Live from the 3rd Phase of the Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training

Women Farmer and Participant of the 2011 Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training in Uttar Pradesh, India

The following is a report from India Program Director, Rucha Chitnis, who is in Uttar Pradesh, India for the final phase of the India Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training. 
 
Climate change and food security continue to emerge as key global issues. In particular, they pose as persistent and disproportionate challenges for women. This year, WEA partnered with Indian organization, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) to design the ground-breaking Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training in Northern India.  The 3 phase training supports women farmers to respond to climate change with resilience so that they can ensure the food security and well-being of their families and communities. There have been two previous phases of this training--one in April 2011, the other in September 2011--where  Indian women farmers gathered to gain hands-on skills in ecological farming techniques, develop peer networks, learn ways to mitigate the impacts of climate change, develop year-long action plans, and receive seed grants to launch community projects. 

During this final phase of the Training, participants strategized on advocacy and movement-building strategies to demand the recognition of women as farmers and India's key food producers, and to assert their rights to land and other resources (including government extension services that are rarely available for women farmers).

This Training is now in its final phase in Uttar Pradesh, reuniting 30 women farmers to share their learnings from the past 6 months of action plan implementation in their communities. Many of their action plans sought to improve the food security of small and marginal women farmers in the face of devastating floods. 

Reena a participant from Bihar, shared how she facilitated the planting of 6,000 trees in 15 villages through her network of women's groups and set up 4 farmer clubs of women, who were trained on organic farming practices.  Manju, a trainer from Bihar, created 11 farmer committees of 144 women, and coordinated trainings for women on seed saving, mixed farming, bio-pesticides, and organic kitchen gardens. Want to read more?

Two of the participants of the 2011 Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training in Uttar Pradesh, India

"One tree equals the birth of a 100 sons."
Reena, a participant at the Women, Food Security and Climate Change Training

The Weight of Water

Photo Credit: Kate Clayton-Jones

"I came into this world carrying water on my head, and I refuse to leave this world still carrying it." ~Mildred Mkandla from an interview with WEA Research Fellow, Beth Robertson, during the 2011 GWWI Women and Water Training in Uganda.

Mildred Mkandla, known as “Mama Maji” (Mama Water in Swahili) is the “MacGyver” of rainwater harvesting. She believes that every drop of water is precious and can be harnessed, captured and stored using almost anything. Give her some rocks and she’ll make a water catchment system. Give her a plastic tarp and she’ll capture rainwater off a thatched roof. Give her a piece of bamboo and she’ll make a gutter. Because rural grassroots communities may not have access to financial capital, appropriate roofs to hang gutters, or even the materials necessary to build tanks, Mama Maji works with African women to provide access to different water harvesting options that are financially feasible and contextually appropriate.  As the Rainwater Harvesting Trainer at both the 2008 and 2011 GWWI Women and Water Trainings, Mama Maji helped to construct various rain catchment systems for our participants to learn, including an 11,000 liter Ferro-cement tank. 



Mildred first came to the Global Women’s Water Initiative in 2008 from Ethiopia where she was the External Relations Director of EarthCare Africa Policy Monitoring Institute. At the time she was a development activist with more than 35 years experience in the fields of health, education and environment focusing mainly on women and children. She shifted her focus to water, gender and health in 2000. Now a seasoned RWH trainer, Mama Maji has offered trainings all over Africa. Her biggest achievement in this respect was a project on Empowering Women through Rainwater Harvesting in Kenya. This project concentrated in Kajiado District amongst the Masaai Pastoralists where women compete with livestock for water access. 



Mildred has since moved back to her homeland of Zimbabwe where she believes that everything must start at home. She lives on her organic farm with her family and practices what she preaches. She has a 46,000 liter tank, that she built, which provides enough water for her family and the workers who live there. She is reconnecting with her community to share the knowledge she has gained from her work around the continent.

 Mildred believes that teaching communities to create their own water source by capturing and storing rainwater is just one step in relieving women and girls from the burden of accessing water. The rest lies in the trainee’s commitment to enroll others in their vision.

