I travelled to Uganda in 2005 and saw several Epicenters. I was particularly interested in seeing the program for empowerment of women, because I direct a leadership program for women scientists and physicians in the U.S. The program definitely appears is meeting its goals. I saw women who had become functionally literate, were directing small businesses (piggery, farming, growing chickens, bakery, handcrafts, selling softdrinks), and were active in the microfinance banks. Several strategies struck me as especially powerful. First, among the leaders in each Epicenter, half had to be women - many of whom had never been in such a visible position before. Second, the Hunger Project staff kept requiring and supporting the women to act as leaders; for example, they would not allow the men to answer for the women. The women leaders needed to learn how to speak for themselves, to present what their group (growning grain, packaging it for storage, teaching children, etc.) had done.
There were very visible as well as subtle marks of the empowerment. There were new homes that the women had built. One woman had bulit the brick building in which she was going to start a soft drinks business. There were children that remained in school, because their mother had money for the uniforms, etc. On the more subtle, but equally important side, the women who had grown and saved money spoke about getting their hair done in the beautifully complex Ugandan braids. And one mentioned that her husband now asked her if she had some had money to buy the family soft drinks. Finally, no one in the Epicenters asked or begged - they were justifiably proud of what they had accomplished. This behavior is in contrast to what I have seen in many other places.
All told, this is an intervention that works in empowering women!
Connection between disability and Abuse of women (their mothers).
I strongly support the views that encourage raising awareness on abuse of the disabled people. The issue of abuse of disabled people is a global issue. Yet, in most cases in Africa, this abuse does not only stop at the person with a disability. It goes a long way to affect the mother of such a person. In many African communities, disability is associated with a curse. Therefore, a woman who gives birth to such a child is regarded as a curse and therefore a bad omen to the family and the community as a whole. Consequently, a woman who gives birth to a child with disabilities is normally beaten by her husband and other members of the husband’s family or even chassed away from her matrimonial home because she is considered to having bad luck.
I once worked with a project called Community Action to Support Education which was trying to change the attitudes of community members and parents to view the disabled children in the same way as their normal counterparts and help to integrate them to the regular school system. However, many parents and the community at large seemed to have a very negative attitude towards these children to an extent that they would hide them whenever community volunteers approached their homes to make follow-up on the progress of the children or whenever they wanted to get them registered into school. The family would rather hid such a child, and pretend that it does not exist, or violently abuse the mother including physical abuse or sending her away from the family because “she has brought a bad omen to the family”.
Therefore, I strongly insist that empowering women is a very important aspect of eliminating abuse for all types of people, in homes, communities and in our world. An empowered woman will stand from her God given position of motherhood which is filled with love, to protect the interests of her child who has a disability.
Connection between the spread of HIV/AIDS and intimate partner Violence: How economic empowerment of women can help to reduce these two evils.
Fundamentally, the reason for a continued spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and particularly here in Uganda is because of the way women and men relate to one another. We have all grown up thinking about women and men in certain ways. Women have been taught for generations to be submissive and dependent. Women are taught by their family and society to obey their husbands. A woman’s father or husband usually makes major decisions in her life. Women are taught that they are not permitted to refuse sex from their husbands. If a woman says no to sex, she may be threatened with violence by her boyfriend or husband. Women frequently can’t choose who they marry. They frequently can’t choose the age they marry. As sex is considered a taboo, women lack access to information on sex and as a result, women may be forces to trade sex for money, food or favors.
Men as well lack responsibility for the consequences of their (sexual) behavior. They end up engaging in risky sexual behavior. They are taught from childhood to be dominant and in “control”. It is tolerated and in some cases even accepted for men to have multiple sex partners. In fact, in African culture, polygamy is the accepted mode of marriage. Men are expected to make all decisions relating to sex. Men frequently view women as objects to fulfill their sexual desires, instead of being individuals with their own needs and desires. Further more, men are expected to be experienced and knowledgeable about sex. Society allows men to beat their wives or girlfriends if they disobey. This is the worst form of violence against women!
