Archive for category: Women

Information and news about woman issues

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Advances in Women’s Health Care in Niger

Women’s Health Care in Niger
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), excessive blood loss is one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related injury and death, especially in developing regions. Researchers working with Niger’s Ministry of Health announced in January 2023 that cases of blood loss-related maternal death in Niger’s health care facilities have reduced by more than 50% due to the introduction of a three-step process. The findings from their work have offered stark improvements to women’s health care in Niger and will be influential throughout the developing world.

Access to Women’s Health Care Reduces Poverty

Niger has the world’s highest fertility rate, standing at approximately seven births per female, partly due to gender inequality. This number has the potential to drop as women’s access to adequate health care and education increases.

Advances in accessibility and quality of women’s health care in Niger are crucial to the nation’s development. When mortality rates among women and children are lower, women tend to have fewer children and contribute more to their local economies. Higher household incomes lead to increased educational and economic opportunities for children, which can help them break the cycle of poverty. Equity for women in health care also leads to other positive outcomes for women’s rights.

According to findings published in the National Library of Medicine, national economic performance and overall societal health benefits when women have better health care. Niger, with its economy that has struggled to expand for years despite its rapidly growing population, welcomes these positive advancements in maternal health care.

In 2021, the government of Niger sought to address the inadequacies of its health care system. With financial backing from the World Bank, it created a 15-year plan to improve health care systems. One of the goals of the plan is to improve women’s health care equity by expanding access and services to more women and girls.

Life-Saving Maternal Treatment is Accessible and Affordable

The methods determined through the research of the NGO Health and Development Initiative (HDI) together with the Ministry of Health include “a cheap and easy-to-store” drug called misoprostol, according to the BBC. The first step involves administering the drug to decrease the bleeding.

After a 20-minute observation period, if the bleeding continues, a health care worker will insert “a condom attached to a catheter” into the woman’s uterus to inflate. As a last resort, the mother will receive a “non-inflatable anti-shock garment” to allow the woman time to move to surgery for critical blood transfusions. The three-step process has proven effective in preventing the deaths of 1,417 Nigerien women over the six-year research period.

This three-step process has led to more than a 50% reduction in deaths related to postpartum hemorrhaging and has helped to safeguard tens of thousands of women from excessive blood loss.

Looking Ahead

Scientists encourage developing and middle-income countries to introduce this process due to its striking success in Niger and the low cost and accessibility of the required materials. The findings from this research show that health care facilities can address one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related mortality through an easily replicable method.

The work that the HDI and the Nigerien Ministry of Health performed gives hopeful signs for the future trajectory of women’s health care in Niger and other developing nations. It also highlights the important work of NGOs, international organizations and governments around the globe and their efficacy in addressing the critical needs of impoverished people.

– Eric Kersten
Photo: Flickr

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Saving Women and Children in Kenya Amid Drought

 Women And Children in Kenya
Millions of women and children in Kenya are at risk of death due to the most severe drought experienced in four decades, the United Nation reported in January 2023. The drought has forced families to migrate away from health facilities in search of food and water, which means the rate of skilled birth attendance has reduced, increasing the risk of maternal mortality. Kenya’s maternal rate is 342 mothers per 100,000 live births and could increase due to the drought’s impacts. The United Nations Population Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) created an innovative motorbike emergency ambulance service to reduce maternal deaths in Kenya. Furthermore, the World Food Programme (WFP) partnered with the national government to provide various aid services to women and children in the most vulnerable regions, thus, minimizing the impact of Kenya’s drought on the population’s health.

The Long Drought

Before Kenya’s drought, health facilities in Kenya supported an average of 411 births per month, which amounts to a 70% skilled birth attendance rate. However, deliveries at these facilities drastically decreased to 100 per month by November 2022, equating to a 24.6% skilled birth attendance rate. A lack of skilled maternal care via trained professionals contributes to Kenya’s high maternal mortality rate.

Regardless of technological advances, Kenya consistently maintains a high maternal mortality rate. The government of Kenya has made efforts to train more health care professionals, but low-income people located in rural areas must still undertake arduous journeys to health centers due to the country’s complex geographical layout. Access to timely and routine health checkups at a closely located health facility is out of reach for many pregnant women in rural areas.