"After building this tank in my community I have heard of others who want them too ... I see a seasonal build -- this season we build for one person, the next season we build for another person. We build and build until the whole community is covered with tanks and no one has to walk for water...."-Grace Kyoma, 2011 GWWI Training participant from Kiotjo Integrated Development Association (KIDA), Uganda after she installed her first Rainwater Harvesting Tank in her community

Even with her contributions, Mildred believes that there is much work to be done. At the 2011 Training in Uganda, she encouraged the participants to sign the Buziga Declaration, stating:

“We 56 women from Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States attending the East Africa Women and Water Training at Buziga Country Resort, Kampala, Uganda from 4th to 17th July 2011; having reaffirmed the integral role of women in water security, sanitation and hygiene-WASH, Do here by commit ourselves to working towards a world water movement that is committed to ensuring that every woman has adequate access to safe water and sanitation by 2025.
Signed this 18th day of July 2011
Kampala, Uganda”

The signatories hope that the Buziga Declaration will raise multi-level awareness to ensure access to safe water and by so doing lift the weight of water off of women and girls.

We stand in solidarity with Mildred and are inspired by her efforts to do her part. Together we are doing the best that we can, like the story of the hummingbird as told by the late Wangari Maathai. Click the following links to see Mama Maji in action at the 2008 Women and Water Training and the 2011 East African Women and Water Trainings.

When I grow up, I want to be an engineer!

Photos and Text by Beth Robertson (Research Fellow)

2011 Grassroots Training Participants and Katuuso Primary School Students during the VIP Latrine Construction

At Katuuso Primary School in Uganda—the site where the 2011 GWWI East Africa Grassroots Training built and handed over two water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) technologies—the students, especially the girls, were shocked to see women constructing rainwater harvesting (RWH) tanks and ventilated improved pits (VIP) latrines to serve the campus’ 600 students. The girls at the school never thought that women could build these technologies. Why would they, when they had been socialized to believe that this was a man’s job?

Many hands make light work: Brick assembly line during the VIP construction

During the two weeks spent in Katuuso Primary School, training participants learned practical skills to construct water technologies, and in the process began to transform into role models for the female students. Working alongside our young sisters and under the guidance of two African women facilitating the technology trainings, these students learned that women could be community change-makers and still be mothers and caretakers. As we stood in lines passing bricks to each other for construction, we began to hear the students say, I want to be an engineer when I grow up! 

Katuuso Primary School students present during the technology handover ceremony

Sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest of places at the most unexpected times. The broader grassroots training crew may not have been masons, carpenters, technicians or trained engineers; but they were certainly community leaders making a difference at the school, and in the process shifting the view of women’s capabilities among the student body. When four young women representing the Katuuso student body spoke at the handing-over ceremony and shared their perceptions of the women they had seen in action, they uttered—Women can do anything. We are women, we can too!

Katuuso Priamary School students celebrate during the GWWI Technology Handover Ceremony!

small tools, BIG transformation.

By Maame Yelbert-Obeng (Africa Program Director) with support from Kaitlin Swarts (2011 Intern)

The Africa Team is back from Uganda!

This month, we welcomed back the Africa Team from the 2011 East African Women and Water Training in Uganda.  This was our third Global Women and Water Initiative (GWWI) Training, following the 2008 and 2010 Trainings in Kenya and Ghana.  GWWI began in 2008 as a collaborative venture between Women's Earth Alliance, A Single Drop, and Crabgrass and is currently a program of Women's Earth Alliance in partnership with Crabgrass. In line with our values of recognizing the importance of home grown and locally-led solutions, GWWI builds partnerships with Africa-based organizations and African women trainers to undertake its training programs. In Uganda, we worked alongside a Uganda-based organization, iCon Women and Young People’s Leadership Academy, to amplify the voices and inclusion of grassroots women in the WASH sector.  Furthermore, GWWI knows the power of building alliances with men, and our training programs invite men to support this vision.  The GWWI Trainings create a space for women to connect, engage in dialogues around leadership and climate change, and develop specific technology skills to address issues of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

In 2011, GWWI featured two complementary trainings—the Advanced and Grassroots Trainings—over a two-week period from July 4-18.  We were thrilled to have some former graduates from 2008 participate in the 2011 East Africa Training as trainers-in-training.  We also welcomed 10 Fellows—four East African women and six international women—to offer peer support and in the process, enhance their knowledge and understanding of WASH-related issues. The Advanced Training laid the foundation for the strategies that were explored in the Grassroots Training.

