Skip to main content

Improving Women’s Lives in Bosnia

By Literacy 'n' Poverty Project
I recently discovered a great organization working to alleviate women’s struggles around the world through education and micro loans.


This organization – Women for Women International - operates in eight countries including the Congo, Kosovo and Iraq. About a month ago I decided to sign up for their sponsorship program. This includes a small monthly financial commitment, which is used to support a ‘sister’ in a community where Women for Women work. It takes about a month for you to be matched with your sister, once matched you are able to correspond with her to see how she is and how she is using Women for Women’s support.


Last week I received information about my sister. She lives in Bosnia. I confess I don’t know much about Bosnia, despite being born and raised in Europe. I know about the war in ‘92, but I don’t know much about how the people are trying to rebuild their lives since the war that ripped their country apart. I was shocked to find out the following:
  • 50% of the schools in Bosnia were destroyed and have not been rebuilt
  • Landmines have made farming deadly
  • 45% of all women are unemployed – making them targets for human traffickers

These are just some of the issues Bosnian women are dealing with, but by using micro loans and education services provided by Women for Women, those that receive them are able to make a difference in theirs and their family’s lives. The women use the loans to educate themselves and start their own businesses, in everything from agriculture to jewelry making. It is working, with 88% of women saying that their self confidence has increased, and 91% better understand their rights.


This post was written by Katherine Osgood, Director of International Programs at United Planet. Katherine has her own blog focusing on women’s rights issues and is a volunteer blogger with Literacy 'n' Poverty Project.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the Literacy Rate of the US?

By Literacy 'n' Poverty Project
The World Factbook , prepared by the CIA , states that the US literacy rate is around 99%. This means that around 3 million people in America are unable to functionally read and write . That is equivalent to the entire population of Mongolia! As if those numbers weren’t enough to make you sit up and think, there is some dispute about the 99% - the actual figure could be lower, depending on the various definitions of literacy used. Jonathan Kozol, in his book ‘Illiterate America’ states that the government based the 99% literacy rate on interviews and written responses to Census Bureau mailings from a small portion of the population. Of that portion, if the responders or interviewees had completed fifth grade they were considered literate. About 5% had not completed fifth grade , but 80% of those were subsequently considered literate, and so the Bureau reached a conclusion of a 99% literacy rate. In 1993 a new study was released . Over 5 years, and $14 million spent ( the largest lite
1 comment
Read more

We Stopped Blogging and Got Serious About Our Future

By Chanelle
It's been over four months since we last posted to this blog! While it breaks our heart to have been out of touch for so long, we had good reason. You see, our blog is run by volunteers of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project. LnP is a social initiative I started that addresses multiple aspects of literacy - health, reading, writing and financial - to empower the poor and low-income adults to lift themselves up out of poverty . But, if you've been keeping up with our blog which we know you all have :), you can see that adult education has not been the focus. And rightfully so. How We Got Started Make Social Change A Reality was created as a venue to discuss various issues concerning the broader concept of social change from the environment to women's issues to healthcare to youth development . As a startup with goals of becoming an international social enterprise, we felt that y'all deserved a place of your own to learn, engage and share information and resources
4 comments
Read more

The Meaning of Social Change

By Literacy 'n' Poverty Project
All around us, there are changes happening; the calendar changed from 2008 to 2009, a new president was elected, and for many us, we have decided to do things differently and make changes in our diet, our lifestyles, or in our overall well being. Social change is something that I plan to be involved with this year in many different ways: volunteering , reading, attending events and sharing ideas. Social change means different things to different people. To me, social change means being involved in making things better for your community. Doing something instead of just saying something. Raising money instead of just donating to a cause. Working with others to make sure that the change we desire is attainable. I have been involved with a variety of organizations that make social change a focus of their organization. This is important to me because I am a firm believer that through social change and helping each other and supporting one another, we as a people can right all
Post a Comment
Read more