For my final blog post, I’d like to focus on the role of education in abating violence against women (VAW) worldwide. Of the three solutions I have proposed thus far––policy, media, and now, education––I feel as though the latter is perhaps the most important because it really gets at the root of the problem, namely the perpetual devaluation and denigration of women. Generally speaking, education is empowering––we know that. Indeed, a large part of my self-confidence comes from the education I have and continue to receive, and it’s what got my parents to where they are today. This kind of education may be even more crucial for women in conflict situations. A recent study by Jewkes et al. (http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2002/9241545615_chap6_eng.pdf) showed that educated women display a lower risk of being abused (though the correlation is not entirely linear). This is because educational reforms 1) lead to safer, more informed practices by women and 2) empower women to take up jobs that do not lend themselves to abuse, such as prostitution.

These findings may seem obvious and, indeed, were covered thoroughly in class and in the readings. What is less obvious is that much of the physical and sexual harassment around the world takes place within educational settings. The aforementioned study cited some disturbing statistics:

• In a study of six African countries, 16-47% of female students in primary and secondary schools reported sexual abuse either by male students or by male teachers.
• In Botswana, 20% of female students were asked to engage in sexual activity with their male teachers.
• In Cameroon, male teachers were responsible for 8% of all sexual violence against girls.
• In Ecuador, 22% of teenage girls were assaulted by someone at school.

To bring it home a little bit more, a school-based study in Cape Town, South Africa asked high school girls to draw where they felt most unsafe at school. The following map shows that the most dangerous places according to the girls were: 1) the male teachers’ staff room, where girls would be summoned to do “errands,” only to be sexual harassed upon arriving 2) the bathrooms, where gangs would lie wait to assault girls and 3) the gates of the school, where former students would congregate and attack girls as they came in (Picture from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDER/Resources/Education.pdf)

Unsafe zones at school

Thus, it appears that schools are at once major contributors to VAW and key advocates in the fight against VAW. As outlined by the Prepared for the Gender and Development Group (PREM, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDER/Resources/Education.pdf), three steps can be taken to eliminate VAW in the school setting:

1. Implement policies that punish any type of sexual misconduct committed on school grounds. A good precedent for this is the 2000 Employment of Educators Act, which calls for the removal of instructors who engage in any type of sexual wrongdoing with a student.

2. Heighten the awareness and response to VAW in the school setting. This might include providing protection for girls on their way to school; training educators to detect cases of violence and abuse; and offering counseling services for victims.

3. Hold the community accountable for girls’ safe education. By involving the entire community, there will be increased awareness and openness about the problem. Likewise, tackling the problem as a group will prevent retaliation against individual girls.

Hopefully, these steps can begin to eradicate the prevalent and surprising problem of VAW in the school setting. As I see it, such schools are at a crossroads of sorts and how they respond to the aforementioned charges and statistics will go a long way in determining how women are treated from here on out.

Contracting Blackwater and Fight Rape

Let’s get controversial. How can American youth collaborate with — rather, contract — Blackwater in order to end rape. I recently learned of an organization looking into just that. Obviously this is controversial, and not without obvious challenges. For example, another blogger recently wrote about the difficulties in convicting military contractors of rape in other countries when on combat missions. But crazy as it sounds, there is real potential here.

Evidence is key to convicting criminals in all violent acts. As we’ve discussed in class, and I’ve profiled here. This is particularly difficult in cases of rape, and even harder in cases of rape during war. How do you prove that these acts are occurring, and harder, show evidence as to who is committing them. Let’s take Darfur. Darfur is the size of Texas. How can one locate acts of violence, let alone get close enough to document these atrocities.

An unmanned drown could do it. Blackwater will send up an unmanned drone to document atrocities for $1.2 million a month. This would fly above the visible range and capture video footage — footage that could be used in court cases against abusive governments. I would give credit to the group that came up with this idea, but I’ll leave it off in case there are any confidentiality issues while this idea is in formation.

So, what do you think? Is it ethical to work with a group that is known to have been problematic in terms of issues related to sexual assault in order to further the cause? If so, where does one draw the line?

Jonny

The past seven weeks I have been discussing the plethora of issues associated with sex trafficking ranging from the reasons why and how it has become so popular, to the topic of sex tourism in places like Thailand, to the influence of organized crime, just to name a few. However, in all these weeks I have yet to discuss possible solutions for this abhorrent problem. This week I’d like to provide some ideas that have already been taken up by those involved with the abolitionist movement.

