by Shayna Watson We scroll past it daily on our timeline. That girl we did a group project with from middle school just got engaged, under the Eiffel Tower, with the biggest diamond ever. We like the picture and keep scrolling, but if many of us are honest we indulge in a bit of “Instagram… Read more »
In the Sahel, Strong Women Create Strong Communities
by Elaine Wallace When we hear about the Sahel in the news, it’s often in connection with a humanitarian crisis. Droughts and other disasters regularly push the region into a state of crisis, and the international community usually responds with a large-scale emergency relief effort. In 2012, USAID recognized that these repeated crises occur because… Read more »
Equal Pay Day
by Stephanie Coles Tuesday, April 10th is Equal Pay Day in America. The day of the week is significant: it falls on a Tuesday each year because it represents how far into the following workweek a woman must work in order to earn what a man earned the previous week. Though there are laws in… Read more »
New Year, New Hope
by Shayna Watson The village of Kobio is typical of many communities in the Tilaberi region of west Niger. Its people face many challenges as they try to create better lives for their children in the midst of poor conditions like recurring drought and famine. Women used to walk more than six miles to find… Read more »
It All Starts with Water
By Kristopher Coulston Imagine spending hours walking miles to search for and collect water – this is the daily routine and a domestic duty for most women and girls in Niger. Education is the key to change, the key to a bright future, but pursuing an education is not a priority when you do not… Read more »
Girl Power: Courting In Niger & The Annual Gerewol Festival
by Shayna Watson Gorgeously colored gowns, perfect face paint and enough gold to outshine the West African sun. All the trappings of a typical beauty pageant, except the women in the village are dressed in all black and standing in line waiting for the event to begin. Many cultures around the world follow the heteronormative… Read more »
Education in Niger
by Mehreen Quadri According to a UNICEF report from 2013, 23.2% of women in Niger are literate. Factors such as culture, family and societal pressures, and the fact that Niger’s economy relies heavily on agriculture, perpetuate some of the highest rates of illiteracy and the lowest rates of formal education in Africa. Most families in… Read more »
Empowered Women: A Force for Economic Growth in Niger
by Kristopher Coulston Access to clean water is not only essential for life, it is also essential for a thriving economy. When a nation’s citizens do not have ready access to clean water, every aspect of the country is negatively impacted, especially the economy. Women and girls are the citizens who are most affected by… Read more »
Educating Girls: A Key Part of the Climate Change Solution
By Barbara Goldberg Paul Hawken, a well-known author and activist recently published a book, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever to Reduce Global Warming. In it, he identifies the 100 top solutions to reducing global warming. I was shocked and delighted to learn that number six on the list is educating girls. It is something… Read more »
Empowered by Water
by Kristopher Coulston Illness and family emergencies are typically the cause for school absence in developed countries. Unfortunately, this is not the situation in drought-stricken countries, such as Niger. Water is scarce and girls spend hours walking miles just to satisfy their desperate need for it, even if the water sources they are gathering from… Read more »
