Justice for all

A couple of Fridays a month, I like to feature non-profits and changemakers on my blog to raise awareness of the great work they do, provide a dose of inspiration, and show that positive change is possible. Catch up on my other Feature Friday posts here.

This week, I would like to feature Global Rights, an incredible international human rights organization which fights for access to justice, women’s rights and gender equality, and racial and ethnic equality in developing countries across the world. Founded in 1978, Global Rights works with local activists and human rights advocates in Africa, Asia and Latin America to protect the rights of poor and marginalized populations. They advocate for human rights by documenting rights abuses, working towards legal and policy reform, and providing legal services to the underserved. Their approach to working alongside local leaders makes them truly unique and highly effective:

Global Rights is unique among U.S.-based international human rights organizations in that we have a long-term field-based presence in the countries in which we operate and work on the ground to build local capacity. We work this way for two reasons. First, we believe that local knowledge and expertise is essential to the successful administration of programming. Our local partners know the communities in which we work, are familiar with their cultures and traditions, and often are already active in promoting the legal rights of the poor and marginalized. Second, we recognize that long-term, systemic change can occur only if stakeholders themselves are involved. By transferring knowledge and skills to local partners, we ensure that they can continue work even after our programming has come to an end.

I am currently volunteering with a small organization that receives funding from Global Rights, and from what I have seen, I know that Global Rights is supporting great initiatives on the ground and truly working in a strong partnership with local leaders, officials, and activists working to change the human rights situation in their countries.

Most of all, I admire Global Rights for their important work in the access to justice field. Quite simply, not enough organizations across the world are working on access to justice and legal rights initiatives, and I am impressed by Global Rights’ work in this area.

Their access to justice work centers around ensuring that the indigent, especially women, have access to high quality legal services regardless of their financial situation or level of understanding of the arcane legal system. Global Rights works to strengthen legal institutions so that the justice system is more easily accessible by vulnerable groups. Some of their specific projects include:

• Training young lawyers in civil, criminal and international human rights law in Afghanistan.
• Also in Afghanistan, creating a pilot program to provide poor family court clients in Kabul with legal services free of cost.
• Promoting the use of legally enforceable marriage contracts to improve women’s rights in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.
• Strengthening the capacity of legal services groups to bring impact litigation in Burundi’s courts, on behalf of victims of land conflict and sexual and gender-based violence.
• Developing court accompaniment and paralegal training programs aimed at increasing access to justice for poor women in Morocco and Nigeria.

Make sure to check out Global Rights‘ incredible work, and support them in their mission. Thanks for reading!

You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation. - Brigham Young

In my country Nigeria, so much emphasis and importance is placed on marriage. A woman is not considered a well-rounded individual without the tag of ‘Mrs.’ before her name. I’m not against the institution of marriage, in fact, quite the contrary. However, my problem with this ‘marriage before self development syndrome’ prevalent in my country is this: it does not encourage or allow for the intellectual development of young girls. This is because the importance of marriage above all else is imbibed into the mental psyche of young girls. Girls are groomed from a young age to be nothing other than the perfect wives and mothers, and any thoughts or aspiration to be anything other than the perfect wife, is fiercely discouraged and in some cases, even shunned.

Additionally, women who are unlucky to find themselves in an abusive marriage or are victims of spousal abuse and other forms of domestic violence tend not to seek for outside intervention or even leave the marriage because of the negative impression of divorces in Nigeria. For both cultural and (sometimes) religious reasons, most women under difficult circumstances are reluctant to report their abusive husbands to law enforcement authorities. While there are laws in place to combat these forms of gender-based violence and improve the development of women and young girls, these laws are inadequate to sufficiently penalize the culprit and compensate the victim. Moreover, the government does not take education (both the education of general population and women in particular) as serious as it should as the funds budgeted for education, are often, diverted to the private bank accounts of government officials.

