The Nation Newspaper

Category: Women in Action

  • “Solar Mamas” Power Up Women’s Development

    “Solar Mamas” Power Up Women’s Development

    “It is time we focus on women.” These are the renowned words of Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, the founder of Barefoot College. Set up in 1972, this extraordinary college located in the village of Tilonia, 110km south-west of Jaipur, India, teaches rural women—many of them illiterate—how to fabricate solar panels, lights and photovoltaic circuits. With these new capabilities, accredited “Solar Mamas” return home to shed light on their communities.

    Around the world, life is difficult for women, perhaps most so in the rural areas of developing countries like India, where harmful traditions run deep. In fact, 47 percent of girls surveyed in a  2014  Unicef report said they were married by the age of 18. The Indian state of Rajasthan, home to Barefoot College, has the highest rate of child marriage in the nation. Upon entering womanhood, everyday household tasks become exhausting and time-consuming for these women, as a lack of electricity makes everything that bit more difficult. The World Bank estimates that one Indian household in every five still lacks access to electricity and figures run as high as one in every two for rural areas. Many households depend on kerosene oil for lamps or cooking, potentially exposing themselves to future respiratory or sight problems.

    The peaceful grounds in Tilonia, spread over eight acres, run entirely on solar energy maintained by the Barefoot solar engineers. Over 15,000 women from 83 countries have received training in various skills here, but the “Solar Mamas” remain the centre’s most impactful graduates, providing light and power to over 1,200 villages and 500,000 people worldwide. Many of these women, despite having never set foot inside a classroom themselves or learning to read, now watch their children peacefully do their homework in the evening, or their neighbours shuffle from field to hut after a day spent tending to cattle with a solar lamp in hand.

    The methods employed at Barefoot College work towards 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are a set of targets and indicators that UN member states should work towards in hope of eradicating poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring peace for all humans worldwide by 2030.

    Any woman worldwide over 35 years of age, and from a remote, inaccessible area without electricity, can enrol for the solar engineering course, provided she has backing from her village. The “Solar Mamas” respective governments arrange their passports, visas and transport to Barefoot College, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs provides a fellowship that covers the cost of their stay in Tilonia. The training programme lasts six months.  Two groups are taught simultaneously, each consisting of 20 Indian and 40 foreign women, hailing from Latin America, Asia, the Pacific Islands and Africa. Language barriers are no problem for the “Solar Mamas,” for though their spoken languages differ, their past life experiences and hopes for their communities’ future unite them. Practical lessons are taught using a colour coding system that doesn’t depend on the use of  spoken language or written word.

    “Women have a great potential to act as agents for sustainable change and poverty reduction because, unlike men, they connect emotionally with what they are doing,” said New Zealander Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College. She added that the solar energy engineering courses help women develop leadership skills, meaning that when they go back to their villages, they’re able to challenge with greater confidence the discriminatory gender stereotypes that once handicapped them.

    JAIPUR 14/09/2017: African students during their six months training at Women Barefoot Solar Engineer Training Centre, Barefoot College, Tilonia nearly 110km from Jaipur, Rajasthan The Barefoot College connects rural communities to solar, water, education, professions and advocacy to help communities and individuals take control of their lives and the wellbeing of their communitie It has trained hundred’s of Indian rural women and also African students. Photo Sandeep Saxena

    One of the best parts of the programme is the ripple effect. Women return home, motivated to train others in solar engineering. Melekuini Numela, 51, from Tuvalu said she would replicate the model by installing solar lanterns and panels in her village and sharing her newly acquired expertise with local women. Fallone also explains that “Solar Mamas” experience a substantial increase in their income following their time at Barefoot College, offering a further source of empowerment and confidence boost.

    25-year-old Indian Santosh Devi has been able to break the caste barrier with her training as a solar engineer. Being a Dalit [communities illegally discriminated against by people of higher caste in India], she was previously isolated and not allowed to interact with the people belonging to so-called higher castes. “I am now a solar engineer who can install and repair lights and panels for the villagers. People of all castes come seeking my help. I had never imagined that this would be possible in my village,” she proudly said.

