Sponsored: UN Women Has Vital Impact on Women Worldwide #GivingTuesday

Sponsored: UN Women Has Vital Impact on Women Worldwide #GivingTuesday

UN Women Appeal

If you’ve been reading World Moms Blog and follow us on social media, you probably already have your ears up to issues that affect women and girls around the world from our global contributors. In some places women and girls are not given the right to an education, treated as legal property and segregated, kidnapped by terrorists, not allowed to hold the highest positions in some organizations, not treated equally, not allowed to own land, not paid equally, and not provided access to maternal care…the list goes on. We have been raising awareness on women’s issues by using our voices.  So, as writers and readers, how else can we enact real change on issues affecting our fellow women on the planet in addition to talking about it?

Are You a Fan of Global Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality?

Then, we, at World Moms Blog, would  like to introduce you to UN Women.

UN Women is the United Nations entity responsible for promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. The organization’s projects further the progress of social, political, and economic equality for women and girls spanning 100 countries around the globe.

What type of impact is UN Women making on the world?

  • Opened women’s access to finance and expanded employment options in Pakistan, resulting in secure employment for 1,000 women and growing

  • Trained more than 6,000 women in marketing and business management in Ethiopia

  • Extended paralegal services for survivors of domestic violence in the marginalized Roma communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, leading to a 50-per-cent increase in requests for help

  • Launched “Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls” in several cities

How can we help UN Women keep up the positive work for gender equality and to empower more women and girls?

This holiday season consider giving as little as $5/month or more to support these vital programs for women. A one time donation will do, too!

  • $10 provides 6 women survivors of violence with psychological and social counseling across Asia and Africa.

  • $100 trains 17 women activists in the Middle East to engage men and boys as agents of change to end violence against women and girls.

  • $1,000 provides seed funding to 21,000 women farmers in Cote d’Ivoire.

Some of UN Women’s most recent campaigns are HeForShe and ,UNiTE to End Violence Against Women. HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality, whose Goodwill Ambassador is actress, Emma Watson. She gave this amazing speech at the launch. And UNiTE to End Violence Against Women was created to help stop violence against women and girls. The campaign includes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence who follow and end on December 10th, Human Rights Day. To keep up to date with current programs, check out the check out the UN Women newswireIn Focus. 

Whether you are looking for an organization to give toward on #GivingTuesday or simply looking for the perfect Holiday Gift for a special woman in your life, please consider donating to UN Women to help the plight of women worldwide. Women are important. 

Donate to UN Women

Disclosure: World Moms Blog received compensation in return for marketing UN Women’s #GivingTuesday campaign. And, The United States National Committee (USNC) for UN Women is an independent non-profit, 501c3 organization that supports UN Women programs and one of 17 national committees around the world. World Moms Blog uses any funds received for sponsored marketing towards paying our website operating costs and business expenses to continue providing a platform for mothers around the world.  

This is an original post to World Moms Blog by founder, Jennifer Burden, of New Jersey, USA.

Photo credit of woman to UN Foundation. Image credit for donate button to World Moms Blog. 

Jennifer Burden

Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India. She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls. Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.

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WORLD VOICE: Empowerment: Attainable Goal or Another Buzzword?

WORLD VOICE: Empowerment: Attainable Goal or Another Buzzword?

Mom and Baby Laos 500

As many of you know, one year ago I started CleanBirth.org, a non-profit aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality in Laos.  We provide nurses with training, birthing supplies and funding to educate village volunteers about safe birthing practices.

 

One tenet of my organization is that local people call the shots on-the-ground, while Westerners provide the resources and funds.  Local nurses are empowered to develop and execute programs which empower expecting mothers to have safer births.

 

There’s that darling of non-profit speak: empower.  Oxford defines it: to “… make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.”  A worthy goal, certainly, but sometimes I worry:

 

“Can foreigners really empower locals to find long-term solutions to their own problems?”

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Photo By Kristyn Zalota

I thought about this on my long journey to Laos in June to train twelve nurses.  On this second CleanBirth Training trip, I wanted to see that the nurses were taking ownership of our CleanBirth Kits Program.  I also wanted to hear their new ideas about ways that we can make birth safer.

From the beginning, it was clear they the nurses wanted to learn and participate.  They were “…thrilled to have been invited…none of them had ever been asked to a training like this before.”   They asked pertinent questions about the CleanBirth Kits Program and grasped the importance of accurately reporting data.

