Women can’t wait

Aug 2nd, 2010 5:29 PM UTC
By ONE Partners

Check out this great post from our friends at Concern Worldwide:

Despite the fact that women produce up to 80% of food in the developing world, they often aren’t able to grow enough to feed themselves and their families.

Agatha Akandelwa is one of these women. These days, she takes care of 21 people in her Zambian village, including her grandchildren and several children of sick and deceased relatives. But sometimes it’s hard to find food for her large family.

“Our food situation becomes very difficult every year, starting in about September and lasting right through until January. During that period we only get about one meal per day. I really don’t feel good during that time. As an adult, I can go all day without food and then get up and go to the field the next day, but I get really concerned for the children during the hungry times.”

Concern Worldwide works daily with women farmers like Agatha through our ‘Women for Development’ program. We help provide them with tools and a little money to invest in seed—and so far the women farmers have seen lots of success. They’ve not only been able to grow enough to feed their families, but they’ve also been able to use the income from their extra food to send their children to school and keep their families healthy.

To hear more stories like Agatha’s, click here. And to learn more about Concern’s “Women Can’t Wait” campaign, which is calling on world leaders to make sure poor women are supported in their efforts to overcome hunger, click here.

-Natasha Adams, Campaigns and Parliamentary Officer, Concern Worldwide UK

TAGS: Agriculture, Partners, Women