    Fallone regretted that there was, at large, mistrust in the society regarding not-for-profit organisations, and that the philanthropic contributions they received were inadequate. She adds that regular funding would help sustain initiatives such as Barefoot College.

    What’s sure is that with the “Solar Mamas,” life is now looking a whole lot brighter for rural communities in India and across the world.  Barefoot College is  a perfect example of just how strong and capable women are when provided with sufficient educational opportunities.

     

     

     

     

    Home

     

     

     

  • Cyber Attorokkha: How Education and Training Have Changed the Online Experience

    Cyber Attorokkha: How Education and Training Have Changed the Online Experience

    Cyber Attorokkha: How Education and Training Have Changed the Online Experience for Bangladeshi Women.

    By Nazmul Ahasan, The Daily Star

    With the use of internet and social media surging, Bangladesh has experienced a rise in gender-based cyber harassment. Despite comprising only about one-fifth of the nation’s social-media users, in 2016 alone, 73 percent of Bangladeshi women and girls online fell victim to this type of cybercrime.

    In the absence of an adequate response from the government, a few organisations have taken up the fight against gender targeted cyber crime. Founded in 2016, Female Empowerment Movement (FEM) is one such organisation. Based in the capital Dhaka, FEM has launched a programme called Cyber Attorokkha—meaning “cyber self-defence” in Bengali—to train women and girls on how to keep safe online.

    Zaiba Tahyya, co-founder of FEM, said that while running their flagship Project Attorokkha programme, which aims to ensure mobility and security of women in Dhaka’s slum areas, she realised that “women were not literate when it comes to cybersecurity,” making them particularly vulnerable to predators.

    Motivated to take action, FEM project coordinator Tajwar Hoque designed the Cyber Attorokkha curriculum to teach women and girls—especially those from low-income areas—basic computing, self-protection in social media, and about email spamming and phishing (a tactic where fraudsters attempt to obtain sensitive identity information by disguising as a trustworthy third-party online).

    Tanjina Akhter Tania, a graduate from the Cyber Attorokkha programme, recalls that a number of her local friends from the Korail slums in Dhaka have had bitter experiences with social media. One of them even considered suicide, she said, after an online acquaintance blackmailed her with her personal photos, trying to coerce her to marry him. However, with Tania’s help, the girl regained control of her identity online and successfully resisted the blackmailer. Sadly, Tahyya has met many such girls.

    Online predators can simply download all the photos of the targeted girl from, say, her Facebook profile to create a fake profile. The next step would be to send friend requests to people that know her, which many of whom, unaware of the potential danger, would accept. And finally, defamation or scandal would follow—some have even involved girls’ faces being superimposed onto nude images of women—which would stir rumours about the girl in the neighbourhood or amongst her friends and family. The cybercriminals capitalise on the social stigma because the girls would traditionally not dare report the crime, lest it spread even further and provoke more cyber attacks.

    Apart from social media, Tahyya said, Cyber Attorokkha also focuses on other aspects of online security. “We teach students a lot about device security and internet connection security such as public WiFi and how that’s unsafe,” she explained. “We teach them about the major hacking practices and how to steer clear of them—social engineering, primarily. Our lessons are not just based on Facebook, but take a more holistic approach towards online privacy and security.”

    And these methods yield results. “Girls who were taught actually set guidelines in their households. They took actions and taught other girls on the importance of privacy and what it means when you are sharing information,” Tahyya explained. “We have seen that teaching one girl in one community worked as a ripple effect.”

    Reflecting upon her experience as a graduate of the programme, Tania commented, “First of all, I now know how to defend myself online. Second, if I’m still somehow harassed, I know that I can go to the police and report them.” Confident in her rights, Tania added, “Silence is no option.”

    Apart from online security, Cyber Attorokkha teaches girls about general computer skills, which can help them in the professional world. Since most girls are still in school, the project leans towards basic circuit components, programming and coding. “Some of them are working to make low-cost alarms for security,” Tahyya said with a hint of pride.

