Women have always been a concern of this project. Children, of course, are the most vulnerable and therefore our first priority. The mothers have been joining us in our Challhua group and engaging in the activities right alongside the children. We welcome them with open arms. The new eco-friendly hand crank washing units are a huge leap into their advancement toward a better life, as the story above describes. It was always our vision to include women in our overall goals.  Our belief is that by helping the mothers we are helping the children at the same time. Empowering women enables them to work outside the home, become educated and provide better care for their children. Here are a few facts you may not have been aware of:

Since 75 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty are women and children who live in developing nations, it makes sense that if we are to change the level of poverty worldwide we do it through the empowerment of these women.
Also, 85 percent of money Americans donate to charitable purposes stays in the United States. Of the 15 percent that is donated internationally, private foundations rather than individuals give the majority of funds donated. Here are some startling statistics:

• 70 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion poor are women living on less than $1 a day.

• Women do 60 percent of the world’s work and earn 10 percent of the world’s income.

• Women spend 50-70 percent of time men do on paid work and still do 200 percent of unpaid work in comparison to men.

• Women produce 70-75 percent of the world’s food crops.

• One year of schooling for the mother reduces child mortality by about 10 percent.

• Women cultivate, plow, and harvest more than half of all the food in the world.

Source: Nicholas Kristof, NY Times Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and co-author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide .

* Women account for one-half of the potential human capital in any economy. More than half a billion    women have joined the world’s work force over the past 30 years, and they make up 40 percent of the agriculture labor force. According to the World Bank, countries with greater gender equality are more prosperous and competitive.
* An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future earnings by 10-20 percent. Girls with secondary schooling are up to 6 times less likely to marry as children than those with little or no education. And countries that invest in girls’ education have lower maternal and infant deaths, lower rates of HIV and AIDS, and better child nutrition.
* When women participate in civil society and politics, governments are more open, democratic and responsive to citizens. When women are at the negotiating table, peace agreements are more inclusive and durable. And simply by empowering women farmers with the same access to land, new technologies and capital as men, we can increase crop yields by as much as 30 percent helping to feed a growing population.

Source: United States embassy USAID