The drought has caused severe nutritional concerns for children and pregnant women due to food shortages. In particular, the drought has led to the deaths of 1.5 million livestock, which served as a primary source of food and income. By July 2022, more than 9,000 Kenyan children under 5 and 135,000 pregnant/nursing mothers suffered acute malnourishment.

The UNFPA and the WFP

The UNFPA created an emergency motorbike program, operational since November 2022, that transports pregnant women to health centers and significantly reduces the delivery time of emergency medical supplies. In the past, some pregnant women in rural Kenya delivered on the side of the road as they could not reach a health facility in time. The emergency motorbike ambulance program aims to help about 135,000 pregnant women/new mothers in Kenya who have difficulty accessing essential health care.

 The UNFPA provides reproductive health care services every two weeks to 15-20 pregnant women in the most rural parts of the country. Furthermore, the UNFPA also provides nutritional and immunization services to these communities. To continue its critical work amid Kenya’s drought, the UNFPA is appealing for $113.7 million to finance its Response Plan for the Horn of Africa Drought Crisis 2022-2023, with particular emphasis on supporting women and children in Kenya.

Amid the drought, in July 2022, the WFP partnered with Kenya’s government to transfer emergency cash and food to 19,000 families and implemented resilience programs to support more than 300,000 people. Moreover, the WFP also appealed for $130 million more to expand the aid to further families. The call for extra funding aimed to “cover food and cash for 960,000 and blanket supplementary feeding for 486,000 children and 122,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in the worst affected counties.”

Kenya’s drought directly threatens the health of pregnant women and children in Kenya. However, by establishing programs and funding to increase access to health care and nutrition, the UNFPA and the WFP are providing life-saving services. The work of these intergovernmental organizations improves countries’ health, leading to more prosperity worldwide.

– Andres Valencia
Photo: Flickr

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NGOs Resume Programs in Afghanistan

Programs in Afghanistan
Three NGOs resumed programs in Afghanistan after an order from Taliban authorities on December 24, 2022, prevented women from working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Organizations like Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and CARE have now restarted work across the country.

The order for both foreign and local NGOs to suspend female staff came after the Taliban claimed that female aid workers were not adhering to the strict dress code currently enforced in Afghanistan. As Taliban rules dictate that men must not deliver assistance to women, the ban has made it extremely difficult for NGOs to work, as they can only effectively support half the population. As a result, most NGOs have now suspended operations in Afghanistan.

Humanitarian Programs Resume

However, three weeks after the Taliban announced the orders, Save the Children, the IRC and CARE resumed their health and nutrition services after receiving assurances from the Ministry of Public Health that it would be safe for their female staff to return to work. Save the Children has also confirmed that it is restarting some education programs, while the IRC is working with provincial authorities to discuss the possibility of female staff returning to work in other sectors.

This week, the U.N.’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, also confirmed that Taliban ministers were in the process of drawing up new guidelines to allow some humanitarian organizations to employ Afghani women. Mr. Griffiths told the BBC that he thought the Taliban were “listening” and had received “encouraging responses” after numerous meetings with Taliban leaders to discuss the ban on female NGO workers.

Restrictions on Women’s Rights and the Humanitarian Crisis

The Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers is just one of the numerous restrictions placed on women in the country since they came into power in 2021. Driven by an oppressive and patriarchal interpretation of Islam, the Jihadist group has undone much of the previous efforts to liberalize the country in years before their takeover. Women in Afghanistan are currently subject to strict dress codes, unable to attend schools or universities and cannot enter certain public spaces such as gyms or parks.

Women are witnessing the loss of their liberties and autonomy amid an unprecedented humanitarian emergency. With 18.9 million people experiencing food insecurity, an extraordinary amount of people are set to suffer from malnutrition, starvation and preventable diseases this year. In light of this, the need for NGOs to provide aid and address inequalities is more prevalent than ever.

NGOs Helping

As NGOs resume programs in Afghanistan, services from Save the Children, the IRC and CARE in Afghanistan will hopefully provide some relief during this humanitarian crisis. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Save the Children has provided more than 3.3 million people (1.8 million of those being children) with nutritional, educational and mental health services, as well as essential aid such as blankets, materials to build shelters and hygiene products.

