Women's Empowerment

Blog Post:  Posted July 27, 2010, 4:06 pm by Lyndsey Romick

Iraq's women: worth the risk

Country: Iraq

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Governance, Education, Civil Society

Iraq's contentious election has tied its political system in knots. But this isn't stopping Mercy Corps from pursuing one of its main objectives there: making women's voices heard. It's part of our effort to build skills for traditionally disenfranchised groups, as Mercy Corps' Sahar Alnouri said recently at a public event at Mercy Corps' Action Centre in Portland.

Alnouri, who's worked in Iraq since early last year, said the election has put everyone on edge. In 2005, post-election sectarian violence displaced millions of Iraqis and left the country in a very sensitive state. Explosions are still common, and people wonder if the fighting will break out again.

The insecurity is the hardest part about working in Iraq, Alnouri said. "You have to be in a constant state of preparedness, even if nothing happens." It's also hard to gather information because travel is dangerous. But these problems don't deter Mercy Corps from helping those who suffer the most from the insecurity: women and girls.

For starters, instability keeps girls from attending school. Parents often shield their daughters from potential danger by keeping them at home. Alnouri helps coordinate Mercy Corps' women's literacy programme, which fills an important need in a country where the illiteracy rate is about 30 percent higher for women than it is for men. So far we've helped about 26,000 women how to read and write, as well as lessons in democracy and governance, human and women’s rights, and other key social issues.

Over 18,000 Iraqi women are currently enrolled in our literacy programmes. Photo: Alisha Rodriguez/Mercy Corps

But female literacy is only the first step.

The Iraqi constitution is fairly liberal on women's rights, but reality doesn't always match the rhetoric. And with the fledgling Iraqi police force tied up with security matters, women's rights aren't top priority. Alnouri said Mercy Corps programmes teach women about their rights, about voting and about their role in a democratic society. As a result, women are becoming more confident -- and more politically aware.

For example, 30 percent of the candidates in the most recent election were women, and their newfound knowledge empowers them to speak out for political change. Alnouri related one story that demonstrates the new political consciousness. In the midst of recent negotiations to form a new government, one of her female colleagues remarked, “We need training for our politicians on how to use the democratic system.”

Though the results of the election are still in dispute, our commitment to Iraq's women is certain. We're helping them develop the tools they need to find their own voices, despite the security risks.

Blog Post:  Posted July 8, 2010, 5:06 pm by Geri Manzano

Coaching Kenya's young women

Country: Kenya

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Sports

Beatrice Chelimo (left) is the coach of the Cheptuget Women's Football Club. Pamela Mayende is one of her players. Her teammates call her “Van Persie” after Robin van Persie, the Netherlands striker who'll be playing in Sunday's World Cup final. Photo: Geri Manzano/Mercy Corps

Beatrice Chelimo noticed the slender woman on the sidelines, matching the movements of her footballers. She looked like she had all the right moves. Like any good coach, Beatrice asked her if she wanted to play.

Beatrice, who’s now 43, started coaching soccer in her native Kenya when she noticed so many girls had dropped out of school and had nothing productive to do.

In April 2007 she organized her own team, but things fell apart when post-election violence chilled relations between tribes in the Eldoret region. Still, Beatrice had a desire to tap into the talents of girls and help them do more for themselves. That’s when she learned about Mercy Corps and our post-election reconciliation efforts.

Our initiatives included a program to reconnect youth through sports. We outfitted Beatrice’s team – Cheptuget, which means “dove” in the local dialect -- with football gear and provided training classes in conflict resolution, leadership training, entrepreneurship training and fundraising.

The women range in age between 18 and 35. About half have children themselves; most have had few opportunities to play organized sports since leaving school. Beatrice is trained as a tailor, and one of the things she does under Mercy Corps’ program is teach her charges how to sew. Many sew until 3 p.m. each day, then hit the football pitch.

That’s where they were the day Beatrice spotted her new player. Her name was Pamela Mayende. And she turned out to be so good that her teammates now call her “Van Persie” after Robin van Persie, the Netherlands striker who'll be playing in Sunday's World Cup final.

I asked Beatrice and Pamela to explain to me the importance of the skills training and camaraderie that Mercy Corps’ program offered. They said that many women often make marriage decisions based on economic concerns. That is, they end up marrying much older men purely for financial security. I said, "That doesn't sound like much fun," and they both laughed.

Beatrice and Pamela showed me how Mercy Corps is giving women real choices in their lives – sometimes for the first time. Beatrice is changing the lives of young women. And as for Pamela, she gets to do what most young women her age have had to give up: play football!

