How to deal with the fact that 80% of sub-Saharan Africa’s food is grown by women, but women have little access to credit or owership rights to land? One answer: The African Woman Food Farmer Initiative.
The African Woman Food Farmer Initiative is an effort to empower women to break the cycle of poverty. Recognizing that women grow most of the food and that “women are more careful with their spending, they are more conscious of needing to provide for the family than men,” the initiative provides the assistance necesssary to promote self-reliance. Since 2000, some 90,000 loans have been made to women and 17 communities now have self-sustaining governement-recognized banks run by women that fund ongoing community development.
See Women-run banks are breaking the poverty cycle.
Tags: Anti-poverty strategies