Empower Women and Transform a Community: Support Our 2011-12 Annual Appeal

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."  
- William Butler Yeats

WOMEN ARE THE TORCH

Empowering women has been recognized by the United Nations as the most important global social movement of our times. No one is an agent of change like an empowered woman. The empowerment of women is a fire that lights the way to smaller and healthier families with increrased income and access to learning, sparking the transformation of the community as a whole.

RAIN agrees. To fully realize a woman's potential, she needs the tools to create a new future, be able to put her skills to work, decide how to spend the money she earns, and share what she has learned.

Rain for the Sahel and Sahara has been at the forefront of this transformation for ten years. RAIN's programs integrate the "3 E's" - education, earning and empowerment - into a life changing package. The women in RAIN's artisan, agriculture and herding cooperative enterprises go beyond earning incomes; they put aside 50% to fund their children's schools as they learn new livelihoods. Women in RAIN's programs determine how their funds are used, leading their communities in meeting the unique needs of each school. 

Wodaabe Arisans - MCV Co-opIn the remote Niger village of Foudouk, the Wodaabe women of the "Metier Chance Vivre" embroidery cooperative earn small sums for each item they produce for RAIN. During their first year of operation, they discovered that after paying themselves, they had $800 to invest in their school. They had never seen that much money in one place. The entire community witnessed what they had accomplished.

A COMMUNITY IS INSPIRED INTO ACTION

This spark lit a fire in Foudouk that is transforming the community.  Their success inspired others to seek out ways to help themselves. Women and men stepped forward to ask for RAIN's help to opoen a general store. RAIN replenished herds lost in drought. In return, herders are keeping a herd of animals to benefit the school. Against all odds, parents are coming together to support their children in their education.

Community by community, women are a galvanizing force, inspiring action and commitment. Entire families come dig the gardens that feed school children and bring better food security to all. Adults are enrolling in literacy classes, mentors are sharing their knowlege of health education, and families are donating their resources to assist those in greater need. 

help RAIN light the spark

Women are leading the way, transforming our thirty partner Mentors in Iferouanecommunities. Help RAIN light the spark of empowerment for hundreds more rural communities througout Niger with a contribution today.

"Our children will be proud to know that their mothers worked to support their school. We're happy to help the school, to help all the children. When our daughters return, they will teach us all." - Djmare, Binbiya and Halima, RAIN Metier Chance Vivre Co-op.