The impact of development projects on the quality of life of the women : PRODALKA example in Chad ; L'impact des projets de développement sur la qualité de vie des femmes : l'exemple du PRODALKA au Tchad
This research offers a dual approach: it offers firstly an analysis of the consequences of gender globalization, through the application of policies meant to be universal, which are imposed to different participants. This research also looks at the reactions of these participants, particularly local women's organizations, and the ways in which they adapt or appropriate these international prescriptions. We mean to uncover how gender, as a specific category in the field of public intervention, spreads out, on the one hand, in development aid programs coming from funding countries, and, on the other hand, in developing countries. A multi-level analysis has thus been conducted, which looked at cooperation policies and programs supervised by Germany, at the application in chad and at the PRODALKA project. Are policies and projects aiming at economic and political empowerment or reforms of the code of personal status really being implemented? Can the impact of the PRODALKA project on the living conditions of women and their recognition by men really be measured? In order to answer these questions, this research, which is both qualitative and quantitative, relies on a survey conducted with 310 women and on a several formal interviews and several non-formal interviews with individuals involved with this topic, within the context of a bilateral program of economic development between Germany and chad. The thesis will show that not a lot of progress has been made by the PRODALKA project, although some women have witnessed an improvement of their conditions. Indeed, the projects carried out have not really taken into consideration women's needs or gender relations because of a posture of neutrality which implies that any type of action carried out in society benefits all groups, without exceptions. Those projects consisted more in actions aimed at integrated women in development, such as those that were conducted in the 1960s. Those types of actions were criticized by the « gender and development » approach, which offer ...