Enhancement of the energy value of cassava effluents and social repositioning of women producing "attiéké"in the Municipality of Daloa (Cote d'Ivoire)

Abstract

This study addresses the question of gender approach in local development projects, initiated generally in Africa and particularly in Côte d’Ivoire. It starts from the observation that the consideration of development problems specifically targeting the populations referred as  vulnerable  are  insufficiently efficient, because of the multiplicity of their perverse effects. Indeed, this study is intended to be a contribution to the understanding related to the low mobilization and involvement of these target populations. It is specifically stressing the  ability of women producers of attiéké to adopt and appropriate  the technological innovations initiated by the project Energetic recycling of effluents from Attiéké production plants and support for a long-lasting storage (VECDA) (VECDA). From a methodological point of view, this analysis is intended to be evaluative. Through the mixed approach, methodological considerations included  a questionnaire and an interview guide for the collection of field data. Thus, this study is therefore rooted in a theoretical framework, which combines the theory of social change developed by G. Rochet (1973) and that of the gender theory advocated by  V. Julliard (2017). The results show that the implementation of VECDA project faces the reluctance of women producers of attiéké for three main reasons.  Indeed, the questioning of the evaluative indicators points out the following : (i) the VECDA project is socially unsuitable to the realities of women producers (ii) the rationales of actions developed by the Yébo-Ekon cooperative society are less congruent with those of the women producers of attiéké, (iii) the technological innovations fostered by the transfer of knowledge are insufficiently backed up by the social dimension that is supposed to contribute to the social repositioning of the women beneficiaries..