As a consequence, many women in marriage and intimate relations have no power to be in control of their bodies or to refuse sex with an infected man or husband. She is innocently infected. Moreover, she can not even negotiate safer sex because a man is the only one “allowed” to make this decision. Even those who discover that their spouses are infected with HIV, they are not allowed to leave such relationships for fear of being branded “outcasts”.
Worse still, because of the belief that men are to be the sole breadwinners, the women lack the power and the will to engage in income generating projects. They are resigned and dependent. Even those who do take the courage to get involved in economic activities, men control the proceeds. In situations of scarcity, men become violent and control women as “property”.
Empowering women economically is essential to transform these evils. When a woman gains economic power, the health of a home, a village, a country, a continent and the world is not only improved but more economic growth is evident, more children especially girls attend school, more food is produced. Women are able to protect themselves as they gain the purchasing power and can access basics for survival so that they do not depend on men who would sexually abuse them for economic gain or favors. When women are economically empowered, they are able to contribute to the welfare of their families and reduce the burden on men. This has a tremendous effect on reducing violence since most of the violence in intimate relations or marriages emanate from the fact that a man is a sole bread winner. A woman’s contribution to the welfare of the home gives relief to the man and hence reduces violence. Women can be more respected if they can also stand in positions of decision making. That is why The Hunger Project not only avails micro credit to women, but also trains them to make a transition from being recipients of micro credit to be owners and managers of their own controlled rural banks which give access of credit to men as well.
Who the Africa people truly are…
The people of rural Africa and Uganda in particular must not be thought of as vulnerable groups or targeted beneficiaries. They are among the most courageous and hardworking people on our planet. Against tremendous odds-scorching heat, endemic disease and with almost back breaking drudgery, they sustain life and raise their families.
…and what undermines their progress
The people living in a typical Ugandan village- people who have not yet been mobilized to take collective action to end their hunger and poverty- are living in a culture that they inherited, a culture into which they were born. They live a culture of patriarchy, resignation, dependency and apathy. It is a culture inconsistent with people taking responsibility for effective actions for meeting their basic needs. It is a culture inconsistent with ending hunger, poverty and abuse. This culture is also often a result of decades of failed leadership, and failed policies thus lacking the opportunity to participate in ending hunger and poverty.
Epicentre strategy:
It is a methodology designed and used by The Hunger Project in 8 African countries to transform the culture of dependency, resignation and gender discrimination to a culture of responsibility, self reliance and gender equality. It is implemented in four phases for 5-6 years- Phase one: Mobilization and creating a vision, Phase 2: Multiple villages coming together as one mobilized community resulting into a building (with a meeting hall for meetings, a community food bank, a micro credit rural bank, a health clinic, classroom(s), houses for nurses, food processing unit, sanitation toilets and latrines, etc) 3. Progress on all fronts- successful operation of all basic services combined with increasing income generating programs for the Epicentre to the point where the epicenter can achieve economic self reliance (It is able to meet its own operating and maintenance costs with no further financial inputs from The Hunger Project, Phase 4: Self reliance- The community continues to manage its own basic services based entirely on their own financial resources and decision-making abilities. It continues an upward spiral of economic and social progress.
How Epicentres promote Gender Equality and Empower women.
Gender discrimination is not merely a factor in development-it is the underlying root cause of much of the world’s chronic hunger and poverty. People centered approaches like the Epicentre strategy must be coupled with strategic interventions to transform entrenched gender discrimination. The Epicentre strategy mandates equal number of women and men for leadership on all epicenter committees (except banking, which is100% women), and implements five specific interventions to transform a culture of severe gender discrimination into one of gender equality. These are:
1.Gender in VCA workshops. Every THP initiative is designed to empower women and promote equality beginning with Vision, Commitment and Action workshops. We require equal participation by both women and men in VCA. VCA articulates 5 steps to end hunger, poverty, gender discrimination and violence:
i. Changing the mindset- to transform negative cultural and inherited beliefs that fuel gender discrimination, violence and hunger,
ii. Creating leadership - made of equal number of women and men
iii. Creating the Vision - one of gender equality - people begin to make a distinction between socially determined gender roles and biological sex
iv. Taking Action- critical importance of women’s economic empowerment, women’s education through Functional Adult literacy, facilities for early child hood education and development, facilities for improving child health, maternal health as well as water and sanitation issues are explored.
