USAID Impact Photo Credit: USAID and Partners

Archives for Women

USAID in the News

Posted by  on Saturday, October 26th 2013     

Carribbean 360 detailed a new program launched by USAID to improve nutrition and access to locally produced foods in an effort to prevent hunger in the most vulnerable households in Haiti. A large focus of the program, which is a part of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, will be on developing the agriculture sector in Haiti. Combined with the use of food vouchers, improved nutrition education, and better quality health and nutrition services, the program is expected to reach 250,000 households.

Food distribution in Haiti. Photo credit: Osterman

Food distribution in Haiti. Photo credit: Osterman

Nehanda Radio featured a story on the $10 million increase in food assistance granted to Zimbabwe by USAID’s Office for Food and Peace. This funding will go to feeding the 2.2 million people who require food assistance in Zimbabwe, particularly during the hunger season, which is expected to affect 32% more people than it did last year. Melissa Williams, the USAID Mission Director in Zimbabwe said about the project, “Although the U.S. Government and other major donors are transitioning assistance in Zimbabwe from humanitarian relief to promoting sustainable development, humanitarian assessments continue to indicate that significant numbers of people in Zimbabwe still require seasonal assistance to meet their minimum food needs.”

The Nation (Pakistan) reported on a meeting between the Pakistani Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, and USAID Mission Director for Pakistan, Gregory Gottleib, where the Federal Minister praised USAID for economic and social support in the country and discussed important areas of study and focus to address as the partnership moves forward.

News Medical covered two five-year awards from USAID to International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) to advance new HIV prevention tools for women and ensure that they will be available to the countries where they are most needed. “Women urgently need a range of new tools that are tailored to their needs, and to the complex social, cultural and behavioral realities they face,” said Dr. Lee Claypool, USAID Biologist. “To beat the epidemic, we must continuously invest in innovative HIV prevention tools for women.”

CarDekho reported on a certificate of recognition given to Volkswagen India at the USAID-organized International Conference on Promoting Water Use Efficiency in Urban Sector to Address Climate Change. Volkswagen India received the recognition for eco-friendly measures they have taken to minimize their impact on the environment. Many of Volkswagen India’s initiatives have focused on adopting measures to reduce the consumption in fresh water, with scarcity being a problem in the area.

Knowledge-Sharing in MHealth is Critical to Providing Life-Saving Solutions for Moms

Posted by  on Thursday, October 24th 2013     

This originally appeared on the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action Blog. 

Every minute at least one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth and every year 6.6 million children die before the age of five. We know what interventions make a difference on maternal and infant mortality. We now know that one billion women in low to middle-income countries own a mobile phone – a tool that can be used to engage, educate, and empower mothers. In order for mobile to be scaled to address health issues, global communities must come together to openly share lessons learned, failures, best practices and introduce new solutions to help underserved populations – women in developing countries.

Participants looking pleased with access to health information on their mobile phones. Photo credit: Living Goods

Participants looking pleased with access to health information on their mobile phones. Photo credit: Living Goods

Mobile health (mHealth) is a solution for women, providing immediate, life-saving services to address dire maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) challenges. This emerging field – a global movement – is reaching mothers, who need health services the most. No one organization, ministry of health, or company can do it alone, which is why knowledge-sharing through a global, mobile community is needed more than ever.

In a new report, Sparking a Global Movement with MAMA (PDF), commissioned by Johnson & Johnson, a partner of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA), over 230 organizations, from almost 60 countries downloaded MAMA’s free, adaptable vital health mobile messages. Organizations continue to use these messages to guide mothers through pregnancy and now up to their baby’s third birthday.  As a result, more organizations using these messages are sharing back their key findings and translated the messages in 20 languages. Because of these organizations, which include social enterprises, health organizations, and governments, we all have a new resource in the mHealth space focused on MNCH. MAMA, founded by USAID, Johnson & Johnson, UN Foundation, BabyCenter and mHealth Alliance, is getting critical health information out to mothers through partnerships around the world.

