Oxfam America Blog

Fanta Niambaly, president of the Saving for Change group in Banakoro, in southern Mali. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America.

I just spent two days visiting Saving for Change groups in southern Mali. Saving for Change teaches women to save money and start small business ventures.

The women always have a look in their eyes that conveys real dignity and just a bit of fire as they describe their businesses, and how the money they earn is helping their families. Most can say their children have decent clothes and are in school, the family is eating better, and they are saving money.

Fanta Niambaly, 52, is president of one Saving for Change group in the village of Banakoro. She says the 29 women in her group are changing the way they see themselves and their place in the community. “We are proud of our businesses, and we are learning to become entrepreneurs,” she says, squinting in the sun.

In other villages women say they are now included in village councils and help make decisions on important matters like the maintenance of wells and new pumps. But are women sharing any decision-making power beyond their traditional roles of carrying water and caring for children? Do their husbands respect their opinions in family and village matters? Can they own property, be the mayor, or carry out other official duties? Read the rest of this entry »

School in Lumphat village, Ratanakiri province, Cambodia; January 2007 - Photo by Brett Eloff/Oxfam America.

“The face of climate change is a child under the age of 5.” When Dr. Kristie L. Ebi said this at a brown bag lunch discussion in my office earlier this week, you could hear her words land like a ton of bricks.

Children, especially those living in tropic and sub tropic regions like Sub Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, are most vulnerable to the increasing consequences of global warming. Read the rest of this entry »