I’ve been fortunate to come from a family where education is considered absolutely important. My parents believed that the best gift they could ever give me was good education and as a result, I was given the gift of books. I was allowed to spend copious amount of time at the library and funds were set aside solely for buying books. My dad encouraged voracious reading, allowing me to expand my knowledge beyond what I was taught in school and so nurtured me into the book lover that I am today. More importantly, it helped in molding me into the individual that I am today. I’m a BIG dreamer but the education that I’ve achieved thus far helped me take this further; it made me become a doer. It opened my mind and imagination, and created a belief that my only hindrance is not my sex but how far I can dream and willing to work towards that dream.

It goes without saying that this privilege I have comes with added responsibility and it is this privilege of books, of education that I want to share with as many young Nigerian girls as possible. I want to give other young girls the opportunity that I have. This is because I firmly believe that education is truly the way to transform the reality of these women for the better. With education, these young girls will get to know and understand that they are the pillars of the society that they have more to offer to the country and the world at large.

As I move back to Nigeria January next year, my short-term goal is to highlight the importance of educating young girls and women. I plan to setup non-governmental organization (NGO) that focuses on promoting the education of young girls and women. The motto will be educating a generation, one woman at a time. Its foremost goal is to encourage the young girls and women to “dream big.” It will seek through scholarship programs increase the number of young girls currently in schools, and through free motivational talks and self-development initiatives encourage those struggling or under pressure from families and culture not to give up or drop out of school to get married.

My long-term goal is to build women-only institutions that focus on the intellectual development of women. I want it to be the birthplace of the next generation of powerful women that will bring the change my country desperately needs. I firmly believe that education is the first step in uprooting the feminine face of poverty and help in the development of hardworking, self-confident and socially progressive woman. Women have a strong and important role to play in any given society, and they cannot do this if they are downtrodden and denied important rights such as education. Educating the younger generation is the greatest investment the Nigerian government can ever make if it truly wants to identify itself as the giant of Africa and I want to kick start that investment now.

The Changemaker

Amaka is a 20-something year old Nigerian. With previous degree in International Relation and Politics, she just finished a Masters degree in International Economic Law from the University of Warwick. She enjoys travelling and calls herself a modern day nomad. When she is not planning and researching her next voyage, she enjoys reading, writing and learning new languages. The top three items on her Bucket List are: travelling the world (yes, that includes North Korea and Burma), building libraries in the 36 states that make up Nigeria and organize a truly African music festival to raise awareness on the importance of educating women and funds for building & maintaining the aforementioned libraries. Follow me on twitter: @MsAmaka

Being a child of the enigmatic XYCusp or MTV Generation, I grew up with a fondness for all things 80’s sitcom. Though I am a pale pasty white Irish girl from Maine, one of my favorites was A Different World. Seriously, to this day if Dwayne Wayne asked me to run off with him and his flip-up sunglasses I would in a heartbeat.

That, however, is not the point of this post, just an important footnote. Teen rap sensation Kris Kross (yep, the “Jump” kids) guest starred in an episode (Original Teacher) about inner city gang problems and the perpetuation of generations living in these circumstances. Kris and Chris played rivals locked up in a juvenile detention facility with one chance at probation. To work together on a project with…you guessed it…Dwayne Wayne.

Dwayne tells a story (also recapped by motivational guru Zig Ziglar as a podcast) of fleas kept in a jar with a lid on it. Fleas will jump up again and again smashing their head on the lid. Eventually they stop jumping as high because they discover that hitting your head on a jar lid hurts! The weird (and kinda scary) thing is that you can actually remove the lid from the jar and the fleas will have conditioned themselves to not look up or notice the freedom above them. They refuse to jump to the potential they once had, because really…who likes hitting their head on a lid?!

This story had a strong impact on my life (it aired in 1992…over 15 years ago) and I was reminded of it sitting in a few meetings recently for various “womens” groups. By far I am frequently the youngest in the room. By virtue of my 9-5 I end up grouped with women much older/more tenured than myself. In general I’m fine with that - I feel that I have lots to learn from older feminists and that I have a lot to offer them.

One thing that stuck out the most was a woman who superiorly made the statement “I just don’t know about young people today. I asked a group to identify women from the suffragette movement and they could only name one. Susan B Anthony. I’m pretty sure that’s only because she’s on a coin.” My mouth must have dropped through the floor and everyone was too polite to comment on the huge hole because of the look on my face like I had just been bitch slapped. I must be a horrible feminist…I know I couldn’t name anyone else. Would Hillary Swank count, cause I know she played one in Iron Jawed Angels?

