Submitted by Jessica DiRocco “Girls have been made to believe that they need someone to survive.” These powerful words came from one of the commentators in the short documentary, SASA!, a film about women, violence and HIV/AIDS. Sasa is Kiswahili for “now.” As in now is the time to take a stand against women’s violence. [...]
Tag archives for 16 Days
Women Leaders Combating Violence Against Women in India
By Hope Bryer and Kathryn Viguerie During President Obama’s visit to India earlier this month, Ms. Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to President Obama for Intergovernmental and Public Engagement, along with USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, led a roundtable discussion with leading women activists and experts in India’s development sector who focus on women’s [...]
Helping Women Avoid HIV Infection and Transmission
Submitted by Jessica DiRocco, USAID Bureau for Global Health HIV-positive and pregnant with her second child, Grace Abalo was like many other women in the developing world- in need of services to prevent her child from contracting HIV. Determined to have her baby born healthy, Grace and her husband joined a USAID-funded family support group [...]
Giving Girls a Chance Against HIV/AIDS
Submitted by Jessica DiRocco In Malawi, Chimwemwe Banda was abandoned by her parents when she was a young girl; she and her sister were left to take care of themselves. Without money to pay for basic needs or tuition, Chimwemwe was forced to drop out of school. In hopes of improving her situation, like many [...]
Promoting Evidence and Action for Respectful Care at Birth
Submitted by Wendy Coursen Exciting. Moving. Powerful. These words are often used to describe childbirth. It can be a time of wonder and joy. In many places, however, the experience is described differently: Humiliating. Frightening. Abusive. Throughout the world, women are abused in subtle and overt ways during childbirth, which is also a time of [...]
The Straight Facts: The Plight of Women
Submitted by Sandra Jordan Women around the globe should be celebrated for their extraordinary contributions in all areas of society – as professionals, as bread-winners, as caregivers and caretakers. But we must also focus on the stark reality that women suffer disproportionately from poor access to health services, discrimination, the effects of war, and, at [...]
The Freakonomics of “The Girl Effect”
Submitted by Ryan Cherlin What would happen if you applied economic theory in an unconventional way to try and understand how a girl might change the course of humanity? At my desk one morning, I watched Nike’s “The Girl Effect” campaign videos on YouTube hoping to find inspiration for new Impact blog topics. The videos [...]
The Story Behind the Statistics: Victims of Rape in Benin Find Justice
Submitted by Ryan Cherlin, USAID Bureau for Global Health The Statistics: In Benin, more than 75 percent of women are victims of violence, and 44 percent are sexually abused. The Story: Déborah and her husband Djobo live in the village of Guiguiso in northern Benin. On the night of September 9, 2009, three men assaulted [...]
Gender Equality: The Development Community’s Key Ingredient to Realizing a Positive ROI
Submitted by Ryan Cherlin Return on Investment (ROI) is a popular metric used by organizations to determine if what they spend is adding value to their bottom line. For-profit organizations typically measure the bottom line in numerical terms; the bottom line for the U.S. Agency for International Development is measured in progress toward the betterment [...]