Thirty-two women from communities across Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, joined the 24 women from the Advanced Training in the Grassroots Training. Over the course of the week, the women learned hands-on WASH technologies, engaged in group sessions, and upon completion of the Training, received seed grants to support the implementation of water projects in their communities. The teams of women representing their communities came to the Training having conducted a basic needs assessment to determine the appropriate technologies to address WASH needs in their communities.

Building on past trainings, participants focused on various aspects of WASH, including sanitation, water access, water quality, and alternative energy.  In addition to studying the theory behind these technologies, women learned to construct a ventilated improved pit latrine (or a VIP latrine), a rainwater harvesting system, a biosand filter, and solar cook kits. They also learned games designed for community sensitization and to improve hygiene and sanitation habits. The VIP latrine helps to improve sanitation by providing alternatives to open defecation and poor disposal of human waste, while the rainwater harvesting system allows for the collection and storage of large quantities of rainwater that can be accessed year-round. Biosand filters remove harmful bacteria from water, and the solar cook kits can be used for a variety of purposes, including cooking and pasteurizing water for drinking. The African continent is blessed with incredible natural resources like the sun.  Our hope is that the solar cook kits will optimize the abundance of this resource, and in the process, promote the well-being of women and girls who otherwise would be spending their time out of school and walking long distances to collect water and fuel facing the risk of violence.

Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine

Rainwater Harvesting Tank

Biosand Filter

Solar Cook Kits

Investing in women transcends beyond hands-on skills and access to resources, to creating spaces for women to re-define gender roles and build their confidence and self-esteem as whole women leaders. The steps to building the water technologies enable women to break the stereotypes of women's capabilities and allow women to identify with roles beyond that of mothers and caretakers, to non-traditional ones such as carpenters, masons, and technicians.

Our time together in Uganda also allowed for dialogue around the direct impacts of climate change on women and girls, as well as the access to and quality of water. Out of this dialogue came ways in which women can draw upon their leadership, knowledge of technology, and support networks to respond to the environmental challenges they face. 

As women remain at the helm of collecting and allocating water for various uses, it becomes even more critical to listen to their voices and apply their wisdom to designing efficient and effective solutions to water-related issues. 

As the participants of the 2011 East Africa Training continue on this year-long program, they will implement two WASH projects with their target communities and with support from GWWI, the Trainers, and the Fellows. The Women and Water Trainings is one of several strategies in the larger response to the varying impacts of climate change on women and girls. We cannot wait to see how our partners in East Africa will build alliances with more women, girls, and men to begin a process to transform their communities!

A Trainer-in-Training shares her story from the 2011 East African Women and Water Advanced Training

The following blog post was written by Advanced Training Participant Nansubuga Immaculate.  Immaculate is a Trainer-In-Training at the 2011 East African Women and Water Advanced Training in Kampala, Uganda, where she is training to become a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) practitioner. She has come to the training from Katosi, Uganda, along with two other women from her organization, Rose and Mastuula, who participated in the Grassroots Women and Water training.  You can read Immaculate's inspiring story below.

Nansubuga Immaculate (in pink hat) at the 2011 GWWI Training in Uganda.

While at work, my boss sent me a link to the 2011 Global Women’s Water Initiative (GWWI) East African Women and Water Training in Kampala, Uganda and encouraged me to look it up and apply. Honestly, it took me a whole week to visit the link. But when I did, I just knew I could not miss out on this opportunity. Prior to the training, I believed that I was not a whole woman leader, even though my profession required good leadership traits. Despite this, I wanted to attend the GWWI training because I considered it a great opportunity to elevate my Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) skills and bring positive change to the Mukono community, especially among the women from Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT).  The action-planning component of the Training appealed to me. I have always wanted to know how to make an action plan and be able to implement the strategies from start to finish. Despite my keen interest, I questioned my ability to contribute to and qualify for the 2011 GWWI Training. After all, I had never attended a GLOBAL conference before.

