School for Strengthening Local Management by Rural Women Leaders in Ecuador - Ecuador

The project by the Asociación de Mujeres de Juntas Parroquiales Rurales del Ecuador (AMJUPRE) focuses on the development of capacities in the use of ICTs of local women who act as representatives of marginalised rural communities in so-called ‘juntas parroquiales’ (provincial boards). Armed with these ICT tools, the women representatives are in a better position to render services to rural women who are in dire need of these services given the difficulty of their access to information and general services. The project aims to incorporate train-the-trainer and learning-to-learn methods for greater outreach.

The change of government in December 2006 and the move to the left of Ecuadorian policies are exerting much influence on Ecuadorian society. The population of Ecuador is deeply divided over political issues and this leads to a polarisation of the country which may work out in a counter-productive manner.

Read more about IICD’s Ecuador Country Programme.

Three learning modules have been taught, the first one of which has been compiled by AMJUPRE itself, and the other two by external consultants:

• ICT.
• Local management and planning.
• Financial administration for government officials.

Until the end of the project, almost 300 female civil servants of juntas parroquiales in rural areas have been trained in the use of ICT and in general management and administrative skills.

Social network tools, notably Facebook, have been introduced on the AMJUPRE web site as a means to bring the end-users closer together.

The current, very small, project team covers two main areas in gender: empowerment and economic opportunities. There has been a lack of attention to introducing education methodologies such as train-the-trainer and learning-to-learn into the project. These methodologies, which were vital to the PSO innovation programme, under which this project ran, are now being introduced gradually.

Out of the women who were capacitated in the first year, 30 were selected for doing the participative module IV. These pilot women were then to replicate acquired knowledge among their own constituency.

The first phase of the AMJUPRE project has expired at the end of March 2010. The project is currently in independent continuation.

• To place local governance by women leaders of ‘juntas parroquiales’ in Ecuador on the map. This is done through effective, participatory and democratic local governance through knowledge management and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to improve livelihoods of rural communities, reduce gender differences and increase self esteem of rural women.
• To create a School for strengthening local management by rural women leaders in Ecuador to contribute to capacity development of local women leaders. These leaders are able to guarantee to communities effective, participatory and democratic local management  in rural ‘juntas parroquiales’ in Ecuador.

Rural local-level female civil servants are expected to benefit from the capacity development component in this project, giving them better command of ICT tools. In this way, they will be better able to communicate among themselves with a resulting better service level to their clients.

Read more about IICD’s Ecuador Country Programme.

Read more about IICD's approach towards Governance.

Much of the capacity development is taking place at a fundamental level, without making use of trainer-to-trainer and learning-to-learn methodologies. The AMJUPRE project team should incorporate into its work innovative capacity development methodologies that are part and parcel of the project approach which is implemented in the framework of the PSO-financed innovation programme.

Asociación Mujeres Juntas Parroquiales Rurales del Ecuador (AMJUPRE) is an Ecuadorian organisation of women of rural juntas parroquiales, governmental bodies operating at (sub-)municipal level. It operates as a not-for-profit organisation. AMJUPRE’s mission is to develop capacities of associated local women in the juntas parroquiales in Ecuador in order to strengthen their position within municipalities and, thus, to be able to reach their constituencies and render better services to rural women who are in dire need of services given the difficulty of their access to information and general services.