards a male bias in project formulation.

Review session (1 day): Each group presents the results of its work at a plenary session, so that they can be discussed by the other participants and serve as a basis for detailed and concrete proposals for increasing the participation of women in the different phases of project execution.

Evaluation: The trainees and the instructor evaluate the training session.