Coping with the Economic Crisis:

Blog Post:  Posted June 23, 2010, 8:34 pm by Sarah Royall

Sewing for success

Country: Tajikistan

Topics: Youth, Women's Empowerment, Economic Development

Last week I visited Mercy Corps’ first youth employment project to get started under the Tajikistan Stability Enhancement Programme, the programme I’m assisting with this summer. In the sweltering heat, we entered a small room with five girls working away on sewing machines. The instructor constantly wiped sweat away from her brow as she talked to us about the programme.

Over 80 girls from the impoverished area of Shaartuz, in the lower part of Tajikistan, applied for this training. Twenty were selected based on their need and their completion of 11th grade. The instructor told us it’s important to ensure they complete 11th grade because otherwise girls or their families will want to leave school early to complete this training.

A sewing instructor in Shaartuz, Tajikistan empowers women by giving them skills that will help them earn money for their families. Photo: Manzura Mamadalieva for Mercy Corps

Two stories in particular touched me from this visit. There was a 20-year-old woman sitting in the front row who proudly showed off the dress she was wearing, which she had sewn herself. It was visible that this course had improved her self-esteem, something that will translate into innumerable improvements in her life.

Girls learning to sew in Shaartuz, Tajikistan gain more than a new skill. Photo: Manzura Mamadalieva for Mercy Corps

The second was a young woman working quietly in the back row. She told us that her husband had gone to Russia for work, a fairly common situation and one sort-of pushed by the state. Unfortunately he never came back and she has two children at home to care for. She was looking forward to finishing this three-month course so that she could take out a small loan from a microfinance institute and buy a sewing machine to start her own business. This sewing school offers business planning assistance, including help on finding financial assistance.

It’s inspiring to see the ways that Mercy Corps projects can empower women and help improve the economy at the same time.

Blog Post:  Posted June 2, 2010, 12:21 pm by Allison Huggins

Taking a step forward to protect women's rights

Country: Central African Republic

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Marginalized Groups, Education, Citizen Involvement

Allison Huggins (middle) shakes hands with a participant of Mercy Corps' Women's Empowerment Programme on the outskirts of Bangui, Central African Republic. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

My name is Allison Huggins and I manage Mercy Corps’ women’s rights programmes in the Central African Republic. I came here after working with women’s groups in Rwanda and Eastern Congo for three years. After my first year working with Mercy Corps, I developed our women’s legal support project after the baseline study that we completed on women’s rights violations showed the extent of violence that women across the country face.

Blog Post:  Posted May 16, 2010, 4:40 pm by Dan Sadowsky

Video: Empowering displaced women in Putumayo

Country: Colombia

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Displacement

Part of our assistance to newly displaced families in Colombia's Putumayo department includes skills training so they can earn a living.

Blog Post:  Posted May 5, 2010, 9:17 pm by Dan Sadowsky

Video: 'We've relied on each other to survive'

Country: Colombia

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Displacement, Conflict & War

The youngest, 40-year-old Nancy, was first to arrive in 2007. She was squeezed out by intensifying fighting between guerrillas and paramilitaries and a death threat she couldn't ignore.

Giovorny, 52, followed after her family was robbed and threatened off their bountiful farm by guerrillas.

Last came 42-year-old Nubia, from Cauca, after her husband was kidnapped and killed.

Ever since, Nubia said, "We've relied on each other to survive."

It hasn't been easy. Each has two young ones in her care: daughters, nieces, grandkids. All 12 share the same space: a cramped rental house with no land.

Giovorny has to care for an epileptic niece and cope with being apart from her 64-year-old husband, who earns money farming land that's several hours away. "He's from the country, so he needs his liberty" Giovorny said with resignation. "He feels trapped in this small house."

Nancy's husband sells cell-phone minutes on the streets from 7 in the morning until 9 at night. He makes about $3 a day. The bulk of the sisters' income comes from the small-goods store they run out of the front of their home. It offers packaged food and sundries ranging from chips and bread to toilet paper and diapers. The income isn't sufficient: They're sometimes so low on food that they take from the store to fill their bellies.

Mercy Corps helped them open the tienda with a grant of nearly £120, and gave them pots and pans, bedsheets, hygiene kits and more than two months' worth of food.

We've also helped restore their sense of dignity. The trio faithfully attended weekly trainings to learn how to assess and respond to family violence. Giovorny, whose formal schooling didn't go beyond first grade, proudly showed me her graduation certificate. "As displaced people, we are sin honrado," or disrespected, she explained. "But this shows that we are learning and that we can go forward, that we are capable of more."

Miguel shot and edited this video of the sisters and their families as they went about their lives:

Blog Post:  Posted May 1, 2010, 6:32 am by Miguel Samper

Video: Gender-based violence workshop, Colombia

Country: Colombia

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Citizen Involvement

Blog Post:  Posted April 30, 2010, 3:20 pm by Dan Sadowsky

Video: ¡Vivo Jugando!

