Inspiring Stories

FAS knows that women, especially those living in conflict-torn countries, are facing many challenges, barriers and difficulties. Economic empowerment is one way to fight back; teaming up with other women to gain influence is another.

Click on the links below to read and be inspired by these women’s stories.

DRC: Famiya – from malnutrition to earning a living »

Famiya Omari, a 50-year-old mother of five, once trudged for miles each day in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to feed her family. Now, she sells the bread and soap that she’s learnt to make at a vocational centre run by a local NGO.

Famiya counts among some 660 women enrolled at her area’s training centre. As part of a World Food Programme ‘Food for Training’ scheme, she receives daily rations of cornflower, pulses, oil and salt to feed her family while she learns new skills. Straw baskets, brightly coloured crocheted doilies, cakes of soap and student uniforms are all made and sold during the three-month training period, with profits being divided among the women.

“Women go to the centre largely because they know they will earn food for their families,” says Marie Therese Cimanuka, field aid monitor assistant at WFP’s Kalemie office. “It really motivates them.”

Malnutrition is an endemic problem in DRC, a country where an estimated 11 percent of the population does not eat enough to lead a healthy life. Besides craft-making, the women are also trained in vegetable farming at the centre, helping to improve their families’ diets further.

In addition to grinding poverty, thousands of women in DRC fell victim to sexual violence during the 1997-2003 civil war, which has left behind untold physical and psychological scars. Famiya, like many of the women at the training centre, was one of them.

Though she has not forgotten the pain and humiliation, today she and women like her are playing a leading role in DRC’s economic recovery. “I don’t earn much now,” she says. “But eventually I’d like to expand so that I can make more soap, and earn more money.”

DRC: the WOPPA women making a difference »

The Democratic Republic of Congo was devastated by war from 1997 to 2003. Women and children were the worst victims, and sexualised violence was particularly rampant throughout this turbulent period. However, one group of DRC women united across the political divide to make their voices heard, taking the opportunity of International Women’s Day to give the Congolese government a presentation they were not likely to forget in a long time.

On March 8, 2002, the Women as Partners for Peace in Africa made their entry into the government’s Conference Hall holding aloft a tattered and torn map of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and begged the men to do all in their power to heal the DRC and restore peace and reconciliation in their country. The women from each side of the conflict had exchanged their kitenge cloths, and to drive the message home, the women’s message was read by a disabled woman lawyer, a poignant metaphor for the consequences of war on the DRC.

After dramatically singing the National Anthem, the women presented a mime on the Congo situation which moved the representatives to tears. After the drama, they gave their declaration to the belligerents. The declaration stated the women’s need for peace and reconciliation.

After that day the real negotiations began. The women had given the men the impetus to dialogue.

To download a PDF recounting the full story of their combat, please click here.

Liberia – women bringing peace to the country

“I am not a politician but an educator, whose profession only allows her to nose in and out of the political arena, guide politicians and would-be politicians in the positive knowhow of political life…..,” Mary N. Brownell.

Mary N. Brownell is a household name not only in Liberia but across the sub-region and even beyond the continent. She is an educator and was among 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.

Mother Brownell, as she is affectionately called by many, has a claim to fame as an activist and a women’s rights advocate because of the pivotal role she played in advocating nothing but peace during the Liberian civil war. She founded the Liberian Women Initiative (LWI), the only vocal and effective women’s organization during the heat of the war which dared to dare warlords, through peaceful demonstrations, attendance at all peace negotiations conferences without official invitations.

With the sole aim to denounce atrocities, especially those committed against women, children and the youth, Mother Brownell got involved in efforts to mobilize women and create a women’s movement to be a peace or pressure group. She started this challenging task with a small group of women, but a need for creating a national women’s movement soon arose. At the crux of her advocacy was one message: Peace and Respect for the rights of women in times of conflict.

Her LWI advocated for a ceasefire by staging a stay-home action for all women in the country.

Mother Brownell is also a founding member of the Mano River Women Peace Network (MARWOPNET), a network created thanks to the support of Femmes Africa Solidarité. Her incessant and unwavering advocacy for disarmament and peace transcended the borders of Liberia into other parts of the West African sub-region and beyond by networking with other women peace crusaders in the Mano River Union (MRU) countries. It takes a certain kind of woman to threaten to lock up two African Presidents who had a major influence on the prospect of peace in the sub-region. With Brownell at the forefront, this group accomplished the seemingly impossible task of bringing together the then three heads of state of the Mano River Union (MRU) to negotiate terms of peace on a regional level. Convincing them to agree to meet, was a feat all be itself and, when accomplished, was a major milestone in the path to peace in the Mano River Union (MRU) region because a major wall had been broken down.

For her, the survival of her people was probably the greatest challenge.

In Africa, it is strange for women to have such influence on Presidents because it is usually the men who do all the negotiations. These women didn’t have it easy but they stood strong in their resolve to see this happen even to a point where one of the women stood up in front of Conteh and threatened to lock him up in the same room with Taylor and sit on the key until they both made a commitment to peace.

Extract from article published in Liberian Observer, ‘Women who inspire’.

Liberia: Tina – from refugee to successful businesswoman »

Tina Jatei Kpan remembers the exact date during the 14-year Liberian civil war when she thought she was going to die. “Friday the 13th is a bad day, yeah. That is the day that I was taken to be executed.” Tina was in a taxi that day in 1990 when soldiers stopped the car. Beaten and threatened with execution, she was only released when some of the soldiers realised that Tina’s father had once been their teacher.

Fleeing to Ghana, Tina stayed for 17 years as a refugee, walking the streets of Accra braiding hair for survival. Saving money, she learned Batik Art, and in 1997 opened a batik school, training fellow Liberian refugees. With the proceeds she started a small sewing business in her living room. Gradually the business gained momentum, and Tina opened a mini factory employing 13 full time workers and 12 part-time workers, exporting her wears to USA, Britain and Botswana. In 2007, Tina returned home to Liberia to set up an apparel manufacturing company. She now runs KaSaWa Fashion Liberia, which creates Batik Art, handbags, hats and more.

But starting a business in Liberia is just the first hurdle; expanding is the real challenge. She was able to develop her business thanks to FAS and its programme: Training and Mentoring of Women-Led Businesses in Liberia, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Mozambique and Senegal.

The project, managed via FAS’s PanAfrican Centre, has so far helped 24 women to boost their businesses. As well as receiving training in finance, marketing, and business planning, the scheme has also built their self-esteem and confidence and given them a chance to work their families out of poverty, and gain respect and value in their communities.

Tina is among the many women in Liberia who were raped, beaten and displaced during the civil war, but who are now coming back to the country, talking about the past, and looking to the future.

Rwanda: the influence of the FAS Award »

In 2007, Rwandan President Paul Kagame received the FAS African Gender Award, which recognises African leaders who have significantly improved the lives of women in their own country.

Since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has been distinguished for its integration of women in the reconstruction process, the fight against gender-based violence, the protection of the rights of women and girls, the promotion of women’s right to economic development and to own property, as well as the right of women and girls to equal education, particularly in rural zones.

Following the Awards, President Kagame and his government have consistently demonstrated the political will to respect and fulfill women’s rights, and the country is regarded in some domains as a real beacon of inspiration.

For example, before the 2008 parliamentary elections, 49 per cent of legislators were women. After the elections, the figure rose to 56 per cent, unprecedented – at least in modern history – anywhere else in the world.

The GREAT Inititiative - Gender Right & Equality Trust

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