Telling the ECSA Story

Makila showing his wife how to use a smartphone he bought for her in the backyard of their home in Mboko. CARE Makila and his wife Majaliwa live in Mboko, a village in the Fizi territory of South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This region is marked by decades of violent conflicts leading to multisector needs, including protection. Inequality between women, girls, men, and boys is prevalent in this community, with women and girls bearing the weight of household chores rooted in traditional norms that exclude them from the management of the households. Makila grew up in a family that made it clear to him that the male child has all the advantages over the girl child, and he took that in his marriage.  “I was born in a family that prized and valued boys, and my sisters took care of almost everything. I wasn't supposed to cook or farm, just play soccer. I grew up with this mentality until I became an adult, got married and today I'm the father of 12 childr...

  Portrait of Agnes in front of one of the 10 latrines she built in her village. In Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province in Chikore village head Agnes Chikore, 63 is working to better the lives and health of her community. She has gone the extra mile to stop the spread of diseases, such as cholera, by making sure her village is open defecation free. Ward 27 has 42 villages, out of these, 41 villages are led by men with Agnes Chikore being the only female village head. The fearless village head, and mother of seven, tackled open defecation which was very common due to a lack of toilets, washing facilities, and sanitation knowledge. Building a latrine was never a priority among many and most could not afford the cement to build one. “Due to this our food and water were contaminated. During the mango season, we’d have close to 20 diarrhoeal cases every week. Now we rarely have any . Our children were openly defecating near the houses and we would simply get a stick and scrape it aw...

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...

The battle for equality, for many Shangani women in Zimbabwe Chiredzi, was a lost cause, because the conservative culture did not permit women to lead or have any say at both the community and family level.  Like many women in Guluji village, ward 22 in Chiredzi, Rosie Farai, did not know the potential that she had because she had never been given the opportunity to voice out her ideas.  “Before the project came, my husband did not allow me to make any decisions in the home and I had no assets to my name. We were supposed to be very conservative as women. I had no part in the farming activities. I was supposed to follow what he said.  “I did not own anything, everything was owned by my husband, we had very few livestock and our farming activities were not fruitful because of the hot weather conditions and droughts. The marriage was very hard and painful because we used to fight at times and he would beat me. I think this is common when there is no money in the home,” sai...

  Françoise Mbweki en plein travail de fabrication d'un masque à Goma. CARE/David Mutua Depuis 2020, la pandémie de COVID-19 a fait des centaines de milliers de victimes, mis à rude épreuve les systèmes de santé et détruit les économies et les moyens de subsistance. La République démocratique du Congo n'a pas été épargnée et, le 6 avril 2020, les villes du pays ont été confinées à la suite de la fermeture des frontières avec les pays voisins.     Cela a eu un effet dévastateur sur le pays. Selon la Banque mondiale, on estime que 73 % des personnes vivent avec moins de 1,90-dollar par jour en RDC. Le confinement a empêché de nombreuses femmes travaillant dans le secteur informel, comme les vendeuses de nourriture, les couturières et les épicières, d'accéder aux marchés où elles s'approvisionnent. Dans le même temps, les experts de la santé ont conseillé à la population de porter des masques pour endiguer la propagation de la maladie. Néanmoins, dans un pays où de n...