#empowerment programme for women

[svssngo]

Donate For NGO In India by Supporting SVSS NGO and be a catalyst for change. Your donation paves the way for women's empowerment, education, and vital community initiatives. Every contribution counts. Your donation to SVSS NGO in India is a lifeline for those in need. Together, we provide healthcare, education, and empowerment, shaping a better future for vulnerable communities. Visit our website for more details.

[genderkoolaid]

I know someone who calls herself a feminist, puts her pronouns in her work email signature, donates money to women’s empowerment funds, and thinks we should deport more refugees. I also know someone who calls people ‘pussies’ when he plays video games, who doesn’t know what a pronoun is, and, for his defence of low-wage women workers in a highly-exploited industry, is a better, more strident defender of the rights of working-class women than almost anyone else I know. Of these two people, I know who is on my team, and who I want on my team, yet the standard liberal feminist calculation would have me chose the woman who loves a little deportation over the man who is occasionally uncouth, solely because the woman knows to keep her language civil, and the man doesn’t. Liberal feminists get incredibly caught up in the politics of language, because language is all they have. They don’t have a revolutionary programme for overthrowing patriarchy, so they’re forced to tinker around the edges of it, quibbling over word choice and jargon instead of building the coalitions necessary for destroying patriarchy.

— We Should Not All Be Feminists by Frances Wright

[genderequalitys]

Fostering Workforce Well-Being: Upfront Global's Dedication to Holistic Development Initiatives

At Upfront Global, we are committed to the development of workforce well-being, especially for first-mile workers. Explore our resources tailored to empower and support those at the forefront of operations, through Upfront Global has fostered initiatives towards development for Workforce well-being. Discover Upfront Global’s strategies and initiatives designed to enhance the well-being of first-mile workers, ensuring their crucial contributions are always valued and supported. With a focus on holistic development, we strive to create environments where every worker can thrive. Join us in our mission to prioritize the development of workforce well-being and drive positive change from the ground up.

Read more: https://upfront.global/why-well-being/

[goodworkstrust]

Empowering Women Through Skill Development: GoodWorks NGO Initiative

[womenindiplomacyday]

Women, Natural Resources and Peacebuilding.

The report Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential PDFurges governments and the international community to invest in the political and economic engagement of women in natural resource management and to end the entrenched discrimination that women face in accessing, owning and using critical natural resources in sustainable and productive ways. 

Published jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equity and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), this report draws on field research from over 20 different countries and some 200 academic sources and institutions.

Women and Natural Resources:  Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential.

[internationalwomenday]

Why digital inclusion means closing both the gender and hunger gaps?

Partnerships are key to empowering women in developing countries with computer literacy skills, a WFP gender expert explains.

[literacyindia]

https://literacyindia.org/

literacy India is trusted NGO in India, working for women empowerment, Health & child education. Literacy India has made a breakthrough in impacting the education landscape.

[aurovedacharitable]

Donate to NGO & Non-Profit Organisations Auroveda Foundation

Our own funds first and foremost finance our emergency efforts and each new humanitarian mission project; in other words, by donations from people like you. The financial support we receive from our donors enables us to respond as quickly as possible in emergencies before we can obtain large sums of money from international public bodies.

Your donation provides both hope and a promise to young students who face adversity every day. These are the students who are determined to work hard in school. They just need encouragement and help in the process.  Donation to NGO, Your donation goes directly to students to give them a chance to change their life with a post-secondary degree. And, you never know how he or she will give something back for the opportunity they received.

[cleabellanov]

Fighting for good, one widow bite at the time: Black Widow's cultural impact

Critics scoff when I call the Black Widow movie a favorite, but hear me out. It deserved a better release window, maybe at an earlier time, when things would've been viewed differently. Sure, it doesn't rise up what it could've been, leaving so much lingering dreams in the hearts of us, fans. So much potential remains untapped, so many questions unanswered... but Natasha Romanoff? She rises above it all. If you doubt her power, think again, and as I said, hear me out.