The root of the problem lies in the demand of sex trafficking and other sex work, such as prostitution. If we take away the demand for prostitution by limiting the supply of women and children, this would be a step in the right direction. In order to tackle the large demand for women and children, we must first clearly define the components that make-up that demand. They include: the men who buy commercial sex acts, the exploiters of the sex industry, the destination countries, and the society that tolerates and even sometimes promotes sexual exploitation.

The men in this situation are the buyers of commercial sex acts. They use and abuse women for their pleasure only to discard them once they are done. These men do not respect women and are looking to experience control in their short term relationship with these women and children.

The traffickers, pimps, brothel owners, criminals, and corrupt officials are the exploiters of the business. “They make money from the sale of sex as a commodity.” Traffickers and organized crime groups are normally the perpetrators that receive the most publicity, but corrupt government officials have a significant role in the perpetuation of sex trafficking. They must turn a blind eye to the blatant advertising for this type of work. As such, “corruption is an enabler for prostitution and trafficking. Where prostitution is illegal, the operation of brothels requires the collaboration of officials and police, who must be willing to ignore or work with pimps and traffickers.” For the right sum of money, this can be easily arranged.

The third component of demand is the state. Some countries tolerate or have even legalized sex work. Because many countries see sex work as a source of income for the economy, its not hard to see that these same countries are passively contributing to the demand problem. “If we consider that the demand is the driving force of trafficking, then it is important to analyze the destination countries’ or cities’ laws and policies. Officials in destination countries or cities do not want to admit responsibility for the problem of prostitution and sex trafficking or be held accountable for creating the demand.”

The last component is the culture and mass media of our society. The media has the power to normalize prostitution, “by portraying prostitution as glamorous or a way to make a lot of money quickly and easily.” This false ideology has created a huge negative shift in the self-perception of women, but also an increase in the number of women soliciting their bodies for money and men buying them.

Currently, there is an abolitionist movement sweeping Europe. These abolitionists are focused on the Czech Republic as the government is moving forward with the legalization of prostitution. This will ultimately affect all of Europe as “the redefinition of prostitution as a form of work for women [will] deeply threaten the rights and status of women everywhere.” Other countries have tried to legalize sex work and it has done absolutely nothing for them. Why, then is it expected to make a difference in the Czech Republic?

The only way to end sexual exploitation and the abuse of women and children is to go to the root of the cause; the factors that make up the demand. By tackling each of these components, there will hopefully be no demand and therefore, no need for a supply. Those who are responsible should obviously be penalized for their crimes with the hope that the price you would pay for being involved would be so grave that no one would want to risk participating.

Thus to greatly reduce the number of sex work victims, we must eliminate the demand for these women. I believe Professor Donna M. Hughes made a poignant point when she said, “If there were no brothels waiting for victims, no victims would be recruited. If there were no states that profited from the sex trade, there would be no regulations that facilitated the flow of women from poor towns to wealthier sex industry centers. If there were no false messages about prostitution, no women or girls would be deceived into thinking prostitution is a glamorous or legitimate job.”

Thus far I have searched far and wide for communities without domestic terror, and for ways to solve domestic terror.  I fear that I have abstracted the issue of domestic terror to the point where I have obfuscated the real problems.  This final blog is dedicated to highlighting the most grotesque instances, statistics, and apathy surrounding domestic terror in order to remind the reader and myself that domestic terror is abhorrent and unacceptable.  For an uplifting closure on what we can do to end domestic terror, please see my past blog entry on community intervention projects.

The first issue I wish to address is that of sex trafficking and sex work.  Often the most egregious violence, terror, and torture is inflicted on the youthful, female population that comprises the majority of sex workers (though some male children and youth are also trafficked).  The sex worker faces violence from nearly everyone in her life, the “madame” or brothel owner/administrator, clients, police, peacekeeping forces, and the list goes on.  Of course this physical trauma is merely the tip of the iceberg for these young women – the psychological damage is monstrous and can be devastating, debilitating, and death-inducing (sometimes from suicide).   This problem has been described by many as “intractable,” a ruinous reality that we, as concerned individuals, must cope with because traffickers devote their one-hundred percent into turning this “profit,” while we fight this hellish system with somewhat less resolve.

