MADRE

“I want to thank MADRE for your support. Preventive medicine, nutrition, and maternal health care… These are things we never had before.” – Health worker in Jucuaran, El Salvador.

MADRE is setting the model for smart feminist activism by working in partnership with women in local, regional, and international organizations to advance social justice by meeting urgent needs and creating long-term solutions. Their ultimate goal is to achieve an egalitarian world in which women participate effectively in all aspects of society.

MADRE’s work in needy countries such as Aghanistan, Nicaragua, Iraq, Colombia, Kenya, and Sudan focuses on three areas: peace building, economic and environmental justice, combating violence against women, and improving women’s health. By partnering with organizations at various levels across the world, MADRE has succeeded in achieving a broader range of goals than most organizations would be able to handle.

In Afghanistan, one in three women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence; every 30 minutes, a woman dies in childbirth; 87% of women are illiterate; 70% of girls have no access to education; and 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women. In response, MADRE created the Afghan Women’s Survival Fund to enable women who are threatened with violence to escape to safety.

In Iraq, Islamist political forces are hell bent on dismantling women’s legal rights. The result has been a double-edged blade in which women face oppression from both internal and external forces. Extremist militias have waged a systematic campaign of violence against women in which they beat or kill women for dress or behavior that goes against Islamic tradition. Even in their homes, women have faced a sharp rise in gender-based violence within families, this includes domestic battery and “honor killings.” MADRE fights the good fight by working with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq to meet the needs of women fleeing from violence and it’s program Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women offers women who are threatened by death, such as an honor killing, the means and support to escape danger and begin to build a new life.

The above examples are especially graphic examples of MADRE’s work, but they don’t just save women from imminent danger: in Kenya and Nicaragua MADRE provides clean water and in Sudan and Nicaragua the organization holds programs to teach farmers to promote economic independence.

Get involved in the fight, learn more about MADRE and how you can help by visiting their website. If you choose to donate, know that every individual donation helps, as 76% of donations are from individuals, and that $0.91 of every $1.00 donated goes to actual program services. In addition, you can pick and choose what program area that you would like to donate to.