The IRC has also provided aid to thousands of villages across nine provinces in Afghanistan. It is currently supporting more than 100 health centers, helping locals with community development projects and improving access to education, particularly in rural areas. The organization is also leading the fight to protect and empower women and girls in the country by providing them with education opportunities, giving advice on women’s health and teaching them advocacy skills in its Afghan Women and Girls Program.

CARE runs three programs in Afghanistan. Its Resilience Program works to protect women’s social and political rights and seeks to promote female engagement in business, for instance through agricultural production. Its Education Program also provides children with access to education through a community-based approach, whilst its Health Equity and Rights Program provides health care to vulnerable adults and children.

While some of these services are still under suspension due to the ban, the resumption of programs in Afghanistan in the health and nutrition sector is bringing some hope and optimism to a struggling country. With continuing negotiations between the U.N. and the Taliban to try and reverse the decrees restricting women’s rights, it is vital that people continue to support NGOs in the hope that more humanitarian sectors will start to open up for women to work in.

– Priya Thakkar
Photo: Flickr

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5 Organizations in India that Help Women Who Faced Violence 

Organizations in India
In India, 52% of women and 42% of men consider it acceptable for a husband to physically abuse his wife. Additionally, according to U.N. Women, one in three women globally encounter physical or sexual assault, in most cases from their partner. However, there are many nonprofit organizations in India that help women and girls who faced violence. Here are five of the organizations in India.

International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC)

International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC) began its journey in 2001 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It develops services to help female victims of assault. The organization offers emergency and long-term rehabilitation assistance. Additionally, it offers housing services for women and children, as well as counseling, financial assistance and opportunities for skill development and employment.

The organization has a Dhwani Crisis Hotline that works around the clock and provides instant help as well as follow-up and referral services that offer guidance at different phases of the healing and rehabilitation process. The number of calls to the Dhwani Hotline during the lockdown in March 2020 grew by three times. In 2020, the hotline got 1,275 crisis calls and 4,141 follow-up calls.

My Choices Foundation

Elca Grobler established the My Choices Foundation in Hyderabad, India, in 2012. The foundation strives to eliminate domestic abuse and stop sex trafficking in India. In the same year, it opened its first Operation PeaceMaker counseling center where local women offer support to domestic abuse victims. Now it operates in 10 states in more than 6,500 locations around India.

According to its 2021 report, in 2014, the foundation introduced its anti-sex trafficking wing – Operation Red Alert. Next year it created an anti-trafficking interference initiative – Safe Village Program which helps prevent trafficking from happening in villages and communities. Also, it opened India’s first national toll-free hotline to combat human trafficking. Other than that in 2018, it created Lotus Safe Home which offers protection to women and children who manage to flee from abuse. The following year it established a domestic violence helpline for women.

During the lockdown in 2020, the foundation delivered necessary supplies to more than 13,000 people which helped 5,169 families that the pandemic affected. By the end of 2022, the foundation trained 290 peacemakers, provided counseling to 14,971 families, educated 3,270,844 people on domestic abuse and 32,530,534 people on sex trafficking and got 71,548 calls through the sex trafficking helpline.

Sayodhya Home

A group of women activists who worked with at-risk children founded the nonprofit organization Sayodhya in Hyderabad in 2010. After seeing a rise in the number of incidents of abuse against women and children, activists decided to create this home. Sayodhya Home became a short-stay home (from one day to a month) for women and children who have faced physical abuse.

Since 2010 Sayodhya has given emergency shelter to more than 3,000 women and young girls. The organization also opened free family counseling centers in 10 urban slums in Hyderabad. Besides that Sayodhya enabled training in tailoring to 500 women, helped 600 students find jobs, provided legal and psychological counseling to 1,500 women and supported the education of 600 girls.

ActionAid Association India

Among other organizations in India that help women is ActionAid Association India which is a part of ActionAid International that operates in more than 40 countries worldwide. It focuses on issues like “Women’s and girls’ rights, Child Rights, Natural resources, Democracy and governance.” In India, it provides services across 25 states. Because of the organization’s work more than 1,180,500 families from underprivileged neighborhoods in 317 districts lead better lives.

