by lwang | Mar 27, 2013 | Community Development, Female Empowerment, Landesa, Poverty Reduction
A garden grows more than vegetables. It also grows opportunities for women in impoverished Indian villages – that’s the message behind a pilot program developed by Landesa that’s the focus of a recent special report in the pages of the Sunday Seattle Times. That special report – titled “Seeds of Hope” – appears on the front-page of the newspaper’s March 16 edition and is devoted to Landesa’s program in West Bengal as well as to profiling Roy Prosterman, founder of the Seattle-based organization devoted to land access for the poor in India, China, Africa and other parts of the world. The Seattle Times visited the region and interviewed families whose lives have been affected by Landesa and Prosterman, the inaugural recipient of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership in 2006. In particular, the special coverage examines the impact of teaching young women to garden and how this program’s goal transcends simply providing a useful skill. “The idea,” the article explains, “is that if [young women] are considered assets rather than extra mouths to feed, the girls might complete their educations and break out of the poverty cycle. Even if they do not, they will know how to grow food on even small plots of land, improving their nutrition and that of their future children.” An accompanying profile of Prosterman describes his many years of work as an advocate for land rights, from Central America and Africa to Asia and the Philippines. A law professor at the University of Washington, Prosterman told the Seattle Times reporter that he long ago realized that land ownership was the key to eradicating...
by lwang | Jan 25, 2013 | Community Development, Female Empowerment, Health, m2m
Since 2001, the 2012 Kravis Prize recipient organization Mothers2Mothers has worked to improve the quality of life for thousands of HIV-infected women around the world. On the Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood blog, Mentor mother Nozi Samela discusses how she has helped hundreds of newly diagnosed pregnant women and mothers by sharing her own experience of living with the virus. Samela tells her story in three video blogs, with the Huffington Post providing the following summary of the first two segments: “Samela shared her despair after learning she was HIV- positive, the critical support and information she received from mothers2mothers to stay healthy and prevent transmission of HIV to her baby son, her devastation over the tragic death of her first son when he was three years old, and her excitement when she found out she was pregnant again.” Her most recent video blog, “The Greatest Gift,” concludes the series with the announcement of her HIV-free baby daughter. “Look at my baby,” Samela says, “and think to yourself, how wonderful it would be if all children born in Africa could be as healthy and as happy.” Click here to watch Nozi Samela’s full video...
by lwang | Jan 18, 2013 | Community Development, Education, FAWE, Female Empowerment, Poverty Reduction
At the Kravis Prize, we’re proud to honor those at the forefronts of their fields and exemplary leaders in the nonprofit community, knowing that their work has a tremendous impact on the larger world. In 1992, female education ministers of from five African countries established Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) to advocate for the education of girls across Africa. At the time, an estimated 24 million girls were out of school in sub-Saharan Africa and FAWE’s founders recognized not only the personal benefits for girls who attend school, but also the extensive benefits for society at large. Since then, FAWE has been a tireless and effective advocate for education, constantly innovating and implementing programs to address the multifaceted problems facing educators and students throughout the region. Among the group’s activities is co-chairing the annual GIMAC (“Gender is My Agenda Campaign”) Summit, which this year featured as keynote speaker the African Union’s first woman chair, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. All Africa contributor Samantha Nkirote Mckenzie reported on Dlamini-Zuma’s address during the summit’s first day, which focused on education: With the majority of Africa’s population being youth, there is a particular responsibility to ensure that the continent’s young people have the skills they need, Dlamini-Zuma said. “Education does not wait – it is a window that closes in time,” she said, underscoring the urgency of the situation. Several FAWE scholarship recipients attended the 21st annual summit, which also featured a welcoming address by FAWE Executive Director Oley Dibba-Wadda She said: “It is imperative that women and youth are supported and provided with the right tools so that they can engage and make...
