Without empowering women, poverty will kill destroy Africa

Nobody who knows Africa has ever commented on the extent of poverty, disease, ignorance that women go through. If it is done, it is exaggerated, sensationalized or outright ignored.

Since last year, I have been keen in following government programmes in the third world countries; it is now something which every known critic would like to throw his/ her line on it. However the truth of the matter is that, Africa is in need of good health facilities, better education standards, and better information Technology programmes that deliberately promote women.

About a majority of the rural women here do not have access to clean and safe water. This would be chaos in a country like America were people are interested in tax reduction, fuel provision, the war on Terror and take for granted issues like water.

Although local governments in the third world are trying to improve living conditions of communities by way of providing basics of life, over 80% of rural women do not access. With a few years to go for the world to ‘achieve’ Millennium Development Goals, the number of women that do not know their basic rights is still high.

In Uganda for example, the failure of the majority to meet the basic needs is not because of government reluctance to address these challenges but reluctance of women to take advantage of affirmative action. The government is focusing on improving primary education, primary health care, improving feeder roads, and agricultural extension programmes.

A glance at the implementation process of these programmes shows that government is doing everything possible. For example, President Museveni has been moving across the country side mobilizing and educating masses on how to become rich. The government is getting tough on graft.

The other reality is that, most women in the third world have taken poverty, disease and ignorance as away of life just like the way the westerners have taken living in luxury.

The difference between the west and the third world women are shocking! The western world woman lives in luxury out of choice. She can splash 2,000 dollars just to buy her pet a new outlook! The third world woman has no choice but succumb to poverty. When she struggles to fight poverty in any form, she is hindered by several factors. She has low education; she has no capital, she is hungry and perennially sick.

She therefore opts to live with the problem instead. As a last resort, she adapts subsistence farming, taking her child to a remote school and unreliable traditional medicine man for treatment. She remains trapped at the centre of poverty. This is the circle that requires to be destroyed.

Talk to any of the aid agencies or donors and they will lecture to you on concepts and programmes meant to help a rural woman come out of poverty. Despite all the concepts especially advanced by World Bank and IMF, poverty continues to bite hard in Africa with slow or no remedy at all thought. Why? These institutions come up with experimental programmes and when they fail, they abandon or modify them (programmes) and introduce again to the third world. For example, the Structural Adjustment Programme of mid 1980s was a complete disaster to the economies of the third world countries.

It is effects are well documented and need not be reemphasized here. Briefly Structural adjustment programme led to increased unemployment, environmental degradation, increased external debts, corruption, embezzlement, nepotism and inflation.

Although most international organizations are talking of empowering the women- this sounds hollow. Secondly, powerful women are using fellow women for advancing own interests. Thirdly, Parents (read men) look down on a girl child here. You will note that in the third world a woman is the most central person in the house in terms of providing food and health.

If the third world is to help itself, let it first empower the women, through not only affirmative action but accept that without women, poverty will kill destroy Africa. Uganda government has strongly come out to support women in its fight against poverty through recognition of women talents in all spheres and discouraging cultural practices like Female Gentle Mutilation.

There is nothing to stop the international communities doing the same. They have to explain as to why poverty is still biting women hard in the third world despite their continued interventions.

The World Bank it seems this time is on the break of empowering women fight poverty especially in Uganda through a social action fund, probably after learning structural adjustment programme was a total failure in Africa. This fund has three components: community development initiative, vulnerable group support and conflict resolution and reconciliation. The master plan is superb. A review of the programme is due in June 2008.It seems to have not done well. Women with bare breasts and starving children looking miserable are a common sight at the country side. The question is what could be the problem? Does anyone there have a solution?

I have only one comment; live your powerful and expensive home in London, New York etc and descend to a real rural home in Africa, live and work there for sometime. You will hear and see the life we are talking about. Thereafter, you can go back and talk about policies of fighting poverty in international conference rooms.

Guys, give me your comments