(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins humanitarian organizations and countries around the globe in honoring International Day of Rural Women, which is celebrated each year on Oct. 15. This day, which was first established in 2008, recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including Indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

This year’s theme “Rural women cultivating good food for all” focuses on the work of women in food systems around the globe. Improving the lives of rural women is key to fighting poverty and hunger, according to U.N. Women.

U.N. Women noted, “Women make up more than 40 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, ranging from 20 percent in Latin America to 50 percent or more in parts of Africa and Asia. Yet, these women face significant discrimination when it comes to land and livestock ownership, equal pay, participation in decision-making entities, and access to resources, credit and market for their farms to flourish.”

Salesian missionaries living and working in more than 130 countries around the globe are focused on achieving gender equality through programs targeted specifically for young women and girls. These programs strive to empower young women and girls by providing opportunities for education and training that lead to livable wage employment.

“Salesian missionaries around the globe empower rural women through education and ensuring that they have equal access to social programs and skills training,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Providing education to help young women farmers cultivate the land helps to make their farms more productive and shows that farming can be a reliable source of income and nutritional support for their families and communities.”

In honor of International Day of Rural Women, Salesian Missions is proud to share some Salesian agriculture projects that empower rural women.

INDIA

Tea farmers in India receive financial support thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions.

Tea farmers in the Tinsukia District, in the state of Assam, India, received financial support thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions. Thirty-five farmers are cultivating 7.59 hectares of land. Fourteen farmers have already harvested their first tea leaves and are making a profit. The farmers receive loans which help their gardens get started. They then repay the money from their harvest, which in turn allows Salesians to help more farmers.

The first group of 14 tea farmers who received financial support have already started repaying their loans on an installment basis. When one of the tea beneficiaries passed away after suffering from major illness, his wife took over his tea garden and agreed to repay the loan amount. She works in a private tea garden to help support her family. Her eldest son is also a daily wage earner in one of the nearby towns. She thanked the Salesians for helping her family plant tea which will now help them get extra income from the land.

The tea estates are tended to by laborers, who despite working long hours often do not earn enough wages to meet their basic needs or escape poverty. Many tea laborers own small parcels of land but, for various reasons, leave the land uncultivated while they leave home to work at larger tea estates. In times of financial crisis, they are often forced to mortgage their land for small loans. When they are unable to repay the loans, the land is forfeited. Salesian missionaries in India, aware of this difficult situation, are working to provide opportunities for tea laborers to break the cycle of poverty.

PHILIPPINES

Farmers learn sustainable organic practices at the Don Bosco Training Center in San Jose, Philippines.

Salesian missionaries have operated the Don Bosco Training Center in San Jose, Philippines, since 1995. An organic agricultural production course was launched three years ago in response to the government’s call to augment the food production industry. The Salesian diocese of San Jose is in a region which is known as the country’s rice granary. Rice is the staple food in the Philippines, and 80 percent of the population are farmers. The most recent course helps protect the environment through sustainable organic farming.

Don Bosco Training Center is not the only farming education that Salesians provide in the region. In the mid-1980s, Salesian Bishop Leo Drona founded the Gratia Plena Social Action Center to help the poor farming population after a destructive typhoon. It considers organic agriculture as a strategic response to environmental issues by promoting sustainable farming methods.

Through the Gratia Plena Social Services Center, Salesians support and guide farmers to acquire skills and the know-how to boost the local economy. The center also works in partnership with small-scale farmers, cooperatives, and development practitioners who believe in organic practices of producing food for life, health, and the environment. Salesians are exploring possibilities for the Don Bosco Training Center to work in closer collaboration with Gratia Plena Social Services Center.

NIGERIA

In Nigeria, Salesians developed a farm for training, research and production thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions.

Salesian missionaries have developed the St. Joseph’s Farm, in Sagamu, Nigeria, thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions. The farm is a center for training, research and production on 25 hectares of land acquired by the Salesians. Forty farmers received training in better methods of crop production to help improve production and revenue. A piggery and fishery were also constructed with this funding.

St. Joseph’s Farm assisted mostly poor women, young girls and unemployed youth from the local area and provided training and hands-on help with farming techniques. In addition, the project helped small farmers develop skills to manage their farms for increased productivity, self-employment and sustainability.

With a population close to 256,000, including a mix of Christians, Muslims and traditionalists, Sagamu is known for its agricultural products such as cocoa and kola nuts. The region’s rich vegetation and large masses of unoccupied or unused land attract people who develop an interest in agriculture. Yet, the region has high rates of unemployment and underemployment, as well as a low rate of formal education.

SENEGAL

Youth learn organic farming techniques through a new project in Senegal.

Bosco Global recently launched the “Cultivating the skills of young people. Formation in agroecology in Tambacounda (Senegal)” project with the support of the Menorcan Fund for International Cooperation. The initiative is supporting the education and training for 10 students attending Don Bosco Vocational Training Center in Tambacounda and their families, which includes about 50 people total.

Youth, including young women, are learning about organic farming techniques, soil enrichment and water optimization. The students have been assigned rural plots, and some of them have already started working. The project will help curb desertification and enrich the soil that is now depleted due to a lack of nutrients and water, as well as climate change, which is shortening the rainy season.

Thanks to this project, some of the students are already thinking about setting up a business to market their crops. At the end of the agroecological training, students will also be offered a course on how to obtain microcredit.

