Women's Empowerment
Transform Africa is fully aware that culture, religion and politics play a significant role in disempowering women, especially in rural communities. Their voices do not get heard and decisions are made with no consideration to them. We have embarked on initiatives to improve a woman's position within her community.
Recruitment of Project facilitators, those members of the community who aid the realisation of each project that Transform Africa supports, is now being done by insisting that an equal number of men and women are employed. Women are given interviewas and encouraged to form discussion groups to give their input into the development of their communities.
In particular, the support for women's rights is needed due to their vulnerability to sexual exploitation and the great number who contract HIV. There are practices within African communities that treat widows in an appalling way, believing them to be responisble for the death of their husbands.
It is also the case that many women are forced into prostitution and it is one of our most important concerns to enable them access to both sexual health advice, contraception and antiretroviral drugs.
In Sierre Leone one of our projects provided women with the equipment so that they could tie-dye cloths and sell them on to make money for their families.
