| The human faces of climate change |
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By CARE USA
October 15, 2009
Look at the places around the world where people are adapting to climate change and you're bound to see the same group bearing the heaviest burden: poor women. That's pretty much the definition of unfair, given that they're least responsible for the problem. And in so many countries, barriers stand between them and the assets they need build up their resilience -- things like land, credit, new technologies and places in decision-making bodies.
Yet, somehow, poor women are finding power in one thing: each other.
That was as clear as the Ugandan sky on a recent sun-drenched day in the village of Mubuku. Two leaders of the Bakyara Tweyimukye village savings & loan association sat down to explain how they are being affected by climate change - and adapting to it. Annette Agaba, a mother of five, lead the associated that has made loans for handicraft businesses, tree plantings, "kitchen gardens," and income-generating activities such as goat and poultry rearing. She chose to rear rabbits. Maria Gorretti Kasawuli has taught other mothers how to grow "kitchen gardens." Hers bursts with herbs like dodo, sukuma and eggplants.
Though they have not a keyboard or an email address, we at CARE wanted them to be part of Blog Action Day. Here are their voices, as captured by CARE's Tracy Kajumba, in a home in western Uganda.
AGABA: "This community depends on agriculture and used to get high yields from maize, beans, ground nuts and many other crops. However from the 90s, the situation has changed. We used to predict rain and prepare our gardens and plant but now days we cannot predict anything. When you are expecting rain, you get scorching heat that destroys all the crops. When you expect sunshine, you get heavy torrential rains that wash away all the crops and sweep away the house tops!"
KASAWULI: "We started with promoting hygiene and sanitation in our homes due to the high prevalence of cholera in our area. Every time we came to save, some one talked about sanitation issues and we visited each other to assess compliance. After that we were hit by floods and after affected by drought which made it difficult for us to get money, and as a group we decided to do a reflection and take action to survive. We realized that we can no longer survive on agriculture alone and agreed to diversify and buy goats using the money from the group . . . I bought a goat but had no where to keep it, and had to share my house with it. My husband later supported me and constructed a room outside. The goat produced two kids initially, I bought two more and they have now multiplied to seventeen."
AGABA: "I have also ventured into keeping rabbits which are delicious for meat and are very marketable. Diversification is the only way to go to manage the weather changes."
KASAWULI: "We have agreed in our group that every homestead should have a kitchen garden. It does not need a lot of land. You can use old basins, jerry cans, or sacks to plant your greens and vegetables. It is also easy to water the garden since it is near, small and therefore needs little water. Ten households so far have established the kitchen gardens and this has supplemented on sauce in the face of hunger and increased food prices, and we also sell the surplus to the neighbors."
Women take to the streets in Bangkok
By Christina Chan, CARE October 2, 2009
Poor women are among the most vulnerable to climate change, and they are the least responsible for the problem and also the least capable of adapting to new conditions. Today, they stood up for themselves. They called for their voices to be heard in the negotiations.
I was also thrilled to see the headliner for the front page of the ECO newsletter (published by the NGO community at these UN talks): "Agents of Real Change" which highlights how women are the real agents of change. www.climatenetwork.org/eco/bangkok-2009-ecos/Eco4.pdf.
October 15, 2009
After several days of traveling to and within Ghana, I finally reached the community of Yaroyiri in the Northern Region of the country. To get to this community, I took three flights and a several-hour drive. The community of Yaroyiri is extremely rural and most people make their livelihood through subsistence farming.
At first, this community seems very typical of a rural African village - women with beautiful children carried on their backs, strong men, older children running around with bare feet, grandparents, friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers - but after talking to the members of the Climate Adaptation Committee for just a few minutes, I realized what makes this community different: CARE.
As the population in this region of Ghana has increased, crop production, which is the main source of income for the people living here, has not increased to keep up with the population. As the leader of the Climate Adaption Committee, Clement Kofichira explained to me, "Before CARE, we used to not worry about the consequences of farming actions or cultural agriculture practices and we did not work together as a community."
Today, the members of the committee have gained education and resources to help change things around. The committee's seven women and six men have learned about the process of conservation agriculture and are supporting each other and their community to increase crop yields. Conservation agriculture practices include minimum soil tillage, ending the process of field burning, rotating crops and planting trees, which all help decrease erosion and increase natural fertilizers in the soil that results in healthier plants and larger crop yields. Changing long-held farming practices has not been easy, but is paying off! The group is creating economic opportunities for themselves and their community, and they are able to better feed their families and afford to send their children to school.
The Climate Adaptation Committee is not only proud of improving their agriculture techniques, but also of their achievements working together as a committee. Women have long been excluded from farming decisions, but groups like this one are empowering women and men to work together to make good decisions for the entire families and communities. As Clement explained to me, "Now my wife does not hide issues, she openly discusses problems and we solve them as a team." It was really wonderful to see first-hand how CARE's conservation agriculture work is really making a difference.
In Yaroyiri, I also had the privilege of meetings members of two village savings and loan groups, of which several members are also involved in the Climate Adaption Committee. The first group has 16 women and 2 men as members, while the second group is made up for 21 women. When CARE staff approached the women about joining the group, they were excited to learn, share and support each other.
Each woman contributes one Ghana Cedi per week (about 65 cents). This may not sound like a lot of money, but the women only make around 2 Cedis per week during the harvest season and have no income during the dry or "hungry" season that lasts about four months out of the year.
Talking with these women, I experienced their strength and willingness to improve their livelihoods and prospects for their children. The village savings and loan group lets women take out loans so that they can improve their income during the "hungry season." The loans are used to start small businesses growing and processing shea butter and local spices, which the women sell in the market. At the end of my visit, the women performed an energetic song and dance to show their thankfulness for CARE's work. They also expressed their willingness to continue to diversify their livelihoods, especially for those members who do not own land. The women asked me to pass along a message to CARE's supporters: "We are very happy and grateful for CARE and hope that you will continue your efforts to support our village savings and loan group." |