People ask me frequently how I’ve managed success in a corporate arena being a woman. I don’t think these older women will want to hear the response. I’ve succeeded because I keep bashing my head against “the glass ceiling” even after it hurts. It’s one of the most pervasive sentiments I’ve noticed in most successful women in this new feminist generation. We don’t want to pay attention to “the glass ceiling” we’ve been taught we’ll have to fight against “our whole lives.”

Call it stubborn, call it entitlement, call it plain outward stupidity. We realize that we no longer need to wear men’s clothes to play in their arenas. We no longer need to burn our bras to shed the constraints placed upon us. We had a woman (almost) run for President of the United States for goodness sakes! In fact the thing that keeps me down the most is people looking down on my age.

I often repeat the quote “You have to know where you have been to know where you are going.” As a historical and scholarly learner I think you need to understand both the triumphs and challenges of the past to make sure you move forward without making the same mistakes. And I understand that it would be foolish to believe that women are on a totally equal field as their male counterparts. Beyond Corporate America one need only look at some of the more underdeveloped areas of countries to see that there is still a disturbing and real chasm between the genders.

I appreciate SO much about what women have done before me to allow me to be the spoiled little feminist brat they see me as today. But I want to stand on top of a building and shout at the top of my lungs “Stop holding me back because of what you had to go through. Is this truly the legacy that you want to leave to your children?”

Are we as feminists limiting ourselves by constantly referencing/acknowledging/fearing “the glass ceiling?” And what might the feminist movement as a whole be capable of if we started reaching for our potential, rather than fixating on our limitations. Would “the glass ceiling” still exist if we didn’t know it was there, and are we raising future generations to be a jarful of fleas?

As Dwayne Wayne told Kris Kross, desperate to see them jump to the potential he knew they had deep inside: “You can be anything you want, but you gotta know one thing: There’s no lid over you.”

The Changemaker

Elisa Doucette is a not-so-average girl next door who writes various musings and ramblings about the beautiful disaster that is her life over at Ophelia’s Webb.  If she’s not out having really good conversation with friends over cups of coffee or pints at the local pub, she’s most likely curled up with a book listening to jazz or catching the latest Pats/Sox/Celtics/*Insert Kick Ass Sporting Team* game.

Connect with her over at her blog, Ophelia’s Webb, or on her Twitter, @OpheliasWebb!

When Akhila asked me to write about a social cause I was passionate about I was eager to join in. I consider myself a philanthropist, but I often spread myself thin. I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and am sometimes (too) empathetic to the point where it hurts every piece of my body.

I digress: I’m an animal rights activist and long-time horseback rider, so I’ve volunteered with Colorado Horse Rescue, United States Pony Club and with sea turtles in a science program in Costa Rica. I’ve volunteered at local soup kitchens, donated to cancer research, spent time weekly with children in an after-school program for African resettlement refugees, volunteer with Ladies Who Launch to help women entrepreneurs launch their business idea and worked at a non-profit for environmental studies and local sustainability.

Alas, when I try to focus my efforts and dive deep to find a beating pulse of my passion for social change it reverts to women and the lack of opportunity and inequality they’re faced with worldwide.

I see a large part of the solution toward empowering women through microfinance and socially responsible business.

The empowerment and combination of entrepreneurship is a piece of why it inspires me so much. Although I continually give time and effort toward a cause, I like the “teach them how to fish,” analogy and microfinance does just that.

What is Microfinance?

Microfinance is the “extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship.”

Non-Government organizations (NGOs), community-based development institutions, credit unions, commercial/state banks and microfinance institutions offer possibilities for financial services to the poor.

Bangladeshi banker and Grameen Bank founder and recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Muhammad Yunus is largely known as the pioneer of microfinance.

Poverty’s Greatest Victim: Women

Recently, at Clinton Global Initiative, Bill Clinton pronounced: “Women do 66% of world’s work, produce 50% of world’s food, earn 10% of world’s income & own 1% of the world’s property.”

