This project led by the Kahawatu Foundation helps rural women in Burundi to earn sustainable income from coffee production. It also supports women coffee farmers to secure food supply for their families. This project promotes new gender roles, encourages both men and women to question existing patriarchal customs and increase their collaboration and respect in, and outside the field.
Women in Burundi suffer from discriminatory legislations and patriarchal traditions; a legal vacuum refrains women from inheriting land, sexual and domestic violence has almost total impunity; access to education is limited and women do not have access to appropriate health care. This project gives 200 women the opportunity to secure food supply for them and their families, to earn financial independence through coffee production and helps them to be recognized as valuable community members.
This project focuses on training women in coffee production. It helps them access a land to exploit, and adequate equipment. It facilitates access to market, to coffee seedlings, and to quality agricultural inputs. This project also provides participants with livestock, food seeds and nutrition workshops to enable them to provide a better nutrition to their families. We also provide gender workshops for both men and women to encourage dialogue, collaboration and respectful relations.
This project directly benefits 200 women and more than 1000 children and elders. It enables women and their families to have long-term food supplies, to earn cash revenues and gain dignity. In the long run, this project will encourage other women to acquire financial independence, and incite the next generation of girls and boys to value women's work as much as men's. This is one-step forward gender equality and one step away from the patriarchal believes dominating Burundian customs.
