The context
Côte d'Ivoire is the world’s largest producer of cocoa, though unsustainable farming of the crop has led to ongoing deforestation. In 2019, Côte d'Ivoire introduced a new forestry code, aimed at restoring up to 20% of its original forestry cover — but in order for it to be effective, farmers had to know about it. This project expanded on an earlier collaboration between Farm Radio International and ALMA Production on the use of radio and theatre to raise awareness about Côte d'Ivoire’s forestry code.
Our approach
ALMA Production and Farm Radio International (FRI) collaborated to produce and broadcast a “Theatre +” discussion initiative. The project combined radio dramas about gender ("Four Women, One Destiny") and the rebroadcasting of ALMA Production’s "Trees of Hope" series with discussions between experts in communities to promote gender equality and good agroecology among cocoa cooperatives.
"Trees of Hope" aimed to sensitize and improve the knowledge, attitudes and practices of cocoa producers who are members of the cooperative on the new Forestry Code and other related topics such as agroforestry, tree care and cocoa certification.
The "Four Women, One Destiny" radio program aimed to sensitize producers and their communities on gender issues and help create an enabling environment where women engage more equitably inside and outside of cooperatives, and also to increase women's economic opportunities as awareness increases.
ALMA Production and Farm Radio International worked with nine partner radio stations to raise awareness of gender issues. The programs supported the development of actionable gender inclusion programs for cooperatives and communities and worked to increase economic opportunities for women.
Results
0
Radio stations
0%
of listeners know about the forestry code
0%
of listeners gained new knowledge about gender equality
This project is made possible through a partnership with ALMA Production, thanks to the support of Unilever
Project snapshot
- Duration: 1 year, 2022
- Budget: $599,000 CAD
- Radio stations: 9
- Languages: Français, Malinké, Baoulé, Agni, Bété, Guéré, Mooré
Project results
Trees of Hope program (forestry code)
Forestry Code
- 96% of listeners say they know about the existence of the new Forestry Code compared to 62% of non-listeners.
- In terms of general knowledge about the code measured using testing scores, women farmers scored better (89%) than men farmers (81%).
- 84% of women farmers agree that the new forestry code will enable cocoa farmers to participate more actively in efforts to protect classified forests, compared to 91.5% of men.
Agroforestry
- Surveys showed that all (100%) of the respondents who listened to the program knew that agroforestry can contribute to restoring the productivity of degraded cocoa farms, compared to 95% of non-listeners.
- 97% of respondents who listened to the program planned to plant trees on their cocoa farms, compared to 80% of non-listeners.
Tree Care
- The analysis showed a significant difference between listeners and non-listeners with respect to adequate knowledge of tree care. 89% of listeners had adequate knowledge of tree care compared to 52.3% of non-listeners.
- Gender analysis revealed a significant difference between women and men, as women have more adequate knowledge of tree care (100%) than men (69.2%).
Four Women, One Destiny program (gender equality)
Awareness
- With regard to raising awareness on gender equality issues, almost all (96.9%) of those who listened to the programs on gender equality acquired new knowledge through the radio program.
- 100% of the spouses of the farmers and the members of the community listening groups acquired new knowledge about gender equality.
- For farmers, a greater proportion (96.4%) of men farmers said they learned something new compared to 95.6% of women farmers.
Change in knowledge
- Close to 65.5% of women listeners (farmers, community listening group members and farmers' spouses) said they were now aware of gender equality issues, compared to 67.1% of men farmers.
Attitudes
- Of listeners, 75.1% had positive attitudes towards gender equality, compared to only 61% of non listeners.
- 93.4% of men farmers believe that the program has had an influence on their attitudes towards gender equality issues, compared to 84.5% of women farmers.
Economic opportunities for women
- The women were asked how their economic opportunities had changed as a result of listening to the radio program. 93.5% of the women surveyed said that their economic opportunities had improved.
- These opportunities include income, the number of hours worked, access to credit or loans, access to agricultural inputs or markets, changing jobs and other changes related to their status in the community.
- The economic opportunities in which women reported improvement were mainly related to income, change of jobs, and their role or position with more possibilities for decision-making or leadership in their economic activities.