2.Functional Adult Literacy: In order to begin overcoming the gender gap in education caused by generations of discrimination, one of the first programs we introduce is Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) for women. Men can also attend. The Program includes numeracy, life skills such as nutrition and information on rights.
3.The AWFFI Program- Empowers women economically through access to loans on soft terms, training and savings mobilization. This experience then results into the creation of women operated government recognized rural banks to provide a financial base for the community especially women.
4.HIV/AIDS and gender Inequality workshop. This confronts the socially constructed norms and beliefs that precipitate the spread of HIV/AIDS and makes a campaign of action to transform these rooted conditions.
5.Women empowerment programs- First piloted in THP-Ghana- is designed mainly to educate women on their rights and leadership.
We also mobilize leadership at all levels of society- in government, civil society and the media- to stand in solidarity with hungry and poor people- especially women, clearing away obstacles and linking them to resources that are rightfully theirs.
We’ve done it, it works and it is sustainable.
This sounds like a fabulous project. Is there a particular approach that you take to confronting harmful cultural attitudes and behaviors? Have you worked with programs like Raising Voices and Stepping Stones? How is your approach similar/different than these programs?
Also, it would be very interesting for the competition to hear from experts like you and your organization the very real connection between the spread of HIV and intimate partner violence. It would also be interesting to hear from you what role economic empowerment can play in prevention of both epidemics. Many thanks and continued success in your work.
The "Epicenter strategy" is a unique tool of human development that mobilises women and men at the grassroots, gives them an opportunity and empowers them to end hunger. It is a holistic way of improving peoples livelihoods in all spheres of improved access to health; reducing IMR and maternal death, access to education, increased food production, improved nutrition and ensuring food security, increased household incomes, and combating the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS. It develops humanity in a holistic and ethical manner.
It helps people build lives of self confidence, respect, dignity, social bonding, promotes humanity, is sensitive to the environment and women and men become self-reliant. It is an investment in the people. In brief, why not join this movement now!!!
The "Epicenter strategy" is a unique tool of human development that mobilises women and men at the grassroots, gives them an opportunity and empowers them to end hunger It is a holistic way of improving peoples livelihoods in all spheres of improved access to health; reducing IMR and maternal death, access to education, increased food production, improved nutrition and ensuring food security, increased household incomes, and combating the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS. It develops humanity in a holistic and ethical manner.
It helps people build lives of self confidence, respect, dignity, social bonding, promotes humanity, is sensitive to the environment and women and men become self-reliant. It is an investment in the people. In brief, why not join this movement now!!!
My husband and I traveled to Uganda two years ago to visit some of the epicenters established by The Hunger Project. There we saw women and men working together in beautifully prepared fields rich with nutritious fruits and vegetables. Together, they organized community sanitation, established food processing and storage facilities, erected homes for their live-in nurses who staffed clinics that provided health care to hundreds of families on a regular basis.
Women established bakeries, husbanded domestic animals, grew crops for both consumption and the market, and established other enterprises with the credit available from the banks they themselves manage.
Partnership, equality, and productivity were easily observed as they were joyfully practiced. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the HIV-AIDS Gender Equality Workshops. The spirit of cooperation and openness is unlike any I have seen anywhere in the developing world.
This program clearly demonstrates what can be done when women are empowered to fully participate in their families and communities. Violence is a thing of the past.
I travelled in 2005 to Uganda and visited the epicentres of The Hunger Project. I walked in the fields with the women farmers and sat under a tree with the micro credit loan groups as they described the work they were accomplishing and the transformation in their living conditions.
