Self Help Africa representatives will be hosting a discussion about the issues women face, focusing on gender equity and small-scale farming in Sub Saharan Africa, on Tuesday 22 October at 2.00pm, as part of this year’s One World Festival with Coalition of Aid and Development Agencies NI (CADA).
Women grow 70% of Africa’s food but staggeringly own only a tiny fraction of the land they work. In Teso, the Ugandan region where Self Help Africa is helping local people, the population is 90% reliant on subsistence agriculture to survive. According to research, agriculture is 11 times more effective at lifting people out of poverty than any other sector in Sub Saharan Africa.
Denny Elliott, Head of Self Help Africa in Northern Ireland, has recently visited Teso and said: “I was fortunate to visit Teso recently where I saw at firsthand the incredible work that the local women are doing to help their families survive with the help of Self Help Africa. This event will focus on the staggering statistics as a backdrop for Self Help Africa’s ‘Women and Development’ discussion, telling the stories of some of the wonderful women with whom we work. Stories of resilience, courage and tenacity. Stories of cultural and political norms that can often hold them back.
“If we consider that should women be given the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30% and reduce the hunger in the world by up to 12%. Can we even contemplate the dramatic impact this would have globally? This will be discussed at our One World CADA Festival event next Tuesday.”
Women and Development – Gender Equity and Small-Scale Farming in Sub Saharan Africa, Tuesday 22 October at 2pm. The free to attend event is open to everyone and takes place at Maynard Sinclair Pavilion, Stormont Estate, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast. To book a place, visit: https://oneworldfestivalni.com/events/women-development/
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