by lwang | Dec 28, 2012 | Education, Female Empowerment, Health, Sakena Yacoobi
As the keynote speaker at Global Washington’s Redefining Development Conference, Kravis Prize winner Sakena Yacoobi inspired and challenged her audience to help educate the women and children of Afghanistan. Yacoobi was selected to deliver the event’s opening address in recognition for providing education and health services to more than 9 million Afghan women and children since the founding of her organization, the Afghan Institute of Learning. Global Washington published an article by contributor Nina Carduner, who detailed Yacoobi’s speech. Yacoobi began by describing her own “happy and secure” childhood in Afghanistan. Her family did not have much, but their needs were met. After travelling to the U.S. to complete her education, Afghanistan was invaded and Yacoobi and her family became refugees, unable to return to their home. But Yacoobi’s heart remained in Afghanistan, and so she pursued a career in public health in hopes of someday returning to provide medical resources to women and children. The turning point in her career, Yacoobi said, came during a visit to an Afghan refugee camp. Her shocking testimonial described how women “were like animals. … They felt less than human,” as their fathers, husbands, and brothers were taken away from them. Yacoobi rejected the idea that women were incapable of doing things for themselves, and dedicated her life to educating Afghan women and children. She began in Pakistan, where a majority of Afghan refugee camps were located. Met with criticism at first by religious leaders who believed that education was not appropriate for children, Yacoobi eventually convinced many of them to become teachers themselves. According to the article, she reached 27,000 children...
by lwang | Dec 7, 2012 | Female Empowerment, Health, m2m
Since 2001, Mothers2Mothers has empowered women infected with HIV across the globe. In a recent interview with Voice of America contributor Joe DeCapua, m2m co-founder and international director Robin Smalley discussed ways the organization’s Mentor Mothers program is changing the lives of more than 1 million women in sub-Saharan Africa. Smalley said that Mentor Mothers was developed to address the lack of both access to healthcare and emotional support available for pregnant women living with HIV. She explained how difficult pregnancy can be for vulnerable women in the region: “A young woman would come in. She’d come in for her first pregnancy test. In Africa, that tends to be around five months. At that time she’s offered her first HIV test. She’s like young mothers everywhere. She’s excited. She’s full of joy. She never anticipates anything going wrong. So when that test comes back positive she thinks it’s a death sentence for herself and for her baby. And there’s nobody available to tell her that there is medical intervention available to help her prevent transmission to her child. And so she goes home. She never seeks medical care again because of the terrible stigmas in the community.” Smalley and Dr. Mitch Besser, m2m’s co-founder, determined that the women themselves may represent the best available resource for others facing the same situation. She recalled how they transformed that realization into action. “Let’s just take newly delivered moms, who are HIV positive, put them through a rigorous training, send them back into their own clinics as what we call Mentor Mothers. Pay them for their work, and let them address this...
by lwang | Oct 12, 2012 | Female Empowerment, Health, m2m
Did you know that approximately 900 babies are born with HIV every day? 2012 Kravis Prize recipient mothers2mothers has established treatment clinics across sub-Saharan Africa to provide women access to the medical support they need to put an end to this epidemic. On the Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood blog, mothers2mothers Co-founder and International Director Robin Smalley describes the complexity of the issue and the organization’s efforts to eradicate the problem. Smalley explains how in these poverty stricken areas, ambitious women get married and start families at a young age because of the high price of education. During a routine visit to a mothers2mothers clinic, 16-year old Nomvula received a positive HIV test. “Shattered, Nomvula thought her life was over, and her baby’s finished before it had even begun. Yet, in that same clinic, medical intervention – including free, lifesaving antiretroviral drugs – was readily available. But she didn’t know that and no one was there to tell her on that fateful day.” Overwhelmed by shame and consumed by fear, Nomvula never returned to the clinic, securing the fate for her child. Like so many others, she wasn’t given the emotional support she needed to understand the treatable nature of her condition. Smalley describes that at mothers2mothers, “We educate, employ and empower mothers living with HIV, who work as Mentor Mothers in health centers, bolstering their capacity and providing lifesaving information and one-on-one support to pregnant women living with HIV… we employ our Mentor Mothers because it helps them gain economic security for themselves and their children. Thus, they also become respected role models in their community, defying HIV-related stigma...