Despite my fear, I was selected to be a participant (Trainer-in-Training) of the first annual GWWI Advanced Training Program, where I joined an amazing group of women leaders from around the world to discuss water and sanitation issues that threaten East Africa. During the training, I yearned to be a loud and strong speaker, but I realized that I am soft-voiced. Thank God for the Personal SWOT  [Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats] analysis. Through this exercise, my leadership style was realized, and I gradually understood that my weaknesses are another’s strengths and that working together makes our impact stronger. I am now content with my communication skills. I am soft-voiced, but firm and eloquent, which is an added advantage while facilitating trainings, interviews, and the one-on-one conservations that I facilitated during the Grassroots Training. Using my new-found strengths, I discovered that though quiet of voice, I can still be a strong lobby for rural communities to achieve equal development.

Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) selected Rose and Mastuula to attend the 2011 Grassroots Training in Kampala. Mastuula and Rose saw the training as a great opportunity to learn to construct a Biosand Water Filter (BSF) to increase access to clean water in women-run households throughout the Katosi District. At the training they stood beside their East African sisters, affirming that women are the water stewards in their communities and have to stand up and act for themselves--especially widows. Women should stop self-pitying themselves because it is a strong contributing factor to under-development in rural communities. Through the training, they embraced the power of collective sharing, working in sisterhood with participants from communities throughout East Africa to change attitudes and negative behaviors of communities towards water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

At the training, we learned that it is crucial to consider and integrate all community stakeholders and their needs when establishing any new water project. We covered sessions on climate change, leadership, WASH and appropriate technologies. The climate change sessions really resonated with me. In my community, climate change and its impacts are gradually affecting the livelihoods of the rural people. Their economies, health and environment are dwindling. The last long dry spells early this year affected agricultural productions and contributed to scarcity of water. Three KWDT women’s cows died and over ten were infected with diseases. The reduction in food productivity led to malnutrition, and scarcity of water increased poor sanitation--especially in schools and communal centers. My team identified the need for our community to be sensitized and made aware of the climate change impacts, mitigation, and adaptation techniques.

And to achieve my team’s WASH vision of “increased accessibility to clean safe drinking water in rural households,” we have to use an inclusive and participatory approach.  My team wants to achieve this big vision of all rural women living healthy lives and empowered to participate in economic, social, and political development processes. We also want to be free from dependency and achieve self-supply of not only WASH facilities, but also what the world offers for a better change among rural women.

So, this training is a big step to achieving our goal. Though this is a big challenge ahead of Katosi Women, we have to put the fears aside and stand strongly to achieve this.

Thanks to Gemma, Jan, Maame, Debbie, Beth, Women’s Earth Alliance, iCON, Crabgrass, the GWWI participants, the strong communities and NGOs for enabling us to take this step.

EEEEEE….. WOMAN EEEE…!!!

Scenes from the 2011 East African Women and Water Training

The 2011 East African Women and Water Training in Uganda has concluded, and what a success it was!  We invite you to take a look at photos from these inspiring two weeks:



Be sure to check back in with us---we will be posting more on the Training soon.  We can't wait to share with you all of the behind-the-scenes stories!

Raising Our Voices: Women farmers share their accounts

A heart to heart conversation with women farmers in the desert state of Rajasthan, who share their first-hand experiences with climate change and water issues and the solutions that women need to creatively solve their problems using local knowledge and appropriate technologies. This meeting was facilitated by CECOEDICON, a grassroots organization that works to advance the rights, livelihoods and dignity of rural communities.

Interviewed by: Rucha Chitnis

Women Farmers, Drought & Resilience

Blog entry by Arshinder Kaur, WEA India Coordinator, and a founding mother.

A few days ago, I had the rare honor of witnessing the work of an innovative community-based organization called CECOEDECON that works on holistic rural development initiatives in the desert state of Rajasthan in India. I was on a site visit with Rucha, WEA's India Program Director, to learn how this group is advancing the rights of marginalized women farmers, many of whom are on the frontlines battling climate change issues. CECOEDECON's inspiring women leaders, Manju Joshi and Alka Avasthi, co-Deputy Directors who provide strategic programmatic and organizational direction, shared with us how their group works on issues related to natural resource management, livelihoods and gender. Kavita Mishra, a dynamic project coordinator, highlighted issues related to Panchayati Raj, a system of self-governance in India at the village, block and district levels. She manages stakeholder partnerships, youth and gender issues and participatory mechanisms for enhancing the value of girl child and eliminating sexual exploitation.

