The Côte d’Ivoire Hospitals Programme is making important contributions to Target 8.5 of Sustainable Development Goal 8. SDG 8 ‘Decent work and economic growth’, aims to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”. Within SDG 8, Target 8.5 aims to “by 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value”. Indicator 8.5.2 within Target 8.5 tracks the unemployment rate by sex (Source: UN).
Women represent around 11% of the workforce in the UK construction sector, and this figure is as little as 1% for workers on site (Source: The Smith Institute, 2014). In Côte d’Ivoire, the percentage of women working in the construction and public works sector is less than 10% (Source: Groupement Ivoirien du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics (GIBTP), 2016). The labour force participation rate in Côte d’Ivoire for women is 49.3%, compared to 66.9% for men (Source: WEF, 2020) and the unemployment rate for women is 9.4% compared to 4.5% for men (Source: UK Gov’t, 2020). At the most recent count, women make up 21% of NMSI staff in the Côte d’Ivoire team, around double the national average for both the UK and Ivorian construction sectors.
At the site level, opportunities to improve the participation of women in the workforce continue to be sought. At Boundiali, the properties of the sand material delivered to site requires further processing before it can be used in the buildings’ superstructure. Three women from the local community have recently been employed as the team carrying out this process enabling them to contribute to the construction of their local hospital. By increasing the employment of women in the Côte d’Ivoire teams, including on site, the programme is not only contributing to the aims of SDG 8 but is also financially empowering these women.