WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

The Hunger Project

The African Woman Food Farmer

 

http://www.thp.org/awffi/

 

Microfinance Work in Rural Africa

 

AWFFI loan committee at Ligowe epicenter in Malawi.

For the past 15 years, The Hunger Project has pioneered a holistic, bottom-up, gender-focused strategy — the Epicenter Strategy — that empowers millions of women and men in more than 1,000 African villages to meet their basic needs on a sustainable basis.

To understand why our strategy works when so many others have failed, we need to understand the basis of Africa’s rural economy.

Experts agree that agriculture is the key to economic progress in Africa. Yet most programs to revitalize African agriculture have bypassed the most important producers — the 100 million women who grow Africa’s food.

In sub-Saharan Africa, women grow 80 percent of the food. They do virtually all the work to process, transport and market the food. Yet women own only 1 percent of the land, and receive only 7 percent of farm extension services and 10 percent of small-scale agricultural credit.

To address this vital missing link, The Hunger Project created the African Woman Food Farmer Initiative (AWFFI) in 1999 — a pioneering program of training, credit and savings designed to economically empower women food farmers. 

The initial intention of AWFFI was to demonstrate that African women food farmers could manage their own microfinance program. This has been a success. Since the year 2000, loans have been disbursed to 95,326 partners, totaling $5.7 million with the average loan size of $60.

By 2002, it was clear that AWFFI worked best when integrated into our Epicenter Strategy — a strategy that mobilizes clusters of villages to work together to meet their basic needs. To date, there are more than 100 epicenters throughout the eight countries of Africa where The Hunger Project works.

The ultimate goal at each epicenter is to establish an officially recognized, women-led rural bank. This has now been achieved at 17 epicenters.

Women Become Economic and Community Leaders

Not only are AWFFI partners becoming stronger economic players and leaders in their households, but they are also becoming effective leaders in their communities. For example, at Kiboga Epicenter in Uganda, Latifa Mutyaba, member of the Abali Awamu women’s group, the epicenter committee and the AWFFI loan committee, has recently been elected as a council member for her parish. According to the AWFFI project officer in Uganda, Mrs. Mutyaba’s exemplary leadership in the AWFFI program and her advocacy of women’s participation and empowerment in the epicenter earned her the trust and confidence of her community and enabled her to obtain this position. Mrs. Mutyaba is just one of 31 AWFFI partners who were elected as sub-county council members in Uganda’s recent country-wide elections.

Here is one of the 70,000 stories of women’s economic progress in the AWFFI program. This is from our first epicenter in Ethiopia, which was inaugurated in February.

I am Baqalu Gada from Shikute kebele. I take care of five children by myself. After the death of my husband, I was not able to cultivate our small plot of land. So, I rented the land to someone who used to give me half of the land’s grain production.

When The Hunger Project-Ethiopia came to our area, and I joined the AWFFI loan group and got Birr 300.

I returned my rented land since I got money to buy grain seeds for cultivation. So, by part of the money I bought seeds and by the rest of the money I purchased a sheep.

In the last rainy season, I cultivated six quintals of teff and wheat from the land. Now, I kept part of the product as a seed for next time cultivation, part for family consumption and part for sale.

My family’s history is now changing. I am able to cultivate and use my land. I can say that this is the product of AWFFI program. I become a real mother — a supporter of my children, owner of land, decision-maker and a leader of a family.

______________________________________________________________

A Day in the Life of a Woman Farmer

4:45 am

Wakes up, the first in the family

4:50 am

Kindles the fire

5:00 am

Breast-feeds the baby

5:30 am

Walks over a mile to fetch water

6:00 am

Makes breakfast and feeds the family — she eats what is left over

6:30 am

Washes and dresses the children

6:45 am

Uses water to feed and water the livestock

7:00 am

Washes the cooking utensils

7:15 am

Walks another mile to fetch more water

7:45 am

Washes clothing

8:15 am

Breast-feeds the baby and gets the children off to school

8:45 am

Walks to the family plot, with the baby on her back

9:00 am

Depending on the season, she plows, hoes, weeds and plants in her husband’s field

11:00 am

Returns home to prepare the afternoon meal

11:45 am

Breast-feeds the baby

12:15 pm

Walks to the field where her husband is working to bring the food she has prepared

12:45 pm

Walks to her own field

1:00 pm

Weeds and tends to her own field, with her baby on her back

3:15 pm

Returns home, and on the way, gathers firewood

4:00 pm

Breast-feeds the baby

4:30 pm

At home, she pounds and grinds maize into flour

5:30 pm

Fetches more water

6:15 pm

Kindles the fire

6:30 pm

Prepares the evening meal

7:30 pm

Serves food to her family — she eats last

8:30 pm

Washes the children, breast-feeds the baby

9:30 pm

Washes the dishes

9:45 pm

Washes herself

10:00 pm

Puts the house in order

10:30 pm

Goes to bed, last in the family

 

Arise to the Day’s Toil

Wake up Woman!
The Cock is crowing;
It’s three a.m.
Wake up — it’s time to weed the fields in the distant hills.
Sleep no more;
Arise from the burdens of yesterday,
Forget the hours of toil in that hot sun
That arose when you worked in the field
But set while you hurried to clear the weeds.
In the dark you return, as you left,
To those empty cooking pots.
Alas! the day is over
When the family enjoys the day’s meal
But before you rest your feet
A voice calls: Woman get me hot water!
With that you know it’s over
Until the cock crows
And the circle begins again:
Wake up woman!
Wake up woman!

              — Assumpta Acam-Oturu, Uganda