Rucha and I visited block Chaksu in Jaipur district the same afternoon and met some of the most inspiring women farmers who are served by CECOEDECON. These farmers were representatives of a strong women's Self Help Groups (SHG) created to provide micro loans among the group and generate small savings that are held in a common bank account. The SHG also receives a collateral security from CECOEDECON to receive larger loans from financial institutions, such as SIDBI and NABARD. This SHG has emerged from mahila mandals (women’s groups) that over the years resulted in the formation of women's cooperatives. The women have received extensive training in financial management, including book keeping, and other procedures on running cooperatives effectively. The women now have a complete sense of ownership, leadership and control in managing their affairs. These qualities were evident in the women who had gathered at the CECOEDECON’s offices to meet us.

The women, most of whom are farmers, showed immense interest in learning about water management techniques (paani ka mudda) and saving indigenous varieties of seeds (beej bhaat/ desi beej). Women in this arid region are severely affected by droughts and dwindling rains. In some areas, we learned that it had rained after four years of drought. The women articulated a need for capacity building support for implementing relevant innovative coping strategies in the face of climate change. They also expressed interest in learning about appropriate technologies, like building soak pits, maintaining their village hand pumps, rain water harvesting systems and other sustainable water management systems to counter the debilitating impact of fluoride pollution in their wells. They expressed concern about health, education and sanitation issues that affected their children and observed that when their young ones fell ill, the women, as mothers and care givers, suffered as well. The women clearly had made the connections between the health and well-being of their families and livelihoods to their natural environment and that climate change coping mechanisms needed to be implemented soon at the community level.

Many women farmers were passionate advocates of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management practices that would sustain their livelihoods in this drought-prone arid landscape. Some elders had strong reservations on corporations and foreign companies who were selling expensive hybrid seeds and chemical fertilizers that left the marginal and small farmers in a debt trap given the high costs involved in purchasing such packages. Issues related to land rights were also a priority for women, although many said that they had fought for joint ownership of land, which was heartwarming to hear.

We also had a chance to visit Niwai block in the district of Tonk with Manju Joshi, who shared a wonderful rapport with the community. We met a mixed group of men and women, members of the Kisan Sewa Samiti (Farmer's Club). Manju Ji noted that no success can be made in gender development efforts if men were excluded from the overall objectives and were not sensitized about women's unique issues and perspectives, as well as their tremendous potential to advance the health and well being of their families and communities. There are 103 villages in the blocks, where CECOEDECON is working and issues affecting women, children and youth, as well as livelihoods, such as agriculture and dairy, and education are raised. There is a children’s committee, known as bal panchayat, that addresses problems affecting the younger demographic. Critical issues affecting the villages and blocks are escalated at a state level people’s self-governing committee called the Maha Sangh.

At our meeting with the farmer's club, men and women both expressed concern on the changing weather and monsoon cycles, which was affecting their farm harvest. They shared their struggles with recurring droughts that had adversely affected their crops and livelihoods and had led to widespread migration from surrounding villages. A glimmer of hope came through a personal story of a woman farmer who said that even during difficult times she sowed indigenous seeds and used organic compost, which made her more self sufficient as she did not rely on the market to buy additional inputs. Other farmers noted that poor health prevalent among the younger generation was because of the change in their dietary habits, where people moved away from nutritious healthy grains like millets. The members shared that a major issue affecting many villages is the presence of fluoride in their water sources. Nearly 15 villages are affected with alarming levels of fluoride, and with diminishing rainfall, water is being extracted from deeper stone plates that has higher levels of fluoride.

