Across the world, women and girls’ rights are affected the most by poverty. From the moment they are born, girls face inequalities and injustice in almost every aspect of their lives. Supporting women and girls as they claim their rights, is the most effective way for communities to lead themselves out of poverty. That is why we put women’s human rights at the heart of all we do.
Irish Aid, the government’s programme for overseas development, funds ActionAid Ireland’s flagship Women’s Rights Programme. Read more about that programme here. We prioritise working with the furthest behind first. And so, we work with the most marginalised women in communities in Kenya, Ethiopia and Nepal. The aim is to prevent violence against women and girls and to improve their economic wellbeing, by working with women, girls, boys, men and wider community.
Through the programme, Chief Constance, the only female chief from Taita Taveta county Kenya, worked with local women to identify the issues they faced. She discovered that local women were unaware of their rights and so were not reporting cases of gender-based violence. She also identified a lack of services for women who experienced violence.
Together with Chief Constance we organised online forums to support local women to better understand their rights and enabled them to raise awareness of the issue within their own communities. As a result, there was an increase in women reporting gender-based violence and the county government made additional resources available for services.
We are working with ActionAid Bangladesh to deliver a flagship climate project on improving food security and access to livelihoods in rural Bangladesh. In two climate affected regions, we are working with women and young people on climate resilient agriculture. We designed the project to also build women’s leadership and agency.
The initiatives include training and support for women farmers on resilient farming technique (including soil conservation, crop diversity, seed banks and water management), animal husbandry, leadership, business skills and access to market, Â as well as awareness on climate change impact.
At the national level, the programme is mobilising women and young women to advocate for the implementation of Agriculture policy 2018, which has specific provisions dedicated to women farmers.
We also support short-term projects. For example, through funding from Electric Aid, we established a concrete block factory run by women in Haiti. It is the first of its kind in the area and is providing employment to local women. In addition, the blocks are for sale in the local area to help families build safer homes that are resistant to shocks and earthquakes. Read more about the project here.
ActionAid Ireland believes migration is a fundamental human right tied to dignity, security, and safety. We advocate for the rights of all migrants, regardless of their reasons for movement. In Ireland, our work focuses on advocacy and confronting harmful policies like the Direct Provision system. We prioritize supporting migrant lone parents, who experience intersecting systemic barriers of racism and misogyny in accessing their rights, including access to housing.