Having access to these culturally sensitive, vital health mobile messages is like “having a hospital at home,” said Nahura Sharon, a new mother in Uganda, receives mobile messages through Living Goods, an organization that empowers women and operates networks of micro-entrepreneurs, who provide life-changing products and services.

Other organizations like Liga Inan in Timor-Leste translated mobile messages in Tetum, a local language and are reaching mothers, family members and community health workers. In Tanzania, Wazazi Nipendeni, a national multi-media campaign on health pregnancy, is using vital health mobile messages in partnership with the Ministry of Health. In less than six months, Wazazi Nipendeni reached 150,000 active subscribers and delivered over nine million text messages.

The desire for knowledge-sharing continues to grow as well as the need for mobile content like messages for family planning and for mothers with children ages 1-3 years old.

This report and other knowledge-sharing resources help foster global learning and build alliances with a growing community interested in working together, aiming to save lives through mobile technology.

Kirsten Gagnaire is the Global Director of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA). Prior to MAMA, Gagnaire was the Ghana Country Director for the Grameen Foundation and led the initial implementation of MOTECH.  She was the Founder of the Social Enterprise Group (SEG) and Sustayne, and has a depth of experience and passion for addressing social and environmental issues through profitable business ventures. Gagnaire was a consultant with KPMG Peat Marwick, specializing in management, technology, and organizational development consulting for health and human service agencies.

Empowering Mothers to Save Lives

Posted by  on Friday, October 18th 2013     

Leading global health soap brand Lifebuoy is harnessing the power of women to make handwashing with soap an everyday habit. Mothers, health providers and birth attendants can be influential advocates. In particular, motherhood is one of the most profound and lifechanging events in a woman’s life irrespective of culture or geography. Mothers hold the key to instilling positive handwashing behaviours in their homes and communities.

Children benefit from handwashing. Photo credit: Lifebuoy

Children benefit from handwashing. Photo credit: Lifebuoy

Lifebuoy joined forces with the U.S. Agency for International Development  and its Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) to create a neonatal programme to raise awareness of the link between newborn survival and handwashing with soap.  Help a Child Reach 5 uses innovative videos to share the importance of handwashing.

Lifebuoy has an ambitious target of changing the handwashing behaviour of one billion people by 2015, thereby reducing preventable deaths of children under 5 from diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia. It is this profound cause that helps us to get persuasive advocates- distinguished Indian actress Kajol supports the cause of handwashing with soap and Help a Child Reach 5. She is calling on people, governments, UN agencies and policymakers to scale up handwashing as the most cost effective intervention to save child lives.

Over 40% of under-five deaths occur within the first 28 days of a child’s life, the neonatal period. Simple, low-cost health interventions – such as handwashing with soap at key occasions- can reduce this figure by up to 70 per cent. Despite this, handwashing with soap is not universally practiced. We know that a simple solution- handwashing with soap- can make a drastic difference in stopping preventable newborn deaths. Lifebuoy is passionate about saving child lives and has the global scale to do something about it.

The program targets new mothers and birth attendants through antenatal clinics and health workers. We communicate the potential of handwashing with soap to reduce neonatal infections, but do not stop there. The Help a Child Reach 5 campaign makes a health appeal to the most powerful of all emotions- the maternal instinct. ‘Helping your child survive’ – is the sole message to initiate long lasting changes. Handwashing messages are delivered to generate awareness, but also get commitment to handwash, habitual routine practice of handwashing, and positive reinforcement for handwashing. It builds in the motivators of behaviour change among new mothers such as the desire to nurture and for social recognition. It empowers mothers to keep their babies protected, which is of ultimate emotional significance to mothers.

Public private partnerships are critical to deliver messages to new mothers. Health organizations and governments have on the ground expertise to ensure health workers deliver the messages to new mothers in a scalable and sustainable way. This programme draws on Lifebuoy’s marketing and consumer expertise as well as MCHIP’s ability to reach and scale up outreach to millions of new mothers achieve maximum impact.

