Updates on SOFDI's COVID-19 Mini-Project

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic many of Rockflower’s partners have been forced to suspend their projects for a period of time. Some organizations completely pivoted their planned projects and others created new projects to address the challenges faced by their communities as they battled the pandemic, more specifically, lack of resources and lack of education around COVID-19. 

The DRC is currently designated by the CDC as a Level 4 COVID-19 Zone, meaning that they have a very high level of transmission currently. To date, the nation has reported more than 50,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The pandemic has thrown fuel on an already blazing fire of devastation in a country in the midst of battling rampant terrorism, violence and further displacement of its citizens. 

The humanitarian situation in the DRC is catastrophic. Terrorist groups including the ADF, which the United States has deemed a terrorist group, are considered the deadliest of scores of armed militias that roam the country. Since 2013, the ADF has killed over 6,000 civilians. Terrorism and attempts at ethnic cleansing have lead to the current situation in which 4.5 million people are internally displaced, and more than 890,000 people from Congo are registered as refugees and asylum seekers. Recently, U.S. special forces were authorized to intervene to help the Congolese army fight the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed rebel group.

Rockflower partner, Solidarité des Femmes pour le Développement Intégral (SOFDI), a community-based, not-for-profit organization based in the Fizi Territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), launched a project in February to empower and educate women in the face of the pandemic. Rockflower funded this six-month micro-project that aimed to address these needs. This project has since been completed, and SOFDI has shared an update on the overall impact.

The COVID-19 Response Micro Project was mutli-faceted and addressed issues affecting women and children in the Fizi Territory. The team at SOFDI installed a number of hand-washing stations in public spaces and schools, educated teachers and community members about the virus, on how to prevent it and in addition distributed much needed food. 

One of SOFEDI’s public hand-washing stations.

They also provided 60 women with professional training in order to gain economic independence. The team was able to additionally include education on gender-based violence during the group gatherings. SOFDI raised awareness by creating a public campaign promoting COVID-19 preventative measures and the newly installed hand washing stations through radio broadcasts, megaphone announcements, pamphlets and banners throughout the community. The goal of the project was to directly work with 60 women to improve their education of public health, women’s health, and economic opportunities. In addition this indirectly affected thousands of people by providing hygiene materials and education around COVID-19.

Throughout the duration of the project, SOFDI conducted a number of interviews and field studies to better understand how effective the program was, and how they could continue to educate and empower the community moving forward. They found that there was a significant increase in the understanding of COVID-19 and its effects. Before the program, 37% of those interviewed were aware of the effects COVID-19, as compared to 86% at the end of this project, a nearly 50% increase. They also saw a 15% increase in community members who were practicing at least two preventative barrier measures. These include social distancing, mask wearing, restraining from physical contact, washing hands often and limiting indoor gatherings.

Additionally, 60 disadvantaged women were chosen to participate in the program, where they were divided into four groups, or cooperatives, and met weekly to discuss issues relating to the pandemic and to learn valuable job skills. Five women in each group were selected to pursue vocational training, in entrepreneurship and agricultural business. They focused on tailoring, soap making and information technology. The group leaders were then able to share what they had learned with the rest of their cooperatives. These women received valuable employment skills, as well as important information about COVID-19 that they could then share with other community members.

Addressing the community’s knowledge around COVID-19 was the primary goal of this project, however the organization was able to take advantage of these educational gatherings to address issues related to the promotion and defense of women’s rights each week. In these sessions, the women discussed issues of gender-based violence, human rights and sexual and reproductive health. The organization found significant improvement in the group’s knowledge of female empowerment and safety.

Looking forward, SOFDI aims to continue educating the community about COVID-19 and work toward stopping the spread of the virus. They are also hoping to set up a number of vocational centers for women and girls, where they can learn valuable job skills, as well as gain knowledge on women’s rights. The COVID-19 Mini-Project has had a significant positive impact on this community, for which the pandemic has added yet another layer of struggle to an already dire humanitarian situation affecting the DRC. Rockflower looks forward to continuing to support SOFDI as they consistently work to improve the lives of disadvantaged women and girls.

