Browse by Theme: Livelihoods

As CARE gets ready to launch its new Women’s Economic Justice strategy, we’re sharing some diverse perspectives on why women’s economic justice matters and what’s needed to achieve it. Shanti Uprety is a Programme Manager at International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP), a women’s rights organisation and one of CARE’s key partners on the #RatifyC190 campaign. Shanti shares her thoughts on why a rights-based approach is important, why we need a more caring economy, and why community-driven initiatives are often the most transformative.

As CARE gets ready to launch its new Women’s Economic Justice strategy, we’re sharing some diverse perspectives on why women’s economic justice matters and what’s needed to achieve it. Linda Scott is an academic, a long-term partner of CARE and author of The Double X Economy. From the impact of COVID-19 to the value of unpaid care to the role of the private sector, here are some of Linda’s thoughts on why the economic potential and contribution of women cannot be ignored.

This World Refugee Day, I reflect on this often-repeated phrase since COVID-19 disrupted all our lives: “No one is safe until everyone is safe”. We have seen how interconnected our planet is. With COVID-19 spreading quickly beyond borders, global cooperation has been key to saving lives. Yet, the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing inequalities, with the most vulnerable populations often getting left behind.  

“I felt like life will go on, and we are able to find new ways to live a better life.” Nidal is one of more than 150,000 people who worked with CARE’s Food For Peace project to improve food security in Syria. From growing more food, to building bakeries, to monitoring quality — Syrians drove dramatic improvements in their own livelihoods.

Microfinance organisations serve approximately 140 million low-income people around the world. And the vast majority of these are women (roughly 80%), who live in rural areas (roughly 65%) . At the end of March when the world was starting to wake up to the harsh social and economic realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of these institutions suddenly found themselves wondering if/how they were going to survive this global crisis.

Cash support in times of crisis can keep markets functioning, keep money flowing to small businesses that desperately need it, and save lives and livelihoods at the same time – because it means people can get what they need, when they need it. As a woman in Bangladesh told us: “People are unable to go out for working. People are having difficulty getting their daily necessities. We are being told to wash hands frequently. We are having trouble buying necessary items as it is, how will we afford handwashing soaps? … In this case, cash support might be more helpful.”

How much rubbish do you generate every day? If you live in America, it’s more than 2kg every day. If you live in Australia or the UK, the average is about 1.5kg a day. In Zambia, that number is about 0.4kg (figures from World Bank). Even in Zambia, that’s a lot of rubbish to deal with.