    However, Tahyya’s journey was not an easy one. Recruiting young girls was a particular challenge, as parents didn’t feel it safe to send their children somewhere they didn’t know much about. “We had to start over, build a relationship and gain trust,” the co-founder said. And, being a woman leader was an inherent burden for her in Bangladesh’s conservative society. Sadly, landlords wanted to speak to a male and didn’t even want to entertain the idea of allocating a place for only females.

    When asked what her future goal is, she was rather broad. “My main goal and vision is to increase mobility and visibility of women in Bangladesh in the real world as well as the cyber world,” Tahyya responded. “I want to decrease their vulnerability.”

    https://www.fem.org.bd/copy-of-cyber-attorokkha

    Nazmul Ahasan is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star.

  • Training Women in Agroecology Yields Results in West Africa

    The United Nation’s  Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) cites gender equality as being the single most important determinant of food security. Across the developing world, women—who carry out the majority of unpaid work in the agricultural sector—require more say in decisions that impact farming in their local communities.

    The harsh reality is that climate change, combined with strong-rooted traditions regarding gender roles, has resulted in life becoming much harder for rural women across western and central Africa, notably in Burkina Faso. According the World Bank, 40 percent of Burkinabe residents live below the poverty line and 80 percent of the nation’s employment is linked to subsistence farming. Burkinabe farmers, many of them women, battle with soil that; is low in nutrients, has a low water-holding capacity and is largely degraded. The country’s difficult farming conditions, compounded with drought, means that women’s everyday life has become much tougher. In rural villages women must walk further to fetch water and work harder in the field for less yield

    On May 23 2017, the ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ movement held an interactive workshop for rural women in Burkina Faso, with the aim of educating and training these ladies about agro-ecological practices. Training women in such farming techniques would help improve the quality of soil, and educate farming women on how to adapt to a changing climate—yielding better result in the long-term.

    According to Sibiri Dao, the movement’s coordinator, agro-ecology is more than just the simple fusion ecological methods with traditional farming practices—it represents the only liable option for the continuation of agriculture as a whole and the survival of humanity. What’s more, women are the key to the movement’s success.

    ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ was first established as a campaign in 2006 in Burkina Faso, but it only really started on its current path in September 2011. This was when the movement formed connections with different organisations representing rural women across five countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Senegal.

    Now, twelve different associations across these African nations have taken on the campaign and the FAO estimates that the movement has resulted in the training of  more than 159,000 people. Sibiri Dao, who is coordinator of the movement and on the board of directors for the National Federation of Farming Organisations (FENOP), explained that despite having evolved slowly she and her team have set their standards high.

    As well as educating and training on traditional agricultural methods, ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ works in other domains; helping to set up local networks and empowering rural women to take key roles in promoting and changing the mentality towards natural products. In doing so, the movement promotes agro-ecological farming and women’s rights. Dao is convinced that if women step up the the plate, they could persuade and rally men into accepting agro-ecological practices, especially in farming families.

    This regional or even national advocacy aims to provide women with the power to persuade authorities to acknowledging and accept the need for women in agro-ecology, which in turn could make food sovereignty a reality for farmers. The workshop’s organisers explain that the movement’s advisory committee meets every year to examine the three-year plans previously decided on.

    One of the main aims of the workshop on May 23 2017 was to increase visibility. This included promoting the ‘We are the solution!’ campaign and the actions of rural women in Burkina Faso, engaging large-scale support for rural women, calling out public and political opinion on the prioritisation of food sovereignty in development policy, and sharing experiences of promoting agro-ecology. “At the end of the workshop, the participants have to clearly determine their grassroots prospects, and then we conduct an evaluation at the next meeting,” said Sibiri Dao.

    Victorine Kam—a member of the Munyu Association of Banfora and an advocate for agro-ecological production methods—shared her experiences. Despite some difficulties encountered in agro-ecological production, she encouraged her colleagues to practice this style of agriculture, advocating for its natural advantages. “The vendors testify that chemically produced foods rot faster than agro-ecological produce. Consumers also remark that ecological products are softer than those that have been chemically treated,” said Kam. She also explained that to make organic manure, you only need to combine the stalks of rice plants, animal waste and ash. The material is then packed down and compressed for between 15 days and month, at which point it’s useable.