Death in childbirth, with no one in attendance, in the middle of your field is violence against women. In the epicentre, which the community has built together, women come to give birth in a safe, clean environment and learn how to care for the baby.
Watching your children die and being able to do nothing is violence against women. These women food farmers showed us the honey bees and hives they had purchased with their micro credit money. They reported that the honey and wax from this enterprise gave them income, candles, and honey. The honey was great cough medicine for the kids, the candles give them light after sundown, and the cash gives them access to a scooter drivers ride to the epicentre health clinic when the children are ill: a solution not available when one has no financial resources.
Kate Kawanuka is the powerful woman leader of the Wakiso epicentre. Her community of approximately 10,000 persons has a strong rural credit union, farming projects, health clinic, HIV/AIDS workshops, adult literacy classes, pre-school, food bank and more. Men and women working together examine their behavior and expand their skills to address the age-old practices of their culture, especially the dominance of men and the submission of women to men. They examine the social sexual behaviors that are driving aids infection and commit to change their own behavior and influence others.
A committee of equal number of men and women directs the activities of the epicentre and the century-old underfunded "women's work" of farming, feeding the family, water gathering, fuel gathering, healthcare and education is transformed as the leadership, voice and hard work of women comes to the forefront. Additionally, because of the focus of the microcredit scheme on the management of resources becoming the domain of women elevates the status of these women 1,000-fold. Women's work is now funded, vibrant and partnership with men begins to develop where it was missing.
The work of the men and women of Uganda to end chronic hunger and intervene in the conditions that thwart development is working!! In an environment of co-equal partnership family violence is a thing of the past!
I am really looking forward to participating in this competition and to learning from others. I really look forward to contributing to this interesting debate in finding a viable model for stoping abuse and violence in families.
I know, that empowering women empowers a family, and girls get the chance to live lives of diginity and self reliance as well as their male counter parts.
I travelled to Uganda in 2005 and saw several Epicenters. I was particularly interested in seeing the program for empowerment of women, because I direct a leadership program for women scientists and physicians in the U.S. The program definitely appears is meeting its goals. I saw women who had become functionally literate, were directing small businesses (piggery, farming, growing chickens, bakery, handcrafts, selling softdrinks), and were active in the microfinance banks. Several strategies struck me as especially powerful. First, among the leaders in each Epicenter, half had to be women - many of whom had never been in such a visible position before. Second, the Hunger Project staff kept requiring and supporting the women to act as leaders; for example, they would not allow the men to answer for the women. The women leaders needed to learn how to speak for themselves, to present what their group (growning grain, packaging it for storage, teaching children, etc.) had done.
There were very visible as well as subtle marks of the empowerment. There were new homes that the women had built. One woman had bulit the brick building in which she was going to start a soft drinks business. There were children that remained in school, because their mother had money for the uniforms, etc. On the more subtle, but equally important side, the women who had grown and saved money spoke about getting their hair done in the beautifully complex Ugandan braids. And one mentioned that her husband now asked her if she had some had money to buy the family soft drinks. Finally, no one in the Epicenters asked or begged - they were justifiably proud of what they had accomplished. This behavior is in contrast to what I have seen in many other places.
All told, this is an intervention that works in empowering women!
Connection between disability and Abuse of women (their mothers).
I strongly support the views that encourage raising awareness on abuse of the disabled people. The issue of abuse of disabled people is a global issue. Yet, in most cases in Africa, this abuse does not only stop at the person with a disability. It goes a long way to affect the mother of such a person. In many African communities, disability is associated with a curse. Therefore, a woman who gives birth to such a child is regarded as a curse and therefore a bad omen to the family and the community as a whole. Consequently, a woman who gives birth to a child with disabilities is normally beaten by her husband and other members of the husband’s family or even chassed away from her matrimonial home because she is considered to having bad luck.
I once worked with a project called Community Action to Support Education which was trying to change the attitudes of community members and parents to view the disabled children in the same way as their normal counterparts and help to integrate them to the regular school system. However, many parents and the community at large seemed to have a very negative attitude towards these children to an extent that they would hide them whenever community volunteers approached their homes to make follow-up on the progress of the children or whenever they wanted to get them registered into school. The family would rather hid such a child, and pretend that it does not exist, or violently abuse the mother including physical abuse or sending her away from the family because “she has brought a bad omen to the family”.
Therefore, I strongly insist that empowering women is a very important aspect of eliminating abuse for all types of people, in homes, communities and in our world. An empowered woman will stand from her God given position of motherhood which is filled with love, to protect the interests of her child who has a disability.
Connection between the spread of HIV/AIDS and intimate partner Violence: How economic empowerment of women can help to reduce these two evils.
Fundamentally, the reason for a continued spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and particularly here in Uganda is because of the way women and men relate to one another. We have all grown up thinking about women and men in certain ways. Women have been taught for generations to be submissive and dependent. Women are taught by their family and society to obey their husbands. A woman’s father or husband usually makes major decisions in her life. Women are taught that they are not permitted to refuse sex from their husbands. If a woman says no to sex, she may be threatened with violence by her boyfriend or husband. Women frequently can’t choose who they marry. They frequently can’t choose the age they marry. As sex is considered a taboo, women lack access to information on sex and as a result, women may be forces to trade sex for money, food or favors.
Men as well lack responsibility for the consequences of their (sexual) behavior. They end up engaging in risky sexual behavior. They are taught from childhood to be dominant and in “control”. It is tolerated and in some cases even accepted for men to have multiple sex partners. In fact, in African culture, polygamy is the accepted mode of marriage. Men are expected to make all decisions relating to sex. Men frequently view women as objects to fulfill their sexual desires, instead of being individuals with their own needs and desires. Further more, men are expected to be experienced and knowledgeable about sex. Society allows men to beat their wives or girlfriends if they disobey. This is the worst form of violence against women!
As a consequence, many women in marriage and intimate relations have no power to be in control of their bodies or to refuse sex with an infected man or husband. She is innocently infected. Moreover, she can not even negotiate safer sex because a man is the only one “allowed” to make this decision. Even those who discover that their spouses are infected with HIV, they are not allowed to leave such relationships for fear of being branded “outcasts”.
Worse still, because of the belief that men are to be the sole breadwinners, the women lack the power and the will to engage in income generating projects. They are resigned and dependent. Even those who do take the courage to get involved in economic activities, men control the proceeds. In situations of scarcity, men become violent and control women as “property”.
Empowering women economically is essential to transform these evils. When a woman gains economic power, the health of a home, a village, a country, a continent and the world is not only improved but more economic growth is evident, more children especially girls attend school, more food is produced. Women are able to protect themselves as they gain the purchasing power and can access basics for survival so that they do not depend on men who would sexually abuse them for economic gain or favors. When women are economically empowered, they are able to contribute to the welfare of their families and reduce the burden on men. This has a tremendous effect on reducing violence since most of the violence in intimate relations or marriages emanate from the fact that a man is a sole bread winner. A woman’s contribution to the welfare of the home gives relief to the man and hence reduces violence. Women can be more respected if they can also stand in positions of decision making. That is why The Hunger Project not only avails micro credit to women, but also trains them to make a transition from being recipients of micro credit to be owners and managers of their own controlled rural banks which give access of credit to men as well.
Who the Africa people truly are…
The people of rural Africa and Uganda in particular must not be thought of as vulnerable groups or targeted beneficiaries. They are among the most courageous and hardworking people on our planet. Against tremendous odds-scorching heat, endemic disease and with almost back breaking drudgery, they sustain life and raise their families.