According to its 2017-18 report, ActionAid Association India is running 22 one-stop crisis centers (OSCC) in cooperation with the government to address the abuse that women experience. These centers are working in four states: Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh. In Madhya Pradesh, OSCC got 39,000 calls and 11,000 of those were from women. The organization linked 214 women with the police, provided 94 women and children with support, gave a short-stay shelter to 108 women and linked 13 minor girls with education and 33 women with skill development training. In Uttar Pradesh, the organization rescued 171 women and 18 children, gave 100 women shelter and helped 249 women with legal support.

Majlis Law

The original members of Majlis were active in the early women’s movement in Mumbai. One of the founders is Flavia Agnes, a legal scholar on women’s rights. The organization got its registration as a Society and Public Trust in 1991.

It is an all-female team of attorneys and activists that offers legal and social help to victims (women and children) of domestic and sexual violence from underprivileged social groups. The team assists victims during investigation and trial and provides social support from counseling to shelter. Bombay High Crout approved the Maharashtra State Handbook on Domestic Violence that Majlis Law created. Its achievements include providing legal support to more than 80,000 victims, providing social support to more than 100,000 victims, conducting more than 150,000 training sessions and reaching more than 1,500 collaborations.

These five organizations in India are helping women survive and start their lives over. With more recognition and support, more women and girls should be able to lead better and happier lives in India.

– Elizaveta Medvedkina
Photo: Flickr

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How Women in the Chivi District Are Reducing Poverty

Women in the Chivi District
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa. It is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community and the African Union. Many know it for its gold and agriculture-based economy as well as its status of being a tourist destination. The Chivi district, specifically, is a district located in the Masvingo province of Zimbabwe. This district is known for being quite arid and prone to drought. Natural disasters and changing weather patterns have exacerbated the arid climate and drought in the region.

While changing weather patterns and environmental disasters have been negatively affecting the area, women have been working to combat the more unfavorable effects, such as poverty. A 2012 study on the Chivi District shows that around 33.8% of people in the district suffer from chronic malnutrition. Malnutrition is one of the effects of extreme poverty that women in the district are aiming to combat. This article will focus on the role of women in the Chivi district in battling the effects of poverty and the challenges they face in their mission.

The Role of Women in Rural Economies

Overall, women play an important role in developing countries. A study by Hilda Jaka and Elvin Shava has explained that in more rural countries, such as Zimbabwe, women contribute greatly to the reduction of poverty. They help reduce poverty by making important improvements to rural economies. These improvements often come in the form of livelihoods as farm laborers or wage laborers. They also manage and operate complex households and families. Depending on the region, rural women often work in different sectors of agriculture. In the case of the Chivi district, women uphold the economy through their work in irrigation and pottery.

The Role of Women in Chivi

With a population of 90,170 women and 75,879 men in the district, women make up a larger portion of the population in Chivi. Women in this region often spend the majority of their time working on unpaid chores that are necessary for survival. During cropping season in Chivi, women often tend to contribute by working in irrigation. During the agricultural off-season times, many of the women in Chivi are focused on tasks such as pottery, crocheting, sewing and beer-brewing as means to earn extra income for their families. The work of women in this region contributes greatly to the overall economy as they play key roles in society by providing for their families and communities.

Challenges That Women in Chivi are Facing

Although women play an elemental role in the region’s economy, there are still a number of challenges that they face. One of the main challenges women face in this region is the lack of access to competitive markets. The local Chivi government does not provide ready markets, so women often have to travel to other areas in order to sell their goods (pottery, cloth, etc.). There is no direct transport to these areas so women oftentimes have to walk many miles each day. Changing climate patterns is another problem that women in the area are facing. Environmental disasters, in general, have made it harder for agriculture, which is one of the main means of livelihood for women in the region. These cause high temperatures that negatively impact crop production. Women in Chivi are also not very educated about this matter and have no tools to mitigate it.

Conclusion

Women play a large part in the Chivi district and its economy. Whether working as a laborer in agriculture or making pottery and other sellable goods, women are doing something to help their local economy year-round. While they do face challenges such as a lack of education about changing climate patterns and limited access to competitive markets, they still manage to contribute greatly to society. Their contributions to society not only aid their community and family but also helps in reducing global poverty.