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Sources:

INDIA: Tea farmers receive financial support thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions/Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

International Day of Rural Women 2022

PHILIPPINES: Farmers learn sustainable organic practices/ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

NIGERIA: Salesians develop farm thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions/Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Salesian Missions

SENEGAL: Youth learn organic farming techniques through new project/ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

The post INT’L DAY OF RURAL WOMEN: Salesian Missions highlights projects that empower rural women first appeared on MissionNewswire.

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins humanitarian organizations and countries around the globe in honoring International Day of Rural Women, which is celebrated each year on Oct. 15. This day, which was first established in 2008, recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including Indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

This year’s theme is “Building rural women’s resilience in the wake of COVID-19” to create awareness of these women’s struggles, their needs, and their critical and key role in our society.

UN Women noted, “Women stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, as health care workers, caregivers, innovators, community organizers and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the pandemic. The crisis has highlighted both the centrality of their contributions and the disproportionate burdens that women carry.”

Salesian missionaries living and working in more than 130 countries around the globe are focused on achieving gender equality through programs targeted specifically for young women and girls. These programs strive to empower young women and girls by providing opportunities for education and training that lead to livable wage employment.

“Salesian missionaries around the globe empower rural women through education and ensuring that they have equal access to social programs and skills training,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Women who are able to access skills training and are supported are more often able to achieve financial independence and make better and healthier choices that affect not only themselves, but their families and communities as well.”

In honor of International Day of Rural Women, Salesian Missions is proud to share some Salesian programs that empower rural women.

DR CONGO

Young women were inspired to be leaders in traditionally male professions during a Salesian conference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Salesian Tuwe Wafundi School of Trades, part of the Don Bosco Center in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),* welcomed 21 girls and young women who asked to learn a profession traditionally reserved for males, such as bricklayer, carpenter, mechanic and welder. Recently, a conference was held for these students with Marie Claire, a woman entrepreneur who is responsible for a local carpentry workshop.

Irène Nabintu, an apprentice in automotive mechanics, said, “With her personal experiences, she told us that to live and be a female leader, we need to have some principles, some rules that we give ourselves.”

Claire said these rules included: avoiding always expecting help from others; working hard and showing that they can do it by themselves, alone; loving their profession; praying to God because it is he who comforts and gives confidence during the journey of work; and doing everything on schedule. She also cautioned the students to not envy what they don’t have.

Claire is a married, mother of nine children who are all well-educated thanks to her work. She told the students to continue their education. She said, “To qualify as boys do, intelligence and strength are needed, and to work with courage. Without disrespecting men, you can make yourself accepted as a true female leader.”

INDIA

The Salesian-run Fishermen Community Development Program provides electric vehicles to fisherwomen in India.

The Fishermen Community Development Program, part of the Salesian Province of Bangalore, has begun distributing electric automobiles to fisherwomen in Kollam, Kerala, India. The Fishermen Community Development Program was started in 1979 to assist people who make their living from fishing in the coastal area of Kollam.

The Fishermen Community Development Program has been working to empower women through the development of micro-enterprises, skills training and with production of goods so that they are able to make a living. The new initiative is providing the transportation the women need to help run their businesses.

The Honorable Prasanna Earnest, mayor of Kollam, said in her inaugural speech that this new initiative is yet another step in helping fisherwomen develop their businesses and have long-term financial sustainability.

KENYA

Hundreds of women entrepreneurs in Dagoreti, Kenya, and other poor areas are benefiting from the Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) project started by the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco three years ago, according to an article in the Global Sisters Report. The Salesian Sisters developed the microloan project after securing funds from Don Bosco Mondo in Germany.

The project was launched to help women start businesses of their own to alleviate poverty and improve the well-being of their children. Many of the women use the funds earned for their children’s school fees and other necessities.

Sister Gisele Mashauri explained that the groups consist of 15 to 25 members each. Members save at least 50 Kenyan shillings (50 cents) per day from their businesses and then lend this money to other members in the form of loans without collateral.

“Microloans enable the poor to engage in self-employment and income generating activities,” said Mashauri in the Global Sisters Report article. “Our main goal is for families to be self-sustained and every child to go to school. We have seen very many poor people living in slums become financially independent and better able to break out of poverty.”

SOUTH SUDAN

Salesian Missions donors provide funding for scholarships for young women to attend Don Bosco Vocational Training Center in South Sudan.

Students attending the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center in Juba, South Sudan,* have received scholarships to help afford their education and continue their studies thanks to funding from Salesian Missions donors. The scholarships, which are mainly focused on female students, cover 50 percent of the school’s tuition, making it much easier for young women to gain an education.

One student, Ayany Pamela, said, “This program has given me the courage to return to school after completing my secondary education. I had not been able to continue in school because of financial problems. After noticing that women were given this opportunity, I became motivated because it is now affordable for me. This program has contributed much in my personal life by allowing me to obtain knowledge and skills. Without it, I cannot imagine how I would have continued my education or found a good job.”

In South Sudan, due to lack of financial support, many families force their girls into early marriages. The program’s goal is to reduce the incidence of early marriage and allow young women to gain an education and independence in the workplace.

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Sources:

DR CONGO: Young women inspired to be leaders in traditionally male professions

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

INDIA: Women receive electric autos for businesses

Photo courtesy of Don Bosco India

International Day of Rural Women 2021

KENYA: Women entrepreneurs improve well-being of their children

Salesian Missions

SOUTH SUDAN: Salesian Missions donors provide funding for scholarships for young women to attend Don Bosco Vocational Training Center

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

*Any goods, services, or funds provided by Salesian Missions to programs located in these countries were administered in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.

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