Country: Colombia

Topics: Youth, Women's Empowerment, Conflict & War

Young people in the southern Colombian city of Ipiales are learning respect for each other through Mercy Corps' sports for change programme, "Vivo Jugando." It's part of our effort to prevent gender-based violence, a growing concern in a region severely affected by the country's armed conflict.

Blog Post:  Posted April 28, 2010, 8:39 pm by Dan Sadowsky

Displaced but not disempowered

Country: Colombia

Topics: Economic Development, Displacement, Women's Empowerment

Maria's family was chased off their farm two years ago by Colombian guerrillas. Today, thanks to a trading-goods business she started with Mercy Corps' help -- and her diligence and spunk -- she's able to afford things like a desktop computer and Internet connection for her school-age sons. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

We spent most of Tuesday in Pasto, a 400,000-person departmental capital nestled in the Andes mountains in southwestern Colombia. The city boasts lots of concrete and not enough trees, and the day's cool and cloudy weather added to the dinginess. But no amount of gray could dampen the spirits of one remarkable woman we met, who has refused to let a tragedy in her past define her future.

Two years ago, 53-year-old Maria Isnelda Davila Martos lived with her extended family on a farm in the province. They grew corn, beans, peanuts and other crops. One day the FARC showed up -- Colombia's erstwhile revolutionaries turned drug traffickers -- and demanded payment in the form of peanuts. Maria's father refused, and was promptly assaulted; he later died from the beating. The rest of the family fled to Pasto, the nearest safe haven.

"We came with nothing," Maria told us. "We were 19 people sleeping in two rooms, on the floor. I thought I'd work as a maid or something."

Instead, she met Mercy Corps and our local partner, Nuevo Arco Iris, at a time when we were helping newly displaced families in Pasto get back on their feet. Maria's family received 90 days worth of food, some spending money, even yoga classes as part of a psychological assistance programme.

Importantly, in addition to the short-term help, Mercy Corps taught her how to make money on her own. She and one of her brothers attended a series of workshops about running a business, which covered topics from surveying the market to handling the finances. They decided, based on their knowledge of what rural families need, to buy small items in Pasto and sell them in surrounding villages at their weekly flea markets.

Last December, with £120 from Mercy Corps to cover start-up costs, she bought four packages of incense sticks and a dozen boxes of a popular type of cleaning rag. Her newly acquired business skills, combined with her engaging personality ("I'm a very positive person," she says) and hard work, paid immediate dividends. Her business took off, and she started adding items like spounges, rice, even household goods she'd raffle off.

These days, 11 family members are involved in the business (it also supports eight children). Each day, they stuff a rental car full of goods and drive to markets in the small towns surrounding Pasto. "Today it's La Cruz," she says.

Maria tours us through her cramped three-story apartment, which she shares with her sister and their four kids, to show off her success. One bedroom is furnished with a handsome bed and dresser. Another sports a 32-inch television and a desktop computer with an Internet connection. In the kitchen is a microwave she bought two days ago and is still in the box. Soon, she promises, she'll have a refrigerator.

"It was precarious at first," she says. "Now, with the help you gave me, I'm happy. We are fine, we're better." Another reason for her smile, she says, is that her 12- and 14-year-old boys are doing well at school.

Asked if she ever thinks about her old life, Maria shakes her head. "I don't want to remember the past. I want to live in the present."

As for the future, she wants to learn how to use the computer to manage inventory (it's just for the kids now) and move to a nicer home. In particular, she wants a living room.

As we leave, I notice the furnishings for that room had already been purchased: a chocolate-brown vinyl sofa and matching chairs were stacked under the stairwell. Judging from what Maria has already accomplished, it won't be long before they're put to use.

Blog Post:  Posted April 23, 2010, 3:26 pm by Cassandra Nelson

In Congo, saving trees and lives

Country: DR Congo

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Emergencies, Economic Development, Displacement, Conflict & War

Last November and December I was working with Mercy Corps in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I had the chance to make a photo essay on our work that the BBC is featuring on their website.

In 2009, the number of displaced people in eastern DRC reached more than 1.5 million. Today, the violence and displacement situation continues.

Camps for refugees and displaced people pose significant threats to personal security for women and girls who must leave the camps to collect firewood in the surrounding forests. Last year, Mercy Corps conducted a survey of displaced households and found that 90 percent of the people surveyed reported they had experienced harassment, violence or rape while collecting firewood in the forests.

Mercy Corps is training women to build fuel-efficient stoves and make bio-mass briquettes, to reduce the amount of firewood women need to collect in unsafe and remote areas where rapes typically occur. The fuel-efficient stoves and bio-mass briquettes also reduce the massive deforestation in the area.

Please check out my photo essay on the BBC for more information on this critical programme that Mercy Corps is implementing.