– Timothy Ginter
Photo: Flickr

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How The Neema Project is Empowering Women in Kenya

Empowering Women in Kenya
As of 2022, 52% of the overall population of Kenya is living in extreme poverty. The majority of the impoverished population lives in rural areas, where the primary source of income is agriculture. The Neema Project focuses on empowering women in Kenya who may suffer abuse and unemployment.

Women in Rural Kenya

According to data from 2020, only 29% of Kenyan women are empowered. While progressive reforms have improved women’s lives in Kenya, rural areas still have gender restrictions that impact women. As of 2022, 78% of individuals living in Kenya live in rural areas. This ultimately means that farming and agriculture are the main sources of income. In the agricultural process, women are limited in the resources they have access to. Men hold control over financial services and farming technology and exclude women in policy decisions.

According to a 2021 study that occurred in Kenya, 78.3% of adult women face severe food insecurity. With high poverty rates and little political voice, women in Kenya find it much harder to overcome hunger. The study also found that 22.8% of Kenyan women older than 15 years experience violence at some point in their lives. Women in rural sectors of Kenya face adverse living conditions that prohibit them from improving their lives. Whether it be through gender-based policy or violence, it is difficult for Kenyan women to obtain adequate employment. Empowering women in Kenya is crucial to overcoming these obstacles.

The Neema Project

Founded in 2014, The Neema Project emerged in an attempt to restore faith and hope to women in Kenya. Since its inception, The Neema Project has provided aid to 134 young women and more than 50 children.

One of the women Neema provided aid to is Maureen, who could not afford to attend high school due to living in extreme poverty following the death of her father. Living with her aunt, Maureen applied to Neema in 2018 and it granted her admission. Since her time in the program, Maureen was able to obtain the medical aid she needed for a severe bone infection she had since she was 10 years old. Maureen had undergone abuse and trauma prior to joining Neema; counseling allowed her to find peace within herself despite all the hardship she has endured. Now at the age of 28, Maureen is now in a healthy marriage, has a baby boy as well as her own business. Maureen’s story exemplifies how Neema’s foundation is not only empowering women in Kenya but also creating a lasting impact on women living in inadequate conditions.

Neema has now begun a campaign titled Securing Her Future. The purpose of the said campaign is to secure a permanent structure that would enable the organization to aid a greater number of women. The goal is to obtain the funding needed by 2024, Neema to create a more suitable facility that would house classrooms, a chapel, kitchens and even daycare.

– Micaela Carrillo
Photo: Flickr

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Mukuru and WeThinkCode Teach African Women How To Code

African Women
One area where the fight against poverty in Africa has had significant support is the continent’s tech industry. As more tech companies and startups move into Africa, the result is an increase in opportunities for Africans to enter the sector as developers and IT experts. In 2020, the number of professional software developers in Africa rose from 690,000 to 716,000, which is due in part to countries like Kenya making it mandatory to teach programming in school. The tech industry continues to provide many amazing opportunities for Africans and African women to rise out of poverty.

However, one group that has not experienced the full positive impact of Africa’s tech industry is women. Today, women make up less than 20% of the digital workforce. Despite making up about 60% of Africa’s workforce, women often find themselves in low-income and labor-intensive jobs such as farming that provide little opportunity for economic and career development. By not being as readily included in Africa’s tech industry, African women – especially those who are in deeper poverty – are at a strong disadvantage.

Thankfully, there are those who realize this discrepancy and are working to provide opportunities for women to enter Africa’s tech industry. Two of these organizations are Mukuru and WeThinkCode, a financial service company and an educational institution, respectively, that recently hosted a hackathon to help female developers show their skills and gain impactful career opportunities.

Opportunities Through Coding

Both institutions have great influence in the sphere of Africa’s digital economy. Mukuru is an innovative money transferral service located in South Africa, while WeThinkCode is an academy that provides top-class coding education to residents of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. In September 2022, both organizations teamed up to host a woman-only hackathon, to which they invited female students of WeThinkCode and bursary recipients of the Mukuru Education Fund.