Bridging The Digital Divide: From Colombia to Pakistan

Rockflower Partners with Fundación El Origen, Colombia; welcomes Tania Rosas to the Rockflower Partner Advisory Council; and begins first initiative on a joint pilot project with long time partner Community Services Program, Pakistan 

Rockflower is delighted to announce a new partnership with Fundación El Origen, Colombia,  an organization working to break the cycle of poverty by making virtual learning an option for all students and by focusing on other educational challenges faced by indigenous and rural youth. 

The organization was founded by Tania Rosas, a young social entrepreneur from La Guajira – Colombia, who founded both Fundación El Origen and Origin Learning fund, and launched O-lab, an offline app for inclusive and personalised learning designed for at-risk indigenous and refugee children and youths worldwide. The O-lab app is preloaded with educational content, in both the language taught in schools as well as a native language, and does not require students or teachers to have access to an internet connection, a game changer for those in remote locations. 

In addition we are extremely fortunate that Tania has agreed to join Rockflower’s Partner Advisory Council.  Tania brings deep lived experience and understanding of the needs of rural communities and the struggle to access education. As a political scientist and educational researcher her commitment to making education more inclusive for communities often left out of the technological landscape will be invaluable to Rockflower’s determination to expand opportunities in education and economic advancement to many more women and girls . 

Tania and the team at Fundación El Origen expressed a deep desire to focus on Rockflower’s existing partners who work at the edges of some of the poorest and hardest to reach communities, for whom access to digital literacy and technology would be a first. Community Services Program, Pakistan, one of Rockflower’s longest standing partners, has been chosen as the first in a pilot project that will bring digital literacy to 1000 students within the most marginalized and rural populations of Punjab Province, Pakistan.  Over the course of a 12 month period, El Origen will train teachers at the Tine Model Girls School to implement the O-Lab app and integrate a learning curriculum designed exclusively for this community enabling them to access and understand the tools needed for 21st century engagement and advancement. 

Reflections on completing the "Weaving with YWISD" Project

Rockflower is pleased to announce the completion of the successful “Weaving with YWISD” project created by Youth and Women Initiative for Sustainable Development (YWISD), based in Uganda. This twelve-month project sought to improve the lives of 200 women in the Wakiso sub-county by providing educational training in weaving (baskets, handbags and wallets) and entrepreneurial skills.

The dedicated women of YWISD were able to achieve and even surpass all of the goals set forth at the onset of the project. These goals included:

• Promoting gender equality by empowering young women
• Reducing dependency among women by equipping them with income generating skills
• Reducing the number of chronically impoverished women by 80% in the Wakiso sub-county
• Positively impacting the environment by creating reusable replacements for polythene bags

Of course this project was not without its challenges. The biggest obstacles faced by YWISD in implementing this project were the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their struggle to meet requests of the growing number of women looking to learn these skills. Due to COVID-19, the project was paused temporarily, but was able to later resume with guidance from healthcare workers. The work became even more critical at this point, as many were facing even greater economic hardship in the pandemic.

YWISD also faced an overwhelming number of requests to learn weaving skills, and they expanded their training to include not only young women and girls, but older women as well. However, their resources limited them in the number of women they could train. The organization is looking to scale the program moving forward, and are utilizing the help of the women who have already been trained to spread the knowledge they have learned in their communities.

The women involved in this project have faced an overwhelming number of struggles including extreme poverty, unemployment, a lack of education, single motherhood and many have been personally impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These women have now been provided with the skills necessary to support themselves and their families for a lifetime. The knowledge gained from this project is also being shared by participants in an effort to empower as many women as possible to achieve financial independence.

Nakatumba Joan, a twenty-one year old participant in the program explained, “I have been home for the last 3 years ever since I dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. I had never had a chance to learn any practical skills to change my life. People in this village have never taught anyone for free, but through YWISD and the help of Rockflower I am grateful for the skills which I acquired. I have already begun earning by selling my products. The market is readily available, and many people want my products. I also want to train as many youth as possible with the skills I have acquired so that they can overcome poverty too.”

