2008: Fulfilling the Promise for Women and Girls

Jan. 7, 2008—The New Year brings both concern and optimism for women and girls worldwide. For CEDPA, it brings a renewed commitment to give women the tools they need to improve their lives, families and communities.

Ongoing violence in countries including Kenya—where more than 600 people have died and more than 200,000 have been displaced by recent post-election violence—is a stark reminder of the life and death circumstances faced by too many women and their families today. In addition to loss of life, these conflicts lead to escalating incidents of sexual violence, trafficking and HIV/AIDS.

Despite this sobering news, there are successes in every corner of the world where women are working to rebuild communities and restore peace in conflict-affected countries.

Maha Babiker of Sudan, one of 13 women who joined CEDPA’s peace and stability workshop in 2007.

Some of these stories were shared with CEDPA during our late 2007 WomenLead in Peace and Stability Workshop in Washington, D.C. The workshop brought together 13 women leading peace and stability efforts in countries including Sudan, Rwanda and Peru. These women are advocating for emergency maternal health care for refugees, fighting human rights violations against girls, and waging peace initiatives at every level. You can read some of their stories here.

Other bright spots in 2007 were in areas of politics, policy and funding.

Women were elected to the top leadership posts in several countries last year, including as president of Argentina and India. There is still a long way to go, but women’s political participation has increased significantly worldwide over the past decade. Women now hold over 17.2 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide.

For 30 years, CEDPA has worked together with local organizations to support an equal role for women in their communities and nations through our gender and governance programming.

Increasing the participation of women voters in elections can focus candidate debates on issues that affect their lives, such as maternal health.

In 2007, CEDPA, with sponsorship from the Joint Donor Basket Fund on Elections, mobilized women voters to advocate for policies and programs to address women's needs in North Eastern Nigeria, for example. Women in this area lack significant gains in terms of power sharing due religious and cultural barriers. As a result of the work of CEDPA and its partners, women in the region made maternal health commitments an election demand from candidates running from office in their region.

In other countries, new policies were adopted to promote women’s human rights. In Egypt, the Egyptian Health Ministry issued a decree on June 28, 2007, that officially banned female circumcision. CEDPA has worked for decades with Egyptian communities to end the practice that leads to psychological trauma, gynecological problems, difficulties during childbirth and even death for girls who are subjected to the procedure.

Looking to 2008, one of the health barriers for women and girls continues to be the health risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Each year, more than 500,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. In Africa, a woman’s risk of dying from such complications is 1 in 16 over the course of her life, compared to 1 in 3,800 in Europe and North America.

About one-fourth of these maternal deaths are due to unplanned pregnancies. Research shows that today, more than 200 million women say they would prefer to avoid pregnancy, but are not using any form of modern contraception.

Alawi Mohkta Mohamad Bahrdin (left) and Awatif Altayib Mohamad Hussein from Darfur were trained by CEDPA to become UNFPA fistula advocates during the October Women Deliver maternal health summit.

To increase support and funding for reproductive and maternal health care, nearly 2,000 health advocates and government officials worldwide convened at the Women Deliver Conference held in October 2007 in London.

There, the United Kingdom pledged over $200 million to the United Nations Population Fund over five years to prevent unwanted pregnancies and make childbirth safer. To reduce global maternal and child mortality rates, Norway has committed $1 billion over ten years and the Netherlands $175 million over three years.

Looking forward, CEDPA is committed to ensuring greater access to proven health information and services that save lives and build healthier families in the communities in which we work. To that end, we continue to work with local institutions to mobilize community support for safe motherhood and advocate for lifesaving reproductive health care.

Finally, 2008 brings good news for girls’ education. The number of girls enrolled in school around the world has increased. However, one out of every five girls enrolled in primary school never finish.

In 2007, CEDPA piloted a new program in Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland to improve the educational and health outcomes of young girls by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to stay in school.

Attending non-formal education programs delays marriage and encourage girls to continue their formal education.

CEDPA’s community-based partners identified gender-based violence, the prevention of teenage pregnancy and substance abuse awareness as priority issue areas for keeping girls in school in southern Africa. With the South African Girl Child Alliance, CEDPA trained three South African organizations in addressing this content. The organizations incorporated the content into their programs, which reach over 9,000 girls each month.

Non-formal education programs serve two purposes: they motivate girls to delay marriage and childbearing and to continue their education formally, and these programs also give girls a means to earn a livelihood.

In 2008, CEDPA will continue the non-formal education program in Southern Africa and apply its strategic approach to expand opportunities for girls with a non-formal educational focus on life skills training for out-of-school girls.

Significant improvements were made to the lives of many women and girls in 2007. In 2008, with the right opportunities, support and dedication, together we can improve the lives of so many more women and girls around the world.

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