In efforts to prevent child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) and to scale up a region-wide response, CARE MENA (Middle East and North Africa) has sought to strengthen their programming by understanding and integrating approaches to address the connection between CEFM, adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH), and Gender Based Violence (GBV). In addition to portraying barriers to such integration, the goal of this research is to understand solutions for effective CEFM prevention and response strategies through ASRH and/or GBV programming in the MENA region. For the few initiatives in the region that are centered around prevention of CEFM (such as CARE Jordan’s COMBI) or meeting the needs and fulfilling the rights of married adolescent girls (such as the Young Mothers Clubs of CARE Syria), we looked for how GBV, protection, and SRHR are integrated into the programs. The report presents the work that currently exists, challenges to expanding adolescent and CEFM programming in humanitarian settings, and recommendations for future practice.
In 2022, more than 735 million people in the world were hungry. That’s 1 in 11 people worldwide. Relative improvements after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic are masking rapidly growing inequality. There are 84.2 million more women and girls than men and boys facing food insecurity. The gender food gap grew in many regions, including most of Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East North America, and Europe. CARE’s analysis of data across 113 countries suggests that improving GDP is not enough. The most recent data shows that in situations with high inequality, economic growth can lead to higher food insecurity, especially since COVID-19. In 57 countries, GDP is growing AND food insecurity is rising. As gender and income inequality rise, so does hunger. Read More
This report examines local knowledge integration in the context of global development and humanitarian aid work. It builds upon a recently published report by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) called Integrating Local Knowledge in Development Programming. That report sought to “share knowledge of how development donors and implementing organizations leverage local knowledge to inform programming. This study aims to extend the original methods to better understand grassroots actors’ own interpretations of local knowledge and its integration into programming in their communities. It examines the perspectives of 29 grassroots leaders from women-led organizations around the world, looking deeply at the ways in which they conceptualize local knowledge and local knowledge stakeholders, their approaches to designing their own projects based on local knowledge, and their experiences sharing knowledge with international actors and donors. This builds the broader evidence base on integrating local knowledge to incorporate the perspectives of grassroots actors into the same conversation as the original study. Read More
Women and girls are agents of change in global climate mitigation and adaptation. This capacity statement outlines how CARE centers gender equality in our climate change programming. Read More