Women

“Africare helped me to develop my palm oil business from inconsistency to a sustained venture and I have a roof to put over the heads of my family.”

Rose Kpende,
Kpando District, Ghana

Women bear a disproportionate burden of the Africa’s poverty -- a staggering 70 percent. Women must labor not only this burden, but the burden of being the backbone of the rural economies, food production systems and providing basic necessities for their families. Throughout Africa, women face some of the greatest obstacles yet represent tremendous opportunity for lasting social and economic development.

  • Women produce roughly 80% of Africa's agricultural output but earn only 10 percent of income and own one percent of property

  • African women have less access than men to education, business credit, financial services and other routes to advancement

  • African women have distinctly lower literacy rates than African men - more than two-thirds of Africa’s illiterates are women

  • Today, the face of AIDS in Africa is that of a woman.  Women constitute 60% of people living with HIV, and of all Africans aged 15-24 who are HIV positive, 75% are young women

  • Family health depends on the health of the mother. Women are the most frequent users of health services in Africa. When those services are inadequate, women suffer disproportionately ― if they are mothers, their families suffer as well

  • Up to 90% of infant mortality could be prevented through breast feeding, oral rehydration therapy, malaria prevention, proper diet and access to antibiotics and vitamin supplements, but many women simply lack the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions

  • The chance of dying because of pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa is one in 16, but only one in 3,800 in the developed world.

  • On average women and girls travel 8 hours (covering 5–10 miles) per day collecting water

Africare realizes that women’s development is fundamental to Africa’s overall development. In meeting that goal resources are needed and strategies and programs must be specifically targeted to women. This explicit attention to gender dimensions enhances the effectiveness of all our programs.  Africare projects directly involve women in the implementation process as community volunteers and at the same time enhance women’s knowledge and skills and their status in their communities.

By training women in vocational skills and crop diversification, providing start-up equipment and capital for businesses; and helping them acquire loans and learn how to save, Africare helps to economically empower women and in so doing empower communities. Through investing in building the capacity of caregivers of orphans, who often are women, Africare helps to reduce the negative impact of HIV/AIDS on Orphans and Vulnerable Children. In recognition of the importance of men’s roles in the well-being of African households, Africare targets men in programs such as family planning and HIV/AIDS home-based care.  Men are also involved as community health workers.

 

Sheila McKinnon photo