The next issue I wish to articulate is female genital mutilation, a practice of ritual female genital cutting that predisposes and causes extreme health risks for the recipient of such an act of violence.  I call this violence without hesitation because it represents a breach of security of person, regardless of whether the recipient cognitively labels it as suffering or not.  The most tragic aspect of FGM is the institutionalized nature of this violence; men, women, and children are complacent in this act of violence which negative health consequences remain undisputable and irrefutable.   The good news with regard to this practice is that the solutions seem more within reach – it may be possible to maintain the ritual, usually surrounding wedding ceremonies, while significantly reducing or abolishing the practice of cutting the female genital organs.

Lastly, I hope to remind readers of the horrible acts of violence done to women in conflict situations and war.  The use of rape, murder, and violence in general to destroy communities through the social fabric woven by women illustrates a side of the human capacity for evil of which we should truly be ashamed.  This extreme terror that governments, rebel fighters, politicians, and ordinary citizens seem to justify through their explicit denial of its wrongness or their silence, only work to maintain this status quo madness and stall women’s rights.

Although this discussion reveals nothing new for the readers of this blog, I do feel it is necessary to harp on such gross violations of human rights because the extent to which they are wrong, coupled with our tendency toward complacency, make for a menacingly frightful scenario.  I invite all readers to comment on domestic terror in general, how these specific issues can be ameliorated or why they cannot, and anything else that this post brought up for you.   Thank you for your loyal readership (albeit mandatory).

My previous post have addressed mass rape as alternatively an act of sexual violence, which impinges upon an individual woman’s rights and alternatively as a strategy of war, intended to degrade a community, society, or nation. One of my concerns; however, is that most efforts which address mass rape focus upon caring for the survivors of this atrocity. While this is certainly a necessary step, other preventative measures must also be taken. In my previous post, I suggested that all-male education programs can be implemented to instruct men about the ways in which they debase their communities and demean themselves when they conduct rape. However, there are other actions that can also be taken.

Currently, courts are too ill-equipped to handle cases regarding rape in a quick and effective manner. Thus, most of the perpetrators go unpunished. For instance, South Kiwu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has one military court, two military tribunals, and one military magistrate who must try 22 cases in 10 days. Moreover, excessive court fees discourage women from bringing cases. Thus, while 31,700 cases of sexual violence were recorded in South Kiwu between January 2005 and July 2007, less than 0.2% of these cases were brought to court and just over 0.1% resulted in a conviction. As long as rape is not punished and is, on the contrary, regarded as a ever day occurrence, it will be very difficult to prevent.

Many have suggested that the courts do not provide a forum in which to try the soldiers who commit mass rape. While it is true that these courts may be limited in such a way, it is important to note that in many cases, it is not soldiers, but civilians who are engaging in sexual violence. Until the lack of peace and lack of justice in areas like the DRC is corrected, sexual violence will remain a problem.

Another method for protecting women is to implement measures to increase their physical security. If a perpetrator cannot get to a woman, he cannot violate her. Unfortunately, women often find themselves trapped in their homes, unable to move around freely. Stick and thatch houses do not hinder access by violent, crazed soldiers. Measures to improve physical security may include creating safe houses for women protected by strong walls and locked doors and ideally, armed guards. These safe houses could also provide victims with long term psychological rehabilitation and could offer survivors legal aid.

If the perpetrators of mass rape consider it to be a strategy or tactic for advancing their military campaign, those involved in the solution must perceive mass rape as a security threat. One would not wait idly for aggressive troops to attack a vulnerable village. Instead, they would implement protective measures and improve the infrastructure of the area to make it less defenseless. Similarly, women should be empowered and protected. 

Last week I blogged on the role of policy as one solution to the problem of violence against women in wartime. Today, I’d like to talk about how media tools can serve as witness to and healing for the crimes perpetrated against women. What gave me the idea for this week’s topic was actually last week’s Oscars. As you all know by now, Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” won big last weekend, taking home the coveted “Best Picture” award. And as you also know (at least for those who have seen it), the film is a not-so-fictional account of the reality that many Indian girls face, namely poverty, sex trafficking, and abuse, to name a few. The parallelism between the themes presented in “Slumdog” and the issues discussed this week was stunning. It shed light on a practice that is all-too-common in India and brought it to the forefront of the world’s consciousness. For me, that was true power of that film.