Building healthy habits among mothers means changing behaviours and choices. Lifebuoy aims to be much more than just a soap and stand in women’s minds as something positive and meaningful for life. Once a new mother’s mindset is changed, habitual handwashing with soap will become a naturally ingrained behaviour. This can have a ripple effect to other new mothers and the entire community and will help fulfil Lifebuoy’s vision of bringing health and hygiene to 1 billion people.

Learn more about USAID’s work in water, sanitation, and hygiene.

For more information on the Help a Child Reach 5 campaign, please watch some of these videos: www.youtube.com/helpachildreach5

Communities in Cote d’Ivoire Benefit from USAID’s Investments

Posted by  on Monday, September 30th 2013     

USAID is helping communities in rural Cote d’Ivoire develop economic resiliency. Through our partners SAVE the Children and AVSI, we are supporting several types of economic strengthening activities, all of which increase the productive resources available for families. Through this work, we target the families and caregivers of children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.

As they gathered for their savings group meeting, group members met us with a traditional welcome. Andrea Halverson. Photo credit: Andrea Halverson, USAID

As they gathered for their savings group meeting, group members met us with a traditional welcome. Photo credit: Andrea Halverson, USAID

In the mountainous, western city of Man, near Cote d’Ivoire’s border with Liberia, we met women gathering for their regular community savings group meeting. This region was one of the hardest hit during Cote d’Ivoire’s civil unrest. With poverty rates increasing over the past decade, savings groups combat a common problem in developing countries: lack of access to credit. Through these self-selected groups, members (usually all-women) will share a small portion of their money at each bi-monthly meeting, and are eligible to take loans, with interest, from this shared pool. At the end of the group sharing cycle, the amount saved is paid out to the group members. The additional money is making a difference in their lives and the lives of their children. Almost every woman uses her savings for school fees and school uniforms for her children.

Children watch as the community members cook the Attiéké, the final step in its production. Photo credit: Andrea Halverson, USAID

Children watch as the community members cook the Attiéké, the final step in its production. Photo credit: Andrea Halverson, USAID

In addition to savings groups, we also visited a community who had received start-up capital to fund a small business activity, producing a local delicacy called attiéké. Similar to couscous, attiéké is a fermented Ivoiran side dish, highly sought after in the region. Through the donation of a mill and a creative cassava partnership, the women had what they needed to start their small business. They are now making and selling attiéké. With pride, women told us of their informal distribution channels that stretched all the way to Mali. These and other investments are helping shape the future of Cote d’Ivoire, and reducing the vulnerability of Ivorian children by using profits to ensure they can enroll in school.

Meeting the President: How the United States is Helping Women Farmers in Senegal

Posted by  on Friday, September 27th 2013     

This originally appeared on the Feed the Future Blog. 

When I learned that I had been chosen to present my work with women farmers in Senegal to the president of the United States, the first thing I did was cry.

A minute later my thoughts cleared.

I have important things to tell President Obama, I said to myself, about how women farmers have benefited enormously from partnership with the United States.

Since 2002, I have been a member of a farmer organization of some 600 members—two thirds of whom are women—that works in 52 villages in the rural community of Mampatim, Senegal. I also work for a nongovernmental organization, supported by USAID through the Feed the Future initiative, that helps the group’s members succeed.

Anna Gaye prepares to demonstrate rice milling to President Obama in Senegal in June 2013. Photo credit: Stephane Tourné

Anna Gaye prepares to demonstrate rice milling to President Obama in Senegal in June 2013. Photo credit: Stephane Tourné

Farming in the valley

Since upland farming areas are traditionally farmed by men, our women members are obliged to work in the valleys, often under difficult conditions due to flooding. With little organization, many of these women worked very hard with negligible results.

Membership in our organization, known as an economic interest group, affords members like me legal recognition through which we can obtain credit. Historically, our group, called Kissal Patim, enabled us to cultivate small garden patches near village wells that provide off-season vegetables for market, as well as larger half-acre rice plots that yielded perhaps 200 kilograms during the rainy season.

But our partnership with Feed the Future got us to think much bigger. Feed the Future introduced members of Kissal Patim to several recently developed strains of seed that can produce yields as much as three times greater while using less water!