A “hackathon” is an event where multiple people get together and work on one or several coding projects over a specific period of time. The goal for this hackathon was for the selected female programmers to create either a financial education or management tool that Mukuru would then use to serve its customers. Designed to allow the attending women to put their coding skills on display, the event helped women win internships and important job shadowing opportunities.

Deidré Vrede, Mukuru’s CSI manager, cited the problem of women in Africa’s tech industry making up less than 20% of the workforce, and how she felt their hackathon was a great step forward in remedying this issue. “Judging by the innovation, skills and creativity on display [at this hackathon], the future of women in IT is bright,” she said. Nyari Sumashonga, the CEO of WeThinkCode, concurred, stating her belief that the young women that participated will be role models for future generations of women wishing to enter the tech industry.

Woman Leading Tech

Mukuru and WeThinkCode’s hackathon serves as a great example of the work occurring to provide African women with opportunities to gain meaningful careers in the tech industry, regardless of their economic status. Providing opportunities for impoverished women to prove their skills and climb the professional ladder will not only help raise them out of poverty but will also be a boon to Africa’s tech industry.

– Elijah Beglyakov
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

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USAID Programs in India

USAID Programs in India
USAID programs in India began with the signing of the Emergency Food Assistance Act in 1951 and have since transitioned from emergency food aid to “infrastructure development, capacity building of key Indian institutions, support for the opening of the Indian economy and more,” according to the USAID website. USAID programs in India have helped the nation progress in several areas, including health care, economic development, gender equality and infrastructure building.

USAID-THALI Project

The USAID-THALI (Tuberculosis Health Action Learning Initiative) became a necessity because, in 2016, India held the highest burden of tuberculosis globally with 2.7 million cases. In 2017, India’s TB notification rate, defined as the diagnosis and reporting of TB, for new patients stood at about 2.15 million. To strengthen TB control efforts and facilitate the growth of the TB notification rate, USAID/India launched the USAID-THALI project in 2016.

USAID-THALI took “a holistic approach to TB control efforts,” initially beginning with three states — Karnataka, Telangana and West Bengal. The goal was to “identify, apply and scale up successful, innovative approaches to addressing TB and multi-drug resistant TB.”

The four-year USAID-THALI program eventually expanded its target to nine states across India. World Health Partners (WHP) led efforts in western and northern India and the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) led efforts in the south of India.

Positive Outcomes

WHP’s website reports positive program outcomes. During the four-year span of THALI, the program has raised awareness of TB “among 3 million rural, tribal, urban slum and vulnerable populations.” Furthermore, “more than 60,000 notified TB patients received support for contact tracing, treatment adherence and counseling across all project geographies.”

The Mitchell Group and its local partner New Concept Information Systems performed a 10-week-long assessment of THALI’s successes and shortcomings. In the first phase of THALI (2016-2017), the program succeeded in increasing “private sector notifications for presumptive TB cases in urban slums in the targeted cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata.” During the second phase (2018-2019), THALI was able to provide more than 9,400 TB patients in Northern India and more than 12,400 patients in Southern India with “patient-centered services.” In 2019, TB notification rates in India rose by 16%.

Mariam Begum, a slum-dweller in Hyderabad, is one of USAID-THALI’s success stories. At the age of about 17, she began experiencing TB symptoms. She reached out to a THALI health worker named Subhadra, who took her to a hospital for diagnosis and treatment. Due to malnourishment, Begum struggled with the TB treatment but followed through and recovered. Now, she uses her personal story as motivation for others to seek treatment and follow through.

USAID POWER

In 2019, USAID founded the “Producer Owned Women Enterprises (POWER)” project. POWER’s purpose is to improve the livelihoods of women in India and facilitate gender equality and independence in India by allowing the growth of employment opportunities for marginalized women.

USAID’s collaboration with the Industree Crafts Foundation under the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative has positively impacted women across India through the POWER project. The project helps to establish female producer-owned enterprises to facilitate the economic independence of women.

By helping women to become micro-entrepreneurs, rural women are able to earn a steady income to rise out of poverty. “POWER also addresses restrictive social norms to increase support for women as entrepreneurs, working toward establishing their collective prosperity and dignity,” according to the Industree Crafts Foundation Facebook page.

