Telling the ECSA Story

 Indicators point to the erosion of gains made for girls' and women's rights in Somalia as the drought worsens. Girls are being forced to drop out of school putting them at risk of harmful traditional practices such as early marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Women-run businesses have been hit especially hard with 98% of them having lost revenue and income due to the high cost of goods, and 51% have been forced to close. Photo by Saddam Mohamed/CARE As the primary caregivers in the home, women have the responsibility of taking care of children and this can be extremely difficult when their source of income is disrupted. In Dhobley, Somalia, 42-year-old Faduma arrives at an IDP camp with 100 frail goats from her home in Wajir, Kenya. These are all that remain of her herd which comprised of 300 goats that provided her with milk and meat. She has traveled over 200 kilometers with her four children in order to try and sell the remaining goats. “ Unfortunately, most of ou

  Amina in the IDP camp in Lower Juba. CARE/Saddam Mohammed Under the blistering heat, and being heavy with child, 28-year-old Amina walked over 100 kilometers for 11 days with her children as life at home had become unbearable. This was as a result of losing all their 50 cows and 30 goats, their family’s sole source of livelihood, due to the ongoing drought in Somalia. Amina found refuge at an Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp in Lower Juba and has since then not been able to communicate with her husband who she left behind. “Sometimes my children go to bed hungry as I have nothing to give them and because their father is not here to help as I am pregnant. We have lost everything to this drought. Life used to be easy for us when we had our livestock. We could sell some to buy what we need. We ran out of water and pasture, and it was sad seeing all our livestock dying right in front of our eyes. Now we don’t even know what our next meal is going to be and when we will have it”,

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, hundreds of kilometers away, communities in Africa are feeling the ripple effects. Across the East, Central, and Southern Africa Region, ordinary citizens are experiencing the initial effects even as indicators, and analysts, point to even more adverse repercussions hitting the region within the next six months. In Kenya, citizens took to social media, under the hashtag #LowerFoodPrices, to vent their frustrations. In response to this, the government reverted indicating that the rising cost was a result of the conflict. While in DRC, inflation of oil, petrol, and gas prices has led to an increase in transport costs for both people and foodstuffs and this threatens CARE’s ongoing projects if the conflict is long-drawn-out. Somalia is currently in the grips of a worsening drought and the conflict in Ukraine makes the situation even more direr. The price of wheat and oil has already risen by 300%. Iman Abdullahi, CARE Somalia Country Director said, “O

Agatha showcasing her soya nutrition flour "Sote Lishe"     Agatha Mkayula,49, a mother of 6 children, resides in Ibumila village in Iringa DC, Tanzania. In 2017, she engaged in the Growing is Learning project. She has received multiple trainings in Soya farming practices, Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), home gardening, Participatory Scenario Planning, post-harvest management, recordkeeping & data quality, food types, Gender-Based Violence and entrepreneurship. Agatha had an opportunity of participating in the soybean processing training in 2018 and commenced her small scale business. She processed soybean drinks and nutritional flour for children/adults in the same year. "I was engaged in a project as a mere farmer with an increased responsibility of being a lead farmer," Agatha says. Conversely, it was an eye-opener for her. However, Agatha used soft plastic bags to pack soybeans products which limited my markets opportunities due to the use of poor pa