Meeting the president

On the big day, my mouth was dry as President Obama approached the booth we had set up to exhibit our activities, but he put me at ease right away. First, I demonstrated a traditional method of rice processing. I tried not to smile as he took the heavy ram from my hands and started pounding the pestle himself. “That’s painful!” the president said through his translator, examining his hands a minute later.

“That’s what women lived with every day before our partnership with Feed the Future,” I said.

That partnership brought, among other benefits, a portable, electric rice mill, which was also on display. The mill takes only 20 minutes to separate 40 kilograms of rice, which previously would take an entire day. The president was curious as to who actually owned the machine, and I explained our group manages it for our common use.

The mill, I explained, was very important to our progress. My fellow farmers and I were initially reluctant to grow more rice since the task of having to pound so much more would be huge. Our acquisition of the milling machines changed all that. We were free from the drudgery of the pestle.

The time saved also gives us more time to engage in commercial activities, such as the production and sale of palm oil and nutritious rice porridge made ​​with peanuts, not to mention time to prepare for the next growing season.

President Obama congratulated and encouraged us.

The visit was like a dream. The president of the United States! As soon as it was over, I was eager to get back to Mampatim and tell the story to my fellow women producers.

The visit had a positive impact on all our work: I feel more courageous and ambitious, and the photos I showed my colleagues inspired them to redouble their efforts in their production plots. It has created a spirit of competition among them all!

Begun in 2010, this partnership with Feed the Future through USAID’s Economic Growth Project has helped women access several new varieties of high-yielding rice, as well as introduce fertilizers that have further increased yields. Some of the plots have grown fourfold, up to an entire hectare, each of which yields and average of four-and-a-half tons. In the future, we hope to manage even larger plots.

(Translated from French by Zack Taylor)

This post is part of a series of posts by marketplace participants who met Obama in June 2013.

Additional Resources: 

Family Planning Improves and Saves Lives

Posted by  on Thursday, September 26th 2013     

September 26 is World Contraception Day. 

For more than 25 years, my professional and personal mission has focused on helping women and couples across the world have the ability to decide whether, when and how many children to have. I strongly believe in the importance of increasing access to voluntary family planning, because the evidence is so clear. Enabling women and men to plan their families, results in multiple health, economic and social benefits for families, communities and nations. On September 26, 2013, World Contraception Day draws attention to the fact that more than 222 million women in the developing world say they want to delay or avoid pregnancy but are not using a modern method of contraception.

A community health worker in Malawi counsels a woman on her family planning options at a gathering place in her community. USAID works in more than 45 countries around the globe to increase access to family planning information and services for all who want them. Photo credit: Liz Bayer

A community health worker in Malawi counsels a woman on her family planning options at a gathering place in her community. USAID works in more than 45 countries around the globe to increase access to family planning information and services for all who want them. Photo credit: Liz Bayer

Everyday an estimated 800 women lose their lives in pregnancy and childbirth. Voluntary family planning could reduce these deaths by 30 percent and save the lives of more than 1.6 million children under five each year by enabling women to delay first pregnancy, space later pregnancies at safe intervals, and stop bearing children when they have reached their desired family size.

USAID works across the globe to enable individuals to access and use affordable, high-quality family planning information, commodities, and services as a means to improve their health and quality of life. For many women, currently available contraceptive methods don’t meet their needs. USAID is one of the few organizations that prioritizes the development of new contraceptives that will be affordable in low resource settings. USAID-supported products on the verge of introduction include:

  • The SILCS Diaphragm, a “one size fits most” reusable diaphragm that does not need clinical fitting
  • The NES+EE Contraceptive Vaginal Ring,  the first long-term hormonal method completely under the woman’s control that lasts for one year
  • The Woman’s Condom,  designed to be easy to insert, use and remove, making it unique compared to other female condoms

As the world’s largest bilateral donor of family planning, USAID is committed to expanding choice and access to a variety of contraceptive options. The ability to make important decisions about childbearing is one of the most basic human rights. Improving access to voluntary family planning information, products, and services is a necessary ingredient to helping women care for their families, participate in their communities, and build their countries.

