Worldwide Projects

Mothers' Union members around the world are involved in a wide variety of activities, seeking to empower disadvantaged people at the grassroots level, especially women, with knowledge and skills enabling them to gain greater control over their lives. claim their rights, and improve their livelihoods.

Mothers' Union members around the world are involved in a wide variety of activities, seeking to empower disadvantaged people at the grassroots level, especially women, with knowledge and skills enabling them to gain greater control over their lives. claim their rights, and improve their livelihoods.

Education brings equality
Reading, writing and arithmetic may not seem a priority in communities where immense poverty eats away at the very fabric of family life. But in Burundi, Malawi and Sudan these were exactly the skills which illiterate community members, especially the women, asked for, to enable them to be equipped to find long-term solutions. Mothers' Union responded to the need and initiated their Literacy & Development Programme (MULDP), which is designed to use a holistic approach and do more than just make people literate. The programme uses participatory skills to enable community members, men and women, to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills whilst discussing and planning action on issues and challenges people face on a daily basis. In this way the whole community becomes engaged in:

· Identifying problems and challenges
· Sharing local knowledge and expertise
· Planning local action and resolution of conflicts
· Participating in local HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives
· Setting up of income generating projects

In all areas of community life, women are subordinate to men and this marginalisation of women is contributing to greater poverty levels. Women like Verdiane were deemed worthless by their husbands and other men and were not allowed to take part in income generating activities. But when she and her husband, Deo joined Mothers' Union literacy circle near their Burundi home, their lives were transformed. Deo discovered the talents and skills of all women, and valued Verdiane as a partner in their marriage. He learned to respect her, and with literacy training, the couple are now running a successful small business, which has lifted them out of poverty and turned an unhappy situation into a happy one.