Integrated rural development: Women involvement

In the Sudan savannah belt of Northern Nigeria, the tradition is that women and girls are responsible for collecting water and providing sanitation both in the household and community at large. These tasks are not performed without difficulty because in water supply for example, long difficult terrain have to be travelled before the demand can be satisfied. Women and girls often carry heavy loads along the treacherous foot-paths of rural areas, which result (at times), in deformities and some disabilities. These efforts and sacrifices often go unacknowledged and unappreciated, and so, many development projects aimed at addressing these problems, fail to assuage the problems of women in rural Northern Nigeria.