by lwang | Mar 28, 2012 | Female Empowerment, Health, m2m
Last week, we had the honor of finally meeting mothers2mothers co-Founder and International Director Robin Smalley at the Kravis Prize ceremony, which was full of CMC students this year. Not only did she offer her inspiring words to our students, Smalley also shed light on the issues that the organization is working to change. In the video below on mothers2mothers from the Red Ribbon Foundation, she discusses the statistics and issues underlying the organization’s mission: “There really isn’t a reason why a single baby should be born infected [with HIV] today. We have fewer babies born in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe combined in a year than in a single African clinic. It’s unacceptable and it’s unnecessary. … For us, we believe prevention is the best way to start. If we can keep babies from getting infected, we don’t have to worry about treating them later on.” m2m may have started in Cape Town, but since then its impact has spread far and wide. It has grown to almost 700 sites across seven sub-Saharan African countries, employing more than 1,600 HIV-infected mothers to mentor over 300,000 pregnant women and new mothers each year! m2m has broadened African women’s access to not only medical care and HIV education, but also emotional support. m2m mentor Rebecca said: “Since I joined mothers2mothers, I got employed and I get a salary. My life has changed because I’m able to look after my children, to buy whatever they want. I’m also able to look after myself … but apart from the money that I get from mothers2mothers, I also get satisfaction by working...
by lwang | Mar 1, 2012 | Female Empowerment, m2m
Here at the Kravis Prize, we are proud to sponsor some of the most innovative nonprofits, including one of this year’s Kravis Prize winners, mothers2mothers. Not only does m2m help to educate pregnant women and new mothers on how to prevent HIV transmission to their unborn babies, the organization also provides social support to HIV-positive women and helps them access existing healthcare services. Unique in its innovative approach to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), m2m is widely recognized around the world and receives support from organizations including UNICEF. Studies have also been conducted to capture the impact of m2m’s programs, which show how m2m is truly a leader in this area. In 2007, USAID, the Human Sciences Research Council and the Population Council conducted an evaluation of 17 m2m sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which provide services five days per week to women at the clinics. m2m staff are also available to go home with a mother who requests support for HIV status disclosure to a partner and/or other family members. Researchers interviewed HIV-positive pregnant and postpartum women that participated in the m2m program and those who did not. The study found that “m2m participants had greater psychosocial well-being, greater use of PMTCT services, and better PMTCT outcomes.” In fact, “more than nine out of 10 pregnant program participants felt that they could do things to help themselves, cope with taking care of their infants, and live positively.” “The findings suggest that m2m plays an important role in providing a continuum of care for HIV-positive women and their infants. The program strives to keep women linked to health...
by lwang | Feb 7, 2012 | FAWE, Female Empowerment, Poverty Reduction
Kravis Prize winners share many things in common, including an exemplary record of effective programs that drive socioeconomic development around the world. In fact, 2008 Kravis Prize winner Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE) officially launched a $2.5 million program with children’s development organization Plan Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia last week! The five-year program, which will be implemented in the Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Lofa counties, “seeks to empower over 40,000 girls and young women with education and other basic skills.” In addition, the program will protect girls from gender-based violence and increase access to post-primary education. You can also check out our page to find out more about...
by lwang | Feb 2, 2012 | Female Empowerment, Landesa, Poverty Reduction, Roy Prosterman
Did you know that 42 percent of children under the age of five in India suffer from malnutrition? Thankfully, international development organizations are working to eradicate this problem by implementing health programs and other community development initiatives. One area that might be overlooked, however, is how women’s rights contribute to reaching this goal. The Guardian’s Poverty Matters blog published an article by Renee Giovarelli, executive director of the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights, who discusses how female empowerment affects child malnutrition: “There is growing evidence that the reason for India’s malnourished children is not just empty pockets – it is, specifically, women’s empty pockets. Women in India have a lower status and therefore less control over resources, both land and money, and consequently do not have the leverage to ensure that their children’s needs are met.” Giovarelli also outlines how Landesa and the national and state governments of India are tackling this issue: “Across India, national and some state governments are recognising this and are working to put a powerful asset – land – into the hands of women. … Just last year officials in Odisha state opened the first Women’s Land Rights Facilitations Centre. And officials in West Bengal state have begun adding the names of women to all the land titles they distribute in their micro-plot poverty alleviation programme. Officials in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal are working to ensure that more women find their names on the title documents to the land they till.” “Land rights for women can help ease India’s child malnutrition crisis” [Poverty Matters, January 20, 2012] To learn more...
by lwang | Jan 5, 2012 | AIL, Community Development, Female Empowerment, Sakena Yacoobi
In 2010, Sakena Yacoobi participated in the public forum “Health at Whose Cost?”, part of the Melbourne Conversations series, as a delegate at the United Nations Advance Global Health conference. She shared her thoughts about Afghanistan and discussed how the Afghan Institute of Learning is working to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by generating awareness and educating Afghan society about pertinent issues: “Our organization decided to really target universal education, gender equality and child maternal health. … As an individual, everyone is responsible to take care of everyone else’s health and to try to help. In order to help, you must give them training to be able to teach them how to help [themselves].” While discussing the importance of women’s rights, Yacoobi said: “Why [do] we target gender equality? Because in Afghanistan, you know, always half of the population has been considered. The other half, or more than the other half, are women. Women have been completely ignored. So if you really want to have a healthy nation, you must target the other half of the population. Because those half are the ones who are taking care of the rest of the population. So we must really try to teach them and work with both sex[es], male and female.” How’s that for food for thought? Listen to Yacoobi speak at the 0:29:15 mark and check out other inspiring speakers in the...
by lwang | Nov 23, 2011 | AIL, Civil Society, Community Development, Female Empowerment, Sakena Yacoobi
Regina Starr Ridley, publishing director of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, met with 2009 Kravis Prize winner and Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) Founder Sakeena Yacoobi last month at the global poverty alleviation convention, Opportunity Collaboration, in Mexico. Yacoobi shared her thoughts with Ridley on the growing sense of empowerment among Afghani women: “Women’s lives are changing rapidly for the good. It’s changed 180 degrees. Women are going into professions of all kinds. But the women of Afghanistan still need the international community to back them up. It takes awhile—Afghanistan has been at war 30 years. Everything cannot be changed right away.” While discussing developments in Afghanistan, Yacoobi said: “Afghanistan is doing better, the villages are cleaner, people are healthier, and people know more about hygiene and reproductive health. Now we need infrastructure support, and we need to develop our civil society.” Due to Yacoobi’s keen knowledge and tireless drive, AIL has already taken steps towards developing Afghanistan’s civil society through workshops on democracy, leadership and peace. AIL’s emerging youth group, which started with 25 students, has now grown to over 200. Thanks to Yacoobi and AIL, women and youths in Afghanistan are stepping in to help shape the country’s social development. “Afghanistan: Update from Sakena Yacoobi” [The Stanford Social Innovation Review, November 8, 2011] To learn more about Sakena Yacoobi, visit our...
