This story was originally reported by Kagondu Njagi and edited by Robert Carmichael for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. For the women of Tuluroba village’s self-help group, the goal was simple: use their combined savings to buy cattle, fatten them and sell them to the beef industry for slaughter. But there was a problem. “We had no land to graze the cattle. Nor could we obtain a loan from a bank to buy land, because as women we do not own title deeds,”...
This story was originally reported by Emmanuelle Landais and edited by Jumana Farouky and Sebastien Malo for the Thomson Reuters Foundation.     For centuries, women in West Africa’s cereal belt have relied on fonio, a small, nutty grain, to feed their families. Now, Adja Aissata Aya Ndiaye, a farmer in Kedougou in southeastern Senegal, thinks fonio could become a staple across the continent, and eventually around the world. “We want to take over the global market,” said Ndiaye, 62. Over in New York,...
By Carmen Belafi Last week, leaders from the world’s largest economies, the G20, came together in Buenos Aires to discuss pressing global issues ranging from economic growth, trade, and security to questions of fair and sustainable development. This year’s summit had some encouraging messages for education globally. Here are 3 of the most important messages: Education is a human right All countries agreed that access to education is not a privilege, but a fundamental right. Education needs to reach all children, and access...
HIV/AIDS is a global health crisis that impacts the lives of millions of people a year, yet still many people don’t know enough about what it is, what it does to the body, and the best ways to prevent it. That’s why we’ve answered your most googled questions about HIV and AIDS, and added a couple extra in for good measure: How many people alive today are living HIV or AIDS? Around 37 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. That’s nearly...
Thirty years ago, HIV/AIDS swept the globe largely unchecked, and a diagnosis was seen as a death sentence. Two decades later, we’ve made amazing progress – AIDS-related deaths are down by half – but the good news makes the bad news worse. This good news may be hiding a big problem. The incredible progress the world has made against AIDS has created a sense of complacency that is threatening our ability to end AIDS within our lifetime. You might not know...
If you know anything about medicine, you may of heard about pioneers such as Louis Pasteur (developed germ theory) or Alexander Fleming (discovered penicillin). But what about the women who also laid the foundations for modern medicine? Meet 8 remarkable women who pushed the frontiers of science. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 – 1762) Introduced smallpox inoculation Lady Mary Wortley Montagu defied convention by introducing smallpox inoculation into Western medicine. While visiting the Ottoman Empire, she learnt about Turkish customs and witnessed...
In Part 1 of a two-part report on the informal banks that help women secure financial stability, Women’s Advancement Deeply looks at a savings group in Kenya that grants independence to the women who join it.  Orge Konchora always wanted her children to go to school, but her husband could not raise all the fees from his small salary as a driver, and she knew she had to help out. Although the family also had some livestock, the animals were owned...
There are lots of barriers standing between girls and education. School fees, uniforms, food and water, and safe travel conditions all play a role in whether a girl can go to school. But there’s another crucial factor that often gets overlooked: access to period products. Women and girls living in poverty struggle to afford menstrual products. As a result, young girls often miss school during their periods. Some even resort to creating makeshift pads out of torn rags and old...
It starts off small. Often, you don’t even notice what’s happening. But before long, it grows, spreading through the population like wildfire. Before you know it, it’s everywhere, and it’s your job to defend yourself against it! If you’re a fan of zombie stories, this scenario probably sounds familiar to you. But it doesn’t just apply to the undead in TV and movies—it also applies to zombie stats! Zombie stats are false or misleading, yet widely thought to be true. Often,...