Learn more about USAID’s work in family planning. 

Resource:

USAID at UNGA 2013: Day Two

Posted by  on Wednesday, September 25th 2013     

This year’s United Nations General Assembly focuses on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and inclusive development goals for persons with disabilities. 

UNGA Day Two: September 24, 2013

Highlight:

President Obama delivered an address to the United National General Assembly. A number of outlets are reporting on the President’s announcement of an additional $339 million in humanitarian assistance to Syria.

Announcements:

  • As a part of the Better than Cash Alliance anniversary event, USAID announced that it is on a path to incorporating language into all grants and contracts to accelerate the use of electronic and mobile payments into its programs across the world.

Recap of Tuesday’s Events:

  • Yesterday afternoon Administrator Shah and DFID’s Justine Greening hosted the “MDG Countdown 2013 – Women & Girls” event. The event highlighted the progress made against the MDGs and focused on the work needing to be done over the next 828 days. The event included Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, Geena Davis, actress and UN Special Envoy for Women and Girls in the field of Technology and was moderated by NY Times reporter Nicholas Kristof.

Happening Today:

Learn more about this year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and its focus on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and inclusive development goals for persons with disabilities.

Follow @USAID and @RajShah for ongoing updates during the week and join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtags #UNGA and #UNGA2013.

From the Field in Pakistan: The Cattle Whisperer

Posted by  on Tuesday, September 24th 2013     

With six children to feed and not enough money to make ends meet, each day was a trial for Bushra Yasmeen. On some days she didn’t have enough money to take her children to the doctor, on others there wasn’t enough money to support their education. Being a seamstress in a remote village in the Punjab was not taking her anywhere.

To seek advice and help, Bushra frequently turned to community elders who gathered in the evenings to talk about the day and what was happening in the small village they all shared.

Livestock extension worker Bushra Yasmeen poses in her clinic in Pir Mahal in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Bushra received training and basic supplies from USAID’s Dairy Project Photo credit: USAID Dairy Project

Livestock extension worker Bushra Yasmeen poses in her clinic in Pir Mahal in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Bushra received training and basic supplies from USAID’s Dairy Project
Photo credit: USAID Dairy Project

It was at one such meeting that she heard that some people from the city — from USAID’s Dairy Project —  were coming to the village the next day to talk about training women to take better care of cattle. In rural areas of Pakistan, this work is done mostly by women. Through this project, USAID is improving animal health-care services in 1,500 villages in the Punjab by providing support and guidance to women like Bushra.

Always on the lookout for an opportunity to better support her family and help her husband, Bushra was eager to see what the training was all about. Based on her enthusiasm and energy, and the knowledge she displayed during the selection process, the USAID Dairy Project team selected her for training as a livestock extension worker.

During the month-long training program, Bushra learned about animal disease prevention and basic livestock management, including the need for timely vaccinations against mastitis (inflammation of the udders, one of the most common diseases among dairy cattle) and hoof-and-mouth disease.

With the training and a medical support kit provided by USAID, Bushra started providing basic treatment to the cattle in her village, earning more than she had as a seamstress.

“I have earned 10,000 rupees in two months by attending to 180 cattle cases in my village,” says a beaming Bushra.  She no longer has to think twice about money when her children need school supplies or medical care. In addition, Bushra has set up a clinic providing preventive and basic medical care to the animals owned by the dairy farmers in her village. The steady income means that she can reinvest in her clinic as well.

Learn more about USAID’s work in Pakistan. Like USAID Pakistan on Facebook and follow them on Twitter (@UsAidPakistan) for ongoing updates in the region!

Realizing the Health Goals of the Panama Declaration

Posted by  on Monday, September 23rd 2013     

This blog is part of a series to coincide with A Promise Renewed in the Americas: ”Reducing Inequalities in Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health Summit,“ that was held during September 10-12 in Panama.

