The inside track from Progressio's International development experts
The six day ZimFast, which I took on to support the amazing work of Progressio, has made me aware of the luxury of choice which we have here in the UK and across the developed world. The experience has opened my eyes to the struggle which people living in poverty experience everyday with regards to a restricted diet. I only had to do this for six days, so I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to consume such a restricted diet day in, day out.
It has been a very intriguing six days. It has made me think a lot about food. We are very well off in the developed world, which is great, to a point, but the food we eat is just one of the many issues around inequality and the uneven distribution of advantage and resource in the world.
Exactly one year after the encouraging vote of the European Parliament on conflict minerals, CIDSE, the international family of Catholic social justice organisations, including Progressio, publishes a video interview of Abbot Léonard SANTEDI, the Secretary General of the Congolese Bishops Conference.
YUNELSI PÉREZ, from the Dominican Republic, is a youth leader and advocate in the areas of prevention of teenage pregnancy and violence among young couples. She is a Member of the Montecristi Advisory Committee.
Maria, from Zimbabwe, lost most of her family at a young age, and as a teenager she had no option but to find work. As a domestic labourer she worked long hours with little pay. She was treated badly and also lived in unacceptable conditions. She said:
Life was tough in Harare I use to cry everyday. They would not pay me for three months. I was so worried as my cousin needs her school fees. I thought this was all life would be, I didn’t think anything could ever change.
A food security training programme run by Progressio and its partner, ASCALA, is helping to raise incomes and improve diets in some of the Dominican Republic’s bateys, some of the most deprived communities in the country. Residents, such as Rafael Fleming, a 43-year old from Batey Las Pajas in the Eastern region, have learned how to use organic farming techniques to grow vegetables in family plots. The produce can be consumed by the household, adding variety to their diet, or sold to bring in extra cash.
People from all walks of life have been standing in solidarity with those living in extreme poverty in Zimbabwe and around the world, through Progressio’s ZimFare and ZimFast challenges. Participants are invited either to fast for six days on a monotonous and nutritionally poor Zimbabwean diet with ZimFast, or host a Zimbabwean-themed meal with ZimFare, in order to raise vital funds and awareness for Progressio.
This blog was written by Malou Schueller, Governance Policy and Advocacy Officer for Progressio, that has been working in Somaliland since 1995. Malou is the Co-Investigator in the research: ‘Political Settlement in Somaliland – A Gendered Perspective’, and is currently in Somaliland observing the voter registration process in collab
On 16 January, the voter registration process started in the Togdheer region, Somaliland. From 6am, women and men began to arrive at polling centres in large numbers to register for the presidential and parliamentary elections, which are expected to be held in March 2017. The process will take six months to cover all six regions, and will make Somaliland the first country in the world to use iris-recognition software.
Progressio's Campaigns Officer, Jenny Vaughan, recently attended the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. In this blog, she shares her views on why Governments and grassroots are equally important for global development, and why Governments need to translate their promises into grassroots action in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
