Issue #191

March 8 is International Women’s Day, celebrated on this date since 1975. It is a day to honour the achievements of women and to remember the stories of those who have shared in the struggle for equality, justice, peace, and development.

This week we bring you the stories of four remarkable women. Our first story comes from Congo-Brazzaville and follows the achievements of Ms. Yvonne Nsayi. In an isolated village, Ms. Nsayi responded to the need for fresh bread by re-opening a local bakery and turning it into a roaring success. On top of that, she bakes donuts for sale, is a farmer, and a mother of four. She is described as an inspiration for both men and women.

Mrs. Beatrice Ambundo is a retired Kenyan teacher who turned her energies towards improving the lives of women in her community. She helped form several farming and catering groups, and taught members farming and cooking skills. The groups are now making a considerable profit by selling their services to other community members.

Our last story comes from South Africa and profiles two women who achieved resounding success as farmers, after starting with very little.

The Notes to broadcasters section links to a lot of information and resources on International Women’s Day, and how you can get involved in activities in your country.

Our other items – Action, Event, Resource, and Script – are all focused on International Women’s Day.

If you create special programming for International Women’s Day, please send us an email or notify us on Barza about the program. You could even send us an audio version of your program. Send your offerings to: farmradioweekly@farmradio.org.

Happy reading!

-The Farm Radio Weekly team

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Thirty-five-year-old Yvonne Nsayi is no ordinary woman. She is a mother of four, a farmer, a donut seller, and the promoter of a local bakery. All in all, she plays an important role in the economic life of her community.

Ms. Nsayi lives in the village of Mangoungou, 100 kilometres north of Brazzaville. Nothing in her early life could have predicted the young woman’s success. She left middle school after she became pregnant. Then she got married. However, Vonvon, as she is affectionately known to villagers, was determined to earn her own income.

She says, “I adjusted badly to being dependent on my husband. I needed to find a lucrative business for my own fulfillment.” As a first step, she asked traditional leaders to grant her a piece of land to start a cassava plantation.

Now, ten years later, Ms. Nsayi manages large fields of cassava and peanuts. She employs day labourers to help her work the fields.

Because the village is isolated, it is difficult for local people to access certain goods, such as fresh bread. On realizing this, Ms. Nsayi decided to broaden her activities. She re-opened a bakery that had been closed for ages.

Before Ms. Nsayi re-opened the bakery, villagers ate bread that had travelled from Brazzaville. Ms. Nsayi explains, “We were obliged to eat bread that was hard and dry after several days of travel. There is a gentleman who left an oven here in Mangoungou, and I was determined to revive our bakery.”

Ms. Nsayi buys all the ingredients for making bread. She pays the village baker, Massouakou Emery, to bake bread. He receives 5,000 CFA francs, about $10 US dollars, for each sack of flour he uses.   The small business found a ready market and is running smoothly. After deducting production costs, Ms. Nsayi makes a profit every week of more than 50,000 CFA, or more than $100 U.S.

As if all these activities were not enough, each early morning, Ms. Nsayi makes donuts. She sells the donuts along with warm, fresh bread. Local farmers buy the baked goods before leaving to work in the fields.

In view of her success, Ms. Nsayi wants to help other women in her village. She plans to organize the women to create a mutual support network. She is convinced that the main problems in her area are the lack of proper roads and means to transport goods.  Through the support network, the women would pool their money to rent a truck to get their goods to the big markets.

The baker, Mr. Emery, is enthusiastic about Ms. Nsayi. He says, “{She] has rekindled the flame of my passion for making bread … She inspires other women in the village. She is a leader of men and women.”

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Bertha Ambundo is a retired teacher in her 70s. As a former teacher, she assisted many poor girls to get an education. In recent years, she has turned her attention to helping women earn money from farming and catering.

Mrs. Ambundo belongs to a church in Kakamega County in western Kenya. Two years ago, she was chosen as director of a women’s ministry at the church. Because there was a lot of poverty among church members, she started discussions on what women could do to earn income.

She says, “After our discussions, we agreed that the church members should form different groups, based on the enterprises they wanted to do.… Some people opted to do vegetable farming, others indicated poultry, and the other group decided to do catering.”

Two catering groups were formed, each with 20 members. One group cooks for church events such as funerals and weddings. They also bake cakes and decorate for events.

This group earns about 15,000 Kenyan shillings, or more than $180 U.S., each time they cook for a function. Part of this money is invested in a group bank. Over time, the group purchased all the catering supplies it needs. This has increased profits, because the group no longer needs to rent supplies for each event.

The catering group purchases most of its vegetables and poultry from the farming groups formed by other church members. Mrs. Ambundo explains, “I motivated them to start greenhouses in which they grow vegetables. Among the vegetables are the delicious African indigenous vegetables like the black nightshade, whose price in local restaurants is very high.”

