Project Report
| Sep 18, 2013
VIDEO: Sudan's First and Only Women Famers Union
By Elizabeth Droggitis | MADRE Staff Member
Click here to watch MADRE's video, "Sudan's First and Only Women Farmer Union"!
Video description: In Sudan, young women identify gender discrimination and climate change as their two greatest obstacles to farming. But a Women Farmers Union, supported by MADRE, overcomes these barriers.
One woman named Fatima Ahmed, a local agronomist, saw how women farmers grow most of their families' food, yet are denied crucial support that the Ministry of Agriculture gives to men.
The women found a solution: Sudan's first and only Women Farmers Union. They organized to obtain tools, seeds and training. They pooled resources to buy a tractor, and they share their sustainable and profitable farming strategies.
With a focus on young women, the Union allows women farmers to boost family nutrition, earn income and improve farming practices for the future.
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Jun 19, 2013
Success Stories from Zenab!
By Elizabeth Droggitis | MADRE Staff Member
Fatima Ahmed, director of MADRE’s sister organization Zenab for Women in Development, recently shared some success stories from the Women Farmers Union. Together with Zenab, MADRE supports over 3,000 women farmers, giving them the tools, resources and technical assistance they need to sustain their families for the long haul. Keep reading to learn how this program is helping transform women’s lives:
- Howafram owns a small farm where she produces food for her family. When her crops were infested by weeds, Zenab was there with the tools to deal with the problem and save her crops. MADRE and Zenab’s support helped Howafram successfully prepare for the rest of the season’s harvest.
- Since Zeina’s participation in the Women Farmers Union, she’s been able to grow the food her family needs to survive. Income generated from surplus crops allowed Zeina to send her daughter to school. Her daughter is now attending a nearby university. She is the first person in Zeina’s family to go to college.
- Halimah, a Women Farmers Union participant from the Wadaif community, recently invested the money she earned from her harvest to open a pre-school. Now, her pre-school serves up to sixty children in her community.
Your support truly strengthens our sisters in Sudan, their families, and their communities. Thank you!
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Mar 21, 2013
An Oil Miller for Zenab
By Elizabeth Droggitis | MADRE Staff Member
Our partners at Zenab for Women in Development recently shared with us that the women of Women Farmers Unite are working hard to obtain oil mill machinery in order to process their sesame seed and groundnut crops. Oil is extracted from sesame seeds and groundnuts by mechanical pressing, and is a lucrative product in local markets. Obtaining oil mill machinery for these women farmers will offer increased income-generating activity and self-employment. Rather than packing seed crops and transporting them to and from the city for mechanical pressing, the women farmers will be able to save time, money and energy, and maximize their profit, by eliminating third party oil millers. We look forward to bringing you more updates once the oil mill machinery is in use!
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