…and what undermines their progress
The people living in a typical Ugandan village- people who have not yet been mobilized to take collective action to end their hunger and poverty- are living in a culture that they inherited, a culture into which they were born. They live a culture of patriarchy, resignation, dependency and apathy. It is a culture inconsistent with people taking responsibility for effective actions for meeting their basic needs. It is a culture inconsistent with ending hunger, poverty and abuse. This culture is also often a result of decades of failed leadership, and failed policies thus lacking the opportunity to participate in ending hunger and poverty.
Epicentre strategy:
It is a methodology designed and used by The Hunger Project in 8 African countries to transform the culture of dependency, resignation and gender discrimination to a culture of responsibility, self reliance and gender equality. It is implemented in four phases for 5-6 years- Phase one: Mobilization and creating a vision, Phase 2: Multiple villages coming together as one mobilized community resulting into a building (with a meeting hall for meetings, a community food bank, a micro credit rural bank, a health clinic, classroom(s), houses for nurses, food processing unit, sanitation toilets and latrines, etc) 3. Progress on all fronts- successful operation of all basic services combined with increasing income generating programs for the Epicentre to the point where the epicenter can achieve economic self reliance (It is able to meet its own operating and maintenance costs with no further financial inputs from The Hunger Project, Phase 4: Self reliance- The community continues to manage its own basic services based entirely on their own financial resources and decision-making abilities. It continues an upward spiral of economic and social progress.
How Epicentres promote Gender Equality and Empower women.
Gender discrimination is not merely a factor in development-it is the underlying root cause of much of the world’s chronic hunger and poverty. People centered approaches like the Epicentre strategy must be coupled with strategic interventions to transform entrenched gender discrimination. The Epicentre strategy mandates equal number of women and men for leadership on all epicenter committees (except banking, which is100% women), and implements five specific interventions to transform a culture of severe gender discrimination into one of gender equality. These are:
1.Gender in VCA workshops. Every THP initiative is designed to empower women and promote equality beginning with Vision, Commitment and Action workshops. We require equal participation by both women and men in VCA. VCA articulates 5 steps to end hunger, poverty, gender discrimination and violence:
i. Changing the mindset- to transform negative cultural and inherited beliefs that fuel gender discrimination, violence and hunger,
ii. Creating leadership - made of equal number of women and men
iii. Creating the Vision - one of gender equality - people begin to make a distinction between socially determined gender roles and biological sex
iv. Taking Action- critical importance of women’s economic empowerment, women’s education through Functional Adult literacy, facilities for early child hood education and development, facilities for improving child health, maternal health as well as water and sanitation issues are explored.
2.Functional Adult Literacy: In order to begin overcoming the gender gap in education caused by generations of discrimination, one of the first programs we introduce is Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) for women. Men can also attend. The Program includes numeracy, life skills such as nutrition and information on rights.
3.The AWFFI Program- Empowers women economically through access to loans on soft terms, training and savings mobilization. This experience then results into the creation of women operated government recognized rural banks to provide a financial base for the community especially women.
4.HIV/AIDS and gender Inequality workshop. This confronts the socially constructed norms and beliefs that precipitate the spread of HIV/AIDS and makes a campaign of action to transform these rooted conditions.
5.Women empowerment programs- First piloted in THP-Ghana- is designed mainly to educate women on their rights and leadership.
We also mobilize leadership at all levels of society- in government, civil society and the media- to stand in solidarity with hungry and poor people- especially women, clearing away obstacles and linking them to resources that are rightfully theirs.
We’ve done it, it works and it is sustainable.
This sounds like a fabulous project. Is there a particular approach that you take to confronting harmful cultural attitudes and behaviors? Have you worked with programs like Raising Voices and Stepping Stones? How is your approach similar/different than these programs?
Also, it would be very interesting for the competition to hear from experts like you and your organization the very real connection between the spread of HIV and intimate partner violence. It would also be interesting to hear from you what role economic empowerment can play in prevention of both epidemics. Many thanks and continued success in your work.