Mrs. Ambundo uses her own farm to teach church members how to grow vegetables and manage poultry. She explains, “I am also a farmer and I have all these activities in my farm. I take the members to my home and demonstrate to them how to raise poultry, how to grow vegetables and spices in greenhouses, and how to cook food.”

Mrs. Ambundo’s desire to help society began when she was a young woman working in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. She formed a women’s group called SAIDIA, which raised money to treat children with physical disabilities.

As a former teacher, Mrs. Ambundo has a passion for educating girls, who are neglected in most African societies. She asked her church for land to construct a big guest house. The guest house would bring in money to fund the education of poor children. She is writing proposals to donors and her many international friends.

Mrs. Ambundo asks God to give her more years on earth so that she can continue to help vulnerable people. She has some advice for Kenyans: “Let us produce more than what we can consume, so that we can also make money. Let us do greenhouse farming because the demand for vegetables and rabbits is now high, especially in hotels that are in towns.”

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In 1989, Linda Nghatsane abandoned her work as a lecturer at a nursing college to pursue a career in farming. Ms. Nghatsane grew up in a farming environment. Her husband works as an agricultural extension officer. And now she’s a successful farmer in Mbombela, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.

Her story is likely to inspire other women in part because she started with only a backyard vegetable garden. Now she raises poultry and grows vegetables on a 10-hectare plot. Ms. Nghatsane sells her produce in Pretoria market and in Johannesburg. She helps support her family and dreams of becoming a commercial farmer.

When Mrs. Nghatsane bought her land, there was no water, electricity, or infrastructure. So she drilled a borehole, built chicken houses, and fenced the farm, with assistance from the Department of Agriculture and Land Administration.

Mrs. Nghatsane says she has succeeded because she is passionate about farming. She adds, “I encourage my fellow women to persevere, conquer fear, work hard and engage in farming.”

But being a woman farmer brings challenges. Mrs. Nghatsane explains that women farmers work more hours than men. There are several reasons for this, but in part it is because women do farming activities like weeding that are inherently time-consuming. Mrs. Nghatsane says that, when farm businesses are profitable, men are highly involved and tend to dominate decision-making. But when things are not going well, men migrate to cities and look for other work.

Despite these challenges, Mrs. Nghatsane has progressed from growing vegetables in a backyard to working a 10-hectare plot. In 2008, she won the award for National Female Farmer of the Year.
When she started farming, Mrs. Nghatsane made around R300 a week, or about $40 US. Now she raises 20,000 chickens and makes about R5000 per week, or more than $650 U.S.
Mrs. Nghatsane gives back to her community by conducting trainings on growing vegetables and raising poultry. She also cares for and supports orphans and vulnerable children.

Florence Mlimi is another woman who also persevered against the odds to become a respected farmer. She now owns more than 9,000 chickens and 40 cattle. Her 28-hectare farm is in South Africa’s Mpumulanga province, east of Johannesburg.

Ms. Mlimi learned vegetable farming and farm business skills at Johannesburg’s Early Bird Training Center. She now raises livestock and grows a variety of vegetables, plus strawberries and oyster mushrooms.

Trainings and interaction with other farmers have helped Ms. Mlimi become a better farmer. She says, “I started farming in 1997, and I would like to continue learning farming techniques so that in future I can diversify into other crops.”

But marketing remains a major challenge, as it is for many farmers in her community. She does not have a regular market for her goods, so sells her cattle to individuals who hold parties, weddings, and funerals. She sells her vegetables in regional markets where there is a lot of competition.

Ms. Mlimi is a member of the National Farmers Association in South Africa. The organization helps her find markets for her produce.

Ms. Mlimi feels that farming is difficult and requires hard work. She describes her road to success, saying, “I saved a little and started small and grew bit by bit. I love what I do. And that is what makes me successful.”

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The first International Women’s Day was celebrated 37 years ago on March 8, 1975. The theme for International Women’s Day 2012 is particularly relevant to the work of African rural broadcasters and of Farm Radio International: Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.

The Wikipedia entry on International Women’s Day gives a little history and context:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women’s_Day

The WomenWatch website, operated by the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, has lots of resources on a wide variety of issues of special relevance to women: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/

Here is a website described as “A global hub for sharing International Women’s Day news, events and resources”: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

You can search for International Women’s Day events in your country at: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/events.asp

The Commission on the Status of Women is a global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to the promotion of gender equality and the advancement of women. “The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges” is a priority theme of the commission this year. Click here to see videos of commission sessions currently underway at the United Nations in New York.

