left on her shoulders, she married again, but life with that husband collapsed. Aminat became destitute. About 28% of households in the Bati region are female-headed. Given that men own and control all resources, female-headed households have specific challenges: they can’t command the assets they need in order to farm (land, oxen, agricultural inputs), and they don’t have the labour that is needed in order to do the farming. For this reason, these women are poorer and have fewer options for getting out of poverty. They’re also often looked down upon or have very low social status in their village. With the PFS-II Project intervention in her district,
Aminat had the opportunity to be involved in the different project interventions, like goat and vegetable production, saving and credit schemes, and health extension packages. “I didn’t have any concept of health and sanitation
issues before the project,” explains Aminat. “My children were suffering from diseases associated with unsanitary conditions. I didn’t know about the use of latrines, so my children were using open fields.” Aminat has become the first adopter of the 16 best health packages, such as hand washing and boiling
water, and further disseminated the health information to 47 households. She’s also become a role model for other women to get involved in HIV/AIDS voluntary testing program. As a result, 400 women of the kebele have done testing. Aminat was awarded a certificate by the government,
and the project awarded her a camel for her in-depth participation in development interventions. She’s now the owner of two oxen (usually only men own and control this kind of livestock), one heifer and one calf, and has constructed a house. “Gender-based discrimination, especially male chauvinism, should not restrain women from participating in development activities to improve their livelihood situations,” Aminat asserts.
* PFS-II is Partnership for Food Security Phase Two:
The Productive Safety Net Program is a national public works and cash for food program run by the Government of Ethiopia (GOE). CHF runs food security programs along- side and in cooperation with the GOE. More success stories can be found at
www.chf-partners.ca/womeninbati .
Julie Bourassa is a Communications Officer at CHF. Suki Lee is a writer and President of Inbox Communications.
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