As we moved on to additional ideas for making birth safer, they became even more engaged.  Dr. Nong, my Lao partner, had to write furiously to keep up with the nurses’ suggestions.  I sat back and smiled, thinking:

“This is exactly the way it should be. I, the Westerner, am in the background, while they, the locals, are finding their own answers.”

In the end Dr. Nong and the nurses drafted an outline for our new initiative: CleanBirth Volunteer Training.  The nurses will gather one woman from each of the villages that she serves to learn about Clean Birth Kits, safe birth practices, and prenatal and infant care.  The first CleanBirth Volunteer Training will be held in October.

groupkids-500

So have we empowered these nurses?  Are we giving women more control over their lives and births in the 100 remote communities that we serve?  I’d say that we are off to a good start.  The nurses have the funds and the tools that they need.  They have designed the solution themselves. Now, we must wait and see what happens next.

This is an original World Moms Blog post by Kristyn Zalota.

What do you think? Is it truly possible as an outsider to empower locals of another culture in a sustainable way?

Kristyn Zalota

Kristyn brings her years of experience as an entrepreneur and serial volunteer to CleanBirth.org. She holds a MA, has run small businesses in Russia and the US, and has volunteered in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Uganda on projects related to women’s empowerment. After having children, Kristyn became an advocate for mothers in the US, as a doula and Lamaze educator, and abroad, as the Founder of CleanBirth.org. She is honored to provide nurses in Laos with the supplies, funding and training they need to lower maternal and infant mortality rates in their villages.

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SOCIAL GOOD: Could You Be a Foster Parent?

ChildWe are pleased to share a guest post with you this week from the founders of “Meaningful Volunteer“, a 100% non-profit organization based in Canada that empowers international volunteers to make a meaningful difference in developing communities around the world. Malcolm and Megin Alvarez had a very unique comment that changed their perspective and their life. Their story on fostering is inspiring!

When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.   — Kofi Annan

Building schools or building businesses and then handing them over to the locals in developing communities  is very satisfying.  At Meaningful Volunteer, we build solar powered schools in developing countries.  That’s what we do and that’s how we empower women. (more…)

World Moms Blog

World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children. World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.

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ARKANSAS, USA: The Things That I Know For Certain

ARKANSAS, USA: The Things That I Know For Certain

In six months, I will celebrate my 40th birthday and as I grow older, there are things that I begin to know for certain. At the top of my list is the fact that it’s never too late to further your education. As you, dear reader, peruse this blog post, I will be graduating in the Fall Commencement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A journey that I started on four years ago will finally be reaching its destination.

As I have written about in previous blog posts, my life has been a rollercoaster journey of bad decisions. I trudged through my teens and early 20s in a fog of low self-esteem and insecurity. There was always a running monologue in my mind of why I just wasn’t good enough. Despite being a single mother to two children, I bounced from one low paying job to the next and was never sure of exactly where I would end up.

But then, five years ago, something miraculous occurred: my life completely and utterly fell apart and I was forced to rebuild from almost scratch. I can attest that hitting the utter rockiest of bottoms can be a lifesaving event. Somewhere in that process, I began to make valuable changes to how I thought of myself. (more…)

Margie Webb (USA)

Margie Webb is a forty-something, divorced mom of three biracial sons: Isaiah (25), Caleb (20), and Elijah (6/8/1997 - 7/2/1997) and two bonus sons: Malcolm (5/10/1992 - 10/9/2015) and Marcus (25). She lives in Lafayette, Louisiana by way of Little Rock, Arkansas, and enjoys traveling, attending the theater, cooking calling the Hogs during Arkansas Razorback football season, spending time with family and friends, and is a crazy cat lady. In addition to obtaining her Bachelors and Masters degree, she also has a Graduate Certificate in Online Writing Instruction and a National HR Certification through SHRM. She excels in her career as a Human Resources Management professional. Additionally, she has represented World Moms Network as a Digital Reporter at various conferences, including the United Nations Social Good Summit. Her life has been one big adventure in twists, turns ,extreme lows, and highs. After recently embracing her new lease on life and her identity in the LGBTQ community, she is excited about what is yet to come. She can be found on Twitter@TheHunnyB

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