The Times of India said that “the project is a great example of the U.S. government’s strong commitment [to the] economic empowerment of women in India…”

A child bride at the age of 14, Kavita is one of the many women benefiting from POWER. Greenkraft, a producer-owned company supported by POWER, initially employed Kavita as a production line worker. Greenkraft promoted Kavita to quality control just three months later because of her exceptional attention to detail and innovative ideas to help improve production.

USAID programs in India, like the POWER initiative, have transformed the lives of women like Kavita. She can now contribute financially “to rent farmland and pay for her children’s education,” the USAID website says.

Looking Forward

USAID programs in India such as USAID-THALI and USAID POWER are among a handful of programs that are helping India alleviate poverty and improve quality of life through a focus on health interventions and employment opportunities for the marginalized.

– Arijit Joshi
Photo: Flickr

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Our Spaces App Addresses Gender-Based Violence in Palestine

Gender-Based Violence in Palestine
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) 2011 Violence Survey indicates that 37% of Palestinian women have experienced violence in some form. Within the Gaza Strip, gender-based violence rates rise to 51%. A 2005 U.N. Special Rapporteur’s report attributes the high rates of gender-based violence in Palestine to “traditional patriarchal norms and values” and the impacts of Israel’s occupation. The occupation has led to growing rates of poverty and diminished job prospects. The UNFPA explained that this has “contributed to a behavioral dynamic of men being more frustrated, unable to fulfill their expected role in this patriarchal society.” The struggle to “provide and protect” exacerbates domestic violence within households. However, three female Palestinian software developers set out to address both poverty and gender-based violence in Palestine through the creation of the Our Spaces app.

The Our Spaces App’s Origins

Local engineer Alaa Huthut spearheaded the creation of the Our Spaces (Masahatuna) app. The app aims to provide a discreet and confidential way for women to report domestic violence and seek assistance. The app leaves no trace of communication between the victim and social workers providing services through the Our Spaces app. Huthut recognized the importance of incorporating privacy into the app, acknowledging the dangers of exposing traceable interactions to abusive partners.

The Our Spaces app provides comprehensive assistance by linking victims and survivors of abuse to institutions that provide “psychological support, health services, legal services, economic empowerment services and shelter services,” Al-Monitor reports.

How Poverty and Abuse are Inextricably Linked

Providing access to services and resources for financial help is Our Spaces’ direct attempt to tackle the complicated intersectionality of poverty and abuse. Studies prove the existence of links between poverty and gender-based violence. Financial stress can contribute to the onset of domestic violence. Furthermore, impoverished women who are economically dependent on their abusive partners find it difficult to leave such situations.

In 2017, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that about 30% of Palestinians lived in poverty, however, the poverty rate in the Gaza Strip stood at about 53%. The link between poverty and abuse would suggest that these alarmingly high rates of poverty are in part responsible for the high level of domestic abuse within Palestine.

In order to tackle the issue of gender-based violence in Palestine from the ground up, the Our Spaces app seeks to address the root of the problem: poverty.

An Our Spaces Success Story

One woman’s story, which Al-Monitor originally covered, serves as a prime example of the ways Our Spaces’ services help mitigate the acuteness of abuse many women may experience. Reham, 23, told reporters at Al-Monitor that she had been affronting acute physical and verbal abuse by her spouse daily. She explained that her spouse had been taking his economic frustrations out on her through violence.

Reham reached out for assistance through the Our Spaces app to improve her family’s economic situation. The app connected her with a service that specializes in supporting families financially, and soon, Reham obtained a temporary job. She was able to ease her family’s economic difficulties and reduce the pressure driving her husband to unhealthy behavioral dynamics.

Addressing the Root Causes

Several global issues, ranging from gender-based violence to food insecurity and mortality, link back to the systemic issue of global poverty. The Our Spaces app provides a lesson about the importance of addressing not only the consequences of a systemic issue, in this case, gender-based violence, but also its root, poverty.