Overall, this project drastically improved the lives of the 200 women who have been trained in weaving and entrepreneurship, and these women are continuing to pass forward the skills they have learned. Looking ahead, YWISD will continue to monitor the success of participants and will continue growing their program in other parts of Uganda. They plan to find new markets for women to sell their products in, and to diversify their training to include shoe-making. Rockflower is deeply inspired by the work of the women at YWISD and looks forward to their continued success in empowering women to overcome poverty.

A Year in Reflection: African Youth Alliance Reports on Year One of the Five Keys Five Villages Project

In 2020, female-led and volunteer-run community-based organization, African Youth Alliance, overcame a number of unique struggles but still managed to persevere in their mission to empower rural women and girls in the North West Region of Cameroon. AYA has been a Rockflower partner for five years but recently undertook a two year, multi-key approach to prove the merits of community based education and empowerment. Since beginning their two year project with Rockflower, AYA has been able to develop and build the skills of over 350 women and girls from 5 vulnerable rural communities.

In this first year of the project AYA volunteers educated women on topics including female leadership, family planning, community health, agricultural practices, basic accounting principles and more. Early sessions on hygiene, community health and agricultural practices played a key role in community resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the pandemic caused AYA to suspend operations temporarily, with the support of Rockflower the organization was able to provide its participants with critically important PPE and even began producing soap powder. In communities affected by conflict, the women focused on identifying challenges they faced in their current situations and collaborated to determine methods for acting as mediators of peace in their communities.

Despite the challenges faced by AYA and its participants, the organization has made great strides in educating and economically empowering women to become leaders in their communities. The women were able to move forward with producing goods like soap and body lotion as well as establishing and harvesting crops from farms and gardens. AYA has even been able to issue a number of loans to women looking to scale their agricultural operations. Looking ahead to year two, AYA hopes to expand their education sessions and ensure that all of the women involved are on the path to becoming fully empowered community leaders.

CHICOSUDO and the Fight to End Child Marriage in Malawi

Lesley Kapile raising awareness during a speaking event

Chitani Community Sustainable Development Organization (CHICOSUDO), operating out of Malawi, has made great strides in the second half of their campaign End Child Marriage Now!!! Protect Her Rights, which strives to prevent 500 child marriages from happening before March, 2021 by advocating for policies that would prevent such marriages. The goal of this project is not just to prevent these marriages from a legal standpoint, but to change hearts and minds within communities, and to empower young girls, both through the dissemination of education and by enabling them to have the freedom to fully enjoy their childhood.

Since our last update, CHICOSUDO has:

• Successfully halted three child marriages

• Sent six young girls who were arranged to be married back to school

• Involved men in the communities to work as Protectors for these young girls

• Convinced traditional community leaders to champion this cause and to advocate for changes to be made in community bylaws. 

Men from the community training to serve as Protectors for young girls at risk of entering child marriages.

By focusing not only on legislation, but by turning attention toward community engagement and education, CHICOSUDO has sucessfully influenced grassroots cultural shifts in attitude toward child marriage. CHICOSUDO is able not only to work on intervening in and preventing these marriages, but facilitates the girls themselves in becoming advocates against it within their own communities. 

Education has always been a big part of this campaign. Efforts on this front are primarily focused on teaching young women and girls about female sexual and reproductive health and safety, and how to prevent unintentional pregnancy. This is a priority because it helps to fight misinformation, and arms young girls with the knowledge they need to exercise their bodily autonomy, and to be safe. CHICOSUDO was successfully able to reach 155 girls from 18 youth groups and provide access to crucial reproductive educational information. In 2020, however, no public health campaign could be carried out without considerations made for COVID-19, and this one was no exception. In kind, some of CHICOSUDO’s health advocacy expanded to include reliable, consistent, and factual information about how to deter the spread of the COVID-19 virus. These educational efforts, much like the legislative ones, are centered within communities. A door-to-door COVID-19 prevention campaign was carried out and more than 3,500 people were reached with urgently needed information. 

Though 2020 is over, CHICOSUDO’s campaign will continue through the first quarter of 2021. We will leave you with a few words from their Board Chairperson, Brenda Nachuma.

