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priorities and network with other Dimitra clubs through

community radio broadcasts. The self-managed, action-

oriented agenda has resulted in strong improvement of

members’ – especially women’s – self-confidence and has

contributed to the economic and political empowerment

of women and men. Organizational capacities have been

strengthened as well as farmers’ organizations.

As an example, in Tillabéri, Niger, a community where

women were not allowed to leave their homes, after

participating in the

Club d’écoute

among themselves and

subsequently with men and finally with village authorities,

village chiefs have started action against girl-child marriage,

a taboo subject until that time. The clubs provide a legiti-

mate opportunity for women to talk to each other and to

men. This constitutes a major change, as cultural norms

allowed women only to respond to their husbands’ requests,

and not to address them directly.

Through dialogues between men and women, the project

has helped to dismantle gender-based taboos such as the

prohibition for women to eat eggs and fish. In the Orientale

Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after

discussing the issue in the clubs based on content from

radio programmes, women are freely eating these highly

nutritious foods.

Women from different villages in Niger were able to obtain

secure land access. In Dantiandou, rural councils decided

to grant women the right to inherit land. At Albarkayze,

discussions broadcast by the listeners’ clubs prompted the

recognition of an inheritance of a plot of land to a woman

20 years after the death of her father.

Intracultural dialogue between men and women has

allowed women’s voices to be heard, bringing considerable

benefits not only to the women themselves, but to entire

communities. Through the clubs, women have been able to

break out of seclusion and to assume active roles as fully

entitled participants in community life. This has enhanced

their self-esteem and their credibility both at the household

and at the village levels.

Initiatives such as the Dimitra project can play a funda-

mental role in the conservation of agrobiodiversity. By

ensuring that women’s voices, as well as their specialized

traditional knowledge, are listened to, this knowledge can

be valorised, preserved and continue making an important

contribution to world food security, today and in the future.

Image: Eliane Najros

Women’s specialized traditional knowledge can make an important contribution to world food security, today and in the future

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