Black Widow, the assasin with steely eyes that hide and protect a heart of gold, has transcended the screen to become a cultural icon. From her first appereance in the MCU in Iron Man 2 (2010) to Black Widow (2021), she truly went through a lot, took us with her, and thaught everyone some lessons on the way.

Shattering the mold of the damsel in distress: She's no sidekick, she's a strategist and a fierce fighter. She is a vital member of the Avengers, that's a fact we saw in the 2012 movie. After all, how many characters can you name that tricked the God of Mischief? Nat didn't only do it exceptionally, she is the first we saw doing this on screen.

Reclaiming Narrative: Unlike many superheroes defined by singular origins, Black Widow carried the trauma of a dark past, manipulated by the Red Room, a notorious spy program. Her movie explored this narrative, acknowledging the exploitation and abuse she endured. This resonated with survivors of violence and abuse, offering validation and representation. Her journey of breaking free from her past resonated on a broader level, highlighting themes of resilience, empowerment, and overcoming hardship. Furthermore, she hasn't always been a hero, an avenger. "Regimes fall everyday. I tend not to weep over that, I'm russian" and "I've got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out" show how she's not just using the power she already has, but has the power to change as well. This isn't about brute force, it's about internal struggle and choosing to become a better version of herself despite her history.

Sisterhood and Solidarity: Black Widow's story wasn't solely focused on herself. In "Black Widow," she teams up with other women who share similar experience, even if at first this doesn't seem to work, indoctrinated as they are in the Red Room programme. This depiction of female solidarity resonated with audiences, particularly feminist movements advocating for women's support networks and collective action.

Representation Matters: Black Widow's portrayal as a skilled leader and strategist challenged existing portrayals of Russian characters in Hollywood. They are often depicted as villains or stereotypes, but her complex identity sparked conversations about diversity and representation within the superhero genre.

Defying stereotypes: As the sole original female Avenger, Black Widow carried a unique weight. She didn't need superpowers or a revealing suit — her determination and arsenal spoke for themselves. That's true power. I mean, in some situations she only had two cool firearms, but did better than Captain America with a vibranium shield! I also love how her costume evolved over time, prioritizing functionality over sexualization. Ditching the impractical neckline in her solo movie? A much-needed win! It shows that Black Widow commands respect through her actions, not her body.

Her impact and importance punches like her combat skills, if you ask me.

So, the next time you see the Black Widow, remember, she's more than just a character. She's a symbol of strength, resilience, and the unwavering human spirit. Thanks for being a constant source of inspiration, Nat ❣️

[djuvlipen]

07/04/2024, Chief Saidou Kabore ousts child marriage from his community

In Burkina Faso, in 6 years, child marriage rate fell from 51.3% to 38.2% among women married before the age of 18, and from 8.9% to 7.8% among women married before the age of 15.

“If we had three or four young women from the village in the civil service, our village would be more developed. Women would care about our well-being more than men. This is my vision of girls’ empowerment,” says Saidou Noom Kaboré, community leader in Bagma, some 20 kilometers south the Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.

The 65-year-old man has always worked to ensure that girls from his village go as far as possible in school. For several years, he has been resolutely committed to end child marriage, a scourge that could prevent his community from thriving.

Chief Kaboré is on crusade against child marriage

Whenever he has the opportunity, the charismatic community leader brings men, women, boys and girls together under the palaver tree in the middle of the village to discuss girls’ education, which he easily contrasts with child marriage.

“My wish is that our girls succeed because the success of a girl, of a woman, benefits her entire community. That’s why nowadays no girl at school age stays at home. We support them as best we can after they enroll in school,” says Kaboré, standing in the middle of the circle.

At the audience in awe Chief Kaboré explains how to protect girls up to the age of 18 and even beyond, for them to have a happy marriage.

“A girl should not be given into marriage early, much less by force. Even if she is old enough to get married, she should not be given into marriage against her will. Girls are sometimes forced to marry old men. We must let the young girl choose her husband. Thus, her marriage will be filled with love and happiness,” he explains. 