There are other examples of how media can be employed as an effective agent for peace. One such paradigm comes from Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, who serves as Executive Director for the ISIS-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (ISIS-WICCE) in Uganda (http://www.isis.or.ug/bkp/). Through this exchange, female war victims recount their experiences in front of a camera, after which the tapes are replayed to policymakers. For Ochieng, giving policymakers something tangible to work with (besides just numbers and statistics) is absolutely essential:

“The expressions on the survivors’ face, the tears rolling down their cheeks, the mutilated parts of their bodies – none of these could be part of their stories. It was important to expose the visual magnitude of pain, to which mainstream media was mostly indifferent. The video camera became handy at this point. It became a powerful tool to project women’s suffering–physical, mental, psychological and economic.”

Lest one think Ochieng merely uses female victims as props to tug on heart strings, be assured that Ochieng ensures that these women have a voice in any talks pertaining to their survival and livelihood. Such was the case when negotiations went down between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Right in the middle of these talks were the female victims of war, whose voices were considered because they were first captured on video by Ochieng. Ochieng’s video testimonies have been so effective that they are now being employed in 50 different war-torn countries, many of them African, and she has the ears of governments and NGOs to ensure that women are active participants in the peace-building process. Many of these video testimonies have been compiled into one cohesive video, A Lingering Pain, which is now being used by the U.N. as somewhat of a guide for countering gender-based violence in other countries.

The other example I’d like to call attention to is the International Rescue Committee’s still photography project entitled “A Global Crescendo: Women’s Voices from Conflict Zones” (http://www.theirc.org/special-report/ending-violence-against-women.html). Working in conflict-ridden African countries such as Sierra Leone and the DRC, the project gives voice to women by arming them with digital cameras for the purpose of documenting their lives and their surroundings. According to Ann Jones, a teacher in this project:

“I teach them to point and shoot — only that — and then I turn them loose to snap what they will. I ask them to bring me some photos of their problems and their blessings… It takes the whole team to snap the first photos: one holds the camera, another points, another shoots.”

As this is the first time many of these women have used any form of technology, the project is extremely empowering. What is more, at the end of each project, the teacher selects two women to present their photos before the village. This is also incredibly empowering as many of these women have never even addressed their families in such a formal manner, let alone an entire village.

As you can see, the media can be an effective tool in bringing healing and reconciliation to even the most harrowing scenarios. In fact, you need to look no further than the movie screenings we’ve had in this class to know the impact the media can have. And with the world becoming more technologically advanced, such an impact will be absolutely integral to the cause of women’s rights.

Up to this point, my blogs have focused on domestic terror in the United States and abroad, the role of patriarchy in domestic terror, the impact of matrilineal ordered societies on domestic terror, and finally, the efficacy of a community-based approach that brings domestic terror from the private to the public sphere.  For the second-to-last blog I would like to turn to an investigation of domestic terror and its similarities to “terrorism” in an attempt to strengthen these past analyses.

First, let me reasonably justify my word choice of domestic terror.  I call what is commonly known as “domestic violence” instead “domestic terror,” because like terrorism, the actions of the perpetrator often lack any certain purpose.  More articulately stated by Laura Gradinariu in her paper “Domestic Violence – a micro-level terrorism?,” she says, “we are able to see the actions of the perpetrators, but most of the time the questions ‘Why did they do it? What do they want?’ remain unanswered.”

Even if the perpetrator has an identifiable “goal” such as inspiring fear in his victim, the manifestations and mechanisms of terrorism and domestic violence remain quite similar.  Domestic violence activists and educators often stress the notion of patterned violent and controlling behaviors.  Indeed, there is a pattern in terms of the frequency at which such abhorrent acts are carried out, but there is often less of a pattern in terms of the precipitating factor for the violence.  Terrorism is similarly random and wanton, and often with unclear or stated goals other than inspiring anxiety.

