Empowering women
There are numerous examples from around the world of how poor women, with support, can organise themselves and help feed their families.
With the help of Concern Worldwide in Pakistan, women were supported to create a women’s community organisation, empowering them to make decisions for themselves.
Despite the fact that they had to overcome significant cultural discrimination, they now have 35 female members.
Having a voice
By being in a group they can share information and access training on topics they choose, such as kitchen gardening and poultry management. They now have an important role in the development of the area and have an influence on decisions.
Producing food
With the help of a local development organisation, in India, Dalit women (one of the most marginalised groups) have joined together to fight against hunger.
Over time, 5,000 women have brought ten thousand acres of waste land back into use to cultivate it for food. Today, these women are producing six times more food than they did before. With support and access to financial resources they are now able to feed their families, as well as those in their community who don’t produce any food.
Raikode Balamma, one of these women, said:
When I compare our lives today with our lives before, I see how many changes have come about in our lives. At that time we did not have enough food, clothes, shelter. We had no social status and lived like bonded labour.
Nobody helped us. All that has changed now.
Crucial role
These women in India and Pakistan are lucky enough to have had some support. They demonstrate the crucial role that women can play in ending hunger. But women all over the world are being let down by their own and international governments.
We need to ensure that women are no longer ignored. They need your support.