An inspiring elder woman farmer called Kamla Devi shared that she farmed organically using goat manure, and grew a small vegetable garden using vermicompost in a small terraced landscape. She told us that once she tried growing a hybrid variety of pearl millet purchased from the market, but was shocked when the seeds did not germinate. This reinstated her faith in farming with indigenous seeds. She is now a strong proponent of seed sovereignty and in the self-reliance of farmers in using natural inputs from their own farms and through farmer-to-farmer seed exchanges. Kamla leads by example for other women and men farmers who wish to make strides in self-sufficiency and sustainable agriculture practices. Today, she is a respected elder in her community and beyond and has traveled to Italy, Nepal and Bangladesh advocating for ecologically sound agricultural practices. She’s a true visionary, and her fellow members of the Kisan Sewa Samiti were beaming with pride on her accomplishments.

Yes! Women are Farmers!

A blog post by WEA's India Director, Rucha Chitnis

“Mahila hi kisaan hai! Wohi bharat ki shaan hai,” chant a group of rural women assembled at a meeting in the village of Janakpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This slogan is a rallying cry by rural women, who are proclaiming, “Yes, women are farmers! They are the pride of India!”

I am here visiting Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), a respected grassroots organization that advocates for the rights of small and landless women farmers. GEAG is guided by sound gender and ecological principles, where sustainable agriculture and natural resource management practices are key program priorities.

Why Women? Why Agriculture?

For generations, women farmers across India have struggled for their rights and identity. The deeply entrenched patriarchal norms deny women their basic rights as farmers, which include land rights, access to agricultural extension services, control over productive resources and assets, and decision-making over family income and expenditures. This is ironic given that women produce over 50% of the food in India and over 85% of rural women are engaged in agriculture. This pervasive and systemic gender discrimination often starts within the confines of their homes to the farms and finally in the laws and policies of the government, where farmers are regarded mostly as male. Such inequalities have also rendered the agricultural labor of rural women largely invisible and unaccounted for.

And yet, as we drive across the national highways of India from the desert state of Rajasthan to the flood-affected parts of Uttar Pradesh, we see rows of women bent over fields sowing, weeding, harvesting and caring for the livestock. We see girls carrying a heavy load of fodder and fuel wood, and we see women selling their produce in local markets. Women farmers make valuable contributions towards their household food and economic security, as well as conserving the biological diversity of crops by saving indigenous seeds, growing food and managing the water and energy needs of their homes.

During our meetings with women farmers, they shared grave concerns about water resources for irrigation and personal consumption. Given that most small farmers (majority of whom are women) depend on rain-fed irrigation, the changing patterns of monsoons have a devastating impact on their livelihoods. Women also expressed a need for capacity-building and training support to learn about improving their food security, appropriate technologies and reviving traditional farming practices that are eroded in the face of industrial agriculture.

During a meeting with landless farmers in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, women shared how they are farming ecologically by making natural pesticides and fertilizers from their farm inputs. These women were also saving their indigenous seeds, which they recognized as an important step towards self-reliance by reducing their dependency on external, expensive seeds from the market.  I also met an inspiring group of women, who were master trainers; they traveled to different villages training women on ecological farming practices and exchanged their indigenous seeds with others. They are, also deeply committed to claiming their identity and entitlements as farmers. As one woman said: "I feel awakened. I know now that I have rights as a woman and as a farmer. We are all a part of this struggle to fight for our livelihoods and dignity."


WEA's India Program partners with Indian grassroots groups who are holistically building the capacities of women farmers and grassroots women leaders to improve their food and economic security, preserve the environment and traditional knowledge, and build political will. 