The psychological dynamics of domestic violence and terrorism are also similar; they both lead to intimidation of the victim, a communication structure based on violence, and a hierarchical structure promoted or assumed by the violent actors.  I will delve further into the latter two mentioned here.  In both domestic violence and terrorism, communication is based on violence, how the victim and perpetrator interact is dictated, directly or indirectly, by the violence going on between them.  Furthermore, superiority, be it moral, gender, religion, or political-based is assumed by the perpetrator when he carries out his acts of violence.  This is the hierarchy that Professor Firth Murray has articulated both in From Outrage to Courage and in class, which in her words needs “a global mind shift.”  We see the notion of hierarchy promoted in both terrorism and domestic violence.

Granted, there are real differences between domestic violence and terrorism; in the former we know very intimately who the perpetrator is, while in the latter we often have no idea who the perpetrator is.   However, I would argue that they are more similar than different, even in the perpetrator’s methods: direct threats and violence to the victim, an innocent or intimate third party, or damage to property.

By calling it domestic terror, we may be able to shake the masses out of their apathy toward domestic violence, relationship abuse, or whatever the politically correct term for it is today.  Our society is terror-trigger-happy, so this diction can hopefully bring us to action with regard to domestic terror.

Another interesting thought experiment would be whether we can call “domestic terror” instead “domestic torture.”  At first glance, there seem to be many similarities as well.

What do you think?  Have I gone too far with the “terror” label?  Does calling it “torture” cross the line?

After talking about the trafficking of women within foreign countries, this weeks reading proved to be particularly interesting as it addresses the trafficking that occurs right here in the United States. A few stories of women and children trafficked in the U.S. were shared in the article, “International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime,” and I’d like to reiterate a few of them for they set the tone for the topic of this week’s blog.

For instance, a Floridan family was recently taken into custody for forcing a 12 year old girl, brought from Haiti, to be a maid and repeatedly assaulting her. In New York, a Nigerian smuggling ring is charging parents $10,000 to $20,000 to bring their children to the U.S., promising the parents that their children will have better educational opportunities. Once in the U.S, the ring forces the Nigerian children to work as domestics. From February 1997 to August 1998 in Woodbine, Maryland, a pastor was bringing Estonian children, ages 14 to 17, promising them they would attend Calvary Chapel Christian University but then forcing them to clean roach-invested apartments and install office furniture. The children were working 15 hours a day and being paid about $10 to $50 a week. Some children were threatened that they would be sent home if they refused, and punishments included skipping meals and standing in one spot for prolonged periods.

Personally, I found these stories to be appalling, as I’m sure many others shared the same feeling upon reading them. Not only are these criminal acts occurring right in our own neighborhoods, but they are being committed by supposedly educated Americans. One would expect a well-educated person to understand that what they are doing is wrong and to find other means to attend to their domestic chores and/or obtain monetary wages.

Another aspect of trafficking that I found particularly interesting, that our guest speaker spoke about and that was mentioned in our readings, is that of organized criminal groups. “An organized criminal group is a structured group of three or more persons existing for a period of time and having the aim of committing a serious crime in order to, directly or indirectly, obtain a financial or other material benefit,”. As was mentioned, many women and children are trafficked via a process that is controlled by organized gangs, or groups, smuggling rings, loosely linked criminal networks, and other corrupt individuals. It is still unclear as to how involved organized criminal groups are in the trafficking business mainly due to the lack of attention trafficking in the United States has gotten from law enforcement officers. However for instance, we do know that Russian organized crime groups are present in the U.S. and are clearly involved in the smuggling and/or prostitution of illegal aliens. These criminal groups are also involved in trafficking of women in the U.S. and will continue to be involved, as a consequence of the lucrativeness of the industry.

This just goes to show, that in fact, the United States has turned a blind eye to this problem. The United States is one of the furthest countries from recognizing that trafficking is, indeed, a prevalent problem and the stories mentioned above are a testament to that. It is also obvious, that not enough is known about the internetwork of these groups, in terms of their role in the trafficking industry. As such, more resources need to be devoted to collecting data on the issue in order to bring an end to trafficking in the United States.

