It is a new year – 2010 and IFAPA women have started the year on a high note – they are committed to making a difference in their communities this year. This is not to say that they were quiet last year, rather it is to say that their impact will be stronger this year. The IFAPA women continue to work under A Mother’s Cry for a Healthy Africa – an inter-faith Campaign launched continent-wide in 2005 and sub-regionally in Eastern Africa (2008) and in Southern Africa in 2009. The Campaign highlights the challenges faced on the African continent and also the role of the African women in helping to bring peace and development amidst the challenges. Indeed, the IFAPA women are in their different ways, responding to this cry. The Campaign is about Africa but reaches out beyond the continent to all who are willing to listen and respond to the Mother’s Cry.
With some support from well-wishers, the Campaign could also be launched in the other sub-regions of Africa namely: West, Central and North. Launching of the Campaign is a starting point for practical action by women from different faith communities in the particular region as they begin to consolidate their efforts towards meeting the unique challenges within their particular countries and sub-regions.
The IFAPA women network covers all five sub-regions of Africa. In the network, women share their experiences, share their concerns and learn from as well as encourage each other. IFAPA Women’s Desk is coordinating the communication of the various women from the different faiths and sub-regions. The women are engaged in their different activities, but do need support in terms of capacity-building, cash and kind in order to do what they are doing better and to have greater impact. The IFAPA women desk is working with these women and others in activities such as capacity-building albeit with challenges of communication with the different women project implementers as well as not having all the required practical support in terms of cash and kind to help the women projects be more effective. Some examples of on-going and proposed projects based on felt-needs at the grass root from one of the sub-regions where IFAPA is already visible include:
Uganda
Kasese War Widows Network (KWWN) was founded in the year 2003, to address issues arising out of rebel insurgencies within the Ruwenzori region between 1996 and 2002. The mission of the organization is to help the widows, orphans and other vulnerable individuals to address poverty through information sharing and skills development especially on sustainable projects and to make an impact in their community. Their activities are also aimed at addressing issues of gender based violence including domestic violence and armed conflict violence which are quite rampant in the area.
Kasese War Widows Network is based within Kasese district located in the far west of Uganda adjacent to the Rwenzori Mountain range on the eastern boarder with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The development of the area was severely hampered by the 1996-2002 insurgencies. This destroyed livelihood based on small holder farming and undermined access to information. During the insurgency period over 30,000 people were displaced and hundreds killed and effects of these are evident to this day. Gender based violence (GBV) is common in the district and although there is evidence of many cases of domestic violence, they go unreported due to culture, misrepresentation of religious teachings, and other institutional setups that impede and/or indirectly promote the vice. Women and girl children are the main victims of these negative practices.
The situation is evidenced by over burdening of women with both domestic and farm chores (women form 70% of the un paid labor force in agriculture); wife battering, unhealthy and inadequate food intake for women due to unfavorable cultural practices, early marriages as girls are considered as a source of family income through bride price and gender-based violence which has been accepted as ‘normal.’
Whereas the religious institutions as well the judicial and support systems in Kasese district and the country as a whole, have structures and procedures of addressing Gender based violence, their performance is usually wanting. This is because these structures and personnel do not understand the intricacies and complexity of Gender-based violence and so they often dismiss reported cases as a private and personal to be addressed by the individuals involved.
“A gross lack of awareness and ignorance levels among perpetrators and victims exacerbates this problem. What is more challenging to respond to is the poor or total absence in some cases, of current and accurate data on prevalence and incidence rates, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the true nature of violence based on gender and its different forms and ramifications,” says Ms Teddy Kiswahili, the head of the project and a participant of the IFAPA East Africa Women capacity-building workshop. Ms Teddy has, since the IFAPA workshop in Nairobi, shared knowledge gained and is now spearheading a proposed project whose purpose is to empower communities in the most hit sub-counties within Kasese district to challenge the existing practices, beliefs, ideas and attitudes that promote Gender based violence and pursue alternatives of overcoming domestic violence while at the same time working for the protection and support of the victims to avoid further victimization.
The expected results of the project include: increased awareness and understanding of the rights of women, protection of the women and girls at risk of abuse within the community and abused women receiving adequate support services. The intended impact of this project is to have a safer community for women with all forms of domestic violence significantly reduced and women rights respected and promoted.
Tanzania
The Buddhist women of faith in Dar-es Salaam in Tanzania are working with orphans and other vulnerable children. They have rented a house in which they take care of these vulnerable members of society. The children are accommodated, given food and other basic needs and also from ages 6-12, supported to attend the nearby schools. The Buddhist women are a part of Tanzania Women Interfaith Network (TWIN) which is a movement were women of different faiths are giving assistance to women at the grass-root level especially on HIV/AIDS. The women have started ‘village banking’ to uplift widows and young girls who bear a lot of burdens as single mothers. These activities are all aimed at taking care of vulnerable members of society, reducing poverty and reducing discrimination on the basis of faith and gender. This is an on-going project and 2010 will see further expansion of this project which has been well received by the community.
Kenya
Witethie women group in Majimboni location of Kwale District is working on an environment and soil conservation project. The group was formed on 16th November 2005 and is composed of twenty women from both the Muslim and Christian faith communities.
The objectives of the group are: -To care for and conserve for the environment, support one another in uplifting the welfare of members and their families and learn from each other as group members through adopting new technology e.g. in farming.
So far the group has been able to improve their food production by using farmyard manure; worked on the prevention of soil erosion by soil conservation techniques including planting trees and bananas, improving welfare of members and their families through merry-go-round ( a concept where group members put resources together and assist one another in turns).
The current plans of the group center around reducing poverty levels by forming sub-groups of five members to work together on the environment and agricultural projects and report back to the main group on monthly basis. Given water challenges in the area, the group members have also devised a way of accessing clean water by buying water tanks for each member by contributing a certain amount of money every month. This will ensure that each member is able to harvest rainwater for future use during the dry season. This, however, is a challenge as, owing to the cost of each tank and the amount of money each member is able to give, it will take long to cover all group members. The future plan is to work on a sustainable plan for accessing clean water because with the water, group members could plant and consume healthy food as well as generate some income through sale of farm produce and keeping of poultry. The group could also care better for the environment by having tree nurseries and planting trees and practice better time management through reduced distances to clean water.
IFAPA sees great potential in supporting the women projects as they are all aimed at empowering the women and improving the standard of living for the women, children and the community in general given the nurturing role assigned to the women of Africa. All these women come from different faith communities but are bound together by their common challenges as women and challenges they face in the localities.
IFAPA partners and is happy to work with like-minded organizations and individuals and any support to the on-going projects as well as the planned projects is welcome as it will directly benefit the woman at the grass-root level where the impact of all peace-building, development and other efforts is best seen.
