16 Days of Activism 2011

L’agriculture a été depuis la nuit des temps un moyen de subsistance dans un monde féroce. Elle a été aussi un moyen pour les femmes de se nourrir, ainsi que leurs enfants. Les femmes représentent 70% de la population mondiale qui vit au-dessous du seuil de pauvreté, leurs moyens de subsistance dépendant fortement de l’agriculture et de la pêche dans les zones côtières. En Afrique subsaharienne, 70 Á  80% de la production alimentaire des ménages dépend des femmes, la proportion étant de 65% en Asie et de 45% en Amérique Latine et dans les Antilles.

What is climate change? What is sustainable development? Climate change refers to “a change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activities that alter the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”.

I was only nine years old when my father started having sex with me. I really cannot explain how it all started but there was no violence and he did not force me. I don’t know if I accepted because I was not a virgin.

Two years ago I travelled from my village in Zavala, in Inhambane Province to Maputo, Mozambique ´s capital, to undergo my third surgical fistula repair. I was 23 years old at the time and had been suffering from obstetric fistula for seven years, since the day I delivered a stillborn baby at my house with assistance from my mother, after hours in labour.

The Sahara desert grows by the size of New Zealand every year, engulfing what was once fertile land and reducing the variety and volume of crops that can be grown in the Sahel region of Africa. Failing rains and unpredictable weather patterns mean that even in fertile areas crops often fail.

As the curtain comes down on COP 17 today, 9 December 2011, the various players who came to deliberate on how best to assist in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts will be heading back home to the four corners of the world. Faith based organisations, mineworkers, rural women, economic justice activists, scientists, journalists, economists, researchers, and youth, among other players, attended the conference. It’s now time to bow out!

The cyber dialogues will kick off with a face to face discussion on the topic of the day. You are welcome to organise group discussions and then log in! There will be chat rooms in English, French, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Swahili, isiZulu (Ndebele, Siswati), and Sotho (Tswana).

When she was orphaned at 7 years, Margarida Tomas* quickly changed roles from a child into a “woman.’À Following the death of her parents, she went to live with her aunt in the Mozambican capital Maputo. Her aunt Anita convinced the girl’s other relatives that she would take care for her and send her to school, as no one in their rural home 700 kilometres north of Maputo had the capacity.

The primary focus of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign was to promote local actions to end gender based violence (GBV). GL worked with local councils and communities that are part of the GL Centres of Excellence for Gender Mainstreaming in Local Government.

The tying of red ribbons on World AIDS day this year is happening in the shadow of a frightening prospect À“ the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria is in financial crisis. Not only will this have significant repercussions for prevention efforts and treatment for people living with HIV (PLWHA), but also for care workers, most of whom are women. After all, less money for prevention and treatment – who is likely to pick up the slack in providing home based care? Women and girls, of course.