In our next blog post looking at the work of MFAN’s Partners, we will highlight the work of Women Thrive Worldwide, a non-profit organization seeking to shape U.S. policy in order to foster economic opportunities for women in developing countries. Women Thrive believes that women are the key to ending global poverty, and investing in women and girls is one of the most efficient uses of U.S. foreign aid. Research has proven that women are more likely than men to invest any income they receive in food, clean water, education and health care for their children, creating a positive cycle that can lift entire communities out of poverty. And now more than ever world attention has turned toward empowering women through a variety of initiatives, including the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative, which makes women’s health interventions a top priority.
Last month, Ritu Sharma, President and Co-founder of Women Thrive and an MFAN Principal, traveled to Burkina Faso to learn more about the challenges that women farmers face in trying to feed their families. Many Burkinabe women spend their days performing difficult fieldwork to grow food and crops, all while caring for children. Yet, because customary law excludes women from owning land, most are unable to invest in the tools and resources that would allow them to better feed their families. In her travel diary, Ritu explains why even Burkina’s newest land laws are designed to keep most benefits of land reform from reaching women farmers, what she calls “discrimination, plain and simple.”
Learn more about Ritu’s trip to Burkina Faso and read an excerpt from her travel diary after the jump:
