In parts of Ethiopia, tradition has long prevented women from learning skills to farm, manage livestock or start a business.

But the women of Mida Woromo village are standing up for equality and seeking better lives for themselves and their families. They have asked Interweave Solutions for business and skill training so they can be competitive assets in their local economy.

Right now, 280 women are enrolled to participate in business and agriculture training normally restricted to men and will receive loans to start businesses and invest in land, seed, and animals.

This will empower women to earn more income and gain higher social status. It empowers women to invest in equality.

 

Check out the Budget:

  
Items                                 Tipping Bucket      Other sources    Total
Teachers, facilities, admin.             0                 4,200            4,200 
Revolving loan seed funds            550                    550            1,100
Training materials                        350                   175               525          
Total                                           900                 4,925            5,825

 

By "Other sources" we mean donations already given in the US and provided by the local community in Ethiopia.  By "Tipping Bucket" we mean, well... you. ;)

 

The project relies on the initiative of the women to generate their own concrete solutions such as clinics, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, clean water, latrines, gender equity initiatives, women’s rights campaigns, and other community efforts.  

The 280 women of Mida Woromo have requested the training and are eager to start this process. Interweave has done all the groundwork in setting up a partnership with a local human rights organization to implement the business training, education and advocacy needed.

The project will enable 280 women to begin uplifting themselves and their families through economic self-sufficiency and more active participation in the development and improvement of their village.

Traditionally, it has always been men who have owned and managed livestock and women have been underappreciated and underutilized, often not allowed to own land or manage the animals.

Ethiopia’s future economic and social development requires that these specific misconceptions about women’s role in agriculture be confronted and that more generalized attitudes and practices that limit women and their right and capacity to thrive on an equal footing with men be overcome.

The requested Tipping Bucket funding is for a vital but one-time, non-recurring training and business start-up and revolving loan seed-money to begin self-sustaining businesses that will generate future income.

 

 

 

Lynn Curtis has experience advancing grassroots learning and development projects in 48 developing nations as well as the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Curtis is an internationally acknowledged authority on literacy and community development in developing nations. He is author of several books and manuals on literacy and social change.