Farm Radio International has published many scripts on women’s rights, women’s roles in farming and the family, and other issues.  You can search our archived scripts on gender and development at: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/gender.asp

Farm Radio Weekly has distributed a great number of stories which focus on women’s particular roles, issues, challenges, and experiences. A quick browse through the Farm Radio Weekly website will turn up many women’s stories. Here are two of our most recent stories that focus on women:

-Kenya: A farmer makes her fortune by turning weeds into juice (FRW#189, February 2012) http://weekly.farmradio.org/2012/02/20/kenya-a-farmer-makes-her-fortune-by-turning-weeds-into-juice-by-sawa-pius-for-farm-radio-weekly-in-kenya/

-Madagascar: Women break with tradition by embracing farming and improving lives (FRW #184, January 2012) http://weekly.farmradio.org/2012/01/09/madagascar-women-break-with-tradition-by-embracing-farming-and-improving-lives-by-patrick-andriamihaja-for-farm-radio-weekly-in-madagascar/
Are there women in your community who would make interesting subjects for a radio profile? Are there women’s groups who are working for women’s land rights, or for better recognition of women as innovative and progressive farmers? You might want to do a special program for International Women’s Day, or even an ongoing program on women’s issues.

Please let us know if you create any special programming for International Women’s Day. You could send us a description of your program, or, if possible, even send us an audio version of your program at farmradioweekly@farmradio.org.

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Women Make the News (WMN) is a global policy advocacy initiative aimed at promoting gender equality in the media. It is launched annually on International Women’s Day, March 8.

The theme for this year – Rural women’s access to media and information – seeks to underscore and stimulate knowledge exchange on the importance of policies and programs to encourage access to media and information in rural communities, particularly for rural women; and good practices and successes in this area as undertaken by public service broadcasters, commercial and community media, and NGOs working to improve rural women’s access to media and information.

Access to media and information by rural women and men has many important dimensions. Within the framework of media’s function to provide information needed by rural women to enhance their economic empowerment and political participation, WMN 2012 focuses on two of these dimensions:

- Can rural women and men access (listen to, read, or watch) radio, newspaper, and television in their communities, (and if so, how?), and how are community media and new media/technologies helping?
- Are rural women actually in charge of media programming, production, and broadcast?

Please join this effort initiated by UNESCO. For information, ideas, and resources to mark the occasion, please check out: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/crosscutting-priorities/gender/women-make-the-news/.

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A reporter from Radio Aurore makes his way down to the Bertoua market in eastern Cameroon. There, he finds and interviews a 40-year-old housewife called Miriam. She holds a bag of groceries in one hand while the other hand rests on her cheek. With a worried look on her face, Miriam laments that food is too expensive.

That’s a sample of one of the many audio reports about women that is posted on the World Association of Community Radio broadcasters’ online audio sharing platform.

The platform is called “Women’s words from Francophone Africa.”Community radio broadcasters from countries such as Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal and others have shared audio pieces on topics as diverse as gender-based violence, maternal health, and women trying to cope with increasing food prices.

To listen to the audio pieces, go to: http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=Plateforme_paroles_femmes (In French only).

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Young radio reporter Ugochi Anyaka went to the town of Mpape, just outside Abuja, Nigeria, to research her award-winning story. There, she met with John, the originator of a unique method of manufacturing briquettes.

As Ms. Anyaka explains in her audio report, Saving the Trees for Paper Briquettes, John is the brains behind a project that uses waste paper to manufacture briquettes. The briquettes are an alternative fuel to traditional firewood. In the report, John explains, “Briquettes are made of paper which you soak into water for two hours, and you press it into the briquette maker and it comes out in the form of bread and you start using it like charcoal.”

Ms. Anyaka’s story won first prize in the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Young Environmental Journalist Award. The 29-year-old says the award is “the greatest moment of joy” in her career. Indeed, Ms. Anyaka’s report beat out more than 120 entries from journalists all across Africa.

The UNEP award “aims to showcase excellence in the field of environmental reporting and nurture new talent that will help to shape opinion on the environment in Africa, and beyond, in years to come.”

Ms. Anyaka explains that her story “was done to show the opportunities in a changing climate – and not just the woes. It also seeks to show the conflicting viewpoints about the Clean Development Mechanism.” (The Clean Development Mechanism is a tool within the Kyoto Protocol to mobilize additional funding in developing countries for investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.)

Ms. Anyaka, a self-proclaimed eco-journalist, can be heard on Aso Radio’s airwaves (one of Farm Radio International’s broadcasting partners)  every Thursday at 9 a.m. as the host of Green Angle, a show that delves into environmental and climate change issues.

To listen to Ms. Anyaka’s award-winning story, go to: http://soundcloud.com/unfccc-cdm-radio-contest/ugochi-anyaka-nigeria

To learn more about Ms. Anyaka and her eco-journalism, you can read her blog, Eco Nigeria, or follow her on twitter: @UgochiAnyaka

To read the UNEP press release about the Young Environmental Journalist Award, see: http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2667&ArticleID=9044&l=en

From all of us at Farm Radio International, congratulations Ugochi!

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To honour International Women’s Day, our script of the week focuses on maternal health. This two-part drama opens at a wedding celebration, and moves on to explore issues such as the need to prepare for antenatal and postnatal care for mothers, and the clash between traditional and modern conceptions of gender roles.

You can read this entertaining and enlightening mini-drama at: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/83-1script_en.asp and http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/83-2script_en.asp.

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