Empowering Women & Promise Gift Baskets

We’ve all heard the saying, give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach someone how to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. This could not be more resourceful in any other time than we see ourselves, approximately a year into the COVID-19 pandemic with millions of people locally and globally suffering loss of income, opportunity, safety and health.

 Women in developing countries, before and during the pandemic, experience great challenges and lack the necessary resources that can lead them to the freedoms and opportunities they were created to have. With such barriers, they lack access to the education, tools and funding/employment that can lead them and their families to health, safety and self reliance. Research from the United Nations indicates "that when more income is put into the hands of women, child nutrition, health and education improves." Additionally, "every extra year of primary school increases girls' eventual wages by 10-20 percent. It also encourages them to marry later and have fewer children, and leaves them less vulnerable to violence." Amazingly enough data from 68 countries shows "that a woman's education is a key factor in determining a child's survival."

Women rising to equity and opportunity will pave the way for some of the world’s most crucial needs. United Nations Women found evidence that indicates that if women in the agricultural labor force of developing countries had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 percent, raising total agricultural output in these countries by 2.5 to 4 percent. This would reduce the number of hungry people in the world by around 12 to 17 percent.”

These aren't just numbers, these are lives full of purpose and intention. In 2012 the World Bank Organization sought to research and find solutions to provide for Gender Equality and Development. Their findings closed in on 4 identified areas that were essential in creating an impact for change: human capital, economic productivity, access to finance, and empowerment.

 

Heifer International has been investing in women around the world since 1944. Written loud and boldly on their platform: “Investing in women is key to ending hunger and poverty. And it’s at the very center of our community development approach.” In supporting entrepreneurs, they simply put it like this: “When women have control over their assets and incomes, they reinvest in their families. Everyone eats more nutritious food. Kids go to school. Families get better access to health care. That’s why we invest in women farmers and business owners, equipping them with the tools and expertise they need to make their businesses thrive and grow.”

Here’s how it works:

Financial independence:  Heifer International is an on-the-ground organization that supports women with an end to end solution. It begins with empowerment and makes its way through equipping female entrepreneurs with the resources, knowledge, and access to the specific markets needed to launch her successful business. From January - March 2021, our orders supported Heifer International's Women’s Self Help Groups where we raised $360 which was matched to $1,080 by Heifer International. These funds equipped 15 Women's Groups to receive the training and education needed to kick start their businesses. 

Between April - June 2021, orders supported another similar initiative called Promise Gift Baskets. The gift basket includes ducks, chickens and rabbits, along with training and education in their care. This gift will help women and their families increase their incomes by selling eggs and other products.

The Promise Gift Basket:

• Provides income by supplying eggs and other goods to sell
• Sustains families with nourishment from protein
• Allows families to Pass on the Gift, essentially paying it forward to neighbors near her, in turn lifting up communities

"The money earned from selling the goods produced by this gift will pay for better housing for a woman needing to find decent shelter for her family, as well as school tuition and supplies for her children. And it will enable her to Pass on the Gift quickly, securing the promise of a better future for her entire neighborhood."

No solution to hunger and poverty can ever take root unless we engage and empower women to propel their families and communities toward prosperity. Through education and encouragement, Heifer is helping women find their voice. The gift helps women specifically by supplying her with:

• Nutrition
• Steady, Dependable Income
• Opportunity to pass on the Gift
• Education and Training
• Warmth
• Clothing and Blankets
• Increased Crop Yield
• Empowerment