In Burkina Faso, the efforts of the government, civil society, communities and community leaders like Kabore have yielded good results. From 2015 to 2021, the proportion of women aged 20 to 24 married before turning 18 fell from 51.3% to 38.2% and that of women aged 20 to 24 who married before the age of 15, fell from 8.9% to 7.8%.

Chief Kaboré works with the NGO Voix Des Femmes [in English, Women’s Voices], thanks to funds from the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage. The programme was launched in 2016 in 12 of the most high-prevalence or high-burden countries, including Burkina Faso. It promotes the rights of adolescent girls to avert marriage and pregnancy and enables them to achieve their aspirations through education and alternative pathways.

In Chief Kaboré’s village, everyone, girls and boys alike, understand the risks of child marriage and the consequences that result from it. Veronique Nikiema, a 14-year-old girl, is keen on her studies and believes that getting married before majority means jeopardizing your future.

“In my opinion, early marriage has many negative consequences. You can't do long studies. At this age, you are not able to carry a pregnancy, nor take good care of yourself, or a baby. You will no longer be able to obtain a degree that will allow you to have a good job,” she explains. 

Chief Kaboré’s success is recognized outside Burkina Faso

Saidou Noom Kaboré has saved many girls from child marriage, and his success is known beyond the borders of Burkina Faso. In 2019, Nafissa Ouedraogo fled neighboring Cote d’Ivoire to Bagma to escape child marriage, knowing that Chef Kaboré, who is also her uncle, would protect her.

“I was 14 when I was introduced to a 42-year-old man who already had two wives. I refused his advances. My parents therefore decided to forcefully marry me to this man they had chosen,” says Nafissa, now 19 years old.

When Nafissa's parents went to the village of Bagma to bring her back to Cote d’Ivoire, Kaboré made made them aware of the dangers of child marriage. Later, the man who tried to marry Nafissa was prosecuted for child enticement and sent to jail.

Kaboré's message is heard and assimilated by members of the community and relayed by the young people. For Thomas Kaboré, a young man of 30, thanks to awareness raising, no one will agree to give their daughter into early or forced marriage.

“Some of our aunts and older sisters fled forced marriage. They no longer speak with their families and have never come back to the village. Their children won’t know their maternal families,” he complains.

With UNICEF’s support, Nafissa Ouedraogo followed training sessions and strated her own business, a very popular one with young girls in the village.

“The NGO Voix Des Femmes helped me get started with saponification. I produced and sold liquid soap. I wasn't making huge profits. So, I gave it up and learned how to do henna tattooing,” she says.

Building on his succes, Saidou Kaboré will continue his fight against child marriage. He wants the girls of Bagma to complete their higher education, have university degrees and contribute to building the Burkina Faso of tomorrow.

[beardedmrbean]

Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, the speaker of the local assembly in northwest Niger State, planned to support the marriage of the orphans, who have all lost relatives to attacks on villages by heavily armed gangs.

Sarkindaji said he was simply helping his constituents, but the minister of women affairs and other officials have denounced the proposal.

They have expressed concern that some of the orphans might be underage or being forced to comply for financial gain.

Mass weddings are not uncommon in Nigeria, especially in the mostly Muslim north, where they are seen as a way to help impoverished families manage their expenses.

But underage marriage also happens in rural areas where communities struggle with poverty, insecurity and little access to education.

'Totally unacceptable'

Sarkindaji, a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress party, pledged last week to help families in the mass wedding later this month.

But on Tuesday, federal Women Affairs Minister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye called for an investigation into their ages, their consent to marriage and the identity of their potential partners.

"This is totally unacceptable," she told journalists.

"I have written a petition to the police... and I have filed a case for an injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do."

A senior special assistant to the presidency on community engagement has also objected.

Abiodun Essiet called on state officials to bring the women into empowerment programmes -- especially as it was believed some of them may be children.