As I mentioned in my last posting, having examined the incentives for rape, I will no turn to potential solutions. Unfortunately, my research into rape thus far, has presented a rather despondent picture. It seems that men engage in mass rape for multiple reasons, including ethnic cleansing, fertilization, terror, socialization, and due to their own biological impulse for sexual aggression. Upon initial consideration, it seems as if the alleged incentives to participate in mass rape can be so numerous, that there is no way to prevent it.
Yet there is a common denominator that I have discerned when reviewing incentives for rape. The men who engage in mass rape believe that it is an acceptable behavior. They do not perceive themselves as criminals – in fact, in the case of the soldiers from the Congo, they view themselves as patriots. Thus, I would like to suggest that one solution to mass rape is to educate men regarding the ways in which engaging in rape makes them a criminal, degrades their communities, and denigrates their societies in the eyes of the active members of the international arena. Conversely, men who do not engage in rape should be portrayed as protectors and supporters or allies of raped women. Some studies have indicated that men are less likely to rape after viewing a “How to Help a Sexual Assault Survivor Video.”
Some have proposed that men be educated about the consequences of rape. They should be told about the way it belittles women and the harm it inflicts upon the victims and their families. However, I do not consider this an acceptable approach. In a conflict situation, combatants are seeking to cause harm. Educating them about the ways to mitigate harm can only encourage them to continue to pursue these atrocious behaviors. Instead of allowing them to revel in their role as aggressors, they should be forced to wallow in their position as heathens.
A good forum for executing this education is through all-male education program. A study of all-male rape prevention peer education program amongst fraternity men demonstrated significant declines in rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to rape amongst participants. In this setting, men are less likely to become defensive.

Data from Foubert, John and Marylu McEwen “An All-Male Rape Prevention peer education program: Decreasing Fraternity Men’s Behavioral Intent to Rape.” ˆJournal of College Student Development: 548- 556

This week’s class we focussed heavily on rape in the Congo, and on the types of solutions we need, like true human protection and economic empowerment. It all felt very abstract, so I thought I’d write about one example of economic interventions in action. Next week, I’ll write about civilian efforts to provide real safety. I’ll give you one hint — it involves youth in America contracting Blackwater. Yea… interesting stuff. But for this week, I’m going to write about economic empowerment.

Before looking at why economic empowerment is an effective tool to address rape, we must look at why rape is so rampant in war, and its impact on peacebuilding. There are various reasons soldiers rape civilians in war; some relate to superstitions, some to the widespread lawlessness, but in the end, the most common theme is that mass rape effectively tears apart the society of your enemy. Women are the bedrock of society, and also carry the next generation into this world. If a military force can ruin the lives of women in front of their community, and even impregnate them with their seed, they are well on their way to conquering a community. It’s the disgusting truth, that is made all the more awful by the cycle it perpetuates. How can a community stop a war once it has been torn down to such an ravished, base status? And once fighting does stop, how can a community rebuild that has been so brutally ravished. The answer, frequently, is that it can’t, and this state of desperation, anger, and stagnation leads to more and more war. We see this in central Africa. Before there was a war in the Congo, there was war in Rwanda, and before Rwanda, there was war in Burundi, etc. And in each of these wars, mass rape has been brutal and widespread. The men who are raping women in Kivu Provence today are many of the same men who raped the women currently living in refugee camps in Zambia, who fled back in 1999, some of whom returned just before the more recent upswing in violence.

Effective Peacebuilding must address this heinous act directly is there is to be any chance of breaking the chain of violence. Communities cannot escape this cycle is the bedrock of communities are constantly under assault.

One great example of someone crafting peacebuilding around this principle and lifting communities out of the cycle of war is Zainab Salbi. We know economic empowerment is key to peace-building. It provides a means for survival and empowers victims of war. She asked a simple questions: Why not provide microfinance to rape victims in post-conflict regions? This would empower those who have been wronged, she thought, which is amazing on its own, but in doing so, it would also help heal a societies’ emotional and economic scars. So, in 1993, Zainab founded Women for Women International, and started giving loans to Bosnian women, in particular, women who had been victims of violent rape. And since then, she’s expanded to 8 countries, including The DRC, and reached more than 150,000 women.

These women can now support themselves, help support their families, and lead in rebuilding communities. And because these are loans and not grants — ie. women, who have proved to be incredibly responsible borrowers, repay their loans once they are on their feet — this program can just keep growing, and growing, and growing, reaching more and more woman, and thus, make it much more likely for communities to lift themselves up, and for this cycle of violence to stop. What’s the impact? Well, in the DRC, Women for Women has reached 20,000 women, who have been effected in substantive ways:

That sounds to me like a recipe for helping women take charge in empowering themselves, and taking the lead in empowering their entire community.