Community Sustainable Initiatives Link (COSIL) focuses towards ensuring Equitable Ownership, Access and Control of Productive Resources like land, water, seed, pasture etc. by small-scale farmers especially women and youth. Inequality when it comes to land, seed and other productive resources is related to poverty and exclusion.
Additionally, addressing discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices within institutions and communities is essential for promoting gender and youth inclusivity in agriculture. Access and use of, ownership, and control over productive resources are essential to ensuring equality and adequate standard of living of small-scale farmers especially women and youths.
The Gender for Growth interventions therefore are geared toward at addressing the above gender inequalities to improve incomes for women
COSIL adopted the household approach which works within common good framework that gives all household members a stake in resources, production and income by promoting farming as family business. COSIL also supports the following themes
Using Gender Action Learning System (GALS
Gender Action Learning systems (GALS) consist of simple tools and diagrams through which communities can analyses the gender and broader socio-economic issues affecting their livelihoods, and then generate their own solutions.
COSIL engage households to understand the concept of gender (gender task analysis, analysing access to and control of resources and benefits, visioning and joint household planning using GAL’s methodology).
Men Engage Approach
The Role Model Men and Boys (RMMB) approach mobilizes men and boys to go through personal reflections to explore constructions of masculinity in their contexts and how it affects their well-being and relationships. They reflect upon unequal power relations, gender roles, and rigid social norms that impact on the behavior of women, girls, men and boys
The approach uses 3 main principles – Men as Clients, Men as Supportive Partners, and Men as Agents of Change. Once the trained Role Models have changed or start exhibiting positive personal behaviors, each is supported to reach out to other men and boys so as to inspire large scale behavior change. Upon demonstrating behavior change and adoption, participating men and boys often become Role Models themselves, creating a “snowball” effect that we hope will ultimately be a movement of male champions
Approaches
Our Vision & Philosophy
Our development ideology is simple: we believe in power, ingenuity, and the potential of people to pioneer solutions to transform their community. We recognize the role of government in addressing macro-economic issues and providing an overarching policy environment.
The power of our holistic approach lies in our partnerships, our sustainable programs and facility integration, and our passion to serve. We always strive to be a catalyst for positive change. Every action we take is intended to inspire meaningful service and deliver results that will improve economic and social conditions and make life better for the small holder farmers, orphans children and marginalized groups in the communities we serve for years to come.
We seek grassroots solutions to local challenges in an effort to help people help themselves and expand their own social and economic development process in a changing environment.
- Team Work
We support one another in working to achieve together the objectives of COSIL. We communicate actively and openly. We are reliable and loyal to each other and to the organization; and we build trust by honoring our commitments. - Respect for All
We show respect to ourselves and each other, and are considerate. We value each other’s strengths. - Gender equity
COSIL appreciates this as constituting fairness, recognition of each other, justice, impartiality, inclusive development, gender awareness and responsiveness. - Transparency and accountability
We appreciate this as constituting openness, communication, accuracy, feedback, answerability, reliability, responsibility, good stewardship, trustworthiness and honesty.