"I am not against conducting marriage for orphans above 18 years of age if they give their consent to the marriage," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"But I am against underaged marriage. Let children be children."

No details were immediately available on the ages of the orphans.

'Good faith'

Soon after the minister's remarks, the Niger assembly speaker told reporters he was withdrawing his support for the mass wedding and would let the families decide.

"The marriage for those orphans is withdrawn," he told reporters on Tuesday. "I did it in good faith."

But he was critical of the minister, saying she was "not from the north" of Nigeria.

He did not feel threatened by her action as he was just a "good samaritan", he added. "The minister should please find out who I am,... and how I have been supportive to my people."

His position drew support from the state's imams organisation and other Muslim groups. Accusing the minister of overstepping her position, they called for her suspension.

"We believe she made these pronouncements based on her position as a non-Muslim," Mahmud Lawal Murshid, Niger state President of Muslim Student Society, said in a statement.

"If she were a Muslim she wouldn't have said what she said."

Tough economic conditions

In January a Muktar Aliyu Betara, a Nigerian lawmaker from Borno state, sponsored a mass wedding for 180 girls from his constituency.

Aged between 17 and 18, they had lost their parents to jihadist violence.

Betara paid for all the wedding expenses as the families of the brides could not afford the expenses.

Last year, Nigeria's northwest Kano State financed and staged a mass wedding for 1,800 couples as part of efforts to help the poorest residents get married.

The initiatives came as Nigeria faces tough economic conditions.

High fuel prices and rising food inflation are driving some Nigerians, many who live on less than $2 a day, further into poverty in Africa's most populous country.

[coochiequeens]

Good news for women!

By Cecilia Macaulay

BBC News

Sierra Leone has passed what has been described as a "ground-breaking" law to improve women's rights.

President Julius Maada Bio made an apology to women for their poor treatment in the past: "For so long we haven't been fair to you," he said.

The law states that 30% of public and private jobs must be reserved for women.

The Minister of Gender and Children's Affairs says women have been "crying" out "for years" for this change.

"It means a lot to women in Sierra Leone," Manty Tarawalli told the BBC's Newsday radio programme, adding that no other sub-Saharan African country had passed such a law.

The law lets girls who are still at school know "there are opportunities for them in Sierra Leone for employment for business" and for them to contribute to the economy, Ms Tarawalli said.

Under the new Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act (GEWE), women also benefit from ringfenced senior positions in the workplace, at least 14-weeks of maternity leave, equal access to bank credit and training opportunities.

There are harsh repercussions for employers who do not stick to the new gender ratios, including hefty fines of £2,000 ($2,500), and even potential prison time for institutions like banks that do not give women fair access to financial support. It is thought this will make it easier for women to start their own businesses.

The government says the employment law will apply to any business with more than 25 employees, but a final decision has not yet been made.

Ms Tarawalli said the move was "important" but that "more steps will have to be taken before the country can say fairness has been achieved across the genders".

Discrimination against women in the workplace is a "big issue," according to the minister, and the new law will "change the status quo," she said.

For Sierra Leone to become a middle-income country it must engage the 52% of the population who are women in the economy, Ms Tarawalli added.

Prior to the law, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) said that "progress has been made in expanding opportunities for women and girls" but warned that "gender inequality and denial of women's rights are still prevalent at all levels in Sierra Leonean society".

As for gender equality in the continent as a whole, UN Women also says thatprogress has been made, but "the majority of women work in insecure, poorly paid jobs, with few opportunities for advancement".

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Al Jazeera:

As elections in the United States draw closer, polls indicate that former President Donald Trump could be back in the Oval Office by early 2025. One possible indication of what a second Trump administration might look like is Project 2025, a transition plan spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank in Washington, DC. The 922-page doorstopper is essentially a how-to guide for a right-wing model of governance, proposing a dramatic overhaul of the federal government with plans to expand presidential power and purge the civil service of “liberals”. While largely focused on dismantling the “Deep State”, the document also offers pointers on foreign policy, striking a hawkish tone on China – “the most significant danger to Americans’ security, freedoms, and prosperity” – prioritising nuclear weapons production and curtailing international aid programmes.

