CAIRO, Jan 25 (IPS) – Dr. Zeinab Al-Momany, a outstanding social entrepreneur, sheds gentle on the journey of empowering girls farmers in Jordan and the Arab world, the place girls usually work lengthy hours for low pay and lack labour recognition.
Because the visionary behind the Sakhrah Ladies’s Society Cooperative and the Particular Union for Productive Farmer Ladies in Jordan (SUFWJ), Al-Momany shares her views with IPS on the challenges confronted by girls farmers, the influence of organizations like SUFWJ on rural financial progress and girls’s rights, and the profound implications of local weather change for ladies in agriculture.
A Pioneering Journey
Al-Momany, boasting a various background in enterprise administration and holding a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Administration, laid the muse for the Sakhrah Ladies’s Society Cooperative in 2007. This cooperative, a pioneering endeavor in Jordan and the Arab world, focuses on enhancing the capacities of small agricultural organizations. Her dedication to empowering feminine farmers and advocating for his or her rights has transcended borders, uniting 22 girls’s organizations, and now the SUFWJ has 5000 members. Her management extends globally, serving because the President of the Arab Farmer Community (Arrinina) and as a member of prestigious organizations such because the World Farmer Group (WFO) and Local weather Change and Meals Safety (CCFS). In 2008, she was honored with the Schwab Basis Social Entrepreneur of the Yr award.
SUFWJ’s Influence on Ladies Farmers
Established in 2007, SUFWJ has considerably formed the panorama for ladies farmers in Jordan. SUFWJ has efficiently elevated the variety of girls who personal land, championed wage equality, and enabled free well being and social insurance coverage due to its efficient applications. The union’s initiatives have empowered 120 girls farmers in management roles, supplied medical health insurance to 578 households, skilled 7,000 girls and ladies, and offered micro-finance loans to 800 girls and ladies.
“The union has been capable of enhance the share of land possession by means of a challenge that started with its implementation in 2007, declaring that the share was 2.7, and in accordance with statistics, it has elevated to five.5 %,” she says.
“The union launched the medical health insurance challenge in 2014 and continues to be working with the help of USAID FHI to supply free medical health insurance to feminine farmers by means of the Ministry of Social Growth. The insurance coverage lined 558 households within the northern and central Ghor areas (in Jordan) and is searching for to succeed in the southern Ghor.”
Addressing Challenges and Inequality
Al-Momany attracts consideration to the unequal legal guidelines affecting feminine farmworkers, emphasizing the disparities compared to their overseas counterparts. SUFWJ, by means of its strong advocacy program, channels efforts towards altering legal guidelines and laws regarding feminine farmers. The main focus is on advocating for his or her rights to medical health insurance, social safety, equal wages, and improved working circumstances.
She identified that the union has amended the interior system of the Basic Farmers Union, the place the legislation used to require feminine farmers to personal 10 dunums (about 1 hectare) of land to hitch the union, however after the modification, feminine farmers have been allowed to hitch by renting land. She talked about that the union is presently engaged on the labor and employees’ legislation in order that they’re eligible for social safety and medical health insurance to guard their rights.
Financial Empowerment Initiatives
Al-Momany make clear the union’s financial empowerment program, which identifies the wants of feminine farmers and formulates motion plans each two to 5 years primarily based on these wants. The aim is to handle the particular challenges girls farmers face, set clear targets, and implement focused applications to realize sustainable progress.
Al-Momany referred to the legislation as “unequal” and defined that regardless of doing the identical arduous work as overseas employees, feminine farm employees obtain low wages, haven’t any depart rights, and wouldn’t have organized contracts to guard their rights.
Local weather Change and Future Initiatives
By way of the union, efforts have been directed at elevating consciousness of local weather change points, growing inexperienced areas, and aiding girls farmers in transitioning to wash and renewable power. The initiatives embody offering loans for putting in photo voltaic panels as an alternative of electrical energy, digging wells for rainwater assortment, and putting in photo voltaic heaters. The union additionally helps natural farming, extracting natural fertilizers, and spearheading tasks on environmental variety and the conservation of forests and animals.
Probably the most affected by local weather change are farmers and girls farmers, particularly with the rise in temperature. Working in agriculture at this excessive temperature impacts their well being attributable to their publicity to the solar for lengthy intervals, because it impacts crops, the work of ladies farmers, and the nationwide product. Jordan additionally suffers from water shortage, and with the results of local weather change, the salinity price will increase, resulting in an issue within the high quality of soil, crops, and water availability.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
