Welcome to this special International Women’s Day issue of Farm Radio Weekly, and a warm welcome to our new subscribers: Jenneth Achieng, from radio station 92.4 LUO FM in Uganda; Emmanuel Kowa, from Youth Empowerment and Peace Building Organization in Sierra Leone, Wilson Dogbe from CSIR-Savanna Agric Research Institute in Ghana, and Marie Ka from Ashoka in Senegal.
Every year on March 8th, hundreds of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Farm Radio Weekly is taking this opportunity to celebrate women farmers and their achievements. This week, we bring you two stories written by our correspondents, Lilianne Nyatcha in Cameroon and Joshua Kyalimpa in Uganda. Lilianne profiles a women agricultural engineer who works on a mushroom project with rural communities in Cameroon, while Joshua brings you the story of an HIV positive women’s group that also grows mushrooms because they are easy to grow and can generate good income.
From the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we bring you a story about women who have been forced off their lands by foreign armed forces that pillage their harvests and rape the women. We hear what one women’s organization is doing to help the victims of rape.
Also on the topic of celebrating farmers’ achievements, we bring you a story about a competition launched by Ashoka, a global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. Ashoka is offering farmers the opportunity to submit information on their farm innovations for a chance to win one of three $5000 prizes.
Farm Radio International’s Development Communication Coordinator, Blythe McKay, recently returned from a gender equality and radio workshop in Ghana. In this week’s Farm Radio Action, Blythe shares her experience, and highlights one young woman broadcaster’s transformation during the workshop.
Finally, if you have an inspiring story of a woman farmer or an interesting story to share with us about your station’s International Women’s Day broadcast, please send an email with your stories to farmradioweekly@farmradio.org, or post a comment on the FRW website www.farmradio.org. We will gladly share your stories with the rest of the FRW community in an upcoming issue.
Happy International Women’s Day and happy reading!
-The Farm Radio Weekly Team