The "Epicenter strategy" is a unique tool of human development that mobilises women and men at the grassroots, gives them an opportunity and empowers them to end hunger. It is a holistic way of improving peoples livelihoods in all spheres of improved access to health; reducing IMR and maternal death, access to education, increased food production, improved nutrition and ensuring food security, increased household incomes, and combating the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS. It develops humanity in a holistic and ethical manner.
It helps people build lives of self confidence, respect, dignity, social bonding, promotes humanity, is sensitive to the environment and women and men become self-reliant. It is an investment in the people. In brief, why not join this movement now!!!
The "Epicenter strategy" is a unique tool of human development that mobilises women and men at the grassroots, gives them an opportunity and empowers them to end hunger It is a holistic way of improving peoples livelihoods in all spheres of improved access to health; reducing IMR and maternal death, access to education, increased food production, improved nutrition and ensuring food security, increased household incomes, and combating the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS. It develops humanity in a holistic and ethical manner.
It helps people build lives of self confidence, respect, dignity, social bonding, promotes humanity, is sensitive to the environment and women and men become self-reliant. It is an investment in the people. In brief, why not join this movement now!!!
My husband and I traveled to Uganda two years ago to visit some of the epicenters established by The Hunger Project. There we saw women and men working together in beautifully prepared fields rich with nutritious fruits and vegetables. Together, they organized community sanitation, established food processing and storage facilities, erected homes for their live-in nurses who staffed clinics that provided health care to hundreds of families on a regular basis.
Women established bakeries, husbanded domestic animals, grew crops for both consumption and the market, and established other enterprises with the credit available from the banks they themselves manage.
Partnership, equality, and productivity were easily observed as they were joyfully practiced. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the HIV-AIDS Gender Equality Workshops. The spirit of cooperation and openness is unlike any I have seen anywhere in the developing world.
This program clearly demonstrates what can be done when women are empowered to fully participate in their families and communities. Violence is a thing of the past.
Barbara Rose
I travelled in 2005 to Uganda and visited the epicentres of The Hunger Project. I walked in the fields with the women farmers and sat under a tree with the micro credit loan groups as they described the work they were accomplishing and the transformation in their living conditions.
Death in childbirth, with no one in attendance, in the middle of your field is violence against women. In the epicentre, which the community has built together, women come to give birth in a safe, clean environment and learn how to care for the baby.
Watching your children die and being able to do nothing is violence against women. These women food farmers showed us the honey bees and hives they had purchased with their micro credit money. They reported that the honey and wax from this enterprise gave them income, candles, and honey. The honey was great cough medicine for the kids, the candles give them light after sundown, and the cash gives them access to a scooter drivers ride to the epicentre health clinic when the children are ill: a solution not available when one has no financial resources.
Kate Kawanuka is the powerful woman leader of the Wakiso epicentre. Her community of approximately 10,000 persons has a strong rural credit union, farming projects, health clinic, HIV/AIDS workshops, adult literacy classes, pre-school, food bank and more. Men and women working together examine their behavior and expand their skills to address the age-old practices of their culture, especially the dominance of men and the submission of women to men. They examine the social sexual behaviors that are driving aids infection and commit to change their own behavior and influence others.
A committee of equal number of men and women directs the activities of the epicentre and the century-old underfunded "women's work" of farming, feeding the family, water gathering, fuel gathering, healthcare and education is transformed as the leadership, voice and hard work of women comes to the forefront. Additionally, because of the focus of the microcredit scheme on the management of resources becoming the domain of women elevates the status of these women 1,000-fold. Women's work is now funded, vibrant and partnership with men begins to develop where it was missing.
The work of the men and women of Uganda to end chronic hunger and intervene in the conditions that thwart development is working!! In an environment of co-equal partnership family violence is a thing of the past!
Hi there,
I am really looking forward to participating in this competition and to learning from others. I really look forward to contributing to this interesting debate in finding a viable model for stoping abuse and violence in families.
I know, that empowering women empowers a family, and girls get the chance to live lives of diginity and self reliance as well as their male counter parts.
I am excited and looking forward.
Irene