International Women’s Day: Empower Women. Fight Climate Change

Feb 28, 2020 | Latest News

Sunday 8th March is International Women’s Day.

This year we are talking about the vital role that women play in the fight against climate change, and we want you to join us!

Empower women. Fight climate change.

 

🌿 Did you Know 🌿

Women are likely to feel the effects of climate change and reduced supply even more profoundly than their male counterparts as social conditions force them to accept less of diminishing resources. As the primary providers of food and water, (especially during the dry season when men leave to work in urban areas) rural women will be forced to walk further to collect supplies for their families as water becomes less and less accessible.

UN agencies estimate that 80% of people displaced globally due to climate change are women, who have been forced to move due to inhospitable conditions, lack of resources, or conflict resulting from water and food shortages.

 

🌿 What we do 🌿

•  Agriculture: In our epicentre communities in Africa we deliver workshops that help women to learn composting, intercropping and other methods to improve crop yields, restore soil fertility and make the best use of scarce resources.

• Sustainable building: In Ethiopia our credit savings programmes have enabled women to invest in more durable homes, building structures to protect their families from both natural and man-made shocks.

•  Protecting land: In India our women partners come together to protect ancient forest lands from land-grabbing.

•  Prioritising education: In Bangladesh our Safe Schools for Girls campaign empowers students, teachers, parents and local communities to keep girls in school. Education builds resilience and equips girls with skills to face the challenges that climate change presents.

• Stopping child marriage: Additionally, when girls are educated, they are empowered and less likely to marry early, this will curb population growth and decrease the burden on natural resources.

 

🌿 What you can do 🌿

• Invest in empowering women to build climate resilience

£20 could train a local leader in Bangladesh to stop child marriage in villages and keep girls in school

£60 could help train two women at The Hunger Project’s Women’s Leadership Workshop in India, empowering more women to protect their community

£75 could support three communities in Africa planting trees, which reduce soil erosion and provide sources of food, energy and income

 

• Watch and share our video about empowered women fighting climate change

 

Meet one of our women partners:
Hansa. Empowered Woman. Protecting her community from climate change.

Hansa is just one woman. And because of her and the women she mobilised, one of the last pristine forests of India has been saved from over-development.

“A lot of builders from outside are grabbing land and carrying out mindless construction to promote tourism, which has had an adverse impact on the entire ecosystem. They don’t understand that this is an environmentally fragile area.”

“We have learned that we don’t have to run away. We will keep standing…We are protectors of our forests.”

 

This International Women’s Day we ask you to join us.

Empower women. Fight climate change.