– Alisa Gulyansky
Photo: Flickr

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The Link Between Poverty and Women’s Health

Link Between Poverty and Women's Health
In February 2022, U.N. Women reported that an estimated 388 million women and girls will experience “extreme poverty” globally in 2022 — roughly 16,000 more compared to men and boys. Women make up the majority of the world’s impoverished and also face several health risks that men are less vulnerable to. Understanding the link between poverty and women’s health is important in eradicating the life-threatening conditions that many women in developing countries face over the course of their lifetimes.

3 Health Risks Associated with Poverty

  1. Malnutrition. Lack of access to nutrient-rich food is one of the most life-threatening consequences of poverty and it tends to have long-term effects on productivity in adults and development in young children. When families do not have enough food to go around, women are typically the last to eat, consuming smaller amounts in order to feed growing children or spouses. Although women may typically need less food to survive, their bodies require the same amount of nutrients as adult men, meaning that “they need to [consume] more nutrient-rich foods.” Unfortunately, these foods are often prohibitively expensive, resulting in nutrient deficiencies. Nutrition is especially important during pregnancy and micronutrient malnutrition can result in complications like anemia and hemorrhage, endangering the lives of both mothers and children.
  2. Infectious disease. Poverty-related diseases (PRDs) are communicable diseases arising from poor sanitation, indoor air pollution, malnutrition and other conditions of poverty. These include HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and respiratory infections like pneumonia. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that, in comparison to males, poor women and girls face greater risks of exposure to HIV. HIV weakens their immune systems and makes them more vulnerable to other communicable diseases. There are several contributing factors to this imbalance, according to U.N. Women: unequal power relations with men, which make it hard for a woman to advocate for herself sexually; sexual assault and violence and lack of education or resources for women to protect themselves from the spread of STDs. Poverty can also push women to engage in unsafe transactional sexual behaviors in order to survive.
  3. Untreated illness. According to a 2008 study, developing countries tend to have poor healthcare infrastructure, making diagnostic and treatment services harder to access, especially for those living in rural areas with limited or expensive transport options. Marginalized women in developing countries often have what an AXA article describes as “limited control over their own lives.” A lack of autonomy and financial independence can put health care out of reach because women must depend on spouses or other male family members for access to services. Lack of education can also lead women to choose not to seek help for health issues, simply because they cannot identify the warning signs of poor health.

Gender-based Health Risks

Women also have unique health risks linked to their anatomy. Cervical cancer, for example, is “the most common type of cancer in developing countries.” Although it is preventable with testing, these countries typically lack the resources to adequately conduct testing. WHO reported that in 2020, 90% of global cervical cancer deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries because of underfunding for testing and treatment services. Maternal mortality is also a persistent problem in developing nations, where access to emergency care is limited and skilled attendants are often not present during childbirth. Preventable maternal deaths are common, with approximately 295,000 women dying “during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2017” alone.

Working Toward Solutions

The link between poverty and women’s health is strong, but social and financial changes could be significant in solving the problem. Empowering women can go a long way toward improving health outcomes. U.N. Women’s Gender Action Learning System (GALS) training in Kyrgyzstan seeks to do this by changing restrictive social norms.

The methodology encourages households to consider the power dynamics between family members and to recognize the burden of domestic tasks placed upon working women in an effort to create a more equal playing field between women and men.

This, coupled with media training for journalists that encourages them to be more sensitive to gender differences and issues, will pave the way for women to be better able to advocate for themselves in other areas through broad societal change.

Every Mother Counts

Considering the link between poverty and women’s health, funding for essential services could be instrumental in improving health outcomes for women. For example, Every Mother Counts is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that aims to improve health outcomes for women in developing nations. In Tanzania, the organization “support[s] the training of health workers, provision of lifesaving resources and community outreach and health education for women in rural settings.” Every Mother Counts has partnered with the Maasai Women Development Organization since 2017 to fulfill the specific needs of marginalized groups, such as Maasai women, in Tanzania. Every Mother Counts has improved the lives of more than 185,000 people in Tanzania.

Empowering women to make their own choices and funding essential services is crucial in reducing the impacts of poverty on women’s health. Because poverty and illness disproportionately impact women due to gender inequities, efforts to alleviate poverty and strengthen equality are vital.

– Abbi Powell
Photo: Flickr