• Wednesday, May 8, 2013
  • A program of IPS Inter Press Service supported by the Dutch MDG3 Fund

    Women Empowering Women

    by prize winning feminist researcher Wendy Harcourt

    Why has ‘gender’ emerged as a key area of development funding in these days of reduced funds for development? How has the MDG3 Fund helped catalyze progress towards achievement of the 2015 MDG3 on gender equality and women’s empowerment? How are women overcoming violence against women, gaining economic independence, fighting for land rights and becoming more involved in decision making?

    10 inside stories on ten projects reveal how the MDG3 Fund has helped women to help end social discrimination and rights injustices and to catalyze transformative changes in women’s and communities lives worldwide.

    Using Law for Rural Women’s Empowerment in West Africa (WiLDAF-AO)

    24 Nov 2011

    How to translate rights and legal entitlements into reality for many rural women who do not know how to claim their rights nor how to seek redress over unfair treatment? Credit: Suleiman Mbatiah/IPS

    Agriculture is key to women’s livelihoods in rural West Africa and to the survival of the national economies. But despite women’s crucial work on the farms women’s rights to land ownership, control and access to land continues to be neglected.

    The importance of African women farmers has been long recognized in international development since the famous study by Ester Boserup in 1970 a message that continues to be underlined in major reports such 2010-2011 UN State of Food and Agriculture Report on ‘Women and Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development’. More »

    TRADE-AFRICA: Flip-flops Transformed Into Toys to Save Turtles

    13 Apr 2009

    By Najum Mushtaq
    NAIROBI, Apr 13 (IPS) Art and fashion, environmental conservation,
    poverty alleviation and fair trade come together at UniqEco’s Marula
    Studios in an upscale suburb of Nairobi. A visit to its workshop and
    display centre is a delight to the eyes as well as an occasion to learn
    about the problem of marine pollution and its eco-friendly,
    community-based and business-savvy solutions.

    More »

    DR-CONGO: Electronics Firms Urged to Boycott ”Blood Minerals” Marina Litvinsky

    01 Apr 2009

    WASHINGTON, Apr 1 (IPS) – The world’s mass consumption of cell phones, laptops and other electronics fuels widespread sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a new study released Wednesday by the non-profit Enough Project that echoes what many human rights activists and humanitarian workers have been saying for years.
    More »