“As we are entering 2021, don’t let us [be] alone. We expect more from you so that more lives of women and children may change. Youth and women should gain skills for self-reliance, girls should be free from any form of violence…”

Access to Education for Girls in Thanda Pani, Pakistan

Village Thanda Pani is located in District Neelum along the Line of Control (LoC) approximately 135km upstream from Muzzafarabad, near village Dodnial. Thanda Pani is one of the most populated villages in the Neelum district with the fewest educational facilities, particularly for girls. Since Thanda Pana is so close to the line of control, it is a low priority for the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). There is extremely limited access. Currently, there are 2 primary schools for boys with none existing for girls. The existing schools are already overcrowded and due to persistent cultural norms, most inhabitants of Thanda Pani are against co-education so girls are not allowed to attend classes with boys.

Education is key to improved quality of life and female empowerment. The gender gap in Thanda Pani is widest in levels of literacy, school enrollment, dropout rates, and vocational training opportunities. While cultural norms exist around co-education, the population of Thanda Pani is not completely against young girls gaining an education. Findings of focus group discussions led by Community Services Program (CSP) in Thanda Pani revealed that 70-75% of school-age girls are not attending school primarily because of the lack of a facility.

CSP is proposing to create a branch of the Tine Girls Model School in Thanda Pani. CSP has located a facility to be rented as a girls’ primary school. The community will contribute to the rent. Teachers have been found in an adjacent village. The creation of this primary school will lower early marriage rates, empower the girls from a young age, and fight against the patriarchal norms in society.

First Activity of the End Child Marriage Now!!! Protect Her Rights Project with CHICOSUDO

Chitani Community Sustainable Development Organization (CHICOSUDO) received funds in September for the End Child Marriage Now!!! Protect Her Rights project. We received a report from Leslie Kapile, Programs Manager for CHICOSUDO, about the first activity conducted earlier this month.

CHICOSUDO organized a community awareness event where youth, particularly girls and boys from 12 to 17 years old, were engaged. The meeting focused on disseminating information on sexual reproductive health and rights, the importance of education, and dispersing school materials, including notebooks, pens, and soap. A total of 30 youths, 10 boys and 20 girls, benefitted from the first event.

Aginess speaking with excitement to the CHICOSUDO Programs Manager, Lesley Kapile, about the project.

Aginess, a girl in Primary Seven at Pasani Primary School, expressed her happiness at having access to sexual reproductive health information and what her rights are. To her, the awareness was an eye-opener as access to such information remains a challenge in the local area of Ntonya. She also appreciated receiving school materials. 

The awareness meeting was attended by the key leaders, including the Chambe Ward Councilor, Child Protection Worker, Group Village Headman of Ntonya, Head Teachers from the Pasani and Sukayakwe Primary Schools. The Ward Councilor was happy with the approach stating, “We cannot end child marriages if we do not meet the needs of the girl child and in the absence of boys.” The Group Village Headman of Ntonya promised to engage the eleven remaining traditional leaders to promote education for girls in their respective villages and reinforce community bylaws that protect the girl child from any form of gender-based violence. He said, “We will adopt the community court and continue to strengthen our links with child protection workers, the victim support unit, and the government through the District of Ntonya’s community-based organization.”

Child marriage is a prominent issue that has negative impacts that range throughout the lifetimes of the girl child. Bridget Mkomo, CHICOSUDO Project Officer, explained that the idea of engaging girls at risk with information and support before they return to school from the long-term COVID-19 closure would help them remember the importance of education and empower them. She then added, “the CHICOSUDO campaign will continue to strengthen the capacities of traditional leaders, teachers, parents and other key leaders in the community to ensure that community bylaws are enforced thereby protecting the sexual reproductive health rights for adolescents and girls in the area and beyond. At the same time, through the campaign, adolescent and girls will be empowered to speak out and report any case of abuse if happen. We expect to reach 11 villages.”

Rockflower Partners with the AVAZ Association to Establish a Women's Technology Education Center in Turkey

Rockflower is pleased to announce a new partnership with the AVAZ Association. They aim to support the refugees in the region and the local people in need to access to permanent income sources and social rights, and to open alternative ways for those to integrate better into the society.

Rockflower will provide the funding to establish a women’s technology education centre where refugee and local women and girls will be trained in multiple computer-related programmes.

Find out more about the Establish Women's Technology Education Center Project.