The Promise Renewed for the Americas conference, just held in Panama City September 10-12, was attended by over 280 people representing governments, NGOs, faith organizations, multi- and bi-lateral organizations and civil society from throughout Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. The conference was a call to action to address persisting inequalities in maternal and child health in the region. The Declaration of Panama signed on the first day expressed the commitment of 26 governments  and many organizations to heed that call. The conference concluded with a provisional framework for reducing health inequities for women, children and youth in the LAC region. Now that I’ve had a week to reflect on the event, I’d like to share some thoughts with the broader global health community and so many others who contribute to furthering health in LAC, focusing on: “why this conference was so important to have in the first place,” “why now?”  and “what’s ahead?”

A Promise RenewedWhy convene this meeting in the first place? In 2015, most LAC countries will meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 (child health), and many will meet MDG 5 (maternal health.) However, it is certainly too early to declare victory in maternal and child health in LAC. Some countries will not meet either MDG 4 or 5, and Haiti’s indicators will fall considerably short of its goals. Moreover, averaged, national-level statistics mask major inequalities in maternal and child health in almost all countries in the region. And, the groups with much-worse-than-average health outcomes – most notably in maternal and neonatal deaths – are LAC’s most vulnerable and marginalized populations. Often these are also people whose voice is not heard in policy-making. Further, as outlined in an article for the Journal de  Perinatología y Reproduccion Humana, the pace of progress in reducing preventable maternal, child, and newborn deaths has slowed considerably throughout the region. At the same time, the investment of international donors in the health sector in LAC has declined markedly over the last two decades. So, the capacity and resources of the region itself will have to be better focused to reduce its major “equity gaps” in maternal and child health. In this context, the Panama conference was initiated by USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, and sponsored by a consortium of donor agencies, USAID, PAHO/WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank, to catalyze a more concerted regional effort to address those gaps.

So, why now? In addition to the convergence of the region-specific factors just mentioned, the timing of the Panama conference was important in a global context because it forged a link between the Latin America and Caribbean region and the new global movement “A Promise Renewed” (APR). That movement was launched in June 2012 at the Child Survival Call to Action event in Washington, D.C. that was hosted by the governments of Ethiopia, India, and the United States, in collaboration with UNICEF. APR aims to re-energize those working on maternal and child health world-wide, and increase attention and investments toward the goal of ending preventable maternal and child deaths within the next generation – by 2035. Several follow-up conferences in Africa and Asia have helped sub-regions and individual countries to begin development of detailed roadmaps to reach this goal. For the LAC region, reaching the global goal will require a fundamental commitment to bridging equity gaps. Going forward, we expect that LAC’s active participation in the global APR platform will lead to accelerated learning and better metrics for gauging progress.

What’s ahead? A major consensus emerging from the conference was that the true locus of control for closing these equity gaps lies in the countries of the region –their governments, civil society, academies, churches, and other institutions. The appropriate role for donor agencies is supportive, not primary, in setting goals, timelines, the route to reach them, and the metrics to measure them. Many conference participants called for a regional mechanism to help facilitate collaboration, information exchange, south-to-south sharing, and access to technical expertise to accelerate the reduction of inequities.

Following are some other key decisions and next steps that came out of the conference:

  • Conferees identified key principles to guide efforts to close equity gaps, among them: use of cross-sectoral approaches for multi-sectoral problems; a focus on marginalized populations (rather than expecting benefits to trickle-down); use of multicultural approaches; and promotion of gender awareness.
  • Conferees supported the establishment of a regional network dedicated to addressing health equity gaps, which would be open to countries, civil society, private sector, and international agencies.
  • Representatives from several countries indicated that they would initiate national, and potentially sub-national, meetings to address maternal, child and adolescent health inequities in their own countries.
  • The donor consortium agreed to continue support for the A Promise Renewed for the Americas website, to serve as a platform for virtual discussion and planning, an information repository, and mechanism for technical interchange.
  • Conferees provided ideas orally and in writing for a regional framework aimed at supporting country progress on reducing inequities. This framework, along with a limited organizational structure, will continue to be developed in the coming months, with modest funding from the seven-agency donor consortium.
  • Setting of region-wide goals for reduction of health inequities was deferred, given the diversity of circumstances and the lack of standardized data across the region that could help inform policies and decision making. There was also general agreement that imposing regional, uniform, health equity reporting requirements on countries would not be feasible or desirable at this point. However, it was widely agreed that gauging progress in reducing health inequities is essential for accountability. That will require countries to disaggregate their health data to allow analysis by geographic, economic, ethnic, and gender variables, over time.
  • Conferees also stressed the importance of LAC participation in shaping the post-MDG 2015 health development agenda.