How does Project 2025 see America’s place in the world?

On defence and foreign policy, Project 2025 aims for a definitive break with the administration of President Joe Biden. Christopher Miller, who served as defence secretary under Trump, slams Biden’s track record in the project’s hefty Mandate for Leadership section, speaking of “disturbing decay” and a “dangerous decline” in the “nation’s capabilities and will”. The signs are all there, Miller says, pointing to the “disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, our impossibly muddled China strategy, the growing involvement of senior military officers in the political arena, and deep confusion about the purpose of our military”. [...]

Taking on China

China is the project’s main defence concern. Miller fears the country is “undertaking a historic military buildup”, which “could result in a nuclear force that matches or exceeds America’s own nuclear arsenal”.

[...]

Targeting international aid

Max Primorac, senior research fellow in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, dislikes the “woke ideas” being pushed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). “The Biden Administration has deformed the agency by treating it as a global platform to pursue overseas a divisive political and cultural agenda that promotes abortion, climate extremism, gender radicalism, and interventions against perceived systemic racism,” he says in the project’s Mandate for Leadership. The project’s main bugbears appear to be “gender radicalism” and abortion rights.

Primorac argues that promoting “gender radicalism” goes against “traditional norms of many societies where USAID works”, causing “resentment” because recipients have to reject their own “firmly held fundamental values regarding sexuality” to receive “lifesaving assistance”. It has also, he says, created “outright bias against men”. He claims that abortion on demand is “aggressively” promoted under the guise of “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”, “gender equality” and “women’s empowerment”. To counter “woke ideas”, Project 2025 wants to “dismantle” all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which it views as “discriminatory”. Among other things, this would involve scrubbing from all USAID communications references to the terms “gender”, “gender equality”, “gender equity”, “gender diverse individuals”, “gender aware”, “gender sensitive”, “abortion”, “reproductive health” and “sexual and reproductive rights”.

What does Project 2025 propose on the domestic front?

Much of the manifesto bears a strong resemblance to Trump’s known policy proclivities with proposals to deport en masse more than 11 million undocumented immigrants and give states more control over education, limiting progressive initiatives on issues such as LGBTQ rights. But on some issues, it goes further than Trump’s campaign, calling on federal authorities to ban pornography and reverse approval of a pill used in abortions, mifepristone. It also calls for anyone providing or distributing abortion pills by mail to be prosecuted. Project 2025 pledges to restore “the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children”. It recommends the authorities “proudly state that men and women are biological realities” and that “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them”.

Project 2025 spells disaster from a foreign policy and a national defense standpoint.

[goodworkstrust]

For the growth of a nation, growth of the women is unavoidable. Also, when a woman is independent, she lives a life of dignity and pride. Also, she can have her own opinions and choices. We, as an NGO in Noida are trying hard to run quality skill development programs to make every woman independent.

To read complete post, visit here: https://goodworks.org.in/ngo-working-for-women-empowerment-in-noida/

[methismenafeggaria]

I know someone who calls herself a feminist, puts her pronouns in her work email signature, donates money to women’s empowerment funds, and thinks we should deport more refugees. I also know someone who calls people ‘pussies’ when he plays video games, who doesn’t know what a pronoun is, and, for his defence of low-wage women workers in a highly-exploited industry, is a better, more strident defender of the rights of working-class women than almost anyone else I know. Of these two people, I know who is on my team, and who I want on my team, yet the standard liberal feminist calculation would have me chose the woman who loves a little deportation over the man who is occasionally uncouth, solely because the woman knows to keep her language civil, and the man doesn’t. Liberal feminists get incredibly caught up in the politics of language, because language is all they have. They don’t have a revolutionary programme for overthrowing patriarchy, so they’re forced to tinker around the edges of it, quibbling over word choice and jargon instead of building the coalitions necessary for destroying patriarchy.