The ITF’s network project for women transport workers in Africa was a programme that came just at the right time, according to ITF Women’s Officer, SARAH FINKE.

The project, which aimed to build women’s networks, ran over three years in Southern, East and Francophone West Africa, with exceptional levels of success. At a final evaluation seminar in Nairobi, Kenya, in December 2001, we heard some very positive feedback from women involved.

“Women were networking better than the men. We put male leaders in the different ITF unions to shame, so they started to talk to each other,” explained one participant.

“Women from different countries started to understand each other much better. The project built solidarity and combated xenophobia,” stated another.

Forty-eight unions from 18 different countries participated in the programme, 38 of which reported increased women’s participation and membership. As a result of the project, all unions established network contact people.

In the Francophone countries of West Africa, there is now a sub-regional women’s structure. All country co-ordinators have since met together, independent of project financing, and drawn up an action plan. Such networks between women in different countries are part of the foundations needed for the ITF’s programme of Globalising Solidarity. A major problem the African women face, however, is access to communication facilities.

Meanwhile, many more transport unions in Africa now have clearly defined policies on organising women and on gender questions. They have structures that deal with issues affecting women and gender equality. They have women members who are now invaluable both for international campaigns and for organising members.

Why was the project so successful? The materials and methods developed for the sub-regional seminars, then used at country level, were a vital component. The seminars aimed both for active participation and to pass on key skills.

Perhaps most importantly, women in Africa seemed ready and eager to receive the international solidarity message. The timing was right and I was impressed by the commitment to the project that they showed. This means that for them, the project answered a real, and current, need.

It was a privilege to work with the excellent co-ordinators who carried out the project, and I’m proud that the project’s objectives to strengthen women’s participation in ITF unions in Africa have turned into a reality.