Healthy families are the bedrock of healthy communities.
Empowering women is a key contributor to economic development and sustaining heart transformation. New life is lived in the family. Empowering women financially as well as with the Word of God provides the necessities for whole families to grow abundantly in Christ.
Why Women?
A mother’s greatest desire is for her children’s well-being and success, but in rural Africa many mothers struggle daily to make ends meet. Gender inequalities entrap the women, who are viewed as subservient to men, and girls are not sent to school. Most women are entirely dependent on their husband’s income and what he chooses to do with it. If a lucky girl goes to school, she often will not continue past menstruation age because of stigmatization and a lack of availability of feminine hygiene care. Tragic losses, easily preventable by simple education and medical care, punctuate this struggle to break free from this cycle of poverty.
Favor’s Women’s Empowerment ministry ends this cycle by equipping women to generate their own income through training in skills, emotional wholeness, parenting, and financial management. This income gains them a measure of respect and independence from their husbands and funds the medical and educational needs of all their children.
In each community we serve, the local women choose a specific project that will help their immediate needs and open opportunities. Kinds of projects we offer range from providing oxen for plowing, bringing young livestock and skills to raise them for profit, or providing sewing or other skills with related equipment.
The women leave these meetings not only with a planned solution in hand, but with great joy as they realize God has blessed them with the gifts, callings and creativity needed to see transformation in their families and their community.
Additionally, we incorporate classes of general and maternal health, and discipleship. Women and girls are given biblical training, which develop them into well-rounded contributors to the community. Alas, we can strengthen the Army of Christ by raising up both women and men. As we advance gender equality for Christ, women succeed in impacting their families and communities-becoming serious agents of change.
How to Sponsor a Women’s Empowerment Project
The average women’s empowerment project costs $3,000 which covers:
- trade resources (i.e. seed, livestock, and equipment)
- wages for teachers/ trainers and other administrative costs
- travel and transportation costs (i.e. gas, equipment delivery)
You can support a whole women’s empowerment project with a one-time gift of $3,000, or two people can give $125 monthly to support a whole project in only one year! The result will be women, children, families – and therefore communities – changed for generations to come.
Every empowerment meeting starts as our staff ask the women about their goals and challenges. As the Favor team listens, they begin to ask questions. What steps are you currently taking? What resources and skills do you have? What do you think would be the best solution? As the discussion progresses, the team helps the villagers discover their own solutions, uniquely suited to the circumstances they face. Based on interest, skills and resources the women may choose to become artisans creating beads and textiles; to learn husbandry, beginning poultry, pig or farming projects; or to learn a trade such a tailoring.
After deciding a course of action, we aid them in forming their own structure and accountability system. We make sure to plan ongoing follow-up as they begin to implement their new strategy, so they feel capable and assisted from start to finish. Having received additional marriage and family training, each woman is encouraged to involve their children and husbands throughout the process of their project. At this point, we finally arrive to a stage where we can see the internal growth meet external– beautifully re-centered around Jesus’ life-giving love.
