CONTACT: Amy Lynn O'Toole, (404) 681-2552, ext. 453
ATLANTA (March 7, 2000) -- Today, on International Women's Day, Jane Benbow, director of Basic and Girls Education for the international relief and development organization CARE, spoke of the critical role women everywhere play -- as caregivers and agents of change -- in strengthening their families and communities.
"By engaging and involving women and women's groups in our work, communities are transformed, families become healthier, birth rates decline and more children are given a better education and brighter future," says Benbow. "Relief and development programs achieve greater benefits when they embrace women."
CARE's experience in India and Egypt, for example, suggests that the most effective mechanism for engendering community support for basic education is by working with community-based groups - led by women - that help organize schools and programs. Moreover, women typically serve as the creative force behind solutions for development challenges in their communities such as the obtaining of clean water -- a task most often the responsibility of women.
Key Challenges Women Face
In the developing world especially, women face steep obstacles and limited opportunities in overcoming poverty. In fact, of the more than 1 billion people in the developing world who live on less than $1 a day, 70 percent are women and two-thirds of the approximately 850 million adults who are illiterate are women. Some 48 million children and women are victims of war, natural disasters, extreme poverty and other forms of violence and exploitation.
"After a crisis or conflict, CARE has found that women tend to bring a renewed commitment to entrepreneurship, economic revival, peace building and cooperation to their struggling communities," adds Benbow. "The empowerment and education of women are keys for sustaining that commitment to community development."
To build upon their efforts, CARE is working with women in more than 60 developing countries through programs in health, education, agriculture and natural resources and small economic activity development. Through CARE programs last year:
- More than 228,000 people in 20 countries received basic education and training.
- More than 8.8 million women and children benefited from mother and child health projects in 15 countries.
- 8 million men and women in 32 countries benefited from health services, such as family planning, maternal health and STD/HIV prevention activities.
- More than 500,000 people - 76 percent women - in 36 countries were helped through projects in credit savings, marketing and other business-related services.
CARE Launches Web Site for Women
Coinciding with National Women's History Month, CARE is launching CARE for Women, a web site dedicated to the struggles and achievements of women in the developing world. The new site -- which features news, stories, facts and information on an array of CARE's women-specific projects, as well as personal accounts of CARE's impact on the lives of women worldwide -- can be found at Care for Women
About CARE
CARE is one of the world's largest private international relief and development organizations, with projects in more than 60 countries. Last year, CARE's efforts directly benefited 25 million people with projects in health, agriculture and natural resources, education, water and sanitation and small economic activity development.
|
