COVID-19’s impacts around the world are worse than they were in September 2020. Far from a return to “normal,” women and girls are saying that their situation continues to get worse. Fati Musa in Nigeria says, “Women have suffered a lot during the pandemic, and we are not yet recovering from this hardship.” 55% of women reported gaps in their livelihoods in 2020. Now that number is 71%. For food insecurity, the number has jumped from 41% to 66%. 63% of women say that their greatest need is mental health support. Women have stepped up to the challenge. "We are women leaders in emergency . . . we have the capacity to say: I have a voice and a vote, I am not going to stay stagnant . . ." (Colombia). In Niger, women are saying, “Now we women are not afraid to defend ourselves when a decision does not suit us.” The constant struggle is taking its toll. Women are almost twice as likely to report mental health challenges as they were in 2020. As one woman in Iraq describes, “If any opportunity appeared, the man would be the favorite . . . This psychologically affected many women...” This report represents the voices of more than 22,000 people in 23 countries since September of 2020.
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