For the LAC region, some of the most difficult challenges in maternal, child, and adolescent health still lie ahead, because they require reaching those who are hardest to reach, but the Panama conference showed that solidarity and commitment in the region are strong. The LAC region has a history of success in maternal and child health and can draw from the extensive knowledge and expertise already in the region. The Panama conference catalyzed an ambitious process that will be ongoing until, as one speaker observed, “we meet to celebrate ‘A Promise Fulfilled.'”

Related blog posts:

Vocational Courses Give Economic Empowerment to Women of Georgia

Posted by  on Thursday, September 19th 2013     

From our Mission of the Month: Georgia, learn how a USAID-supported project empowers women to acquire training that allows them to contribute to their family incomes. 

Christina Blurtsian is a 22-year old ethnic Armenian student passionate about the arts. She paints, sings, plays guitar and even makes costumes for one of the local theaters in Tbilisi.

“When I was a kid, I would spend nights painting. It was my true passion. I would draw on a piece of paper, cardboard, asphalt, even on a wall-paper. Soon sewing became my passion. It first started when my mom gave me a doll and I decided to make her a dress.”

Christina Blurtsian. Photo credit: USAID/Georgia

Christina Blurtsian. Photo credit: USAID/Georgia

Since then Christina has made several dresses for her friends and actors as well.  She will turn this passion into a profession soon. After completing a USAID-supported vocational training course in sewing machine skills, Christina will start working at an apparel factory.

In partnership with the apparel industry, the USAID Economic Prosperity Initiative (EPI) developed a short-term training program that connects vocational colleges and the apparel industry.  The partnership allows the apparel sector access to a qualified workforce that will increase the industry’s productivity while women like Christina gain skills, empowerment, and employment.

Sewing machine operator training students in Georgia. Photo credit: USAID/Georgia

Sewing machine operator training students in Georgia. Photo credit: USAID/Georgia

“I prefer to start working at an apparel plant. After I gain enough experience, I am going to teach others. I’m trying to find a permanent job not just because I need to earn money, although I have to support my parents. I’m striving to achieve my goals.”

Christina is very clear about her plans and goals. In a large family of seven, she is now the only one living with her parents. Christina’s mother works at a grocery store, her father is a pensioner, and their income barely covers utility bills. Christina knows her earnings will be an important contribution to the family income. Still, Christina believes hard work, a sense of purpose and diligence are qualities that matter just as much as a better living of her family. “Realizing my interests and aptitude in life is a key drive for me. Everything I do, I do for this reason.”

Iveta Tskhovrebashvili. Photo credit: USAID/Georgia

Iveta Tskhovrebashvili. Photo credit: USAID/Georgia

Iveta Tskhovrebashvili is a dedicated mother who completed the same course. At 40 years old Iveta saw the course as a second chance to finally have a real profession. She’s always had a knack for sewing. “I would often make myself a dress. It was during the particularly difficult times when not many people could afford fancy clothes, especially my acquaintances. My dresses did draw attention; none of them would miss a compliment. People really liked them,” Iveta recalls.

The sewing courses showed Iveta new techniques and helped her improve. “Speed, meticulousness, the ability to work with complex garments – these are the skills I’ve acquired through the courses,” Iveta says.

Iveta believes the courses will help her find a job and support her family. “My husband is without work and there are so many things my daughter needs that we cannot afford. Once I start working in an apparel factory the situation will become better,” she says.

Both Christina and Iveta are interns at a local apparel manufacturing company and, if successful, will secure a job.

Learn more about our Mission of the Month: Georgia. For ongoing updates in the region, like USAID Georgia on Facebook and follow them on Twitter (@USAIDGeorgia)!

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