Report from the West African Women and Water Training

Preparation Days-Global Women’s Water Initiative West African Women and Water Training
By Mariah Maggio
The latest adventure of GWWI’s Women and Water Training program in bringing powerful African women together to create solutions for water issues has begun!
The phrase, “hit the ground running” was never as appropriately applied as to how it describes the flow of our schedule when we stepped off the plane into the muggy enveloping heat of Accra, Ghana’s coastal capital city, at 9:00 p.m. on Monday night. Within two hours of stepping off the plane we were meeting with the director of Kokrobitey Institute, the venue where the Training is being held.
The first steps when we arrive in the host country are to connect with our host country partners, search for materials, coordinate logistics of travel for the participants and ensure everything is set up and operating smoothly by the time the participants arrive.
The GWWI Women and Water Trainings have a component which aims to teach the women participants about appropriate technologies through practical hands-on learning. The West African Women and Water Training gives the women the opportunity to learn one of three technologies (BioSand water filters, composting toilets, rainwater harvesting), along with the construction of Solar CooKits and water testing with the Portable Microbiology Laboratory.
So the challenge lies in locating, purchasing and delivering all of these materials in one week! The days were full, often eating the noon meal at 3:00 p.m., hot, hectic and absolutely productive! This was due in large part to the efforts, attitude and graciousness of one woman, Cecilia Mensah, who works with ProNet Accra, our on the ground partner for the Women and Water Training. She and I spent the day together, driving around Accra in her car, checking off lists and ending the day with a call to plan for the next day and say good night. Her daughter, Samuela, selflessly gave us her mother for five straight long days and we are truly grateful! Here they are below sitting down on our last day of shopping waiting for the welder to finish making our BioSand filter mold.
If you have never had the experience of having a personal shopper I suggest you try it here! Start with a list of the things you need, locate a shop that looks reputable that you pick at random or have been pointed to, get rushed out of the hot sun and into a chair, the list is whisked out of your hands and two or three young men are employed to rush around, appearing and then disappearing from sight, finding all of your materials and adjusting them when it’s not quite what you wanted. All this while you are chatting with the store keeper, sipping icy “pure water” out of a 500 ml plastic sachet and eating fresh mango or pineapple pieces out of a plastic bag (which you got from the lady walking halfway down the street who had the tray of fruit carefully balanced on her head)! I did at one point, while navigating the narrow lanes of Accra’s central market, move the 20 liter buckets we had just purchased onto the top of my head, purely out of necessity for trying to squeeze through the crowds, and what a reaction I received from the women to see this white lady carrying her goods in the African way!
I was accompanied the last day by the two other technology trainers, Ayooma A. Monica and Nasiba Sibaweh, who come from a town called Tamale, Ghana. These ladies are experts in the construction of community toilets and rainwater harvesting systems. Their efficiency in finding and buying their outstanding materials was impressive, especially when Monica essentially took over this man’s plumbing shop and had to turn people away when they asked for her assistance.
With our hired truck piled with materials we arrived at Kokrobitey Institute and got to work on preparations for the technology trainings. With the help of two local masons we enlisted, we built three BioSand filters, the foundation and cover for the composting toilet and the foundation for the rainwater harvesting tank (located at a nearby primary school that has no access to water). Nasiba is seen below forming the squat holes for the composting toilet in the wet concrete.
Also joining us for the technology preparation was Faustine Odaba, “Mama Solar,” from Nairobi, Kenya who participated in the 2008 African Women and Water Training and is here again to teach the women about the incredible potential of cooking and pasteurizing water with the sun. She painted pots and buried herself in carton boxes, working non-stop to get her materials ready.
So we are prepared and ready to receive these women and teach them the a few simple, appropriate technologies which they will be able to take back to their communities and implement!
I am humbled by all of the people I have met and observed in the week I have been here, from the woman who’s shop we frequented for construction supplies telling us she was so glad we had come because now she could pay the school fees for her daughter in secondary school to the children by the roadside selling us plastic jerricans (for carrying water) for $0.80.
Day 1-Global Women’s Water Initiative West African Women and Water Training
The anticipation and preparation has been building for a long time for this day! The first day was filled with gems, from stories to realizations and lessons learned, shared by the women participants, organizers and trainers!
A powerful tradition has started to open the GWWI Women and Water Trainings with a water ceremony allowing women carry water from their homes to the Training and together we pour our water together in one vessel, telling our stories and uniting as one from the beginning with an understanding and respect for what we have come together for during the next seven days.
We learned about the issues surrounding the water we all brought together; about how young girls are dropping out of school due to the demanding daily chore of collecting water, how water sources are shared by animals and people alike, how contaminated water caused the death of 14 children in one village in one week, how some water is abundant but taken for granted, the time and distances it takes for some women to find their daily water, how successful rainwater harvesting projects have brought clean water to school children…the stories were moving and inspiring and at times shocking, horrifying and humbling. Here are a few highlights that stuck with me from what the women shared:

• “The only water source in this community is like Milo (the local brand of chocolate milk powder); all you need is milk and sugar to take it.”
• “I want to use the school children as agents of change to help the community change their attitudes and behaviors.”
• “When you start in development another issue always rises up…we were waiting for a savior to come (to help us) and it happened with the announcement of this Women and Water Training.”
• The babies are drinking this dirty water when they are only two days old; tears almost flew from my eyes when I heard about it.”
• “These horrible water situations are keeping women’s attention when they should be using that time to be involved in economic activity.”
• “The people in Lagos (the capital of Nigeria) run their taps when they aren’t even using the water and they don’t think about the people 5 kilometers away that don’t have water…wastage in one area is a lack in another.”
• “I was humbled when I learned that not only was the water coming from my household tap in the United States, but also the water in my toilet, was drinkable!”

The impact of the ceremony created in everyone a real sense of responsibility to take what they learn at this Training back to their communities to help create change for those whose stories we had just told.
The morning hours of the Training are filled with sessions on WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and action planning while the afternoons are devoted to practical technology training sessions. We discussed as a group, with brilliant insights and sharing from all of the women, the challenges and opportunities of African women in relation to water and the effects of climate change on water and their environments.
Today we started the afternoon sessions on a high note with Mama Solar, Faustine Odaba, giving a demonstration on solar cooking and directing the women in making their own CooKits, which they will take home with them. This dynamic, energetic and inspiring woman has been cooking with the sun for over 20 years and has motivated these women to change the way they have until now thought about the sun in their daily lives. She endears herself to an audience in the first few moments she speaks
The anthem for the day came from one of the Cameroon participants, Catherine Makane Mwengella, which we stood and sang many times to remind ourselves of the common goal of being here this week talking about women and water, challenges and solutions
“We are one. Eh Eh! We are together. We are one.”
The next few days will be intense and rich and rewarding and we are excited to channel knowledge and new skills to the women from Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Togo, and Liberia to strengthen the work they are already doing on water, sanitation and hygiene in their communities to create more waves of healthy change.
And as we fall asleep tonight the rain has begun to fall here in Ghana!

From The Fields : From seed to root

By Melinda Kramer and Amira Diamond
We have just returned from our India Women and Agriculture Learning Exchange.

This rich and informative tour through Northern India brought 14 women practitioners and advocates in agriculture and food systems to the frontlines of India’s sustainable agriculture movement.

As we journeyed through the vast and diverse country, we observed time and time again the vital yet under-recognized role that women farmers play in India’s food and agriculture sector. Although we are well familiar with the jarring statistic that more than 84% of women in India are involved in agricultural activities, we were reminded with each visit that women truly are central to the world’s food production. In each village we visited, we heard women describe the importance of accessing the training, capital, market opportunities, and moral support they need to ensure the health and sustainability of their communities.
 
Throughout the journey, we heard a very clear theme:

Women need greater connection with practitioner and information networks, as well as access to marketing support, appropriate technologies, capital, and business development training. Although there is a growing movement of women change agents and the visionary men who stand as their allies, women’s efforts remain largely isolated and underserved.

Amidst the challenges, we observed countless stories of triumph and courage. From village to village, women are upholding the knowledge of traditional agriculture techniques, saving seeds, launching advocacy campaigns, creating cooperatives, and modeling the solutions.
 
Our vision for the Women and Agriculture Initiative is infused with the spirit of these women’s successes, and we hope to play a meaningful role in connecting resources to needs in this burgeoning movement.

We now enter the Learning Exchange Assessment phase of our work.  We will work as a group to synthesize the challenges and needs we saw, heard and witnessed on our trip.  We will then prepare an outline of capacity-building training programs and advocacy projects that work to address those needs.  We'll keep you posted as the vision unfolds...

Melinda Kramer and Amira Diamond are Co-Directors of Women’s Earth Alliance.  You can read more about them and what they’ve been involved with before WEA on our website. 

More pictures from the trip can be found on our Flickr page. 
This is the final post of our series entitled From The Fields which followed WEA's Women and Agriculture delegation on their 10 day journey through Northern India. Read more about this initiative here. 

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