More than 2/3 of the world’s unpaid work is done by women-the equivalent of $11 trillion or almost 50% of the world GDP, according to a global UNFP study.

Half the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day. 1.8 billion of these people live on less than $1 a day…70% of them are women. Around the world, 340 million women are not expected to live to the age of 40.

Microfinance As A Solution

Comprehensive impact studies have demonstrated that:

• Microfinance helps very poor households meet basic needs and protect against risks;
• The use of financial services by low-income households is associated with improvements in household economic welfare and enterprise stability or growth;
• By supporting women’s economic participation, microfinance helps to empower women, thus promoting gender-equity and improving household well-being;
• For almost all significant impacts, the magnitude of impact is positively related to the length of time that clients have been in the programe.” (UNCDF Microfinance)

My friend Ali worked at Pro Mujer (“for women,” in Spanish) for over two years at a Financial Analyst for the microfinance, Spanish nonprofit that supported women in Latin-America. I’ve written about microfinance a few times before on my blog, maybe now you can see why. Their historical loan repayment rate in 18 years was 99%. Women want to succeed and create a better life for the family; they just needed access to credit and a lending hand; someone to invest in their dreams.

Ali told me a story about Angela Narváez. She is pottery maker and a client with Pro Mujer Nicaragua. Angela’s first loan was $80. Today, almost nine years later, her loan is $670. Angela uses her loans to buy clay, pieces of wood, paint and cement and to travel to larger markets where she can get a better price for her pieces. Angela said her family has also benefited. Her daughters attend school, everyone is eating better, and they bought furniture and appliances that have raised their quality of life.

So my “teach them to fish” theory comes to rest. I like to think about paying it forward, but in this case, you’re investing in the future, that will benefit beyond the ‘one-time donation.’ It’s like you’re a social venture capitalist, helping women with their own startup, worldwide.

Action

If you’re interested in learning more or even donating a loan for a specific woman in a specific country here are some great organizations (I’ve donated with) to get started: Pro Mujer, Kiva, and The International Alliance For Women.

“Poverty is not created by the poor. It is created by the structures of society and the policies pursued by society. Change the structure as we are doing in Bangladesh, and you will see that the poor change their own lives. Grameen’s experience demonstrates that, given the support of financial capital, however small, the poor are fully capable of improving their lives.”- Banker to the Poor - Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank, Founder

The Changemaker

Grace Boyle is a 20-something adventurista. She lives in Boulder, CO and does Business Development for startup called Lijit. She blogs at Small Hands, Big Ideas where she writes about the startup world, technology and daily inspirations. She loves to travel, meet new people, laugh and she aspires to be an entrepreneur.

Connect with her over at her blog, Small Hands, Big Ideas, or on her Twitter at @Gracekboyle!

Learn more about the ethics of today’s economy by studying microfinance and business development at Axia College.

I first heard about Hagar International over a year ago while reading the book “Not for Sale,” about human trafficking. Human trafficking is a tough issue to combat, especially since the solutions aren’t exactly clear, and require investment in long-term assistance and systemic change. But Hagar International has a really innovative and effective model, and is doing great work to attack the roots of human trafficking.

Hagar International is committed to individualized and long-term assistance for its beneficiaries, and they use the social enterprise model as a tool for social rehabilitation and economic empowerment. Hagar works with women and children from devastating backgrounds of violence, abuse and trafficking and supports them in their recovery, rehabilitation, job readiness and ultimately community reintegration.

Hagar International first began working in Cambodia, where about 80% of their beneficiaries have been successfully reintegrated into society. Hagar first provides shelter, accommodation, trauma recovery, therapy, education, literacy classes, and skills-training for women who need it, and then slowly helps them reintegrate into society. And what makes Hagar most unique is their development of social businesses; Hagar has begun several self-sustaining businesses which provide funds for the organization and meaningful employment for women who come from difficult backgrounds. For instance, in Cambodia Hagar runs Hagar Catering and Hydrologic - which provide jobs, the opportunity to learn new skills, and the chance to reintegrate into society for many of the women from Hagar’s programs.

I’d encourage you to visit their website to learn more about the innovative ways they are making a difference and combating human trafficking.

Picture Credit: Hagar Cambodia