International Women’s Day 2022

Women’s meeting in Ayobo-Ipaja, Nigeria

Here at ACT, we aim to celebrate diversity and work towards a world where men and women have equal opportunities. The patriarchal nature of many African societies means that women are often viewed as having different roles to men, with the husband often being the main bread winner. Following the death of a husband, particularly in conflict settings, widows are therefore frequently presented as powerless victims. This is not true. In our work across the 8 African countries where we operate, we see first-hand the determination and agency that widows can have in taking ownership of finances and the future of their families.

Tuesday 8^th March is International Women’s Day. At ACT we are celebrating the successes of the women such as widows, single women, grandmothers and others in a woman-led household in Africa, who are overcoming the challenges of leading a family. We explore what ACT is doing to help them as citizens who, with the right support, are equally capable of sustainable income generation, as their male counterparts.

“You feel frustration and shame that your own children cannot go to school”

– Widow in Burkina Faso

Our work encouraging the disadvantaged children to follow their educational aspirations would not be possible without a larger support network. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and older siblings play a vital role in caring for their family. However, lack of training, emotional support, and social isolation can lead to women-led households being unable to fully complete this task. They are often forced into low-paid jobs and unable to support their families. This results in children dropping out of school, promoting a cycle of poverty.

However, with the right support, the women can take destiny into their own hands and get their own lives and of their families back on track. We have a variety of projects to support the women with the transition following the loss of their husbands. In Ayobo-Ipaja, Nigeria, the widows we work with are part of a Savings and Loans Cooperative where they save a portion of the income they generate on daily or monthly basis. This provides financial education by encouraging widows to contribute monthly savings, improving their income generation projects and living standards.

Sustainable Whole Life Skills Project

Elsewhere, our Sustainable Whole Life Skills programme aims to empower widows, so that they can provide and care for themselves and for their children. We train them to explore and develop their talents and to use these in generating a sustainable income. Training is also provided in inheritance rights, AIDs / HIV awareness and prevention. We provide small seed corn funding to the women who complete the programme to start their projects. Progress of each recipient is monitored, and support is provided to enable success of the projects. Our aim is to assist the women to overcome poverty and become productive member of their communities, able to feed and educate their children. To-date, we have supported nearly 2,400 women in this way.

Support for Elderly Widows

On International Women’s Day we want to do more to empower widows to be sustainable so they can look after their families. For those who are physically unable to work however, we have created special fund which will be used to support elderly widows who have the responsibility of caring for and bringing up a grandchild or grandchildren that ACT is supporting. This fund will work alongside our other initiatives to ensure comprehensive and appropriate support for all women-led households in the communities where we work. It will empower them to provide better lives for themselves and those that depend on them. You can donate to the Widows Fund here. Your donations mean a lot. Thank you.