    Movements such as ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’  highlight that with the access to educational opportunities and training programmes, women across Western and Central Africa have the ability to provide greater food security for future communities.

  • Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

    Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

    In Lagos, a social enterprise trains struggling women in slums to become financially independent micro entrepreneurs.

    By Praise Olowe for The Nation

    The slums of Lagos are dotted with single-parent households, most of them headed by strong-willed women facing widespread discrimination as a result of divorce, separation or widowhood.

    Patriarchal societies and deep-rooted traditions have made life here pretty hard for women going solo. According to UN Women, African widows are among the most vulnerable and discriminated-against women in the world. In Nigeria, widowhood isn’t just a question of heartache but often of losing property, land and any money saved prior to a husband’s death.

    What’s more, in the developing world women are 20 percent less likely than men to have a bank account, being frequently turned away by financial institutes simply because of their gender—and the rate is much higher for widows and single mothers. Getting credit is also extremely difficult. The reality is that for many of these single-parent households, mothers are obliged to turn to their children to help prop up the weekly household income, with much of the responsibility falling on daughters—perpetuating gender-specific poverty.

    This was the case for Nkem Okocha, whose widowed mother struggled to support her four children, “I had to hawk goods in the Lagos markets to make money to pay for my exam fees,” said Okocha. Still, she was luckier than most; when someone gave her mother money out of pity, she didn’t spend it right away; instead, she invested it, buying vegetables she later sold at a profit. With that small gift of money, she had effectively launched a micro business, using profits to support her family and re-investing money into more goods to sell. It was a valuable lesson for Okocha, who sold shampoo at the market to help her mother; later, she managed to get her university degree and a job at a bank.

    In 2013, she founded Mamamoni, a social enterprise that offers low-income women training in finance and vocational skills, and provides them with access to microcredit loans through mobile banking. “Our aim is to provide capital for those who cannot access it through commercial banks,” said Okocha. “Mamamoni was started out of empathy, I wanted to help women in my community. I saw them idle and their children staying at home because there was no money to send them to school.”

    Okocha, who also has experience in web and mobile development, took a page from the Kiva playbook, setting up a web platform to fund loans. “Socially conscious individuals can invest in low-income women by making loans to fund their businesses,” Okocha explained. They are invited to lend any amount from 10,000 to 100,000 Nigerian Naira (US $28 to $280) and may read over business plans prior to choosing the specific businesswoman they would like to invest in.

    Women who enroll in the programme learn vocations such as how to make soap, insecticides, pastries or handicrafts. They are provided with mobile phones at the beginning of their training, and funds are transferred from Mamamoni’s account to theirs. Mobile money is very common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, and women can easily use their mobile phones to buy materials to set up their micro businesses. This process, Okocha explained, helps to bypass the discrimination many of these women have experienced at formal banking institutions.

    Staffed with just five women, Mamamoni’s impact has been impressive. To date, it has trained more than 4,000 Nigerian women and provided some 100 micro loans. The loan payback rate is nearly 100 percent, and more than 90 percent of those who have received training have started a business. And while selling soap or crafts may seem like petty trades to some, these simple businesses have provided a source of income that has enabled more than 7,800 children to go to school.

    One proud Mamamoni beneficiary is Beatrice Alihola, who is now able to send her young children to school thanks to the small business she set up in her community with funds and guidance from Okocha and her team. Prior to taking part in the programme, Alihola sold produce under a tarpaulin canopy at one of the local markets; during the rainy season, she frequently had little or no income. Now, with the assistance of microcredit, she is able to rent a small shop where she sells insecticide and kerosene, a much more stable source of income.

    An alumna of the 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, Okocha is eager to reach out to many more women like Alihola. She recently began working with teenagers, the idea being to empower the upcoming generation of Nigerian women as well. Soon, she plans to introduce the Mamamoni concept to 20 more Nigerian states, providing training and microcredit access to an additional 10,000 women—and breaking the cycle of poverty.

    http://mamamoni.org/