During this year’s Gender Equality Week, we turn our attention to what is threatening to roll back gains made on furthering gender equality around the world - the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have written about the global consequences of the novel coronavirus on communities experiencing oppression where the socio-economic effects have laid bare the fissures in our social safety nets and market systems, but have since taken the opportunity to learn more about the localized effects on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in MEDA’s programming.

MEDA’s Jordan Valley Links (JVL) project has been using Gender Progress Markers (GPMs) as a measurement tool, supplementing its other monitoring and evaluation techniques, to thoughtfully and deliberately observe the changes in social and gender dynamics affecting women and men in their families and local communities. These markers help us move beyond numbers and quantitative data; they let us look at how attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to gender progress changes over the life of a project.

At age 15 I got my first job as a cashier at a Farmer’s Market. One day, after working there for about two years, I overheard a new hire, a boy, make a comment about how much money he made. I was shocked. He made a dollar more than me an hour for the same job and with less experience. Even as a teenager, I knew this was wrong, and promptly put in my two-week notice. Over the years, I’ve heard countless personal stories similar to my own, and this gender wage gap isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, which looks at gender gaps in economic participation, education, health and politics, revealed that gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years.

The future of Canada’s international climate finance needs to be robust to meet the growing challenges of a changing climate; it must support the poorest and most vulnerable prioritizing adaptation as much as mitigation, and it must be gender-responsive, and gender-transformative, aligning with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

With the COVID-19 pandemic making traditional summer gatherings and fundraisers impossible, five groups of our MEDA donors across North America still wanted to have an impact on making the world a better place. So, they got creative.

"Productive technology is also a women's thing."
-- Mensaje

The Technolinks+ project in northern Nicaragua is equipping more women producers with the technological tools to help their businesses succeed and thrive while promoting greater gender equality within farming families. Through the use of technology, producers can improve productivity, increase the quality of their produce, and enhance their profit margins.

The first time I truly understood the beauty and power of philanthropy was when a woman who was normally quiet and composed became so filled with passion that she ran down a long hallway to hug me. It was in that moment that I realized that philanthropy has the power to change people from the inside out. I’ve had the privilege to witnessed up close how philanthropy can transform the giver -- providing profound life satisfaction by opening avenues to meaning and happiness that are not easily found otherwise. When this kind of transformation of the giver is met with impact through an effective mission – the effect is awe-inspiring.

As experts working in market systems for the past 65 years, we have witnessed shocks and stresses before, in countries like Nicaragua, Ukraine, Haiti, Pakistan, Yemen, and Libya. We have worked through environmental, economic, and social challenges such as conflicts, natural disasters, price volatility, political instability, and recessions.

But we have never faced such a disruptive, global market crisis as COVID-19.

No matter how much you prepare before beginning an international contract, it never seems to be enough for what life is truly like on the ground.

By mid-March 2020, many MEDA offices in North America and around the world were working from home. As the weeks mounted, projects had to find new ways to monitor progress amidst COVID-19 pandemic. This provided MEDA with an opportunity to pilot a new lean data approach which used phone surveys to monitor project impact.

Moving the needle on equality and the rights of women in rural Tanzania requires a multi-faceted approach. Girls grow up watching (and helping) their mother conduct all household tasks, care for the children, and still find time to engage in farming or minor trade to support the family. Boys watch their fathers leave for the farm in the morning and return in the afternoon, often to sit and sip coffee or tea with their friends or sometimes head to the local bar.

MEDA’s Libya Economic Empowerment (LEE) project began in Oct. 2012 and successfully completed in March 2020. Originally named Libya Women Economic Empowerment (LWEE), the project was designed specifically to release the unrecognized economic potential of youth and women’s entrepreneurship and thereby contribute to Libya’s economic growth and political stability.

I have had the opportunity to spend time in Amman, Jordan, as part of the Jordan Valley Links team. This Government of Canada-funded program works to support economic and social development for women and youth in the Jordan Valley. My experience has been generously funded by MEDA’s private donors. While this internship was initially created to support hopeful international development workers in gaining practical, on-the-ground experience in the communities in which MEDA works, my experience has been eye opening in other ways.

From left: Indra Sarju, Calyssa Burke, Denis Gaudet & Aniqah Zowmi

At MEDA, we believe in the next generation of development professionals. That's why we invest in their careers and help them to gain practical, hands-on international experience that compliments the skills they have learned through their education. Although our international interns have had to return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are still working with our international teams to achieve goals and create long-standing impact through businsess.

Let us introduce you to these four amazing people!

With the COVID 19 crisis erupting globally, financial institutions have been forced to quickly respond and rethink how they can offer quality services to their clients who are now faced with unemployment and stacking debt.

Photo: by Forbes

The current global pandemic coupled with frequent natural disasters puts Kenya’s food basket in a perilous position. Towards the end of 2019 and early 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Kenya’s food security status was already under pressure following the devastating desert locust swarms that invaded parts of the country just after an excessive rainfall. This, coupled with inflation and weaker purchasing power, left many Kenyan households’ unable to afford their basic needs such as healthcare and food. The Kenya Food Security Steering Group estimated that nearly 10 million Kenyans were food insecure by the end of 2019, of whom 4 million were already in need food aid.

Did you know that farming for seed is sometimes an even more viable income than than traditional agricultural produce? Our project in Pakistan is doing just that by partnering with Engro, a private business and combined funding from Australia.

My love for social science research is not new. Growing up as a girl in a rural village in East Africa, I witnessed and experienced the impact of gender inequality on my life and the lives of my friends.

Grace Mvula harvesting cassava seed in her field.

For Africa’s Yellow-Billed Oxpecker, its sustained survival relies on the partnership it has with African mammals, such as giraffes and water buffalos. The relationship is mutually beneficial as the mammals’ skin does not become ridden with parasites and the birds have a steady source of food, the parasites.

Table banking is an economic loaning system derived from the principals of Muhammad Yunus‘s practice of microfinancing which was catalyzed in Bangladesh and is based primarily on trust.