Blog: Africa

  • Posted by Stella Mukasa on Friday, December 28, 2012
    Efforts to end FGM should consider the power of community-based interventions

    A new UN resolution to ban female genital mutilation presents an opportunity for governments, organizations and others to create effective approaches to curb the practice. One successful program in Ethiopia provides a strong example of how to do just that. 

  • Posted by Sophie Namy on Monday, December 10, 2012
    Rape survivors scared into silence by fear of stigma

    Asha* is a young, unmarried Tanzanian woman. She is also a rape survivor. But she had told no one about that violent encounter, a truth she carries with her every day.She's not alone - many women here don't speak up about sexual violence because they fear the stigma and discrimination they are likely to endure.

  • Posted by Stella Mukasa on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
    Research evidence is key to effective responses to and prevention of violence against women

    When my colleague asked me if I had any questions for the woman before me in a hospital bed, her skin taut and raw from the burns, I could barely speak. The sight of her and the injuries she had sustained at the hands of her husband silenced me.

  • Posted by ICRW Communications Staff on Tuesday, June 19, 2012

    When world leaders gather in Brazil this week for the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will highlight the global initiative to achieve "Sustainable Energy for All." The needs are great: One in five people on the planet still lacks access to modern electricity. This energy poverty disproportinately affects the world's poorest, many of whom are women.

  • Posted by Brian Heilman on Thursday, June 7, 2012
    Ugandan organization offers unique assistance to women survivors of violence

    Today, as the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) is once again introduced in the U.S. Congress, all I can think about is Miremba.*

  • Posted by Jeffrey Edmeades on Wednesday, April 25, 2012
    A researcher is reminded that in the end, it’s about the people

    An ICRW researcher and young married girls in Ethiopia’s Amhara region compare life experiences.

  • Posted by Radha Rajan on Monday, April 2, 2012
    ICRW studies the cost of maternal mortality in rural Kenya

    Each year hundreds of thousands of women die from pregnancy-related causes. ICRW is investigating the financial and social costs of such deaths in rural Kenya.

  • Posted by Krista Jacobs on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
    What new guidelines could mean for women's land rights

    A new set of global guidelines hold promise for women seeking the right to own and access land. In the final installment of our Rural Impressions blog series, ICRW's Krista Jacobs reflects on what the guidelines could mean for women farmers in Uganda.

  • Posted by Payal Patel on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
    Rural women in Ghana benefit from a simple agricultural technology

    Women farmers in Ghana tell ICRW's Payal Patel how a simple agricultural technology is helping them save time and expand their crops. Read the second installation in our Rural Impressions blog series.

  • Posted by Rekha Mehra on Monday, February 13, 2012
    A small investment in women coffee farmers in Tanzania yields unexpected returns

    When done right, small investments can make a great difference in the lives of rural women, like those ICRW's Rekha Mehra met in Tanzania. Read the first installment in ICRW's Rural Impressions blog series.

  • Posted by Jennifer McCleary-Sills on Monday, January 30, 2012
    Meeting the unique needs of both women and men in post-conflict Republic of Congo

    Although the conflict in the Republic of Congo officially ended almost a decade ago, the tough business of mending broken lives is still underway. As is true in many wars, women's lives were deeply affected.

  • Posted by Gillian Gaynair on Wednesday, January 18, 2012
    Life as seen by an Ethiopian child bride

    She married at 15 and became a mother soon after. ICRW’s senior writer Gillian Gaynair reports from Ethiopia’s remote central highlands on life as seen through the eyes of a child bride.

  • Posted by Allison McGonagle on Friday, September 16, 2011
    Ugandan women find new market in solar lanterns

    Our van climbed higher and higher as we navigated the rolling foothills of Mt. Elgon on the Uganda-Kenya border. Lush greenery surrounded us and plump cows dotted the fields. Although sparse electricity lines hung from some of the houses, there was no light as we approached Kapchorwa district. No light, except in the homes that owned a Solar Sister solar lantern.

    Headquartered in the U.S.

  • Posted by Laura Kaufer on Wednesday, July 27, 2011
    Workshop Reveals Need for More Research

    A recent trip to Nairobi to conduct a workshop for agriculture practitioners and researchers revealed to me just how much more work needs to be done to bolster women’s roles in agriculture, from the farm where food is cultivated to the homes and plants where it is packaged and processed. 

  • Posted by Jeff Edmeades on Monday, June 13, 2011
    Young Married Girls Work Toward a Different Future

    After so many visits here, I should no longer by surprised by how young the girls are, but I always am. The girls –  and so many of them really are just girls –  met with me to share their experiences with our project, which aims to improve the social, economic and health status of more than 5,000 recently-married girls in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.